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diff --git a/old/20110.txt b/old/20110.txt deleted file mode 100644 index da67962..0000000 --- a/old/20110.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,16437 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook, Canada: the Empire of the North, by Agnes C. -Laut - - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org - - - - - -Title: Canada: the Empire of the North - Being the Romantic Story of the New Dominion's Growth from Colony to Kingdom - - -Author: Agnes C. Laut - - - -Release Date: December 14, 2006 [eBook #20110] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) - - -***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADA: THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH*** - - -E-text prepared by Al Haines - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 20110-h.htm or 20110-h.zip: - (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/1/20110/20110-h/20110-h.htm) - or - (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/1/20110/20110-h.zip) - - -Transcriber's note: - - Page numbers in this book are indicated by numbers enclosed - in curly braces, e.g. {99}. They have been located where page - breaks occurred in the original book. For its Index, a page - number has been placed only at the start of that section. - - - - - -CANADA - -THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH - -Being the Romantic Story of the - New Dominion's Growth from - Colony to Kingdom - -by - -AGNES C. LAUT - -Author of "The Conquest of the Great North-West" "Lords of the North," -Etc. - - - - - - - - -[Frontispiece: Map of Western Canada] - - - -Boston and London -Ginn and Company, Publishers -1909 -Copyright, 1909, by Agnes C. Laut -Entered at Stationers' Hall -All Rights Reserved - - - - -PREFACE - -To re-create the shadowy figures of the heroic past, to clothe the dead -once more in flesh and blood, to set the puppets of the play in life's -great dramas again upon the stage of action,--frankly, this may not be -formal history, but it is what makes the past most real to the present -day. Pictures of men and women, of moving throngs and heroic episodes, -stick faster in the mind than lists of governors and arguments on -treaties. Such pictures may not be history, but they breathe life into -the skeletons of the past. - -Canada's past is more dramatic than any romance ever penned. The story -of that past has been told many times and in many volumes, with far -digressions on Louisiana and New England and the kingcraft of Europe. -The trouble is, the story has not been told in one volume. Too much -has been attempted. To include the story of New England wars and -Louisiana's pioneer days, the story of Canada itself has been either -cramped or crowded. To the eastern writer, Canada's history has been -the record of French and English conflict. To him there has been -practically no Canada west of the Great Lakes; and in order to tell the -intrigue of European tricksters, very often the writer has been -compelled to exclude the story of the Canadian people,--meaning by -people the breadwinners, the toilers, rather than the governing -classes. Similarly, to the western writer, Canada meant the Hudson's -Bay Company. As for the Pacific coast, it has been almost ignored in -any story of Canada. - -Needless to say, a complete history of a country as vast as Canada, -whose past in every section fairly teems with action, could not be -crowded into one volume. To give even the story {iv} of Canada's most -prominent episodes and actors is a matter of rigidly excluding the -extraneous. - -All that has been attempted here is such a story--_story, not -history_--of the romance and adventure in Canada's nation building as -will give the casual reader knowledge of the country's past, and how -that past led along a trail of great heroism to the destiny of a -Northern Empire. This volume is in no sense formal history. There -will be found in it no such lists of governors with dates appended, of -treaties with articles running to the fours and eights and tens, of -battles grouped with dates, as have made Canadian history a nightmare -to children. - -It is only such a story as boys and girls may read, or the hurried -business man on the train, who wants to know "what was doing" in the -past; and it is mainly a story of men and women and things doing. - -I have not given at the end of each chapter the list of authorities -customary in formal history. At the same time it is hardly necessary -to say I have dug most rigorously down to original sources for facts; -and of secondary authorities, from _Pierre Boucher, his Book_, to -modern reprints of _Champlain and L'Escarbot_, there are not any I have -not consulted more or less. Especially am I indebted to the -_Documentary History of New York_, sixteen volumes, bearing on early -border wars; to _Documents Relatifs a la Nouvelle France, Quebec_; to -the _Canadian Archives_ since 1886; to the special historical issues of -each of the eastern provinces; and to the monumental works of Dr. -Kingsford. Nearly all the places described are from frequent visits or -from living on the spot. - - - - -{v} - -INTRODUCTION - -"The Twentieth century belongs to Canada." - -The prediction of Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Premier of the Dominion, seems -likely to have bigger fulfillment than Canadians themselves realize. -What does it mean? - -Canada stands at the same place in the world's history as England stood -in the Golden Age of Queen Elizabeth--on the threshold of her future as -a great nation. Her population is the same, about seven million. Her -mental attitude is similar, that of a great awakening, a consciousness -of new strength, an exuberance of energy biting on the bit to run the -race; mellowed memory of hard-won battles against tremendous odds in -the past; for the future, a golden vision opening on vistas too far to -follow. They dreamed pretty big in the days of Queen Elizabeth, but -they did n't dream big enough for what was to come; and they are -dreaming pretty big up in Canada to-day, but it is hard to forecast the -future when a nation the size of all Europe is setting out on the -career of her world history. - -To put it differently: Canada's position is very much the same to-day -as the United States' a century ago. Her population is about seven -million. The population of the United States was seven million in -1810. One was a strip of isolated settlements north and south along -the Atlantic seaboard; the other, a string of provinces east and west -along the waterways that ramify from the St. Lawrence. Both possessed -and were flanked by vast unexploited territory the size of Russia; the -United States by a Louisiana, Canada by the Great Northwest. What the -Civil War did for the United States, Confederation did for the Canadian -provinces--welded them into a nation. The parallel need not be carried -farther. If the same development {vi} follows Confederation in Canada -as followed the Civil War in the United States, the twentieth century -will witness the birth and growth of a world power. - -To no one has the future opening before Canada come as a greater -surprise than to Canadians themselves. A few years ago such a claim as -the Premier's would have been regarded as the effusions of the -after-dinner speaker. While Canadian politicians were hoping for the -honor of being accorded colonial place in the English Parliament, they -suddenly awakened to find themselves a nation. They suddenly realized -that history, and big history, too, was in the making. Instead of -Canada being dependent on the Empire, the Empire's most far-seeing -statesmen were looking to Canada for the strength of the British -Empire. No longer is there a desire among Canadians for place in the -Parliament at Westminster. With a new empire of their own to develop, -equal in size to the whole of Europe, Canadian public men realize they -have enough to do without taking a hand in European affairs. - -As the different Canadian provinces came into Confederation they were -like beads on a string a thousand miles apart. First were the Maritime -Provinces, with western bounds touching the eastern bounds of Quebec, -but in reality with the settlements of New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, -and Prince Edward Island separated from the settlements of Quebec by a -thousand miles of untracked forest. Only the Ottawa River separated -Quebec from Ontario, but one province was French, the other English, -aliens to each other in religion, language, and customs. A thousand -miles of rock-bound, winter-bound wastes lay between Ontario and the -scattered settlement of Red River in Manitoba. Not an interest was in -common between the little province of the middle west and her sisters -to the east. Then prairie land came for a thousand miles, and -mountains for six hundred miles, before reaching the Pacific province -of British Columbia, more completely cut off from other parts of Canada -than from Mexico or Panama. In fact, it would have been easier for -British Columbia to trade with Mexico and Panama than with the rest of -Canada. - -{vii} To bind these far-separated patches of settlement, oases in a -desert of wilds, into a nation was the object of the union known as -Confederation. But a nation can live only as it trades what it draws -from the soil. Naturally, the isolated provinces looked for trade to -the United States, just across an invisible boundary. It seemed absurd -that the Canadian provinces should try to trade with each other, a -thousand miles apart, rather than with the United States, a stone's -throw from the door of each province. But the United States erected a -tariff wall that Canada could not climb. The struggling Dominion was -thrown solely on herself, and set about the giant task of linking the -provinces together, building railroads from Atlantic to Pacific, canals -from tide water to the Great Lakes. In actual cash this cost Canada -four hundred million dollars, not counting land grants and private -subscriptions for stock, which would bring up the cost of binding the -provinces together to a billion. This was a staggering burden for a -country with smaller population than Greater New York--a burden as big -as Japan and Russia assumed for their war; but, like war, the -expenditure was a fight for national existence. Without the railroads -and canals, the provinces could not have been bound together into a -nation. - -These were Canada's pioneer days, when she was spending more than she -was earning, when she bound herself down to grinding poverty and big -risks and hard tasks. It was a long pull, and a hard pull; but it was -a pull altogether. That was Canada's seed time; this is her harvest. -That was her night work, when she toiled, while other nations slept; -now is the awakening, when the world sees what she was doing. Railroad -man, farmer, miner, manufacturer, all had the same struggle, the big -outlay of labor and money at first, the big risk and no profit, the -long period of waiting. - -Canada was laying her foundations of yesterday for the superstructure -of prosperity to-day and to-morrow--the New Empire. - -When one surveys the country as a whole, the facts are so big they are -bewildering. - -{viii} In the first place, the area of the Dominion is within a few -thousand miles of as large as all Europe. To be more specific, you -could spread the surface of Italy and Spain and Turkey and Greece and -Austria over eastern Canada, and you would still have an area uncovered -in the east alone bigger than the German Empire. England spread flat -on the surface of Eastern Canada would just serve to cover the Maritime -Provinces nicely, leaving uncovered Quebec, which is a third bigger -than Germany; Ontario, which is bigger than France; and Labrador -(Ungava), which is about the size of Austria. - -In the west you could spread the British Isles out flat, and you would -not cover Manitoba--with her new boundaries extending to Hudson Bay. -It would take a country the size of France to cover the province of -Saskatchewan, a country larger than Germany to cover Alberta, two -countries the size of Germany to cover British Columbia and the Yukon, -and there would still be left uncovered the northern half of the -West--an area the size of European Russia. - -No Old World monarch from William the Conqueror to Napoleon could boast -of such a realm. People are fond of tracing ancestry back to feudal -barons of the Middle Ages. What feudal baron of the Middle Ages, or -Lord of the Outer Marches, was heir to such heritage as Canada may -claim? Think of it! Combine all the feudatory domains of the Rhine -and the Danube, you have not so vast an estate as a single western -province. Or gather up all the estates of England's midland counties -and eastern shires and borderlands, you have not enough land to fill -one of Canada's inland seas,--Lake Superior. - -If there were a population in eastern Canada equal to France,--and -Quebec alone would support a population equal to France,--and in -Manitoba equal to the British Isles, and in Saskatchewan equal to -France, and in Alberta equal to Germany, and in British Columbia equal -to Germany,--ignoring Yukon, Mackenzie River, Keewatin, and Labrador, -taking only those parts of Canada where climate has been tested and -lands surveyed,--Canada would support two hundred million people. - -{ix} The figures are staggering, but they are not half so improbable as -the actual facts of what has taken place in the United States. -America's population was acquired against hard odds. There were no -railroads when the movement to America began. The only ocean goers -were sailboats of slow progress and great discomfort. In Europe was -profound ignorance regarding America; to-day all is changed. Canada -begins where the United States left off. The whole world is gridironed -with railroads. Fast Atlantic liners offer greater comfort to the -emigrant than he has known at home. Ignorance of America has given -place to almost romantic glamour. Just when the free lands of the -United States are exhausted and the government is putting up bars to -keep out the immigrant, Canada is in a position to open her doors wide. -Less than a fortieth of the entire West is inhabited. Of the Great -Clay Belt of North Ontario only a patch on the southern edge is -populated. The same may be said of the Great Forest Belt of Quebec. -These facts are the magnet that will attract the immigrant to Canada. -The United States wants no more immigrants. - -And the movement to Canada has begun. To her shores are thronging the -hosts of the Old World's dispossessed, in multitudes greater than any -army that ever marched to conquest under Napoleon. When the history of -America comes to be written in a hundred years, it will not be the -record of a slaughter field with contending nations battling for the -mastery, or generals wading to glory knee-deep in blood. It will be an -account of the most wonderful race movement, the most wonderful -experiment in democracy the world has known. - -The people thronging to Canada for homes, who are to be her nation -builders, are people crowded out of their home lands, who had n't room -for the shoulder swing manhood and womanhood need to carve out -honorable careers. Look at them in the streets of London, or Glasgow, -or Dublin, or Berlin, these _emigres_, as the French called their -royalists, whom revolution drove from home, and I think the word -_emigre_ is a truer description of the newcomer to Canada than the word -"emigrant." They are {x} poor, they are desperately poor, so poor that -a month's illness or a shut-down of the factory may push them from -poverty to the abyss. They are thrifty, but can neither earn nor save -enough to feel absolutely sure that the hollow-eyed specter of Want may -not seize them by the throat. They are willing to work, so eager to -work that at the docks and the factory gates they trample and jostle -one another for the chance to work. They are the underpinnings, the -underprops of an old system, these _emigres_, by which the masses were -expected to toil for the benefit of the classes. - -"It's all the average man or woman is good for," says the Old Order, -"just a day's wage representing bodily needs." - -"Wait," says the New Order. "Give him room! Give him an opportunity! -Give him a full stomach to pump blood to his muscles and life to his -brain! Wait and see! If he fails _then_, let him drop to the bottom -of the social pit without stop of poorhouse or help!" - -A penniless immigrant boy arrives in New York. First he peddles -peanuts, then he trades in a half-huckster way whatever comes to hand -and earns profits. Presently he becomes a fur trader and invests his -savings in real estate. Before that man dies, he has a monthly income -equal to the yearly income of European kings. That man's name was John -Jacob Astor. - -Or a young Scotch boy comes out on a sailing vessel to Canada. For a -score of years he is an obscure clerk at a distant trading post in -Labrador. He comes out of the wilds to take a higher position as land -commissioner. Presently he is backing railroad ventures of tremendous -cost and tremendous risk. Within thirty years from the time he came -out of the wilds penniless, that man possesses a fortune equal to the -national income of European kingdoms. The man's name is Lord -Strathcona. - -Or a hard-working coal miner emigrates to Canada. The man has brains -as well as hands. Other coal miners emigrate at the same time, but -this man is as keen as a razor in foresight and care. From coal miner -he becomes coal manager, from manager {xi} operator, from operator -owner, and dies worth a fortune that the barons of the Middle Ages -would have drenched their countries in blood to win. The man's name is -James Dunsmuir. - -Or it is a boy clerking in a departmental store. He emigrates. When -he goes back to England it is to marry a lady in waiting to the Queen. -He is now known as Lord Mount-Stephen. - -What was the secret of the success? Ability in the first place, but in -the second, opportunity; opportunity and room for shoulder swing to -show what a man can do when keen ability and tireless energy have -untrammeled freedom to do their best. - -Examples of the _emigres'_ success could be multiplied. It is more -than a mere material success; it is eternal proof that, given a fair -chance and a square deal and shoulder swing, the boy born penniless can -run the race and outstrip the boy born to power. - -"Have you, then, no _menial_ classes in Canada?" asked a member of the -Old Order. - -"No, I'm thankful to say," said I. - -"Then _who_ does the work?" - -"The workers." - -"But what's the difference?" - -"Just this: your menial of the Old Country is the child of a menial, -whose father before him was a menial, whose ancestors were in servile -positions to other people back as far as you like to go,--to the time -when men were serfs wearing an iron collar with the brand of the lord -who owned them. With us no stigma is attached to work. _Your_ menial -expects to be a menial all his life. With our worker, just as sure as -the sun rises and sets, if he continues to work and is no fool, he will -rise to earn a competency, to improve himself, to own his own labor, to -own his own home, to hire the labor of other men who are beginners as -he once was himself." - -"Then you have no social classes?" - -"Lots. The _ups_, who have succeeded; and the _half-way ups_, who are -succeeding; and the _beginners_, who are going to succeed; and the -_downs_, who never try. And as success doesn't necessarily mean money, -but doing the best at whatever one tries, {xii} you can see that the -_ups_ and the _halfway ups_, and the _beginners_ and the _downs_ have -each their own classes of special workers." - -"That," she answered, "is not democracy; it is revolution." She was -thinking of those Old World hard-and-fast divisions of society into -royalty, aristocracy, commons, peasantry. - -"It is not revolution," I explained. "It is rebirth! When you send -your _emigre_ out to us, he is a made-over man." - -But it is not given to all _emigre's_ to become great capitalists or -great leaders. Some who have the opportunity have not the ability, and -the majority would not, for all the rewards that greatness offers, -choose careers that entail long years of nerve-wracking, unflagging -labor. But on a minor scale the same process of making over takes -place. One case will illustrate. - -Some years before immigration to Canada had become general, two or -three hundred Icelanders were landed in Winnipeg destitute. From some -reason, which I have forgotten,--probably the quarantine of an -immigrant,--the Icelanders could not be housed in the government -immigration hall. They were absolutely without money, household goods, -property of any sort except clothing, and that was scant, the men -having but one suit of the poorest clothes, the women thin homespun -dresses so worn one could see many of them had no underwear. The -people represented the very dregs of poverty. Withdrawing to the -vacant lots in the west end of Winnipeg,--at that time a mere -town,--the newcomers slept for the first nights, herded in the rooms of -an Icelander opulent enough to have rented a house. Those who could -not gain admittance to this house slept under the high board sidewalks, -then a feature of the new town. I remember as a child watching them -sit on the high sidewalk till it was dark, then roll under. -Fortunately it was summer, but it was useless for people in this -condition to go bare to the prairie farm. To make land yield, you must -have house and barns and stock and implements, and I doubt if these -people had as much as a jackknife. I remember how two or three of the -older women used to sit crying each night in despair till they -disappeared in the crowded house, fourteen or {xiii} twenty of them to -a room. Within a week, the men were all at work sawing wood from door -to door at a dollar and a half a cord the women out by the day washing -at a dollar a day. Within a month they had earned enough to buy lumber -and tar paper. Tar-papered shanties went up like mushrooms on the -vacant lots. Before winter each family had bought a cow and chickens. -I shall not betray confidence by telling where the cow and chickens -slept. Those immigrants were not desirable neighbors. Other people -moved hastily away from the region. Such a condition would not be -tolerated now, when there are spacious immigration halls and sanitary -inspectors to see that cows and people do not house under the same -roof. What with work and peddling milk, by spring the people were able -to move out on the free prairie farms. To-day those Icelanders own -farms clear of debt, own stock that would be considered the possession -of a capitalist in Iceland, and have money in the savings banks. Their -sons and daughters have had university educations and have entered -every avenue of life, farming, trading, practicing medicine, actually -teaching English in English schools. Some are members of Parliament. -It was a hard beginning, but it was a rebirth to a new life. They are -now among the nation builders of the West. - -But it would be a mistake to conclude that Canada's nation builders -consisted entirely of poor people. The race movement has not been a -leaderless mob. Princes, nobles, adventurers, soldiers of fortune, -were the pathfinders who blazed the trail to Canada. Glory, pure and -simple, was the aim that lured the first comers across the trackless -seas. Adventurous young aristocrats, members of the Old Order, led the -first nation builders to America, and, all unconscious of destiny, laid -the foundations of the New Order. The story of their adventures and -work is the history of Canada. - -It is a new experience in the world's history, this race movement that -has built up the United States and is now building up Canada. Other -great race movements have been a tearing down of high places, the -upward scramble of one class on the {xiv} backs of the deposed class. -Instead of leveling down, Canada's nation building is leveling up. - -This, then, is the empire--the size of all the nations in Europe, -bigger than Napoleon's wildest dreams of conquest--to which Canada has -awakened.[1] - - - [1]COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF AREAS OF CANADA AND EUROPE - - Canada . . 3,750,000 square miles Europe . . 3,797,410 square miles - - Maritime Provinces Square Miles Square Miles - Nova Scotia . . . . . 20,600 England . . . . . 50,867 - Prince Edward Island 2,000 Germany . . . . . 208,830 - New Brunswick . . . . 28,200 France . . . . . 204,000 - ------ Italy . . . . . . 110,000 - 50,800 Spain . . . . . . 197,000 - Quebec . . . . . . . . 347,350 Austria and Hungary 241,000 - Ontario . . . . . . . . 222,000 Russia in Europe 2,000,000 - Manitoba - Saskatchewan 204,000 - Alberta . . . . . . . . 350,000 - British Columbia . . . 383,000 - Unorganized Territory of - Keewatin . . . . . . 756,000 - Yukon . . . . . . . . 200,000 - MacKenzie River and - Ungava . . . . . . 1,000,000 - - - COMPARATIVE STATEMENT OF POPULATION IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES - - United States Canada - In 1800 . . . 5,000,000 In 1881 . . . 4,300,000 - " 1810 . . . 7,000,000 " 1891 . . . 5,000,000 - " 1820 . . . 9,600,000 " 1901 . . . 5,500,000 - " 1830 . . . 12,800,000 " 1906 . . . 6,500,000 - - -It will be noticed that for twenty years Canada's population becomes -almost stagnant. The reason for this will be found as the story of -Canada is related. If she keeps up the increase at the pace she has -now set, or at the rate the United States' population went ahead during -the same period of industrial development, the results can be forecast -from the following table: - - United States in 1840 . . . . . . 17,000,000 - " " " 1850 . . . . . . 23,000,000 - " " " 1860 . . . . . . 31,000,000 - " " " 1870 . . . . . . 38,000,000 - " " " 1880 . . . . . . 50,000,000 - " " " 1890 . . . . . . 63,000,000 - " " " 1900 . . . . . . 85,000,000 - - -{xv} A few years ago, when talking to a leading editor of Canada, I -chanced to say that I did not think Canadians had at that time awakened -to their future. The editor answered that he was afraid I had -contracted the American disease of "bounce" through living in the -United States; to which I retorted that if Canadians could catch the -same disease and accomplish as much by it in the twentieth century as -Americans had in the nineteenth, it would be a good thing for the -country. It is wonderful to have witnessed the complete face-about of -Canadian public opinion in the short space of six years, this editor -shouting as loud as any of his exuberant brethren. Still, as the -outlook in Canadian affairs may be regarded as flamboyant, it is worth -while quoting the comment of the most critical and conservative -newspaper in the world,--the London _Times_. The _Times_ says: -"Without doubt the expansion of Canada is the greatest political event -in the British Empire to-day. The empire is face to face with -development which makes it impossible for indefinite maintenance of the -present constitutional arrangements." - - -Regarding the Iceland immigrants, to whom reference is made, I recently -met in London a famed traveler, who was in Iceland when the people were -setting out for Canada, Mrs. Alec. Tweedie. She explains in her book -how these people were absolutely poverty-stricken when they left -Iceland. In fact, the sufferings endured the first year in Winnipeg -were mild compared to their privations in Iceland before they sailed. - - -The explanations of Canada's hard times from Confederation to 1898--say -from 1871, when all the provinces had really gone into Confederation, -to 1897, when the Yukon boom poured gold into the country--can be -figured out. Of a population of 3,000,000, four fifths need not be -counted as taxpayers, as they include women, children, clerks, farmers' -help, domestic help,--classes who pay no taxes but the indirect duty on -clothes they wear and food they eat. This practically means that the -billion-dollar burden of making the ideal of Confederation into a -reality by building railroads and canals was borne by 600,000 people, -which means again a large quota per man to the public treasury. People -forget that you can't take more out of the public treasury than you put -into it, that it is n't like an artesian well, self-supplied, and the -truth is, at this period Canadians were paying more into the public -treasury than they could afford,--more than the investment was bringing -them in. - - - - -{xvii} - -CONTENTS - - -CHAPTER PAGE - - I. FROM 1000 TO 1600 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - - II. FROM 1600 TO 1607 . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 - - III. FROM 1607 TO 1635 . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 - - IV. FROM 1635 TO 1666 . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 - - V. FROM 1635 TO 1650 . . . . . . . . . . . . 71 - - VI. FROM 1650 TO 1672 . . . . . . . . . . . . 94 - - VII. FROM 1672 TO 1688 . . . . . . . . . . . . 117 - - VIII. FROM 1679 TO 1713 . . . . . . . . . . . . 143 - - IX. FROM 1686 TO 1698 . . . . . . . . . . . . 161 - - X. FROM 1698 TO 1713 . . . . . . . . . . . . 189 - - XI. FROM 1713 TO 1755 . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 - - XII. FROM 1756 TO 1763 . . . . . . . . . . . . 241 - - XIII. FROM 1763 TO 1812 . . . . . . . . . . . . 276 - - XIV. FROM 1812 TO 1820 . . . . . . . . . . . . 318 - - XV. FROM 1812 TO 1846 . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 - - XVI. FROM 1820 TO 1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . 410 - - INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439 - - - - -{xix} - -ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS - - PAGE - -MAP OF WESTERN CANADA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_ - -VIKING SHIP RECENTLY DISCOVERED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 - After a photograph of the Viking Ship at Sandefjord, Norway. - -MAP SHOWING DIVISION OF THE NEW WORLD BETWEEN SPAIN AND - PORTUGAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - -A TYPICAL "HOLE IN THE WALL" AT "KITTY VIDDY," NEAR - ST. JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 - From a photograph. - -SEBASTIAN CABOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 - After the portrait attributed to Holbein. - -JACQUES CARTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 - After the portrait at St. Malo, France, with signature. - -WHERE THE FISHER HAMLETS NOW NESTLE, NEWFOUNDLAND . . . . . . 9 - From a photograph. - -ANCIENT HOCHELAGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 - After a cut in the third volume of Ramusio's _Raccolta_, - Venice, 1565. - -THE "DAUPHIN MAP" OF CANADA, _CIRCA_ 1543, SHOWING CARTIER'S - DISCOVERIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 - -QUEEN ELIZABETH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 - After the ermine portrait in Hatfield House, with signature. - -THE BOYHOOD OF GILBERT AND RALEIGH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 - From the painting by Sir John Millais. - -SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 - After the print in Holland's _Herwologia-Anglica_, 1620. - -SIR WALTER RALEIGH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 - After the portrait in the possession of the Duchess of Dorset. - -AT EASTERN ENTRANCE TO HUDSON STRAITS . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 - From a photograph by Dominion Geological Survey. - -HUDSON COAT OF ARMS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 - From Lenox Collection, New York City. - -THE FANTASTIC ROCKS OF GASPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 - From a photograph. - -{xx} - -SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 - After the Moncornet portrait, with signature. - -PORT ROYAL OR ANNAPOLIS BASIN, 1609 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 - From Lescarbot's map. - -BUILDINGS ON STE. CROIX ISLAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 - From _Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain_, Paris, 1613. - -PORT ROYAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 - From the same. - -TADOUSSAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 - From the same. - -DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 - From the same. - -THE ONONDAGA FORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 - From the same. - -VIEW OF QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 - From the same. - -QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 - From the same. - -SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 - After an engraved portrait by Marshall. - -MAP SHOWING LA TOUR'S POSSESSIONS IN ACADIA . . . . . . . . . 64 - -CARDINAL RICHELIEU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 - After the portrait by Philippe de Champaigne - -MAP OF ANNAPOLIS BASIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 - -MADAME DE LA PELTRIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 - After a picture in the Ursuline Convent, Quebec. - -PIERRE LE JEUNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 - From an engraving in Winsor's America, after an old print. - -GEORGIAN BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 - From a photograph by A. G. Alexander. - -BREBEUF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 - From a bust in silver at Quebec. - -REMNANTS OF WALLS OF FORT ST. MARY ON CHRISTIAN ISLAND - IN 1891 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91 - After a photograph reproduced in _Ontario Historical - Society Papers and Records_. - -MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES, SHOWING THE TERRITORY OF THE - JESUIT HURON MISSIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 - Bellin's map, 1744. - -A CANADIAN ON SNOWSHOES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 - From La Potherie's _Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale_, - Paris, 1753. - -{xxi} - -SAUSON'S MAP, 1656 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 - -TITLE-PAGE--JESUIT RELATION OF 1662-1663 . . . . . . . . . 111 - -THE JESUIT MAP OF LAKE SUPERIOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 - From the Relation, of 1670-1671. - -CHARLES II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114 - After the miniature portrait by Cooper, with signature. - -PLAN OF MONTREAL IN 1672 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 - From _Quebec Historical Society Papers and Records_. - -LA SALLE'S HOUSE NEAR MONTREAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120 - From a photograph. - -KITCHEN, CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY, MONTREAL . . . . . . . . . . . 120 - From a photograph. - -LAVAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 - After the portrait in Laval University, Quebec. - -A MAP IN THE RELATION OF 1662-1663 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126 - -GALINEE'S MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES, 1669 . . . . . . . . . . 129 - -ROBERT DE LA SALLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 - After an engraved portrait said to be preserved - in the _Bibliotheque de Rouen_, with signature. - -OLD PLAN OF FORT FRONTENAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 - From _Memoirs sur le Canada_, Quebec, 1873. - -THE BUILDING OF THE _GRIFFON_ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138 - From Father Hennepin's _Nouvelle Decouverte_, Amsterdam, 1704. - -PRINCE RUPERT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145 - After the painting by Sir P. Lely. - -MAP OF HUDSON BAY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 - -CONTEMPORARY FRENCH MAP OF HUDSON BAY AND VICINITY . . . . 155 - From La Potherie's _Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale_. - -LE MOYNE D'IBERVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157 - After a portrait in Margry's _Decouvertes Etablissemens_. - -FORT FRONTENAC AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY . . . . . . . . . . 164 - From _The London Magazine_, 1758. - -WILLIAM OF ORANGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 - After the portrait by Sir Godfrey Kneller, with signature. - -QUEBEC, 1689 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172 - From La Potherie's _Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale_. - -FRENCH SOLDIER OF THE PERIOD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174 - After a cut in Massachusetts Archives, Documents - collected in France, 111, 3. - -SIR WILLIAM PHIPS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176 - After an accepted likeness reproduced - in Winsor's _America_. - -{xxii} - -COUNT FRONTENAC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178 - From the statue by Hebert at Quebec. - -CASTLE ST. LOUIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 - After a cut in Hawkins' _Pictures of Quebec_, Quebec, 1834. - -ATTACK ON QUEBEC, 1690 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181 - From La Hontan's _Memoires_, 1709. - -CASTLE ST. LOUIS, QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183 - From Sulte's _Canadiens Francais_, viii. - -PLAN OF QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184 - From Franquelin, 1683. - -LANDING OF IBERVILLE'S MEN AT PORT NELSON . . . . . . . . . 186 - From La Potherie's _Histoire de l'Amerique Septentrionale_. - -CAPTURE OF FORT NELSON BY THE FRENCH . . . . . . . . . . . 187 - From the same. - -CONTEMPORARY MAP, 1689 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 - From La Hontan. - -HERTEL DE ROUVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193 - After a portrait in Daniel's _Nos Gloires Nationales_. - -CONTEMPORARY PLAN OF PORT ROYAL BASIN . . . . . . . . . . . 199 - From Bellin's map, 1744. - -PAUL MASCARENE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 - After a portrait in Savary's edition - of Calnek's _Annapolis_. - -LA VERENDRYE'S FORTS AND THE RIVER OF THE WEST . . . . . . 207 - After Jeffery's map, 1762. - -MAP PUBLISHED IN PARIS IN 1752 SHOWING THE SUPPOSED - SEA OF THE WEST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 - From the Memoire presented to the Academy - of Sciences at Paris by Buache, August, 1752. - -MAP SHOWING THE SUPPOSED SEA OF THE WEST, WITH APPROACHES - TO THE MISSISSIPPI AND GREAT LAKES, PARIS, 1755 . . . . . 211 - From the same. - -WILLIAM PEPPERRELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 - After the portrait by Smibert. - -RUINS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AT LOUISBURG . . . . . . . . . . 219 - From a recent photograph. - -CONTEMPORARY PLAN OF THE ATTACK ON LOUISBURG . . . . . . . . 221 - After a plan reproduced in Winsor's _America_. - -FORT HALIFAX, 1755 (Restoration) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 - -CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF OSWEGO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 - From Smith's _History of the Province of New York_. - -GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE OF VIRGINIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 - After a portrait by Ramsay. - -{xxiii} - -TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 - -A SKETCH OF THE FIELD OF BATTLE AT BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT . . . . 229 - From a contemporary manuscript in the Library - of Harvard University. - -PLAN OF FORT BEAUSEJOUR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 - From Mante's _History of the Late War in North America_. - -GENERAL MONCKTON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232 - After a mezzotint in the Library of the - American Antiquarian Society. - -GENERAL JOHN WINSLOW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 234 - After the portrait in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth, Massachusetts. - -MAP OF ACADIA AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS, 1755 . . . . . . . . 237 - -SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238 - After the portrait by Adams. - -MAP OF THE REGION OF LAKE GEORGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239 - From _Documentary History of New York_. - -RUINS OF CHATEAU BIGOT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245 - From a photograph by Captain Wurtelle. - -PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, OTTAWA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246 - From a photograph. - -QUEBEC, CHATEAU FRONTENAC AND THE CITADEL . . . . . . . . . 246 - From a photograph. - -THE EARL OF LOUDON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249 - After the portrait by Ramsay. - -BOSCAWEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 253 - After the portrait by Reynolds. - -THE SIEGE OF LOUISBURG, 1758 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 255 - From a picture in the Lenox Collection, - New York Public Library. - -AMHERST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257 - After the portrait by Reynolds. - -THE COUNTRY ROUND TICONDEROGA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259 - From _Documentary History of New York_. - -GENERAL JAMES WOLFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261 - After the engraved portrait by Houstin. - -BOUGAINVILLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 263 - After a cut in Bounechose's _Montcalm_. - -THE SITE OF QUEBEC AND THE GROUND OCCUPIED - DURING THE SIEGE OF 1759 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265 - After a plan in _The Universal Magazine_, - London, December, 1859. - -LOUIS JOSEPH, MARQUIS DE MONTCALM . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268 - After the portrait in the possession of his descendants. - -DEATH OF WOLFE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272 - From the painting by West. - -{xxiv} - -MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277 - After a mezzotint by an unknown engraver. - Published in London, October 1, 1776 - -NORTH AMERICA AT THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH WARS, 1763 . . . . 278 - -GENERAL MURRAY, FIRST GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC . . . . . . . . . 280 - After the portrait by Ramsay. - -SETTLEMENTS ON THE DETROIT RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283 - From Parkman's _Conspiracy of Pontiac_. - -BOUQUET . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289 - After the portrait by West. - -RETURN OF THE ENGLISH CAPTIVES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291 - After the painting by West. - -MONTREAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293 - After a print in the New York Public Library. - -SAMUEL HEARNE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 297 - After an engraving published in 1796. - -GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301 - After the painting by Chappel. - -MAP OF QUEBEC DURING THE SIEGE OF CONGRESS TROOPS . . . . . 303 - -SIR GUY CARLETON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 307 - After an engraving in _The Political Magazine_, June, 1782. - -BENEDICT ARNOLD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309 - After the portrait by Tate. - -GENERAL HALDIMAND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311 - After the portrait by Reynolds. - -JOSEPH BRANT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 315 - After the portrait by Ames. - -LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SIMCOE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 316 - After an engraving in Scadding's _Toronto of Old_. - -CAPTAIN COOK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 - After the portrait by Dauce. - -FORT CHURCHILL AS IT WAS IN 1777 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 - After a print in the _European Magazine_, June, 1797. - -TOTEM POLES, BRITISH COLUMBIA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320 - From a photograph. - -CAPTAIN GEORGE VANCOUVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322 - After the portrait by Abbott. - -NOOTKA SOUND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 323 - From an engraving in Vancouver's _Journal_. - -FORT CHIPPEWYAN, ATHABASCA LAKE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325 - From a recent photograph. - -{xxv} - -ALEXANDER MACKENZIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327 - After the portrait by Lawrence. - -CAUSE OF A PORTAGE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329 - From a photograph. - -SIMON FRASER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 331 - From a likeness in Morice's _The History - of the Northern Interior of British Columbia_. - -ASTORIA IN 1813 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 - From a cut in Franchere's _Narrative of a Voyage_. - -MAP OF WEST COAST, SHOWING THE OGDEN AND ROSS - EXPLORATIONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332 - From Laut's _Conquest of the Great North West_. - -GENERAL SIR JAMES HENRY CRAIG, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, - 1807-1811 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 336 - After an engraving at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. - -WILLIAM HULL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 338 - After the portrait by Stuart, with autograph. - -MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS - ON THE DETROIT RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 340 - -MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS ON - THE NIAGARA FRONTIER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342 - -GENERAL BROCK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 345 - After a portrait in the possession of - J. A. Macdonell Esq., Alexandria, Ontario. - -BROCK MONUMENT, QUEENSTON HEIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . 347 - From a photograph. - -YORK (TORONTO) HARBOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 351 - From Bouchette's _British Dominions in North America_. - -FITZGIBBONS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357 - After a photograph reproduced in _Proceedings - and Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada_, 1900. - -LAURA SECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 361 - From _Ontario Historical Society Papers and Records_. - -TWO VIEWS OF THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE . . . . . . . . . . . 364 - From prints published in 1815 - -TECUMSEH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366 - After the drawing by Pierre Le Drie. - -DE SALABERRY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368 - After a portrait in Fannings Taylor's _Portraits of - British Americans_. - -SIR GORDON DRUMMOND . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 371 - After an engraving at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. - -MONUMENT AT LUNDY'S LANE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 375 - From a photograph. - -{xxvi} - -SELKIRK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 - From Ontario Archives Collection. - -NELSON AND HAYES RIVERS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 384 - From a map in Robson's _Hudson Bay_. - -FORT GARRY, RED RIVER SETTLEMENT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 387 - From Ross' _Red River Settlement_. - -FORT DOUGLAS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 388 - After an old engraving. - -SKETCH OF THE CITY OF WINNIPEG, SHOWING THE SITES - OF THE EARLY FORTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391 - From Manitoba Historical Society - -RED RIVER SETTLEMENT, 1816-1820 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 392 - After a map in Amos' _Report of the Trials Relative - to the Destruction of the Earl of Selkirk's Settlement_. - -MONUMENT TO COMMEMORATE THE MASSACRE OF SEVEN OAKS . . . . . 397 - After a sketch. - -TRACKING ON ATHABASCA RIVER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 401 - From a photograph. - -PLANS OF YORK AND PRINCE OF WALES FORTS . . . . . . . . . . 405 - From a plate in Robson's _Hudson Bay_. - -SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, GOVERNOR OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, 1820 406 - -JOHN MCLOUGHLIN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408 - After a likeness in Laut's _Conquest - of the Great Northwest_. - -SIR JOHN SHERBROOKE, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, 1816-1818 413 - After an engraving at Queen's University, - Kingston, Ontario. - -THE FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, - 1818-1819 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419 - After an engraving at Queen's University, - Kingston, Ontario. - -WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 421 - After a likeness in Lindsey's _Life and Times of Mackenzie_. - -ALLAN McNAB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 423 - After the portrait in the Speaker's Chambers, Ottawa. - -LOUIS J. PAPINEAU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428 - After a likeness in Fannings Taylor's _British Americans_. - -SIR JOHN COLBORNE, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, 1838-1841 . . 430 - After an engraving at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. - -LORD DURHAM, SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO CANADA, 1838 . . . . . 432 - After an engraving at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. - -JOHN A. MACDONALD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 435 - From a photograph. - -FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION, 1867 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436 - From the painting by Hariss. - - - - -CANADA - -THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH - - -CHAPTER I - -FROM 1000 TO 1600 - -Early voyages to America--Voyages of the Cabots--The French fisher -folk--Cartier's first voyage--Cartier's second voyage--Cartier's third -voyage--Marguerite Roberval - - -Who first found Canada? As many legends surround the beginnings of -empire in the North as cling to the story of early Rome. - -When Leif, son of Earl Eric, the Red, came down from Greenland with his -Viking crew, which of his bearded seamen in Arctic furs leaned over the -dragon prow for sight of the lone new land, fresh as if washed by the -dews of earth's first morning? Was it Thorwald, Leif's brother, or the -mother of Snorri, first white child born in America, who caught first -glimpse through the flying spray of Labrador's domed hills,--"Helluland, -place of slaty rocks"; and of Nova Scotia's wooded meadows,--"Markland"; -and Rhode Island's broken vine-clad shore,--"Vinland"? The question -cannot be answered. All is as misty concerning that Viking voyage as the -legends of old Norse gods. - -Leif, the Lucky, son of Earl Eric, the outlaw, coasts back to Greenland -with his bold sea-rovers. This was in the year 1000. - -For ten years they came riding southward in their rude-planked ships of -the dragon prow, those Norse adventurers; and Thorwald, Leif's brother, -is first of the pathfinders in America to lose his life in battle with -the "Skraelings" or Indians. Thornstein, another brother, sails south in -1005 with Gudrid, his wife; but a roaring nor'easter tears the piping {2} -sails to tatters, and Thornstein dies as his frail craft scuds before the -blast. Back comes Gudrid the very next year, with a new husband and a -new ship and two hundred colonists to found a kingdom in the "Land of the -Vine." At one place they come to rocky islands, where birds flock in -such myriads it is impossible to land without trampling nests. Were -these the rocky islands famous for birds in the St. Lawrence? On another -coast are fields of maize and forests entangled with grapevines. Was -this part of modern New England? On Vinland--wherever it was--Gudrid, -the Norse woman, disembarks her colonists. All goes well for three -years. Fish and fowl are in plenty. Cattle roam knee-deep in pasturage. -Indians trade furs for scarlet cloth and the Norsemen dole out their -barter in strips narrow as a little finger; but all beasts that roam the -wilds are free game to Indian hunters. The cattle begin to disappear, -the Indians to lurk armed along the paths to the water springs. The -woods are full of danger. Any bush may conceal painted foe. Men as well -as cattle lie dead with telltale arrow sticking from a wound. The -Norsemen begin to hate these shadowy, lonely, mournful forests. They -long for wild winds and trackless seas and open world. Fur-clad, what do -they care for the cold? Greenland with its rolling drifts is safer -hunting than this forest world. What glory, doomed prisoners between the -woods and the sea within the shadow of the great forests and a great -fear? The smell of wildwood things, of flower banks, of fern mold, came -dank and unwholesome to these men. Their {3} nostrils were for the whiff -of the sea; and every sunset tipped the waves with fire where they longed -to sail. And the shadow of the fear fell on Gudrid. Ordering the -vessels loaded with timber good for masts and with wealth of furs, she -gathered up her people and led them from the "Land of the Vine" back to -Greenland. - -[Illustration: VIKING SHIP RECENTLY DISCOVERED.] - -Where was Vinland? Was it Canada? The answer is unknown. It was south -of Labrador. It is thought to have been Rhode Island; but certainly, -passing north and south, the Norse were the first white men to see Canada. - - -Did some legend, dim as a forgotten dream, come down to Columbus in 1492 -of the Norsemen's western land? All sailors of Europe yearly fished in -Iceland. Had one of Columbus's crew heard sailor yarns of the new land? -If so, Columbus must have thought the new land part of Asia; for ever -since Marco Polo had come from China, Europe had dreamed of a way to Asia -by the sea. What with Portugal and Spain dividing the New World, all the -nations of Europe suddenly awakened to a passion for discovery. - -[Illustration: DIVISION OF THE NEW WORLD BETWEEN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.] - -There were still lands to the north, which Portugal and Spain had not -found,--lands where pearls and gold might abound. At Bristol in England -dwelt with his sons John Cabot, the Genoese master mariner, well -acquainted with Eastern-trade. Henry VII commissions him on a voyage of -discovery--an empty honor, the King to have one fifth of all profit, -Cabot to bear all expense. The _Matthew_ ships from Bristol with a crew -of eighteen in May of 1497. North and west sails the tumbling craft two -thousand miles. Colder grows the air, stiffer the breeze in the bellying -sails, till the _Matthew's_ crew are shivering on decks amid fleets of -icebergs that drift from Greenland in May and June. This is no realm of -spices and gold. Land looms through the mist the last week in June, {4} -rocky, surf-beaten, lonely as earth's ends, with never a sound but the -scream of the gulls and the moan of the restless water-fret along endless -white reefs. Not a living soul did the English sailors see. Weak in -numbers, disappointed in the rocky land, they did not wait to hunt for -natives. An English flag was hastily unfurled and possession taken of -this Empire of the North for England. The woods of America for the first -time rang to the chopper. Wood and water were taken on, and the -_Matthew_ had anchored in Bristol by the first week of August. Neither -gold nor a way to China had Cabot found; but he had accomplished three -things: he had found that the New World was not a part of Asia, as Spain -thought; he had found the continent itself; and he had given England the -right to claim new dominion. - -[Illustration: A TYPICAL "HOLE IN THE WALL" AT "KITTY VIDDY," NEAR ST. -JOHN'S, NEWFOUNDLAND] - -England went mad over Cabot. He was granted the title of admiral and -allowed to dress in silks as a nobleman. King Henry gave him 10 pounds, -equal to $500 of modern money, and a pension of 20 pounds, equal to $1000 -to-day. It is sometimes said that modern writers attribute an air of -romance to these old pathfinders, {5} which they would have scorned; but -"Zuan Cabot," as the people called him, wore the halo of glory with glee. -To his barber he presented an island kingdom; to a poor monk he gave a -bishopric. His son, Sebastian, sailed out the next year with a fleet of -six ships and three hundred men, coasting north as far as Greenland, -south as far as Carolina, so rendering doubly secure England's title to -the North, and bringing back news of the great cod banks that were to -lure French and Spanish and English fishermen to Newfoundland for -hundreds of years. - -[Illustration: SEBASTIAN CABOT] - -Where was Cabot's landfall? - -I chanced to be in Bonavista Bay, Newfoundland, shortly after the 400th -anniversary of Cabot's voyage. King's Cove, landlocked as a hole in a -wall, mountains meeting sky line, presented on one flat rock in letters -the size of a house claim that it was _here_ John Cabot sent his sailors -ashore to plant the flag on cairn of bowlders; but when I came back from -Newfoundland by way of Cape Breton, I found the same claim there. For -generations the tradition has been handed down from father to son among -Newfoundland fisher folk that as Cabot's vessel, pitching and rolling to -the tidal bore, came scudding into King's Cove, rock girt as an inland -lake, the sailors shouted "Bona Vista--Beautiful View"; but Cape Breton -has her legend, too. It was Cabot's report of the cod banks that brought -the Breton fishermen out, whose name Cape Breton bears. - -{6} As Christopher Columbus spurred England to action, so Cabot now -spurred Portugal and Spain and France. - -Gaspar Cortereal comes in 1500 from Portugal on Cabot's tracks to that -land of "slaty rocks" which the Norse saw long ago. The Gulf Stream -beats the iron coast with a boom of thunder, and the tide swirl meets the -ice drift; and it isn't a land to make a treasure hunter happy till there -wander down to the shore Montaignais Indians, strapping fellows, a head -taller than the tallest Portuguese. Cortereal lands, lures fifty savages -on board, carries them home as slaves for Portugal's galley ships, and -names the country--"land of laborers"--Labrador. He sailed again, the -next year; but never returned to Portugal. The seas swallowed his -vessel; or the tide beat it to pieces against Labrador's rocks; of those -Indians slaked their vengeance by cutting the throats of master and crew. - -And Spain was not idle. In 1513 Balboa leads his Spanish treasure -seekers across the Isthmus of Panama, discovers the Pacific, and realizes -what Cabot has already proved--that the New World is not a part of Asia. -Thereupon, in swelling words, he takes possession of "earth, air, and -water from the Pole Arctic to the Pole Antarctic" for Spain. A few years -later Magellan finds his way to Asia round South America; but this path -by sea is too long. - -From France, Normans and Bretons are following Cabot's tracks to -Newfoundland, to Labrador, to Cape Breton, "quhar men goeth a-fishing" in -little cockleshell boats no bigger than three-masted schooner, with -black-painted dories dragging in tow or roped on the rolling decks. -Absurd it is, but with no blare of trumpets or royal commissions, with no -guide but the wander spirit that lured the old Vikings over the rolling -seas, these grizzled peasants flock from France, cross the Atlantic, and -scatter over what were then chartless waters from the Gulf of St. -Lawrence to the Grand Banks. - -Just as they may be seen to-day bounding over the waves in their little -black dories, hauling in . . . hauling in the endless line, or jigging -for squid, or lying at ease at the noonday hour {7} singing some old land -ballad while the kettle of cod and pork boils above a chip fire kindled -on the stones used as ballast in their boats--so came the French fisher -folk three years after Cabot had discovered the Grand Banks. Denys of -Honfleur has led his fishing fleet all over the Gulf of St. Lawrence by -1506. So has Aubert of Dieppe. By 1517, fifty French vessels yearly -fish off the coast of New-Found-Land. By 1518 one Baron de Lery has -formed the project of colonizing this new domain; but the baron's ship -unluckily came from the Grand Banks to port on that circular bank of sand -known as Sable Island--from twenty to thirty miles as the tide shifts the -sand, with grass waist high and a swampy lake in the middle. The Baron -de Lery unloads his stock on Sable island and roves the sea for a better -port. - -The King of France, meanwhile, resents the Pope dividing the New World -between Spain and Portugal. "I should like to see the clause in Father -Adam's will that gives the whole earth to you," he sent word to his -brother kings. Verrazano, sea rover of Florence, is commissioned to -explore the New World seas; but Verrazano goes no farther north in 1524 -than Newfoundland, and when he comes on a second voyage he is lost--some -say hanged as a pirate by the Spaniards for intruding on their seas. - -In spite of the loss of the King's sea rover, the fisher folk of France -continue coming in their crazy little schooners, continue fishing in the -fogs of the Grand Banks from their rocking black-planked dories, continue -scudding for shelter from storm . . . here, there, everywhere; into the -south shore of Newfoundland; into the long arms of the sea at Cape -Breton, dyed at sundawn and sunset by such floods of golden light, these -arms of the sea become known as Bras d'Or Lakes--Lakes of Gold; into the -rock-girt lagoons of Gaspe; into the holes in the wall of Labrador . . .; -till there presently springs up a secret trade in furs between the -fishing fleet and the Indians. The King of France is not to be balked by -one failure. "What," he asked, "are my royal brothers to have _all_ -America?" Among the Bank fishermen were many sailors of St. Malo. -Jacques Cartier, master pilot, {8} now forty years of age, must have -learned strange yarns of the New World from harbor folk. Indeed, he may -have served as sailor on the Banks. Him the King chose, with one hundred -and twenty men and two vessels, in 1534, to go on a voyage of discovery -to the great sea where men fished. Cartier was to find if the sea led to -China and to take possession of the countries for France. Captain, -masters, men, march to the cathedral and swear fidelity to the King. The -vessels sail on April 20, with the fishing fleet. - -[Illustration: Jacques Cartier] - -Piping winds carry them forward at a clipper pace. The sails scatter and -disappear over the watery sky line. In twenty days Cartier is off that -bold headland with the hole in the wall called Bona Vista. Ice is -running as it always runs there in spring. What with wind and ice, -Cartier deems it prudent to look for shelter. Sheering south among the -scarps at Catalina, where the whales blow and the seals float in -thousands {9} on the ice pans, Cartier anchors to take on wood and water. -For ten days he watches the white whirl driving south. Then the water -clears and his sails swing to the wind, and he is off to the north, along -that steel-gray shore of rampart rock, between the white-slab islands and -the reefy coast. Birds are in such flocks off Funk Island that the men -go ashore to hunt, as the fisher folk anchor for bird shooting to-day. - -Higher rises the rocky sky line; barer the shore wall, with never a break -to the eye till you turn some jagged peak and come on one of those snug -coves where the white fisher hamlets now nestle. Reefs white as lace -fret line the coast. Lonely as death, bare as a block of marble, Gull -Island is passed where another crew in later years perish as castaways. -Gray finback whales flounder in schools. The lazy humpbacks lounge round -and round the ships, eyeing the keels curiously. A polar bear is seen on -an ice pan. Then the ships come to those lonely harbors north of -Newfoundland--Griguet and Quirpon and Ha-Ha-Bay, rock girt, treeless, -always windy, desolate, with an eternal moaning of the tide over the -fretful reefs. - -[Illustration: WHERE THE FISHER HAMLETS NOW NESTLE, NEWFOUNDLAND] - -{10} To the north, off a little seaward, is Belle Isle. Here, storm or -calm, the ocean tide beats with fury unceasing and weird reechoing of -baffled waters like the scream of lost souls. It was sunset when I was -on a coastal ship once that anchored off Belle Isle, and I realized how -natural it must have been for Cartier's superstitious sailors to mistake -the moan of the sea for wild cries of distress, and the smoke of the -spray for fires of the inferno. To French sailors Belle Isle became Isle -of Demons. In the half light of fog or night, as the wave wash rises and -falls, you can almost see white arms clutching the rock. - -As usual, bad weather caught the ships in Belle Isle Straits. Till the -9th of June brown fog held Cartier. When it lifted the tide had borne -his ships across the straits to Labrador at Castle Island, Chateau Bay. -Labrador was a ruder region than Newfoundland. Far as eye could scan -were only domed rocks like petrified billows, dank valleys moss-grown and -scrubby, hillsides bare as slate; "This land should not be called earth," -remarked Cartier. "It is flint! Faith, I think this is the region God -gave Cain!" If this were Cain's realm, his descendants were "men of -might"; for when the Montaignais, tall and straight as mast poles, came -down to the straits, Cartier's little scrub sailors thought them giants. -Promptly Cartier planted the cross and took possession of Labrador for -France. As the boats coasted westward the shore rock turned to -sand,--huge banks and drifts and hillocks of white sand,--so that the -place where the ships struck across for the south shore became known as -Blanc Sablon (White Sand). Squalls drove Cartier up the Bay of Islands -on the west shore of Newfoundland, and he was amazed to find this arm of -the sea cut the big island almost in two. Wooded mountains flanked each -shore. A great river, amber with forest mold, came rolling down a deep -gorge. But it was not Newfoundland Cartier had come to explore; it was -the great inland sea to the west, and to the west he sailed. - -July found him off another kind of coast--New Brunswick--forested and -rolling with fertile meadows. Down a broad shallow stream--the -Miramichi--paddled Indians waving furs {11} for trade; but wind -threatened a stranding in the shallows. Cartier turned to follow the -coast north. Denser grew the forests, broader the girths of the great -oaks, heavier the vines, hotter the midsummer weather. This was no land -of Cain. It was a new realm for France. While Cartier lay at anchor -north of the Miramichi, Indian canoes swarmed round the boats at such -close quarters the whites had to discharge a musket to keep the three -hundred savages from scrambling on decks. Two seamen then landed to -leave presents of knives and coats. The Indians shrieked delight, and, -following back to the ships, threw fur garments to the decks till -literally naked. On the 18th of July the heat was so intense that -Cartier named the waters Bay of Chaleur. Here were more Indians. At -first the women dashed to hiding in the woods, while the painted warriors -paddled out; but when Cartier threw more presents into the canoes, women -and children swarmed out singing a welcome. The Bay of Chaleur promised -no passage west, so Cartier again spread his sails to the wind and -coasted northward. The forests thinned. Towards Gaspe the shore became -rocky and fantastic. The inland sea led westward, but the season was far -advanced. It was decided to return and report to the King. Landing at -Gaspe on July 24, Cartier erected a cross thirty feet high with the words -emblazoned on a tablet, _Vive le Roi de France_. Standing about him were -the painted natives of the wilderness, one old chief dressed in black -bearskin gesticulating protest against the cross till Cartier explained -by signs that the whites would come again. Two savages were invited on -board. By accident or design, as they stepped on deck, their skiff was -upset and set adrift. The astonished natives found themselves in the -white men's power, but food and gay clothing allayed fear. They -willingly consented to accompany Cartier to France. Somewhere north of -Gaspe the smoke of the French fishing fleet was seen ascending from the -sea, as the fishermen rocked in their dories cooking the midday meal. - -August 9 prayers are held for safe return at Blanc Sablon,--port of the -white, white sand,--and by September 5 Cartier is {12} home in St. Malo, -a rabble of grizzled sailor folk chattering a welcome from the wharf -front. - -He had not found passage to China, but he had found a kingdom; and the -two Indians told marvelous tales of the Great River to the West, where -they lived, of mines, of vast unclaimed lands. - - -Cartier had been home only a month when the Admiral of France ordered him -to prepare for another voyage. He himself was to command the _Grand -Hermine_, Captain Jalobert the _Little Hermine_, and Captain Le Breton -the _Emerillon_. Young gentlemen adventurers were to accompany the -explorers. The ships were provisioned for two years; and on May 16, -1535, all hands gathered to the cathedral, where sins were confessed, the -archbishop's blessing received, and Cartier given a Godspeed to the music -of full choirs chanting invocation. Three days later anchors were -hoisted. Cannon boomed. Sails swung out; and the vessels sheered away -from the roadstead while cheers rent the air. - -Head winds held the ship back. Furious tempests scattered the fleet. It -was July 17 before Cartier sighted the gull islands of Newfoundland and -swung up north with the tide through the brown fogs of Belle Isle Straits -to the shining gravel of Blanc Sablon. Here he waited for the other -vessels, which came on the 26th. - -The two Indians taken from Gaspe now began to recognize the headlands of -their native country, telling Cartier the first kingdom along the Great -River was Saguenay, the second Canada, the third Hochelaga. Near Mingan, -Cartier anchored to claim the land for France; and he named the great -waters St. Lawrence because it was on that saint's day he had gone -ashore. The north side of Anticosti was passed, and the first of -September saw the three little ships drawn up within the shadow of that -somber gorge cut through sheer rock where the Saguenay rolls sullenly out -to the St. Lawrence. The mountains presented naked rock wall. Beyond, -rolling back . . . rolling back to an impenetrable wilderness . . . were -the primeval {13} forests. Through the canyon flowed the river, dark and -ominous and hushed. The men rowed out in small boats to fish but were -afraid to land. - -As the ships advanced up the St. Lawrence the seamen could scarcely -believe they were on a river. The current rolled seaward in a silver -flood. In canoes paddling shyly out from the north shore Cartier's two -Indians suddenly recognized old friends, and whoops of delight set the -echoes ringing. - -Keeping close to the north coast, russet in the September sun, Cartier -slipped up that long reach of shallows abreast a low-shored wooded island -so laden with grapevines he called it Isle Bacchus. It was the Island of -Orleans. - -Then the ships rounded westward, and there burst to view against the high -rocks of the north shore the white-plumed shimmering cataract of -Montmorency leaping from precipice to river bed with roar of thunder. - -Cartier had anchored near the west end of Orleans Island when there came -paddling out with twelve canoes, Donnacona, great chief of Stadacona, -whose friendship was won on the instant by the tales Cartier's Indians -told of France and all the marvels of the white man's world. - -Cartier embarked with several young officers to go back with the chief; -and the three vessels were cautiously piloted up little St. Charles -River, which joins the St. Lawrence below the modern city of Quebec. -Women dashed to their knees in water to welcome ashore these gayly -dressed newcomers with the gold-braided coats and clanking swords. -Crossing the low swamp, now Lower Town, Quebec, the adventurers followed -a path through the forest up a steep declivity of sliding stones to the -clear high table-land above, and on up the rolling slopes to the airy -heights of Cape Diamond overlooking the St. Lawrence like the turret of -some castle above the sea. Did a French soldier, removing his helmet to -wipe away the sweat of his arduous climb, cry out "Que bec" (What a -peak!) as he viewed the magnificent panorama of river and valley and -mountain rolling from his feet; or did their Indian guide point to the -water of the river narrowing like {14} a strait below the peak, and -mutter in native tongue, "Quebec" (The strait)? Legend gives both -explanations of the name. To the east Cartier could see far down the -silver flood of the St. Lawrence halfway to Saguenay; to the south, far -as the dim mountains of modern New Hampshire. What would the King of -France have thought if he could have realized that his adventurers had -found a province three times the size of England, one third larger than -France, one third larger than Germany? And they had as yet reached only -one small edge of Canada, namely Quebec. - -Heat haze of Indian summer trembled over the purple hills. Below, the -river quivered like quicksilver. In the air was the nutty odor of dried -grasses, the clear tang of coming frosts crystal to the taste as water; -and if one listened, almost listened to the silence, one could hear above -the lapping of the tide the far echo of the cataract. To Cartier the -scene might have been the airy fabric of some dream world; but out of -dreams of earth's high heroes are empires made. - - -But the Indians had told of that other kingdom, Hochelaga. Hither -Cartier had determined to go, when three Indians dressed as devils--faces -black as coals, heads in masks, brows adorned with elk horns--came -gyrating and howling out of the woods on the mountain side, making wild -signals to the white men encamped on the St. Charles. Cartier's -interpreters told him this was warning from the Indian god not to ascend -the river. The god said Hochelaga was a realm of snow, where all white -men would perish. It was a trick to keep the white men's trade for -themselves. - -Cartier laughed. - -"Tell them their god is an old fool," he said. "Christ is to be our -guide." - -The Indians wanted to know if Cartier had spoken to his God about it. - -"No," answered Cartier. Then, not to be floored, he added, "but my -priest has." - -{15} With three cheers, fifty young gentlemen sheered out on September 19 -from the St. Charles on the _Emerillon_ to accompany Cartier to Hochelaga. - -[Illustration: ANCIENT HOCHELAGA. (From Ramusio)] - -Beyond Quebec the St. Lawrence widened like a lake. September frosts had -painted the maples in flame. Song birds, the glory of the St. Lawrence -valley, were no longer to be heard, but the waters literally swarmed with -duck and the forests were alive with partridge. Where to-day nestle -church spires and whitewashed hamlets were the birch wigwams and night -camp fires of Indian hunters. Wherever Cartier went ashore, Indians -rushed knee-deep to carry him from the river; and one old chief at -Richelieu signified his pleasure by presenting the whites with two Indian -children. Zigzagging leisurely, now along the north shore, now along the -south, pausing to hunt, pausing to explore, pausing to powwow with the -Indians, the adventurers came, on September 28, to the reedy shallows and -breeding grounds of wild fowl at Lake St. Peter. Here they were so close -ashore the _Emerillon_ caught her keel in the weeds, and the explorers -left her aground under guard and went forward in rowboats. - -{16} "Was this the way to Hochelaga?" the rowers asked Indians paddling -past. - -"Yes, three more sleeps," the Indians answered by the sign of putting the -face with closed eyes three times against their hand; "three more nights -would bring Cartier to Hochelaga"; and on the night of the 2d of October -the rowboats, stopped by the rapids, pulled ashore at Hochelaga amid a -concourse of a thousand amazed savages. - -It was too late to follow the trail through the darkening forest to the -Indian village. Cartier placed the soldiers in their burnished armor on -guard and spent the night watching the council fires gleam from the -mountain. And did some soldier standing sentry, watching the dark shadow -of the hill creep longer as the sun went down, cry out, "Mont Royal," so -that the place came to be known as Montreal? - -At peep of dawn, while the mist is still smoking up from the river, -Cartier marshals twenty seamen with officers in military line, and, to -the call of trumpet, marches along the forest trail behind Indian guides -for the tribal fort. Following the river, knee-deep in grass, the French -ascend the hill now known as Notre Dame Street, disappear in the hollow -where flows a stream,--modern Craig Street,--then climb steeply through -the forests to the plain now known as the great thoroughfare of -Sherbrooke Street. Halfway up they come on open fields of maize or -Indian corn. Here messengers welcome them forward, women singing, -tom-tom beating, urchins stealing fearful glances through the woods. The -trail ends at a fort with triple palisades of high trees, walls separated -by ditches and roofed for defense, with one carefully guarded narrow -gate. Inside are fifty large wigwams, the oblong bark houses of the -Huron-Iroquois, each fifty feet long, with the public square in the -center, or what we would call the courtyard. - -It needs no trick of fancy to call up the scene--the winding of the -trumpet through the forest silence, the amazement of the Indian drummers, -the arrested frenzy of the dancers, the sunrise turning burnished armor -to fire, the clanking of swords, {17} the wheeling of the soldiers as -they fall in place, helmets doffed, round the council fire! Women swarm -from the long houses. Children come running with mats for seats. -Bedridden, blind, maimed are carried on litters, if only they may touch -the garments of these wonderful beings. One old chief with skin like -crinkled leather and body gnarled with woes of a hundred years throws his -most precious possession, a headdress, at Cartier's feet. - -Poor Cartier is perplexed. He can but read aloud from the Gospel of St. -John and pray Christ heal these supplicants. Then he showers presents on -the Indians, gleeful as children--knives and hatchets and beads and tin -mirrors and little images and a crucifix, which he teaches them to kiss. -Again the silver trumpet peals through the aisled woods. Again the -swords clank, and the adventurers take their way up the mountain--a Mont -Royal, says Cartier. - -The mountain is higher than the one at Quebec. Vaster the view--vaster -the purple mountains, the painted forests, the valleys bounded by a sky -line that recedes before the explorer as the rainbow runs from the grasp -of a child. This is not Cathay; it is a New France. Before going back -to Quebec the adventurers follow a trail up the St. Lawrence far enough -to see that Lachine Rapids bar progress by boat; far enough, too, to see -that the Gaspe Indians had spoken truth when they told of another grand -river--the Ottawa--coming in from the north. - - -By the 11th of October Cartier is at Quebec. His men have built a -palisaded fort on the banks of the St. Charles. The boats are beached. -Indians scatter to their far hunting grounds. Winter sets in. Canadian -cold is new to these Frenchmen. They huddle indoors instead of keeping -vigorous with exercise. Ice hangs from the dismantled masts. Drifts -heap almost to top of palisades. Fear of the future falls on the crew. -Will they ever see France again? Then scurvy breaks out. The fort is -prostrate. Cartier is afraid to ask aid of the wandering Indians lest -they learn his weakness. To keep up show of strength he has his men fire -off muskets, batter the fort walls, march and drill and {18} tramp and -stamp, though twenty-five lie dead and only four are able to keep on -their feet. The corpses are hidden in snowdrifts or crammed through ice -holes in the river with shot weighted to their feet. - -In desperation Cartier calls on all the saints in the Christian calendar. -He erects a huge crucifix and orders all, well and ill, out in -procession. Weak and hopeless, they move across the snows chanting -psalms. That night one of the young noblemen died. Toward spring an -Indian was seen apparently recovering from the same disease. Cartier -asked him what had worked the cure and learned of the simple remedy of -brewed spruce juice. - -By the time the Indians came from the winter hunt Cartier's men were in -full health. Up at Hochelaga a chief had seized Cartier's gold-handled -dagger and pointed up the Ottawa whence came ore like the gold handle. -Failing to carry any minerals home, Cartier felt he must have witnesses -to his report. The boats are rigged to sail, Chief Donnacona and eleven -others are lured on board, surrounded, forcibly seized, and treacherously -carried off to France. May 6, 1536, the boats leave Quebec, stopping -only for water at St. Pierre, where the Breton fishermen have huts. July -16 they anchor at St. Malo. - - -Did France realize that Cartier had found a new kingdom? Not in the -least; but the home land gave heed to that story of minerals, and had the -kidnapped Indians baptized. Donnacona and all his fellow-captives but -the little girl of Richelieu die, and Sieur de Roberval is appointed lord -paramount of Canada to equip Cartier with five vessels and scour the -jails of France for colonists. Though the colonists are convicts, the -convicts are not criminals. Some have been convicted for their religion, -some for their politics. What with politics and war, it is May, 1541, -before the ships sail, and then Roberval has to wait another year for his -artillery, while Cartier goes ahead to build the forts. - -From the first, things go wrong. Head winds prolong the passage for -three months. The stock on board is reduced to a diet of cider, and half -the cattle die. Then the Indians of Quebec {19} ask awkward questions -about Donnacona. Cartier flounders midway between truth and lie. -Donnacona had died, he said; as for the others, they have become as white -men. Agona succeeds Donnacona as chief. Agona is so pleased at the news -that he gives Cartier a suit of buckskin garnished with wampum, but the -rest of the Indians draw off in such resentment that Cartier deems it -wise to build his fort at a distance, and sails nine miles up to Cape -Rouge, where he constructs Bourg Royal. Noel, his nephew, and Jalobert, -his brother-in-law, take two ships back to France. While Cartier roams -exploring, Beaupre commands Bourg Royal. - -In his roamings, ever with his eyes to earth for minerals, he finds -stones specked with mica, and false diamonds, whence the height above -Quebec is called Cape Diamond. It is enough. The crews spend the year -loading the ships with cargo of worthless stones, and set sail in May, -high of hope for wealth great as Spaniard carried from Peru. June 8 the -ships slip in to St. John's, Newfoundland, for water. Seventeen fishing -vessels rock to the tide inside the landlocked lagoon, and who comes -gliding up the Narrows of the harbor neck but Viceroy Roberval, mad with -envy when he hears of the diamond cargoes! He breaks the head of a -Portuguese or two among the fishing fleet and forthwith orders Cartier -back to Quebec. - -Cartier shifts anchor from too close range of Roberval's guns and says -nothing. At dead of night he slips anchor altogether and steals away on -the tide, with only one little noiseless sail up on each ship through the -dark Narrows. Once outside, he spreads his wings to the wind and is off -for France. The diamonds prove worthless, but Cartier receives a title -and retires to a seigneurial mansion at St. Malo. - -The episode did not improve Roberval's temper. The new Viceroy was a -soldier and a martinet, and his authority had been defied. With his two -hundred colonists, taken from the prisons of France, commanded by young -French officers,--a Lament and a La Salle among others,--he proceeded up -the coast of Newfoundland to enter the St. Lawrence by Belle Isle. {20} -Among his people were women, and Roberval himself was accompanied by a -niece, Marguerite, who had the reputation of being a bold horsewoman and -prime favorite with the grandees who frequented her uncle's castle. -Perhaps Roberval had brought her to New France to break up her attachment -for a soldier. Or the Viceroy may have been entirely ignorant of the -romance, but, anchored off Belle Isle,--Isle of Demons,--the angry -governor made an astounding discovery. The girl had a lover on board, a -common soldier, and the two openly defied his interdict. Coming after -Cartier's defection, the incident was oil to fire with Roberval. Sailors -were ordered to lower the rowboat. One would fain believe that the -tyrannical Viceroy offered the high-spirited girl at least the choice of -giving up her lover. She was thrust into the rowboat with a faithful old -Norman nurse. Four guns and a small supply of provisions were tossed to -the boat. The sailors were then commanded to row ashore and abandon her -on Isle of Demons. The soldier lover leaped over decks and swam through -the surf to share her fate. - -Isle of Demons, with its wailing tides and surf-beaten reefs, is a -desolate enough spot in modern days when superstitions do not add to its -terrors. The wind pipes down from The Labrador in fairest weather with -weird voices as of wailing ghosts, and in winter the shores of Belle Isle -never cease to echo to the hollow booming of the pounding surf. - -Out of driftwood the castaways constructed a hut. Fish were in plenty, -wild fowl offered easy mark, and in springtime the ice floes brought down -the seal herds. There was no lack of food, but rescue seemed forever -impossible; for no fishing craft would approach the demon-haunted isle. -A year passed, two years,--a child was born. The soldier lover died of -heartbreak and despondency. The child wasted away. The old nurse, too, -was buried. Marguerite was left alone to fend for herself and hope -against hope that some of the passing sails would heed her signals. No -wonder at the end of the third year she began to hear shrieking laughter -in the lonely cries of tide and wind, and to imagine that she saw -fiendish arms snatching through the spume of storm drift. - -{21} Towards the fall of 1545, one calm day when spray for the once did -not hide the island, some fishermen in the straits noticed the smoke of a -huge bonfire ascending from Isle Demons. Was it a trick of the fiends to -lure men to wreck, or some sailors like themselves signaling distress? - -The boat drew fearfully near and nearer. A creature in the strange -attire of skins from wild beasts ran down the rocks, signaling -frantically. It was a woman. Terrified and trembling, the sailors -plucked up courage to land. Then for the first time Marguerite -Roberval's spirit gave way. She could not speak; she seemed almost -bereft of reason. It was only after the fishermen had nourished her back -to semblance of womanhood that they drew from her the story. On -returning to France, Marguerite Roberval entered a convent. It was there -an old court friend of her chateau days sought her out and heard the tale -from her own lips. - -[Illustration: THE "DAUPHIN MAP" OF CANADA, _CIRCA_ 1543, SHOWING -CARTIER'S DISCOVERIES] - -{22} A colony begun under such ill omen was not likely to prosper. -Roberval had proceeded to Cape Rouge, where he landed in July, and before -winter had a respectable fort constructed. Fifty of his colonists died -of scurvy. As many as six were hanged in a single day for -insubordination, and the whipping post became the emblem of an authority -that trembled in the balance. Roberval, in troth, was not thinking of -the colony. He was thinking of those minerals which the Indians said -were at the head waters of the Saguenay. Leaving thirty women at the -fort, he ascended the Saguenay with seventy men in spring and explored as -far as Lake St. John, where the village of Roberval commemorates his -feat; but he found no minerals and lost eight men running rapids. When -Cartier came out in 1543, Roberval took the remaining colonists home, a -profoundly embittered man. Legend has it that he either perished on a -second voyage in 1549, or was assassinated in Paris. - -So falls the curtain on the first attempt to colonize Canada. - - - - -{23} - -CHAPTER II - -FROM 1600 TO 1607 - -English voyages to North America--Sir Humphrey Gilbert--Henry -Hudson--Champlain's first voyage--Founding of Ste. Croix--The colonists -in Acadia - - -The second attempt to plant a French colony in the New World was more -disastrous than the first. - -Though my Lord Roberval fails, the French fishing vessels continue to -bound over the billows of the Atlantic to the New World. By 1578 there -are a hundred and fifty French fishing vessels off Newfoundland alone. -The fishing folk engage in barter. Cartier's heirs ask for a monopoly of -the fur trade in Canada, but the grant is so furiously opposed by the -merchants of the coast towns that it is revoked until the Marquis de la -Roche, who had been a page at the French court, again obtains monopoly, -with many high-sounding titles as Governor, and the added obligation that -he must colonize the new land. What with wars and court intrigue, it is -1598 before the Governor of Canada is ready to sail. Of his two hundred -people taken from jails, all but sixty have obtained their freedom by -paying a ransom. With these sixty La Roche follows the fishing fleet out -to the Grand Banks, then rounds southwestward for milder clime, where he -may winter his people. - -Straight across the ship's course lies the famous sand bank, the -graveyard of the Atlantic,--what the old navigators called "the dreadful -isle,"--Sable Island. The sea lies placid as glass between the crescent -horns of the long, low reefs,--thirty miles from horn to horn, with never -a tree to break the swale of the grass waist-high. - -The marquis lands his sixty colonists to fish for supplies, while he goes -on with the crew to find place for settlement. - -Barely has the topsail dipped over the watery sky before breakers begin -to thunder on the sand reefs. Air and earth lash to fury. Sails are -torn from the ship of the marquis. His {24} masts go overboard, and the -vessel is driven, helpless as a chip in a maelstrom, clear back to the -ports of France. Here double misfortune awaits La Roche. His old -patrons of the court are no longer powerful. He is thrown in prison by a -rival baron. - -In vain the colonists strain tired eyes for a sail at sea. Days become -weeks, weeks months, summer autumn; and no boat came back. As winter -gales assailed the sea, sending the sand drifting like spray, the -convicts built themselves huts out of driftwood, and scooped beds for -themselves in the earth like rabbit burrows. Of food there was plenty. -The people had their fishing lines; and the stock, left by the Baron de -Lery long ago, had multiplied and now overran the island. Wild fowl, -too, teemed on the inland lake; and foxes, which must have drifted ashore -on the ice float of spring, ran wild through the sedge. - -Like Robinson Crusoe cast on a desert isle, the desperate people fought -their fate. Traps were set for the foxes, snares for the birds, and -scouts kept tramping from end to end of the island for sight of a sail. -Racked with despair and anxiety, these outcasts of civilization soon fell -to bitter quarreling. Traps were found rifled. Dead men lay beside the -looted traps; and, doubtless, not a few men lost their lives in spring -when the ice floes drifted down with the seal herds, and the men gave mad -chase from ice pan to ice pan for seal pelts to make clothing. Spring -wore to summer. The graves on the sand banks increased. For a second -winter the dreary snowfall wrapped the island in a mantle white as death -sheet. Then came the same weary monotony,--the frenzied seal hunt over -the blood-stained floes; the long summer days with the drone of the tide -on the sand banks; the men mad with hope at sight of a sail peak over the -far wave tops, only to be plunged in despair as the fisher boat passed -too far for signal; the fading of the grasses to russet in the sad autumn -light; then snowfall again--and despair. - -Five years passed before La Roche could aid his people; and the pilot who -went to their rescue won himself immortal contempt by robbing the -castaways of their furs. Word of the {25} rescue came to the ears of the -court. Royalty commanded the refugees brought before the throne. Only -twelve had survived, and these marched before the royal presence clothed -in the skins of seals, hair unkempt, beards to mid-waist, "like river -gods of yore," says the old record. The King was so touched that he -commanded fifty crowns given to each man and the stolen furs restored. -La Roche died of chagrin. - - -While France is trying to colonize Canada, England has not forgotten that -John Cabot first coasted these northern shores and erected the English -flag. - -[Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH] - -About the time that Marguerite Roberval was left alone on Isle Demons, -two boys--half-brothers--were playing on the sands of the English -Channel, sailing toy boats and listening to sailor yarns of loot on the -Spanish Main. One was Humphrey Gilbert; the other, Walter Raleigh. -These two were destined to lead England's first colonies to America. - -Martin Frobisher had already poked the prows of English ships into the -icy straits of Greenland waters, seeking way to {26} China. He had come -out with a fleet of fifteen sails and one hundred mariners in 1578 to -found colonies, but was led away by the lure of "fool's gold." Loading -his vessels with worthless rocks which he believed contained gold enough -"to suffice all the gold gluttons of the world," he sailed back to -England without leaving the trace of a colony. Francis Drake, the very -same year, had for the first time plowed an English furrow around the -seas of the world, chasing Spanish treasure boats up the west coast of -South America and loading his own vessel with loot to the water line. -Afraid to go back the way he had come, round South America, where all the -Spanish frigates lay in wait to catch him, Drake pushed on up the west -coast as far as California, and landing, took possession of what he -called "New Albion" for Queen Elizabeth. But still no colony had been -planted for England. - -[Illustration: THE BOYHOOD OF GILBERT AND RALEIGH. (From the painting by -Sir John Millais)] - -Gilbert and Raleigh, the two half-brothers, were both zealous for glory. -Both stood high in court favor. Both had fought for Queen Elizabeth in -the wars. Gilbert had fame as seaman and geographer. He asks for the -privilege of founding England's first colony. The Queen will incur no -expense. Gilbert and Raleigh and their friends will fit out the vessels. -Elizabeth deeds to Gilbert all that old domain discovered by John Cabot, -reserving only one fifth of the minerals he may find; and she sends him a -present of a golden anchor as a Godspeed. June 11, 1583, Sir Humphrey -sets sail with a fleet of three splendid merchantmen, fitted out as -men-of-war, and two heavily armed little frigates. The crews number -three hundred and sixty men, but they are for the most part impressed -seamen and riotous. The fleet is only well away when the biggest of the -merchantmen signals that plague has broken out, and flees back to -England. Later, as fog hides the boats from one another, the pirate crew -on board the little frigate _Swallow_ run down an English fisherman on -the Grand Banks, board her, and at bayonet point loot the schooner from -stem to stern. When the ships lower sail to come in on the tide through -the long Narrows, to the rock-girt harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, -{27} the hundreds of fishing vessels lying at anchor there object to the -pirate _Swallow_; but Sir Humphrey reads his commission from the Queen, -and the fishing fleet roars a welcome that sets the rocks ringing. -Sunday, August 4, the next day after entering, Biscayans and French and -Portuguese and English send their new Governor tribute in -provisions,--fish from the English, marmalade and wines and spices from -the foreigners. The admiral gives a feast to the master mariners each -week he is in port, and entertains--as the old record says--"right -bountifully." Wandering round the rocky harbor, up the high cliff to the -left where remnants of an old fortress may be seen to-day, along the -circular hills to the right where the fishing stages cover the water -front, Gilbert's men find "fool's gold," rock with specks of iron and -mica. Daniel, the refiner of metals, declares it is a rich specimen of -silver. The find goes to Sir Humphrey's head. He sees himself a second -Francis Drake, ships crammed with gold. When the captains of the other -vessels in his fleet would see the treasure, he answers: "Content -yourselves! It is enough! I have seen it but I would have no speech -made of it in harbor; for the Portuguese and {28} Biscayans and French -might learn of it. We shall soon return hither again." - -[Illustration: SIR HUMPHREY GILBERT] - -Many of the men are in ill health. Gilbert decides to send the invalids -home in the _Swallow_; but he transfers the bold pirate crew of that -frigate to the big ship _Delight_, which carries provisions for the -colony. While planning to make St. John's the headquarters of his new -kingdom, Sir Humphrey wishes to explore those regions where Cartier had -gone and whence the fishing schooners bring such wealth in furs. - -August 20 the remainder of his fleet rounds out of St. John's south west -for the Gulf of St. Lawrence,--the _Delight_ with the provisions, the -_Golden Hinde_ with the majority of the people, the little frigate -_Squirrel_ weighted down by artillery stores but under command of Gilbert -himself, because the smaller ship can run close ashore to explore. To -keep up the spirits of the men, there is much merrymaking. Becalmed off -Cape Breton, Sir Humphrey visits the big ship _Delight_, where the -trumpets and the drums and the pipes and the cornets reel off wild sailor -jigs. "There was," says the old record, "little watching for danger." -Wednesday, August 26, the sounding line forewarned the reefs of Sable -Island. Breakers were sighted. The _Delight_ signaled that her captain -wanted to shift southwest to deeper water, but Gilbert wanted to enter -the St. Lawrence and signaled back to go on northwest. That night a -storm raged. The provision ship ran full tilt into the sand banks of -Sable Island, and was battered into chips before the other ships could -come to rescue. All supplies were lost and all the pirate crew perished -but sixteen, who jumped into the pinnace dragging astern, and, with only -one oar, half punted, half drifted for seven days till the wave wash -carried them to the shores of Newfoundland. There they were picked up by -a fishing vessel. - -With provisions gone, Sir Humphrey Gilbert's colony was doomed. He must -turn back. Saturday, August 31, they reversed the course. When halfway -across the Atlantic the admiral rowed from the little _Squirrel_ across -to the _Golden Hinde_ to have a lame foot treated by the surgeon. "Cheer -{29} up," he urged the men. "Next year her Majesty will loan me 1000 -pounds, and we shall come again." - -[Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH] - -As storm was gathering, the men begged him to remain on the larger ship, -but Gilbert refused to leave the sailors of the _Squirrel_. The frigate -was as safe for him as for them, he said. Some one called his attention -to the fact that the frigate was overweighted with cannon. Gilbert -laughed all danger to scorn. Soon afterwards the waves began to break -short and high--a dangerous sea for a small, overweighted ship. It had -been arranged that both ships should swing lanterns fore and aft to keep -each other in sight at night. On the night of September 9 a -phosphorescent light was seen to gleam above the mainmast of the -_Squirrel_,--certain sign to the superstitious sailors of dire disaster; -but when the _Hinde_ slackened speed, and the great waves threw the -vessels almost together, there was Sir Humphrey sitting aloft, book in -hand, shouting out, "We are as near Heaven by sea as by land." The -_Hinde_ fell to the rear. The _Squirrel_ led away, her stern lanterns -lighting a trail across the shiny dark of the tempestuous billows. -Suddenly, at midnight, the guiding {30} light was lost. The _Squirrel's_ -stern lanterns were seen to descend the pitching trough of a mountain -wave, and when the wall of water fell, no light came up. Down into the -abyss the little craft had plunged, never to rise again, carrying -explorer, treasure hunters, colonists, to a watery grave. - -It may be added that the disaster took place halfway across the ocean, -and not off Newfoundland, as the ballad relates. - - -But for all this misfortune, England did not desist. The very next year -Raleigh, who had played on the sands with Humphrey Gilbert, sends out his -colonists to the Roanoke, and lays the foundations for the beginning of -empire in the Southern States. English sailors explore Cape Cod. Ten -years after Frobisher had brought home his cargo of worthless stones from -Labrador, Davis, the master mariner, is out exploring the waters west of -Greenland; and Henry Hudson, the English pilot who had discovered Hudson -River, New York, for the Dutch, is retained by the English in 1610 to -explore those waters west of Greenland where both Frobisher and Davis -reported open passage. - -It is midsummer of 1610 when Hudson enters Hudson Straits. The ice jam -of Ungava Bay, Labrador, has almost torn his ships' timbers apart and has -set fear shivering like an aspen leaf among the crew. Old Juett, the -mate, rages openly at Hudson for venturing such a frail ship on such a -sea; but when the ship anchors at the west end of Hudson Straits, five -hundred miles from the Atlantic, there opens to view another sea,--a sea -large as the Mediterranean, that, like the Mediterranean, may lead to -another world. It is as dangerous to go back as forward; and forward -Hudson sails, southwestward for that sea Drake had cruised off -California, the old mate's mutiny rumbling beneath decks like a volcano. -South, southwestward, seven hundred miles sails Hudson, past the high -rocks and airy cataracts of Richmond Gulf, past silence like the realms -of death, on down where Hudson Bay rounds into James Bay and the shallows -plainly show this is no way to a western sea, but a blind inlet, -bowlder-strewn and muddy as swamps. - -{31} - -[Illustration: AT EASTERN ENTRANCE TO HUDSON STRAITS] - -When the ship runs aground and all hands must out to waist in ice water -to pull her ashore as the tide comes in, Juett's rage bursts all bounds. -As they toil, snow begins to fall. They are winter bound and storm bound -in an unknown land. Half the crew are in open mutiny; the other half -build winter quarters and range the woods of James Bay for game. Of game -there is plenty, but the rebels refuse to hunt. A worthless lad named -Green, whom Hudson had picked off the streets of London, turns traitor -and talebearer, fomenting open quarrels till the commander threatens he -will hang to the yardarm the first man guilty of disobedience. So passes -the sullen winter. Provisions are short when the ship weighs anchor for -England in June of 1611. With tears in his eyes, Hudson hands out the -last rations. Ice blocks the way. Delay means starvation. If the crew -were only half as large, Henry Green whispers to the mutineers, there -would be food enough for passage home. The ice floes clear, the sails -swing rattling to the breeze, but as Hudson steps on deck, the mutineers -leap upon him like wolves. He is bound and thrown into the rowboat. -With him are thrust his son and {32} eight others of the crew. The rope -is cut, the rowboat jerks back adrift, and Hudson's vessel, manned by -mutineers, drives before the wind. A few miles out, the mutineers lower -sails to rummage for food. The little boat with the castaways is seen -coming in pursuit. Guilt-haunted, the crew out with all sails and flee -as from avenging ghosts. So passes Henry Hudson from the ken of all men, -though Indian legend on the shores of Hudson Bay to this day maintains -that the castaways landed north of Rupert and lived among the savages. - -[Illustration: HUDSON COAT OF ARMS] - -Not less disastrous were English efforts than French to colonize the New -World. Up to 1610 Canada's story is, in the main, a record of blind -heroism, dogged courage, death that refused to acknowledge defeat. - - -Four hundred French vessels now yearly come to reap the harvest of the -sea; in and out among the fantastic rocks of Gaspe, pierced and pillared -and scooped into caves by the wave wash, where fisher boats reap other -kind of harvest, richer than the silver harvest of the sea,--harvest of -beaver, and otter, and marten; up the dim amber waters of the Saguenay, -within the shadow of the somber gorge, trafficking baubles of bead and -red print for furs, precious furs. Pontgrave, merchant prince, comes out -with fifty men in 1600, and leaves sixteen at Tadoussac, ostensibly as -colonists, really as wood lopers to scatter through the forests and learn -the haunts of the Indians. Pontgrave comes back for men and furs in -1601, and comes again in 1603 with two vessels, accompanied by a soldier -of fortune from the French court, who acts as geographer,--Samuel -Champlain, now in his thirty-sixth year, with service in war to his -credit and a journey across Spanish America. - -{33} The two vessels are barely as large as coastal schooners; but -shallow draft enables them to essay the Upper St. Lawrence far as Mount -Royal, where Cartier had voyaged. Of the palisaded Indian fort not a -vestige remains. War or plague has driven the tribe westward, but it is -plain to the court geographer that, in spite of former failures, this -land of rivers like lakes, and valleys large as European kingdoms, is fit -for French colonists. - -[Illustration: THE FANTASTIC ROCKS OF GASPE] - -When Champlain returns to France the King readily grants to Sieur de -Monts a region roughly defined as anywhere between Pennsylvania and -Labrador, designated Acadia. This region Sieur de Monts is to colonize -in return for a monopoly of the fur trade. When other traders complain, -De Monts quiets them by letting them all buy shares in the venture. With -him are associated as motley a throng of treasure seekers as ever -stampeded for gold. There is Samuel Champlain, the court geographer; -there is Pontgrave, the merchant prince, on a separate {34} vessel with -stores for the colonists. Pontgrave is to attend especially to the fur -trading. There are the Baron de Poutrincourt and his young son, -Biencourt, and other noblemen looking for broader domains in the New -World; and there are the usual riffraff of convicts taken from dungeons. -Priests go to look after the souls of the Catholics, Huguenot ministers -to care for the Protestants, and so valiantly do these dispute with -tongues and fists that the sailors threaten to bury them in the same -grave to see if they can lie at peace in death. - -[Illustration: SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN] - -Before the boats sight Acadia, it is early summer of 1604. Pontgrave -leaves stores with De Monts and sails on up to Tadoussac. De Monts -enters the little bay of St. Mary's, off the northwest corner of Nova -Scotia, and sends his people ashore to explore. - -Signs of minerals they seek, rushing pellmell through the woods, gleeful -as boys out of school. The forest is pathless and dense with June -undergrowth, shutting out the sun and all sign of direction. The company -scatters. Priest Aubry, more used to the cobble pavement of Paris than -to the tangle of ferns, grows fatigued and drinks at a fresh-water rill. -Going in the direction of his comrades' voices, he suddenly realizes that -he has left his sword at the spring. The priest hurries back for the -sword, loses his companions' voices, and when he would return, finds that -he is hopelessly lost. The last shafts of {35} sunlight disappear. The -chill of night settles on the darkening woods. The priest shouts till he -is hoarse and fires off his pistol; but the woods muffle all sound but -the scream of the wild cat or the uncanny hoot of the screech owl. Aubry -wanders desperately on and on in the dark, his cassock torn to tatters by -the brushwood, his way blocked by the undisturbed windfall of countless -ages, . . . on and on, . . . till gray dawn steals through the forest and -midday wears to a second night. - -Back at the boat were wild alarm and wilder suspicions. Could the -Huguenots, with whom Aubry had battled so violently, have murdered him? -De Monts scouted the notion as unworthy, but the suspicion clung in spite -of fiercest denials. All night cannon were fired from the vessel and -bonfires kept blazing on shore; but two or three days passed, and the -priest did not come. - -De Monts then sails on up the Bay of Fundy, which he calls French Bay, -and by the merest chance sheers through an opening eight hundred feet -wide to the right and finds himself in the beautiful lakelike Basin of -Annapolis, broad chough to harbor all the French navy, with a shore line -of wooded meadows like home-land parks. Poutrincourt is so delighted, he -at once asks for an estate here and names the domain Port Royal. - -On up Fundy Bay sails De Monts, Samuel Champlain ever leaning over decks, -making those maps and drawings which have come down from that early -voyage. The tides carry to a broad river on the north side. It is St. -John's Day. They call the river St. John, and wander ashore, looking -vainly for more minerals. Westward is another river, known to-day as the -Ste. Croix, the boundary between Maine and New Brunswick. Dochet Island -at its mouth seems to offer what to a soldier is an ideal site. A fort -here could command either Fundy Bay or the upland country, which Indians -say leads back to the St. Lawrence. Thinking more of fort than farms, De -Monts plants his colony on Ste. Croix River, on an island composed mainly -of sand and rock. - -While workmen labor to erect a fort on the north side, the pilot is sent -back to Nova Scotia to prospect for minerals. As {36} the vessel coasts -near St. Mary's Bay, a black object is seen moving weakly along the -shore. Sailors and pilot gaze in amazement. A hat on the end of a pole -is waved weakly from the beach. The men can scarcely believe their -senses. It must be the priest, though sixteen days have passed since he -disappeared. For two weeks Aubry had wandered, living on berries and -roots, before he found his way back to the sea. - -[Illustration: PORT ROYAL OR ANNAPOLIS BASIN, 1609 (From Lescarbot's -map)] - - -Here, then, at last, is founded the first colony in Canada, a little -palisaded fort of seventy-nine men straining longing eyes at the sails of -the vessel gliding out to sea; for Pontgrave has taken one vessel up the -St. Lawrence to trade, and Poutrincourt has gone back to France with the -other for supplies. A worse beginning could hardly have been made. The -island was little better than a sand heap. No hills shut out the cold -winds that swept down the river bed from the north, and the tide carried -in ice jam from the south. As the snow began to fall, padding the -stately forests with a silence as of death, whitening the gaunt spruce -trees somber as funereal mourners, the colonists felt the icy loneliness -of winter in a forest chill their hearts. {37} Cooped up on the island -by the ice, they did little hunting. Idleness gives time for repinings. -Scurvy came, and before spring half the colonists had peopled the little -cemetery outside the palisades. De Monts has had enough of Ste. Croix. -When Pontgrave comes out with forty more men in June, De Monts prepares -to move. Champlain had the preceding autumn sailed south seeking a -better site; and now with De Monts he sails south again far as Cape Cod, -looking for a place to plant the capital of New France. It is amusing to -speculate that Canada might have included as far south as Boston, if they -had found a harbor to their liking; but they saw nothing to compare with -Annapolis Basin, narrow of entrance, landlocked, placid as a lake, with -shores wooded like a park; and back they cruised to Ste. Croix in August, -to move the colony across to Nova Scotia, to Annapolis Basin of Acadia. -While Champlain and Pontgrave volunteer to winter in the wilderness, De -Monts goes home to look after his monopoly in France. - -What had De Monts to show for his two years' labor? His company had -spent what would be $20,000 in modern money, and all returns from fur -trade had been swallowed up prolonging the colony. While Champlain -hunted moose in the woods round Port Royal and Pontgrave bartered furs -during the winter of 1605-1606, De Monts and Poutrincourt and the gay -lawyer Marc Lescarbot fight for the life of the monopoly in Paris and -point out to the clamorous merchants that the building of a French empire -in the New World is of more importance than paltry profits. De Monts -remains in France to stem the tide rising against him, while Poutrincourt -and Lescarbot sail on the _Jonas_ with more colonists and supplies for -Port Royal. - -Noon, July 27, 1606, the ship slips into the Basin of Annapolis. To -Lescarbot, the poet lawyer, the scene is a fairyland--the silver flood of -the harbor motionless as glass, the wooded meadows dank with bloom, the -air odorous of woodland smells, the blue hills rimming round the sky, and -against the woods of the north shore the chapel spire and thatch roofs -and slab walls of the little fort, the one oasis of life in a wilderness. -{38} As the sails rattled down and the anchor dropped, not a soul -appeared from the fort. The gates were bolted fast. The _Jonas_ runs up -the French ensign. Then a canoe shoots out from the brushwood, paddled -by the old chief Membertou. He signals back to the watchers behind the -gates. Musketry shots ring out welcome. The ship's cannon answer, -setting the waters churning. Trumpets blare. The gates fly wide and out -marches the garrison--two lone Frenchmen. The rest, despairing of a ship -that summer, have cruised along to Cape Breton to obtain supplies from -French fishermen, whence, presently, come Pontgrave and Champlain, -overjoyed to find the ship from France. Poutrincourt has a hogshead of -wine rolled to the courtyard and all hands fitly celebrate. - -[Illustration: BUILDINGS ON STE. CROIX ISLAND, 1613 (From Champlain's -diagram)] - -When Pontgrave carries the furs to France, Marc Lescarbot, the lawyer -poet, proves the life of the fort for this, the third winter of the -colonists in Acadia. Poutrincourt and his son {39} attend to trade. -Champlain, as usual, commands; and dull care is chased away by a thousand -pranks of the Paris advocate. First, he sets the whole fort a-gardening, -and Baron Poutrincourt forgets his _noblesse_ long enough to wield the -hoe. Then Champlain must dam up the brook for a trout pond. The weather -is almost mild as summer until January. The woods ring to many a merry -picnic, fishing excursion, or moose hunt; and when snow comes, the gay -Lescarbot along with Champlain institutes a New World order of -nobility--the Order of Good Times. Each day one of the number must cater -to the messroom table of the fort. This means keen hunting, keen rivalry -for one to outdo another in the giving of sumptuous feasts. And all is -done with the pomp and ceremony of a court banquet. When the chapel bell -rings out noon hour and workers file to the long table, there stands the -Master of the Revels, napkin on shoulder, chain of honor round his neck, -truncheon in his hand. The gavel strikes, and there enter the -Brotherhood, each bearing a steaming dish in his hand,--moose hump, -beaver tail, bears' paws, wild fowl smelling luscious as food smells only -to out-of-doors men. Old Chief Membertou dines with the whites. -Crouching round the wall behind the benches are the squaws and the -children, to whom are flung many a tasty bit. - -At night time, round the hearth fire, when the roaring logs set the -shadows dancing on the rough-timbered floor, the truncheon and chain of -command are pompously transferred to the new Grand Master. It is all -child's play, but it keeps the blood of grown men coursing hopefully. - -Or else Lescarbot perpetrates a newspaper,--a handwritten sheet giving -the doings of the day,--perhaps in doggerel verse of his own composing. -At other times trumpets and drums and pipes keep time to a dance. As all -the warring clergymen, both Huguenot and Catholic, have died of scurvy, -Lescarbot acts as priest on Sundays, and winds up the day with cheerful -excursions up the river, or supper spread on the green. The lawyer's -good spirits proved contagious. The French songs that rang through the -woods of Acadia, keeping time to the chopper's {40} labors, were the best -antidote to scurvy; but the wildwood happiness was too good to last. -While L'Escarbot was writing his history of the new colonies a bolt fell -from the blue. Instead of De Monts' vessel there came in spring a -fishing smack with word that the grant of Acadia had been rescinded. No -more money would be advanced. Poutrincourt and his son, Biencourt, -resolved to come back without the support of a company; but for the -present all took sad leave of the little settlement--Poutrincourt, -Champlain, L'Escarbot--and sailed with the Cape Breton fishing fleet for -France, where they landed in October, 1607. - -Cartier, Roberval, La Roche, De Monts--all had failed to establish France -in Canada; and as for England, Sir Humphrey's colonists lay bleaching -skeletons at the bottom of the sea. - - - - -{41} - -CHAPTER III - -FROM 1607 TO 1635 - -Argall of Virginia attacks the French--Champlain on the St. -Lawrence--Champlain and the Iroquois--Champlain explores the -Ottawa--Champlain with the Indians--Discovery of the Great Lakes--War -with the Iroquois--Conflicting interests in New France--The English -take Quebec - - -Though the monopoly had been rescinded, Poutrincourt set himself to -interesting merchants in the fur trade of Acadia, and the French king -confirmed to him the grant of Port Royal. Yet it was 1610 before Baron -Poutrincourt had gathered supplies to reestablish the colony, and an -ominous cloud rose on the horizon, threatening his supremacy in the New -World. Nearly all the merchants supporting him were either Huguenots -or moderate Catholics. The Jesuits were all powerful at court, and -were pressing for a part in his scheme. The Jesuit, Father Biard, was -waiting at Bordeaux to join the ship. Poutrincourt evaded issues with -such powerful opponents. He took on board Father La Fleche, a -moderate, and gave the Jesuit the slip by sailing from Dieppe in -February. - -To this quarrel there are two sides, as to all quarrels. The colony -must now be supported by the fur trade; and fur traders, world over, -easily add to their profits by deeds which will not bear the censure of -missionaries. On the other hand, to Poutrincourt, the Jesuits meant -divided authority; and the most lawless scoundrel that ever perpetrated -crimes in the fur trade could win over the favor of the priests by a -hypocritical semblance of contrition at the confessional. Contrition -never yet undid a crime; and civil courts can take no cognizance of -repentance. - -When the ships sailed in to Port Royal the little fort was found -precisely as it had been left. Not even the furniture had been -disturbed, and old Membertou, the Indian chief, welcomed the white men -back with taciturn joy. Pere La Fleche assembles the savages, tells -them the story of the Christian faith, then to the beat of drum and -chant of "Te Deum" receives, one {42} afternoon, twenty naked converts -into the folds of the church. Membertou is baptized Henry, after the -King, and all his frowsy squaws renamed after ladies of the most -dissolute court in Christendom. - -Young Biencourt is to convey the ship back to France. He finds that -the Queen Dowager has taken the Jesuits under her especial protection. -Money enough to buy out the interests of the Huguenot merchants for the -Jesuits has been advanced. Fathers Biard and Masse embark on _The -Grace of God_ with young Biencourt in January, 1611, for Port Royal. -Almost at once the divided authority results in trouble. Coasting the -Bay of Fundy, Biencourt discovers that Pontgrave's son has roused the -hostility of the Indians by some shameless act. Young Biencourt is for -hanging the miscreant to the yardarm, but the sinner gains the ear of -the saints by woeful tale of penitence, and Father Biard sides with -young Pontgrave. Instead of the gayety that reigned at Port Royal in -L'Escarbot's day, now is sullen mistrust. - -The Jesuits threaten young Biencourt with excommunication. Biencourt -retaliates by threatening _them_ with expulsion. For three months no -religious services are held. The boat of 1612 brings out another -Jesuit, Gilbert du Thet; and the _Jonas_, which comes in 1613 with -fifty more men,--La Saussaye, commander, Fleury, captain,--has been -entirely outfitted by friends of the Jesuits. By this time Baron de -Poutrincourt, in France, was involved in debt beyond hope; but his -right to Port Royal was unshaken, and the Jesuits decided to steer -south to seek a new site for their colony. - -[Illustration: PORT ROYAL (From Champlain's diagram)] - -Zigzagging along the coast of Maine, Captain Fleury cast anchor off -Mount Desert at Frenchman's Bay. A cross was erected, mass celebrated, -and four white tents pitched to house the people; but the clash between -civil and religious authority broke out again. The sailors would not -obey the priests. Fleury feared mutiny. Saussaye, the commander, lost -his head, and disorder was ripening to disaster when there appeared -over the sea the peak of a sail,--a sail topped by a little red ensign, -the {43} flag of the English, who claimed all this coast. And the sail -was succeeded by decks with sixty mariners, and hulls through whose -ports bristled fourteen cannon. The newcomer was Samuel Argall of -Virginia, whom the Indians had told of the French, now bearing down -full sail, cannon leveled, to expel these aliens from the domain of -England's King. Drums were beating, trumpets blowing, fifes -shrieking--there was no mistaking the purpose of the English ship. -Saussaye, the French commander, dashed for hiding in the woods. -Captain Fleury screamed for some one, every one, any one, "to -fire--fire"; but the French sailors had imitated their commander and -fled to the woods, while the poor Jesuit, Gilbert du Thet, fell -weltering in blood from an English cannonade that swept the French -decks bare and set all sails in flame. In the twinkling of an eye, -Argall had captured men and craft. Fifteen of the French prisoners he -set adrift in open boat, on the chance of their joining the French -fishing fleet off Cape Breton. They were ultimately carried to St. -Malo. {44} The rest of the prisoners, including Father Biard, he took -back to Virginia, where the commission held from the French King -assured them honorable treatment in time of peace; but Argall was -promptly sent north again with his prisoners, and three frigates to lay -waste every vestige of French settlement from Maine to St. John. Mount -Desert, the ruins of Ste. Croix, the fortress beloved by Poutrincourt -at Port Royal, the ripening wheat of Annapolis Basin--all fed the -flames of Argall's zeal; and young Biencourt's wood runners, watching -from the forests the destruction of all their hopes, the ruin of all -their plans, ardently begged their young commander to parley with -Argall that they might obtain the Jesuit Biard and hang him to the -highest tree. To _his_ coming they attributed all the woes. It was as -easy for them to believe that the Jesuit had piloted the English -destroyer to Port Royal, as it had been ten years before for the -Catholics to accuse the Huguenots of murdering the lost priest Aubry; -and there was probably as much truth in one charge as the other. - -So fell Port Royal; but out round the ruins of Port Royal, where the -little river runs down to the sea past Goat Island, young Biencourt and -his followers took to the woods--the first of that race of bush lopers, -half savages, half noblemen, to render France such glorious service in -the New World. - - -When De Monts lost the monopoly of furs in Acadia, Champlain, the court -geographer, had gone home from Port Royal to France. De Monts now -succeeds in obtaining a fresh monopoly for one year on the St. -Lawrence, and sends out two ships in 1608 under his old friends, -Pontgrave, who is to attend to the bartering, Champlain, who is to -explore. With them come some of the colonists from Port Royal, among -others Louis Hebert, the chemist, first colonist to become farmer at -Quebec, and Abraham Martin, whose name was given to the famous plains -where Wolfe and Montcalm later fought. - -Pontgrave arrived at the rendezvous of Tadoussac early in June. Here -he found Basque fishermen engaged in the peltry {45} traffic with -Indians from Labrador. When Pontgrave read his commission interdicting -all ships but those of De Monts from trade, the Basques poured a -fusillade of musketry across his decks, killed one man, wounded two, -then boarded his vessel and trundled his cannon ashore. So much for -royal commissions and monopoly! - -[Illustration: TADOUSSAC (From Champlain's map)] - -At this stage came Champlain on the second boat. Two vessels were -overstrong for the Basques. They quickly came to terms and decamped. -Champlain steered his tiny craft on up the silver flood of the St. -Lawrence to that Cape Diamond where Cartier's men had gathered -worthless stones. Between the high cliff and the river front, not far -from the market place of Quebec City to-day, workmen began clearing the -woods for the site of the French habitation. The little fort was -palisaded, of course, with a moat outside and cannon commanding the -river. The walls were loopholed for musketry; and inside ran a gallery -to serve as lookout and defense. Houses, barracks, garden, and -fresh-water supply completed the fort. One day, as Champlain {46} -worked in his garden, a colonist begged to speak with him. Champlain -stepped into the woods. The man then blurted out how a conspiracy was -on foot, instigated by the Basques, to assassinate Champlain, seize the -fort, and stab any man who dared to resist. One of Pontgrave's small -boats lay at anchor. Champlain sent for the pilot, told him the story -of the plot, gave him two bottles of wine, and bade him invite the -ringleaders on board that night to drink. The ruse worked. The -ringleaders were handcuffed, the other colonists awakened in the fort -and told that the plot had been crushed. The body of Duval, the chief -plotter, in pay of the Basques, swung as warning from a gibbet; and his -head was exposed on a pike to the birds of the air. Though Pontgrave -left a garrison of twenty-eight when he sailed for France, less than a -dozen men had survived the plague of scurvy when the ships came back to -Champlain in 1609. - -Champlain's part had been to explore. Now that his fort was built, he -planned to do this by allying himself with the Indians, who came down -to trade at Quebec. These were the Hurons and Montaignais, the former -from the Ottawa, the latter from Labrador. Both waged ceaseless war on -the Iroquois south of the St. Lawrence. After bartering their furs for -weapons from the traders, the allied tribes would set out on the -warpath against the Iroquois. In June, Champlain and eleven white men -accompanied the roving warriors. - -The way led from the St. Lawrence south, up the River Richelieu. -Champlain's boat was a ponderous craft; and when the shiver of the -sparkling rapids came with a roar through the dank forest, the heavy -boat had to be sent back to Quebec. Adopting the light birch canoe of -the Indian, Champlain went on, accompanied by only two white men. Of -Indians, there were twenty-four canoes with sixty warriors. For the -first part of the voyage night was made hideous by the grotesque war -dances of the braves lashing themselves to fury by scalp raids in -pantomime, or by the medicine men holding solemn converse with the -demons of earth; the tent poles of the medicine lodge rocked as if by -wind, while eldritch howls predicted victory. {47} Then the long line -of silent canoes had spread out on that upland lake named after -Champlain, the heavily forested Adirondacks breaking the sky line on -one side, the Green Mountains rolling away on the other. Caution now -marked all advance. The Indians paddled only at night, withdrawing to -the wooded shore through the morning mist to hide in the undergrowth -for the day. This was the land of the Iroquois. - -[Illustration: DEFEAT OF THE IROQUOIS (From Champlain's drawing)] - -On July 29, as the invaders were stealing silently along the west shore -near Crown Point at night about ten o'clock, there were seen by the -starlight, coming over the water with that peculiar galloping motion of -paddlers dipping together, the Iroquois war canoes. Each side -recognized the other, and the woods rang with shouts; but gathering -clouds and the mist rising from the river screened the foes from mutual -attack, though the night echoed to shout and countershout and challenge -and abuse. Through the half light Champlain could see that the -Iroquois were working like beavers erecting a barricade of logs. The -assailants kept to their canoes under cover of bull-hide shields till -daylight, when Champlain buckled on his armor--breastplate, helmet, -thigh pieces--and landing, advanced. There were not less than two -hundred Iroquois. Outnumbering the Hurons three times over, they -uttered a jubilant whoop and {48} came on at a rush. Champlain and his -two white men took aim. The foremost chiefs dropped in their tracks. -Terrified by "the sticks that thundered and spat fire," the Iroquois -fell back in amaze, halted, then fled. The victory was complete; but -it left as a legacy to New France the undying enmity of the Iroquois. - - -When Champlain came out from France in 1610, he would have repeated the -raid; but a fight with invading Iroquois at the mouth of the Richelieu -delayed him, and the expiration of De Monts' monopoly took him back to -France. - -In 1611 trade was free to all comers. Fur traders flocked to the St. -Lawrence like birds of passage. The only way to secure furs for De -Monts was to go higher up the river beyond Quebec; and ascending to -Montreal, Champlain built a factory called Place Royale, with a wall of -bricks to resist the ice jam. This was the third French fort Champlain -helped to found in Canada. - -Presently, on his tracks to Montreal, came a flock of free traders. -When the Hurons come shooting down the foamy rapids--here, a pole-shove -to avoid splitting canoes on a rock in mid-rush; there, a dexterous -whirl from the trough of a back wash--the fur traders fire off their -guns in welcome. The Hurons are suspicious. What means it, these -white men, coming in such numbers, firing off their "sticks that -thunder"? At midnight they come stealthily to Champlain's lodge to -complain. Peltries and canoes, the Indians transfer themselves above -the rapids, and later conduct Champlain down those same white -whirlpools to the uneasy amaze of the explorer. - -It is clear to Champlain he must obtain royal patronage to stem the -boldness of these free traders. In France he obtains the favor of the -Bourbons; and he obtains it more generously because the world of Paris -has gone agog about a fabulous tale that sets the court by the ears. -From the first Champlain has encouraged young Frenchmen to winter with -the Indian hunters and learn the languages. Brule is with them now. -Nicholas Vignau has just come back from the Ottawa with a fairy story -of a marvelous voyage he has made with the Indians through {49} the -forests to the Sea of the North--the sea where Henry Hudson, the -Englishman, had perished. As the romance gains the ear of the public, -the young man waxes eloquent in detail, and tells of the number of -Englishmen living there. Champlain is ordered to follow this -exploration up. - -May, 1613, he is back at Montreal, opposite that island named St. -Helen, after the frail girl who became his wife, preparing to ascend -the Ottawa with four white men--among them Vignau. What Vignau's -sensations were, one may guess. The vain youth had not meant his love -of notoriety to carry him so far; and he must have known that every -foot of the way led him nearer detection; but the liar is always a -gambler with chance. Mishap, bad weather, Indian war--might drive -Champlain back. Vignau assumed bold face. - -The path followed was that river trail up the Ottawa which was to -become the highway of empire's westward march for two and a half -centuries. Mount Royal is left to the rear as the voyageurs traverse -the Indian trail through the forests along the rapids to that launching -place named after the patron saint of French voyageur--Ste. Anne's. -The river widens into the silver expanse of Two Mountains Lake, rimmed -to the sky line by the vernal hills, with a silence and solitude over -all, as when sunlight first fell on face of man. Here the eagle utters -a lonely scream from the top of some blasted pine; there a covey of -ducks, catching sight of the coming canoes, dive to bottom, only to -reappear a gunshot away. Where the voyageurs land for their nooning, -or camp at nightfall, or pause to gum the splits in their birch canoes, -the forest in the full flush of spring verdure is a fairy woods. -Against the elms and the maples leafing out in airy tracery that -reveals the branches bronze among the budding green, stand the silver -birches, and the somber hemlocks, and the resinous pines. Upbursting -from the mold below is another miniature forest--a forest of ferns -putting out the hairy fronds that in another month will be above the -height of a man. Overhead, like a flame of fire, flashes the scarlet -tanager with his querulous call; or the oriole flits from branch to -branch, {50} fluting his springtime notes; or the yellow warbler -balances on topmost spray to sing his crisp love song on the long -journey north to nest on Hudson Bay. And over all and in all, -intangible as light, intoxicating as wine, is the tang of the clear, -unsullied, crystal air, setting the blood coursing with new life. -Little wonder that Brule, and Vignau, and other young men whom -Champlain sent to the woods to learn wood lore, became so enamored of -the life that they never returned to civilization. - -Presently the sibilant rush of waters forewarns rapids. Indians and -voyageurs debark, invert canoes on their shoulders, packs on back with -straps across foreheads, and amble away over the portages at that -voyageurs' dog-trot which is half walk, half run. So the rapids of -Carillon and Long Sault are ascended. Night time is passed on some -sandy shore on a bed under the stars, or under the canoes turned upside -down. Tents are erected only for the commander, Champlain; and at day -dawn, while the tips of the trees are touched with light and the -morning mist is smoking up from the river shot with gold, canoes are -again on the water and paddle blades tossing the waves behind. - -The Laurentian Hills now roll from the river in purpling folds like -fields of heather. The Gatineau is passed, winding in on the right -through dense forests. On the left, flowing through the rolling sand -hills, and joining the main river just where the waters fall over a -precipice in a cataract of spray, is the Rideau River with its famous -falls resembling the white folds of a wind-blown curtain. Then the -voyageurs have swept round that wooded cliff known as Parliament Hill, -jutting out in the river, and there breaks on view a wall of water -hurtling down in shimmering floods at the Chaudiere Falls. The high -cliff to the left and countercurrent from the falls swirl the canoes -over on the right side to the sandy flats where the lumber piles to-day -defile the river. Here boats are once more hauled up for portage--a -long portage, nine miles, all the way to the modern town of Aylmer, -where the river becomes wide as a lake, Lake Du Chene of the oak -forests. Here camp for the night was made, and leaks in the canoes -mended with resin, round fires gleaming red as an angry eye across the -{51} darkening waters, while the prowling wild cats and lynx, which -later gave such good hunting in these forests that the adjoining rapids -became known as the Chats, sent their unearthly screams shivering -through the darkness. - -Somewhere near Allumette Isle, Champlain came to an Indian settlement -of the Ottawa tribe. He camped to ask for guides to go on. Old Chief -Tessouat holds solemn powwow, passing the peace pipe round from hand to -hand in silence, before the warriors rise to answer Champlain. Then -with the pompous gravity of Abraham dickering with the desert tribes, -they warn Champlain it is unsafe to go farther. Beyond the Ottawa is -the Nipissing, where dwell the Sorcerer Indians--a treacherous people. -Beyond the Nipissing is the great Fresh Water Sea of the Hurons. They -will grant Champlain canoes, but warn him against the trip. Later the -interpreter comes with word they have changed their minds. Champlain -must _not_ go on. It is too dangerous. Attack would involve war. - -"What," demanded Champlain, rushing into the midst of the council tent, -"not go? Why, my young man, here"--pointing to Vignau--"has gone to -that country and found no danger." - -What Vignau thought at that stage is not told. The Indians turned on -him in fury. - -"Nicholas, did _you_ say _you_ had visited the Nipissings?" - -Vignau hems and haws, and stammers, "Yes." - -"Liar," roars the chief. "You slept here every night, and if you went -to the Nipissings, you went in a dream." Then to Champlain, "Let him -be tortured." - -Champlain took the fellow to his own tent. Vignau reiterated his -story. Champlain took him back to the council. The Indians jeered his -answers and tore the story he told to tatters, showing Champlain how -utterly wrong Vignau's descriptions were. - -That night, on promise of forgiveness, Vignau fell on his knees and -confessed the imposture to Champlain. When the fur canoes came down -the Ottawa to trade at Montreal, Champlain accompanied them to the St. -Lawrence, and sailed for France. His exploration had been an -ignominious failure. - -{52} Champlain was ever Knight of the Cross as well as explorer. He -longed with the zeal of a missionary to reclaim the Indians from -savagery, and at last raised funds in France to pay the expense of -bringing four or five Recollets--a branch of the Franciscan Friars--to -Quebec in May of 1615. With the peaked hood thrown back, the gray garb -roped in at the waist, the bare feet protected only by heavy sandals, -the Recollets landed at Quebec, and with cannon booming, white men all -on bended knee, held service before the amazed savages. - -Of the Recollets, it was agreed that Joseph le Caron should go west to -the Hurons of the Sweet Water Sea. Accompanied by a dozen Frenchmen, -the friar ascended the Ottawa in July, passed that Allumette Island -where Vignau's lie had been confessed, and proceeded westward to the -land of the Hurons. Nine days later Champlain followed with two -canoes, ten Indians, and Etienne Brule, his interpreter. In order to -hold the ever-lasting loyalty of the Hurons and Algonquins in Canada, -Champlain had pledged them that the French would join their twenty-five -hundred warriors in a great invasion of the Iroquois to the south. It -was to be a war not of aggression but of defense; for the Five Nations -of the Iroquois in New York state had harried the Canadian tribes like -wolves raiding a sheep pen. No Frenchman cultivating his farm patch on -the St. Lawrence was safe from ambuscade; no hunter afield secure from -a chance war party. - -Any tourist crossing Canada to-day can trace Champlain's voyage. Where -the rolling tide of the Ottawa forks at Mattawa, there comes in on the -west side, through dense forests and cedar swamps, a river -amber-colored with the wood-mold of centuries. This is the Mattawa. -Up the Mattawa Champlain pushed his canoes westward, up the shining -flood of the river yellow as gold where the waters shallow above the -pebble bottom. Then the gravel grated keels. The shallows became -weed-grown swamps that entangled the paddles and hid voyageur from -voyageur in reeds the height of a man; and presently a portage over -rocks slippery as ice leads to a stream flowing westward, opening {53} -on a low-lying, clay-colored lake--the country of the Nipissings, with -whom Champlain pauses to feast and hear tales of witchcraft and demon -lore, that gave them the name of Sorcerers. - -In a few sleeps--they tell him--he will reach the Sweet Water Sea. The -news is welcome; for the voyageurs are down to short rations, and -launch eagerly westward on the stream draining Nipissing Lake--French -River. This is a tricky little stream in whose sands lie buried the -bodies of countless French voyageurs. It is more dangerous going -_with_ rapids than _against_ them; for the hastening current is -sometimes an undertow, which sweeps the canoes into the rapids before -the roar of the waterfall has given warning. And the country is barren -of game. - -As they cross the portages, Champlain's men are glad to snatch at the -raspberry and cranberry bushes for food; and their night-time meal is -dependent on chance fishing. Indian hunters are met,--three hundred of -them,--the Staring Hairs, so named from the upright posture of their -headdress tipped by an eagle quill; and again Champlain is told he is -very near the Inland Sea. - -It comes as discoveries nearly always come--his finding of the Great -Lakes; for though Joseph Le Caron, the missionary, had passed this way -ten days ago, the zealous priest never paused to explore and map the -region. You are paddling down the brown, forest-shadowed waters--long -lanes of water like canals through walls of trees silent as sentinels. -Suddenly a change almost imperceptible comes. Instead of the earthy -smell of the forest mold in your nostrils is the clear tang of -sun-bathed, water-washed rocks; and the sky begins to swim, to lose -itself at the horizon. There is no sudden bursting of a sea on your -view. The river begins to coil in and out among islands. The amber -waters have become sheeted silver. You wind from island to island, -islands of pink granite, islands with no tree but one lone blasted -pine, islands that are in themselves forests. There is no end to these -islands. They are not in hundreds; they are in thousands. Then you -see the spray breaking over the reefs, and there is its sky line. You -are not on a river at all. You are on an inland sea. You have been on -the lake for hours. One {54} can guess how Champlain's men scrambled -from island to island, and fished for the rock bass above the deep -pools, and ran along the water line of wave-dashed reefs, wondering -vaguely if the wind wash were the ocean tide of the Western Sea. - -But Champlain's Huron guides had not come to find a Western Sea. With -the quick choppy stroke of the Indian paddler they were conveying him -down that eastern shore of Lake Huron now known as Georgian Bay, from -French River to Parry Sound and Midland and Penetang. Where these -little towns to-day stand on the hillsides was a howling wilderness of -forest, with never a footprint but the zigzagging trail of the Indians -back from Georgian Bay to what is now Lake Simcoe. - -Between these two shores lay the stamping grounds of the great Huron -tribe. How numerous were they? Records differ. Certainly at no time -more numerous than thirty thousand souls all told, including children. -Though they yearly came to Montreal for trade and war, the Hurons were -sedentary, living in the long houses of bark inclosed by triple -palisades, such as Cartier had seen at Hochelaga almost a century -before. - -Champlain followed his supple guides along the wind-fallen forest trail -to the Huron villages. Here he found the missionary. One can guess -how the souls of these two heroes burned as the deep solemn chant of -the _Te Deum_ for the first time rolled through the forests of Lake -Huron. - - -But now Champlain must to business; and his business is war. Brule and -twelve Indians are sent like the carriers of the fiery cross in the -Highlands of Scotland to rally tribes of the Susquehanna to join the -Hurons against the Iroquois. A wild war dance is held with mystic -rites in the lodges of the Hurons; and the braves set out with -Champlain from Lake Simcoe for Lake Ontario by way of Trent River. As -they near what is now New York state, buckskin is flung aside, the -naked bodies painted and greased, and the trail shunned for the -pathless woods off the beaten track where the Indians glide like beasts -of prey through the frost-tinted forest. - -{55} - -[Illustration: THE ONONDAGA FORT (From Champlain's diagram)] - -October 9 they suddenly come on some Onondagas fishing, and they begin -torturing their captives by cutting off a girl's finger, when Champlain -commands them to desist. Presently the forest opens to a farm clearing -where the Iroquois are harvesting their corn. Spite of all Champlain -could do, the wild Hurons uttered their war cry and rushed the field, -but the Iroquois turned on the rabble and drove them back to the woods. -Champlain was furious. They should have waited for Brule to come with -their allies; and the foolish attack had only served to forewarn the -enemy. He frankly told the Hurons if they were going to fight under -_his_ command, they must fight as white men fight; and he set them to -building a platform from which marksmen could shoot over the walls of -the Iroquois town. But the admonitions {56} fell on frenzied ears. No -sooner was the command to advance given than the Hurons broke from -cover like maniacs, easy marks for the javelin throwers inside the -walls, and hurled themselves against the Iroquois palisades in blind -fury, making more din with yelling than woe with shots. Boiling water -poured from the galleries inside drove the braves back from the walls, -and the poisoned barb of the Iroquois arrows pursued their flight. A -score fell wounded, among them Champlain with an arrow in his knee-cap. -The flight became panic fast and furious, with the wounded carried on -wicker stretchers whose every jolt added agony to pain. - -[Illustration: VIEW OF QUEBEC (From Champlain's plan)] - -As for Brule, he arrived with the allies only to find that the Hurons -had fled, and here was he, alone in a hostile land, with Iroquois -warriors rampant as molested wasps. In the swift retreat off the trail -Brule lost his way. He was without food {57} or powder, and had to -choose between starvation or surrender to the Iroquois. Throwing down -his weapons, he gave himself up to what he knew would be certain -torture. Had he winced or whined as they tore the nails from his -fingers and the hair from his head, the Iroquois would probably have -brained him on the spot for a poltroon; but the young man, bound to a -stake, pointed to a gathering storm as sign of Heaven's displeasure. -The high spirit pleased the Iroquois. They unbound him and took him -with them in their wanderings for three years. - -The Hurons had promised to convey Champlain back down the St. Lawrence -to Quebec, but the defeat had caused loss of prestige. The man "with -the stick that thundered" was no more invulnerable to wounds than they. -They forgot their promises and invented excuses for not proceeding to -Quebec. Champlain wintered with the hunters somewhere north of Lake -Ontario, and came down the Ottawa with the fur canoes the next summer. -He was received at Quebec as one risen from the dead. - - -While Champlain had been exploring, New France had not prospered as a -colony. Royal patron after royal patron sold the monopoly to fresh -hands, and each new master appointed Champlain viceroy. The fur trade -merchants could pay forty per cent dividends, but could do nothing to -advance settlement. Less than one hundred people made up the -population of New France; and these were torn asunder by jealousies. -Huguenot and Catholic were opposed; and when three Jesuits came to -Quebec, Jesuits and Recollets distrusted each other. - -Madam Champlain joined her husband at Quebec, in 1620, to stay for four -years, and that same year Champlain built himself a new habitation--the -famous Castle of St. Louis on the cliff above the first dwelling. -Louis Hebert, the apothecary of Port Royal, is now a farmer close to -the Castle of Quebec; and the wife of Abraham Martin has given birth to -the first white child born in New France. - -Now came a revolutionary change. Cardinal Richelieu was virtual ruler -of France. He quickly realized that the monopolists {58} were sucking -the lifeblood of the colony in furs and were giving nothing in return -to the country. In 1627, under the great cardinal's patronage, the -Company of One Hundred Associates was formed. In this company any of -the seaport traders could buy shares. Indeed, they were promised -patent of nobility if they did buy shares. Exclusive monopoly of furs -was given to the company from Florida to Labrador. In return the -Associates were to send two ships yearly to Canada. Before 1643 they -were to bring out four thousand colonists, support them for three -years, and give them land. In each settlement were to be supported -three priests; and, to prevent discord, Huguenots were to be banished -from New France. - -To Champlain it must have seemed as if the ambition of his life were to -be realized. Just when the sky seemed clearest the bolt fell. - - -Early in April, 1628, the Associates had dispatched colonists and -stores for Quebec; but war had broken out between France and England. -Gervais Kirke, an English Huguenot of Dieppe, France, who had been put -under the ban by Cardinal Richelieu, had rallied the merchants of -London to fit out privateers to wage war on New France. The vessels -were commanded by the three sons, Thomas, Louis, and David; and to the -Kirkes rallied many Huguenots banished from France. - -Quebec was hourly looking for the annual ships, when one morning in -July two men rushed breathless through the woods and up the steep rock -to Castle St. Louis with word that an English fleet of six frigates lay -in hiding at Tadoussac, ready to pounce on the French! Later came -other messengers--Indians, fishermen, traders--confirming the terrible -news. Then a Basque fisherman arrives with a demand, from Kirke for -the keys to the fort. Though there is no food inside the walls, less -than fifty pounds of ammunition in the storehouse, and not enough men -to man the guns, Champlain hopes against hope, and sends the Basque -fisherman back with suave regrets that he cannot comply with Monsieur -Kirke's polite request. Quebec's one chance lay in the hope that the -French vessels might {59} slip past the English frigates by night. -Days wore on to weeks, weeks to months, and a thousand rumors filled -the air; but no ships came. The people of Quebec were now reduced to -diet of nuts and corn. Then came Indian runners with word that the -French ships had been waylaid, boarded, scuttled, and sunk. Loaded to -the water line with booty, the English privateers had gone home. - -[Illustration: QUEBEC (From Champlain's map)] - -For that winter Quebec lived on such food as the Indians brought in -from the woods. By the summer of 1629 men, women, and children were -grubbing for roots, fishing for food, ranging the rocks for berries. -There are times when the only thing to do is--do nothing; and it is -probably the hardest task a brave man ever has. When the English fleet -came back in July Champlain had a ragamuffin, half-starved retinue of -precisely sixteen men. Yet he haggled for such terms that the English -promised to convey the prisoners to France. On July 20, for the first -time in history, the red flag of England blew to the winds above the -heights of Quebec. - - -But New France was only a pawn to the gamesters of French and English -diplomacy. Peace was proclaimed; and for the {60} sake of receiving -$200,000 as dowry due his French wife, Charles of England restored to -France the half continent which the Kirkes had captured, David Kirke -receiving the paltry honor of a title as compensation for the loss. -Champlain was back in Quebec by 1633; but his course had run. Between -Christmas eve and Christmas morning, in 1635, the brave Soldier of the -Cross, the first knight of the Canadian wildwoods, passed from the -sphere of earthly life--a life without a stain, whether among the -intriguing courtiers of Paris or in the midst of naked license in the -Indian camp. - - - - -{61} - -CHAPTER IV - -FROM 1635 TO 1666 - -Frays between La Tour and Charnisay--Madame La Tour defends the -fort--Charnisay's treachery - - -When Port Royal fell before Argall, it will be remembered, young -Biencourt took to the woods with his French bush lopers and Indian -followers of Nova Scotia. The farms and fort of Annapolis Basin -granted to his father by special patents lay in ruins. Familiar with -the woods as the English buccaneer, who had destroyed the fort, was -with his ship's cabin, Biencourt withdrew to the southwest corner of -Nova Scotia, where he built a rude stronghold of logs and slabs near -the modern Cape Sable. Here he could keep in touch with the French -fishermen off Cape Breton, and also traffic with the Indians of the -mainland. - -With Biencourt was a young man of his own age, boon comrade, kindred -spirit, who had come to Port Royal a boy of fourteen, in 1606, in the -gay days of Marc L'Escarbot--Charles de La Tour. Sea rovers, bush -lopers, these two could bid defiance to English raiders. Whether -Biencourt died in 1623 or went home to France is unknown; but he deeded -over to his friend, Charles de La Tour, all possessions in Acadia. - -And now England again comes on the scene. By virtue of Cabot's -discovery and Argall's conquest, the King of England, in 1621, grants -to Sir William Alexander, the Earl of Stirling, all of Acadia, renamed -Nova Scotia--New Scotland. By way of encouraging emigration, the order -of Nova Scotia Baronets is created, a title being granted to those who -subscribe to the colonization company. - -Sir William Alexander's colonists shun the French bush lopers under -Charles de La Tour down at Fort St. Louis on Cape Sable. The seventy -Scotch colonists go on up the Annapolis Basin and build their fort four -miles from old Port Royal. How did they pass the pioneer years--these -Scotch retainers of the {62} Nova Scotia Baronets? Report among the -French fishing fleet says thirty died of scurvy; but of definite -information not a vestige remains. The annals of these colonists are -as completely lost to history as the annals of the lost Roanoke colony -in Virginia. - -Under the same English patent Lord Ochiltree lands English colonists in -Cape Breton, the grand summer rendezvous of the French fishermen; but -two can play at Argall's game of raids. French seamen swoop down on -Ochiltree's colony, capture fifty, destroy the settlement, and run up -the white flag of France in place of the red standard of England. - -[Illustration: SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER] - -Charles de La Tour with his Huguenots hides safely ensconced behind his -slab palisades with the swarthy faces of half a hundred Indian -retainers lighted up by the huge logs at blaze on the hearth. Charles -de La Tour takes counsel with himself. English at Port Royal, English -at Cape Breton, English on the mainland at Boston, English ships -passing and repassing his lone lodge in the wilderness, he will be -safer, will Charles de La Tour, with wider distance between himself and -the foe; and he will take more peltries where there are fewer traders. -Still keeping his fort in Nova Scotia, La Tour goes across Fundy Bay -and builds him a second, stronger fort on St. John River, New -Brunswick, near where Carleton town stands to-day. - -Then two things happened that upset all plans. - -{63} The Hundred Associates are given _all_ Canada--Quebec and Acadia. -Founded by Cardinal Richelieu, the Hundred Associates are violently -Catholic, violently anti-Protestant. Charles de La Tour need expect no -favors, if indeed the grant that he holds from Biencourt be not -assailed. Double reason for moving the most of his possessions across -Fundy Bay to St. John River. - -Then the Englishmen, under the Kirke brothers, capture Quebec. As luck -or ill luck will have it, among the French captured from the French -ships of the Hundred Associates down at Tadoussac, is Claude de La -Tour, the father of Charles. Claude de La Tour was a Protestant. This -and his courtly manner and his noble birth commended him to the English -court. What had France done for Claude de La Tour? Placed him under -the ban on account of his religion. - -Claude de La Tour promptly became a British subject, received the title -Baronet of Nova Scotia with enormous grants of land on St. John River, -New Brunswick, married an English lady in waiting to the Queen, and -sailed with three men-of-war for Nova Scotia to win over his son -Charles. No writer like Marc Lescarbot was present to describe the -meeting between father and son; but one can guess the stormy -scene,--the war between love of country and love of father, the guns of -the father's vessels pointing at the son's fort, the guns of the son's -fort pointing at the father's vessels. The father's arguments were -strong. What had France done for the La Tours? By siding with England -they would receive safe asylum in case of persecution and enormous -grants of land on St. John River. But the son's arguments were -stronger. The father must know from his English bride--maid in waiting -to the English Queen--that England had no intentions of keeping her -newly captured possessions in Canada, but had already decided to trade -them back to France for a dowry to the English Queen. If Canada were -given back to France, what were English grants in New Brunswick worth? -"If those who sent you think me capable of betraying my country even at -the prayer of my father, they are mightily mistaken," thundered the -young man, ordering his gunners to their places. {64} "I don't -purchase honors by crime! I don't undervalue the offer of England's -King; but the King of France is just as able to reward me! The King of -France has confided the defense of Acadia to me; and I'll defend it to -my last breath." - -Stung by his son's rebuke, the elder La Tour retired to his ship, wrote -one more unavailing appeal, then landed his mariners to rush the fort. -But the rough bush lopers inside the palisades were expert marksmen. -Their raking cross fire kept the English at a distance, and the father -could neither drive nor coax his men to the sticking point of courage -to scale palisades in such an unnatural war. Claude de La Tour was now -in an unenviable plight. He dare not go back to France a traitor. He -could not go back to England, having failed to win the day. The son -built him a dwelling outside the fort; and there this famous courtier -of two great nations, with his noble wife, retired to pass the end of -his days in a wildwood wilderness far enough from the gaudy tinsel of -courts. The fate of both husband and wife is unknown. - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING LA TOUR'S POSSESSIONS IN ACADIA] - - -Charles de La Tour's predictions were soon verified. The Treaty of -St.-Germain-en-Laye, in 1632, gave back all Canada to France; and the -young man's loyalty was rewarded by the French King confirming the -father's English patent to the lands of St. John River, New Brunswick. -Perhaps he expected more. He certainly wanted to be governor of -Acadia, and may have looked for fresh title to Port Royal, which -Biencourt had deeded {65} to him. His ambition was embittered. -Cardinal Richelieu of the Hundred Associates had his own favorites to -look after. Acadia is divided into three provinces. Over all as -governor is Isaac Razilli, chief of the Hundred Associates. La Tour -holds St. John. One St. Denys is given Cape Breton; and Port Royal, -the best province of all, falls to Sieur d'Aulnay de Charnisay, friend -and relative of Richelieu; and when Razilli dies in 1635, Charnisay, -with his strong influence at court, easily secures the dead man's -patents with all land grants attached. Charnisay becomes governor of -Acadia. - -For a second time La Tour is thwarted. Things are turning out as his -father had foretold. Who began the border warfare matters little. -Whether Charnisay as lord of all Acadia first ordered La Tour to -surrender St. John, or La Tour, holding his grant from Biencourt to -Port Royal, ordered Charnisay to give up Annapolis Basin, war had -begun,--such border warfare as has its parallel only in the raids of -rival barons in the Middle Ages. Did La Tour's vessels laden with furs -slip out from St. John River across Fundy Bay bound for France? There -lay at Cape Sable and Sable Island Charnisay's freebooters, Charnisay's -wreckers, ready to board the ship or lure her a wreck on Sable Island -reefs by false lights. It is unsafe to accept as facts the charges and -countercharges made by these two enemies; but from independent sources -it seems fairly certain that Charnisay, unknown to Cardinal Richelieu, -was a bit of a freebooter and wrecker; for his men made a regular -business of waylaying English ships from Boston, Dutch ships from New -York, as they passed Sable Island; and Charnisay's name became -cordially hated by the Protestant colonies of New England. La Tour, -being Huguenot, could count on firm friends in Boston. - -Countless legends cling to Fundy Bay of the forays between these two. -In 1640 La Tour and his wife, cruising past Annapolis Basin in their -fur ships, rashly entered and attacked Port Royal. Their ship was run -aground by Charnisay's vessels and captured; but the friars persuaded -the victor to set La Tour and his wife free, pending an appeal to -France. France, of {66} course, decided in favor of Charnisay, who was -of royal blood, a relative of Richelieu's, in high favor with the -court. La Tour's patent was revoked and he was ordered to surrender -his fort on the St. John. - -[Illustration: CARDINAL RICHELIEU] - -In answer, La Tour loaded his cannon, locked the fort gates, and bade -defiance to Charnisay. Charnisay sails across Fundy Bay in June, 1643, -with a fleet of four vessels and five hundred men to bombard the fort. -La Tour was without provisions, though his store ship from France lay -in hiding outside, blocked from entering by Charnisay's fleet. Days -passed. Resistance was hopeless. On one side lay the impenetrable -forest; on the other, Charnisay's fleet. On the night of June 12th, La -Tour and his wife slipped from a little sally port in the dark, ran -along the shore, and, evading spies, succeeded in rowing out to the -store ship. Ebb tide carried them far from the four men-of-war -anchored fast in front of the abandoned fort. Then sails out, the -store ship fled for Boston, where La Tour and his wife appealed for aid. - -The Puritans of Boston had qualms of conscience about interfering in -this French quarrel; but they did not forget that Charnisay's wreckers -had stripped their merchant ships come to grief on the reefs of Sable -Island. La Tour gave the Boston merchants a mortgage on all his -belongings at St. John, and in return obtained four vessels, fifty -mariners, ninety-two soldiers, {67} thirty-eight cannon. With this -fleet he swooped down on Fundy Bay in July. Charnisay's vessels lay -before Fort St. John, where the stubborn little garrison still held -out, when La Tour came down on him like an enraged eagle. Charnisay's -fur ships were boarded, scuttled, and sunk, while the commander himself -fled in terror for Port Royal. All sails pressed, La Tour pursued -right into Annapolis Basin, wounding seven of the enemy, killing three, -taking one prisoner. Charnisay's one remaining vessel grounded in the -river. A fight took place near the site of the mill which Poutrincourt -had built long ago, but Charnisay succeeded in gaining the shelter of -Port Royal, where his cannon soon compelled La Tour to fly from -Annapolis Basin. Charnisay found it safer to pass that winter in -France, and La Tour gathered in all the peltry traffic of the bay. - -Early in 1644 Charnisay returned and sent a friar to secure the -neutrality of the New Englanders. All summer negotiations dragged on -between Boston and Port Royal, La Tour meanwhile scouring land and sea -unchecked, packing his fort with peltries. Finally, Charnisay promised -to desist from all fur trade along the coast if the New England -colonies would remain neutral; and the colonies promised not to aid La -Tour. La Tour was now outlawed by the French government, and Charnisay -had actually induced New England to promise not to convey either La -Tour or his wife to or from Bay of Fundy in English boats. - -La Tour chanced to be absent from his fort in 1645. Like a bird of -prey Charnisay swooped on St. John River; but he had not reckoned on -Madame La Tour--Frances Marie Jacqueline. With the courage and agility -of a trained soldier, she commanded her little garrison of fifty and -returned the raider's cannonade with a fury that sent Charnisay limping -back to Port Royal with splintered decks, twenty mangled corpses -jumbled aft, and a dozen men wounded to the death lying in the hold. - -With all the power of France at his back Charnisay had been defeated by -a woman,--the Huguenot wife of an outlaw! He must reduce La Tour or -stand discredited before the world. {68} Furious beyond words, he -hastened to France to prepare an overwhelming armament. - -But Madame La Tour was not idle. She, too, hastened across the -Atlantic to solicit aid in London. One can imagine how Charnisay -gnashed his teeth. Here, at last, was his chance. The Boston vessels -were not to convey the La Tours back to Acadia. Like a hawk Charnisay -cruised the sea for the outcoming ship with its fair passenger; but -Madame La Tour had made a cast-iron agreement with the master of the -sailing vessel to bring her direct to Boston. Instead of this, the -vessel cruised the St. Lawrence, trading with the Indians, and so -delayed the aid coming to La Tour; but when Charnisay's searchers came -on board off Sable Island, Madame La Tour was hidden among the freight -in the hold. For the delay she sued the sailing master in Boston and -obtained a judgment of 2000 pounds; and when he failed to pay, had his -cargo seized and sold, and with the proceeds equipped three vessels to -aid her outlawed husband. So the whole of 1646 passed, each side -girding itself for the final fray. - -April, 1647, spies brought word to Charnisay that La Tour was absent -from his fort. Waiting not a moment, Charnisay hurried ships, -soldiers, cannon across the bay. Inside La Tour's fort was no -confusion. Madame La Tour had ordered every man to his place. Day and -night for three days the siege lasted, Charnisay's men closing in on -the palisades so near they could bandy words with the fighters on the -galleries inside the walls. Among La Tour's fighters were Swiss -mercenaries--men who fight for the highest pay. Did Charnisay in the -language of the day "grease the fist" of the Swiss sentry, or was it a -case of a boorish fellow refusing to fight under a woman's command? -Legend gives both explanations; but on Easter Sunday morning -Charnisay's men gained entrance by scaling the walls where the Swiss -sentry stood. Madame La Tour rushed her men to an inner fort loopholed -with guns. Afraid of a final defeat that would disgrace him before all -the world, Charnisay called up generous terms if she would surrender. -To save the {69} lives of the men Madame La Tour agreed to honorable -surrender, and the doors were opened. In rushed Charnisay! To his -amazement the woman had only a handful of men. Disgusted with himself -and boiling over with revenge for all these years of enmity, Charnisay -forgot his promise and hanged every soul of the garrison but the -traitor who acted as executioner, compelling Madame La Tour to watch -the execution with a halter round her neck amid the jeers of the -soldiery. Legend says that the experience drove her insane and caused -her death within three weeks. Charnisay was now lord of all Acadia, -with 10,000 pounds worth of Madame La Tour's jewelry transferred to -Port Royal and all La Tour's furs safe in the warehouses of Annapolis -Basin; but he did not long enjoy his triumph. He had the reputation of -treating his Indian servants with great brutality. On the 24th of May, -1650, an Indian was rowing him up the narrows near Port Royal. -Charnisay could not swim. Without apparent cause the boat upset. The -Indian swam ashore. The commander perished. Legend again avers that -the Indian upset the boat to be revenged on Charnisay for some -brutality. - -[Illustration: MAP OF ANNAPOLIS BASIN] - -La Tour had been wandering from Newfoundland to Boston and Quebec -seeking aid, but a lost cause has few friends, and if La Tour turned -pirate on Boston boats, he probably thought he was justified in paying -off the score of Boston's bargain with Charnisay. Later he turned -trader with the Indians from Hudson Bay, and found friends in Quebec. -Word of his wrongs reached the French court. When Charnisay perished, -La Tour was at last appointed lieutenant governor of Acadia. Widow -{70} Charnisay, left with eight children, all minors, made what -reparation she could to La Tour by giving back the fort on the St. -John, and La Tour, to wipe out the bitter enmity, married the widow of -his enemy in February of 1653. - -But this was not the seal of peace on his troubled life. Cromwell was -now ascendant in England, and Major Sedgwick of Boston, in 1654, with a -powerful fleet, captured Port Royal and St. John. Weary of fighting -what seemed to be destiny, La Tour became a British subject, and with -two other Englishmen was granted the whole of Acadia. Ten years later -his English partners bought out his rights, and La Tour died in the -land of his many trials about 1666. A year later the Treaty of Breda -restored Acadia to France. - - - - -{71} - -CHAPTER V - -FROM 1635 TO 1650 - -Mystics come to Canada--A city built of dreams--First night at -Montreal--Maisonneuve fights raiders--Le Jeune joins the -hunters--Brebeuf goes to Lake Huron--Life at the Huron mission--The -scourge of the Iroquois--The fight at St. Louis--Rageneau's converts -resist--Flight of the Hurons - - -While Charles de La Tour and Charnisay scoured the Bay of Fundy in -border warfare like buccaneers of the Spanish Main, what was Quebec -doing? - -The Hundred Associates were to colonize the country; but fur trading -and farming never go together. One means the end of the other; and the -Hundred Associates shifted the obligation of settling the country by -granting vast estates called seigniories along the St. Lawrence and -leaving to these new lords of the soil the duty of bringing out -habitants. Later they deeded over for an annual rental of beaver skins -the entire fur monopoly to the Habitant Company, made up of the leading -people of New France. So ended all the fine promises of four thousand -colonists. - -Years ago Pontgrave had learned that the Indians of the Up-Country did -not care to come down the St. Lawrence farther than Lake St. Peter's, -where Iroquois foe lay in ambush; and the year before Champlain died a -double expedition had set out from Quebec in July: one to build a fort -north of Lake St. Peter's at the entrance to the river with three -mouths,--in other words, to found Three Rivers; the other, under Father -Brebeuf, the Jesuit, and Jean Nicolet, the wood runner, to establish a -mission in the country of the Hurons and to explore the Great Lakes. - -In fact, it must never be forgotten that Champlain's ambitions in -laying the foundations of a new nation aimed just as much to establish -a kingdom of heaven on earth as to win a new kingdom for France. -Always, in the minds of the fathers of New France, Church was to be -first; State, second. When Charles de Montmagny, Knight of Malta, -landed in Quebec one June morning in 1636, to succeed Champlain as -governor of New France, he noticed a crucifix planted by the path side -where {72} viceroy and officers clambered up the steep hill to Castle -St. Louis. Instantly Montmagny fell to his knees before the cross in -silent adoration, and his example was followed by all the gay train of -beplumed officers. The Jesuits regarded the episode as a splendid omen -for New France, and set their chapel organ rolling a _Te Deum_ of -praise, while Governor and retinue filed before the altars with bared -heads. - -It was in the same spirit that Montreal was founded. - - -The Jesuits' letters on the Canadian missions were now being read in -France. Religious orders were on fire with missionary ardor. The -Canadian missions became the fashion of the court. Ladies of noble -blood asked no greater privilege than to contribute their fortunes for -missions in Canada. Nuns lay prostrate before altars praying night and -day for the advancement of the heavenly kingdom on the St. Lawrence. -The Jesuits had begun their college in Quebec. The very year that -Champlain had first come to the St. Lawrence there had been born in -Normandy, of noble parentage, a little girl who became a passionate -devotee of Canadian missions. To divert her mind from the calling of a -nun, her father had thrown her into a whirl of gayety from which she -emerged married; but her husband died in a few years, and Madame de la -Peltrie, left a widow at twenty-two, turned again heart and soul to the -scheme of endowing a Canadian mission. Again her father tried to -divert her mind, threatening to cut off her fortune if she did not -marry. An engagement to a young noble, who was as keen a devotee as -herself, quieted her father and averted the loss of her fortune. On -the death of her father the formal union was dissolved, and Madame de -la Peltrie proceeded to the Ursuline Convent of Tours, where the -Jesuits had already chosen a mother superior for the new institution to -be founded at Quebec--Marie of the Incarnation, a woman of some fifty -years, a widow like Madame de la Peltrie, and, like Madame de la -Peltrie, a mystic dreamer of celestial visions and divine communings -and heroic sacrifices. How much of truth, how much of self-delusion, -{73} lay in these dreams of heavenly revelation is not for the outsider -to say. It is as impossible for the practical mind to pronounce -judgment on the mystic as for the mystic to pronounce sentence on the -scientist. Both have their truths, both have their errors; and by -their fruits are they known. - -[Illustration: MADAME DE LA PELTRIE (After a picture in the Ursuline -Convent, Quebec)] - -May 4th, 1639, Madame de la Peltrie and Marie of the Incarnation -embarked from Dieppe for Canada. In the ship were also another -Ursuline nun, three hospital sisters to found the Hotel Dieu at Quebec, -Father Vimont, superior of Quebec Jesuits, and two other priests. The -boat was like a chapel. Ship's bell tolled services. Morning prayer -and evensong were chanted from the decks, and the pilgrims firmly -believed that their vows allayed a storm. July 1st they were among the -rocking dories of the Newfoundland fishermen, and then on the 15th the -little sailboat washed and rolled to anchor inshore among the fur -traders under the heights of Tadoussac. - -At sight of the somber Saguenay, the silver-flooded St. Lawrence, the -frowning mountains, the far purple hills, the primeval forests through -which the wind rushed with the sound of the sea, the fishing craft -dancing on the tide like cockle boats, the grizzled fur traders bronzed -as the crinkled oak forests where they passed their lives, the tawny, -naked savages agape at these white-skinned women come from afar, the -hearts of the {74} housed-up nuns swelled with emotions strange and -sweet,--the emotions of a new life in a new world. And when they -scrambled over the rope coils aboard a fishing schooner to go on up to -Quebec, and heard the deep-voiced shoutings of the men, and witnessed -the toilers of the deep fighting wind and wave for the harvest of the -sea, did it dawn on the fair sisterhood that God must have workers -_out_ in the strife of the world, as well as workers _shut up_ from the -world inside convent walls? Who knows? . . . Who knows? At -Tadoussac, that morning, to both Madame de la Peltrie and Marie of the -Incarnation it must have seemed as if their visions had become real. -And then the cannon of Quebec began to thunder till the echoes rolled -from hill to hill and shook--as the mystics thought--the very -strongholds of hell. Tears streamed down their cheeks at such welcome. -The whole Quebec populace had rallied to the water front, and there -stood Governor Montmagny in velvet cloak with sword at belt waving hat -in welcome. Soldiers and priests cheered till the ramparts rang. As -the nuns put foot to earth once more they fell on their knees and -kissed the soil of Canada. August 1st was fete day in Quebec. The -chapel chimes rang . . . and rang again their gladness. The organ -rolled out its floods of soul-shattering music, and deep-throated chant -of priests invoked God's blessing on the coming of the women to the -mission. So began the Ursuline Convent of Quebec and the Hotel Dieu of -the hospital sisters; but Montreal was still a howling wilderness -untenanted by man save in midsummer, when the fur traders came to -Champlain's factory and the canoes of the Indians from the Up-Country -danced down the swirling rapids like sea birds on waves. - - -The letters from the Jesuit missions touched more hearts than those of -the mystic nuns. - -In Anjou dwelt a receiver of taxes--Jerome le Royer de la Dauversiere, -a stout, practical, God-fearing man with a family, about as far removed -in temperament from the founders of the Ursulines as a character could -well be. Yet he, too, had mystic {75} dreams and heard voices bidding -him found a mission in the tenantless wilderness of Montreal. To the -practical man the thing seems sheer moon-stark madness. If Dauversiere -had lived in modern days he would have been committed to an asylum. -Here was a man with a family, without a fortune, commanded by what he -thought was the voice of Heaven to found a hospital in a wilderness -where there were no people. Also in Paris dwelt a young priest, Jean -Jacques Olier, who heard the self-same voices uttering the self-same -command. These two men were unknown to each other; yet when they met -by chance in the picture gallery of an old castle, there fell from -their eyes, as it were, scales, and they beheld as in a vision each the -other's soul, and recognized in each fellow-helper and comrade of the -spirit. To all this the practical man cries out "Bosh"! Yet Montreal -is no bosh, but a stately city, and it sprang from the dreams--"fool -dreams," enemies would call them--of these two men, the Sulpician -priest and the Anjou tax collector. - -Hour after hour, arm in arm, they walked and talked, the man of prayers -and the man of taxes. People or no people at Montreal, money or no -money, they decided that the inner voice must be obeyed. A Montreal -Society was formed. Six friends joined. What would be equal to -$75,000 was collected. There were to be no profits on this capital. -It was all to be invested to the glory of the Kingdom of Heaven. -Unselfish if you like, foolish they may have been, but not hypocrites. - -First of all, they must become Seigneurs of Montreal; but the island of -Montreal had already been granted by the Hundred Associates to one -Lauson. To render the title doubly secure, Dauversiere and Olier -obtained deeds to the island from Lauson and from the Hundred -Associates. - -Forty-five colonists, part soldiers, part devotees, were then gained as -volunteers; but a veritable soldier of Heaven was desired as commander. -Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, was noted for his heroism in -war and zeal in religion. When other officers returned from battle for -wild revels, Maisonneuve withdrew to play the flute or pass hours in -religious {76} contemplation. His name occurred to both Dauversiere -and Olier as fittest for command; but to make doubly sure, they took -lodgings near him, studied his disposition, and then casually told him -of their plans and asked his cooeperation. Maisonneuve was in the prime -of life, on the way to high service in the army. His zeal took fire at -thought of founding a Kingdom of God at Montreal; but his father -furiously opposed what must have seemed a mad scheme. Maisonneuve's -answer was the famous promise of Christ: "No man hath left house or -brethren or sister for my sake but he shall receive a hundredfold." - -Maisonneuve was warned there would be no earthly reward--no pay--for -his arduous task; but he answered, "I devote my life and future; and I -expect no recompense." - -Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance, thirty-four years old, who had given herself -to good works from childhood, though she had not yet joined the -cloister, now felt the call to labor in the wilderness. Later, in -1653, came Marguerite Bourgeoys to the little colony beneath the -mountain. She too, like Jeanne Mance, distrusted dreams and visions -and mystic communings, cherishing a religion of good works rather than -introspection of the soul. Dauversiere and Olier remained in France. -Fortunately for Montreal, practical Christians, fighting soldiers of -the cross, carried the heavenly standard to the wilderness. - -It was too late to ascend the St. Lawrence when the ship brought the -crusaders to Quebec in August, 1641; and difficulties harried them from -the outset. Was Montmagny, the Governor, jealous of Maisonneuve; or -did he simply realize the fearful dangers Maisonneuve's people would -run going beyond the protection of Quebec? At all events, he -disapproved this building of a second colony at Montreal, when the -first colony at Quebec could barely gain subsistence. He offered them -the Island of Orleans in exchange for the Island of Montreal, and -warned them of Iroquois raid. - -"I have not come to argue," answered Maisonneuve, "but to act. It is -my duty to found a colony at Montreal, and thither I go though every -tree be an Iroquois." - -{77} Maisonneuve passed the winter building boats to ascend the St. -Lawrence next spring; and Madame de la Peltrie, having established the -Ursulines at Quebec, now cast in her lot with the Montrealers for two -years. - -May 8, 1642, the little flotilla set out from Quebec--a pinnace with -the passengers, a barge with provisions, two long boats propelled by -oars and a sweep. Montmagny and Father Vimont accompanied the -crusaders; and as the boats came within sight of the wooded mountain on -May 17, hymns of praise rose from the pilgrims that must have mingled -strangely on Indian ears with the roar of the angry rapids. One can -easily call up the scene--the mountain, misty with the gathering -shadows of sunset, misty as a veiled bride with the color and bloom of -spring; the boats, moored for the night below St. Helen's Island, where -the sun, blazing behind the half-foliaged trees, paints a path of fire -on the river; the white bark wigwams along shore with the red gleam of -camp fire here and there through the forest; the wilderness world -bathed in a peace as of heaven, as the vesper hymn floats over the -evening air! It is a scene that will never again be enacted in the -history of the world--dreamers dreaming greatly, building a castle of -dreams, a fortress of holiness in the very center of wilderness -barbarity and cruelty unspeakable. The multitudinous voices of traffic -shriek where the crusaders' hymn rose that May night. A great city has -risen on the foundations which these dreamers laid. Let us not scoff -too loudly at their mystic visions and religious rhapsodies! Another -generation may scoff at our too-much-worldliness, with our dreamless -grind and visionless toil and harder creeds that reject everything -which cannot be computed in the terms of traffic's dollar! Well for us -if the fruit of our creeds remain to attest as much worth as the deeds -of these crusaders! - - -Early next morning the boats pulled in ashore where Cartier had landed -one hundred years before and Champlain had built his factory thirty -years ago. Maisonneuve was first to spring on land. He dropped to his -knees in prayer. The others as {78} they landed did likewise. Their -hymns floated out on the forest. Madame de la Peltrie, Jeanne Mance, -and the servant, Charlotte Barre, quickly decorated a wildwood altar -with evergreens. Then, with Montmagny the Governor, and Maisonneuve -the soldier, standing on either side, Madame de la Peltrie and Jeanne -Mance and Charlotte Barre, bowed in reverence, with soldiers and -sailors standing at rest unhooded, Father Vimont held the first -religious services at Mont Royal. "You are a grain of mustard seed," -he said, "and you shall grow till your branches overshadow the earth." - -Maisonneuve cut the first tree for the fort; and a hundred legends -might be told of the little colony's pioneer trials. Once a flood -threatened the existence of the fort. A cross was erected to stay the -waters and a vow made if Heaven would save the fort a cross should be -carried and placed on the summit of the mountain. The river abated, -and Maisonneuve climbed the steep mountain, staggering under the weight -of an enormous cross, and planted it at the highest point. Here, in -the presence of all, mass was held, and it became a regular pilgrimage -from the fort up the mountain to the cross. - -In 1743 came Louis d'Ailleboust and his wife, both zealously bound by -the same vows as devotees, bringing word of more funds for Ville Marie, -as Montreal was called. Montmagny's warning of Iroquois proved all too -true. Within a year, in June, 1743, six workmen were beset in the -fields, only one escaping. Because his mission was to convert the -Indians, Maisonneuve had been ever reluctant to meet the Iroquois in -open war, preferring to retreat within the fort when the dog Pilot and -her litter barked loud warning that Indians were hiding in the woods. -Any one who knows the Indian character will realize how clemency would -be mistaken for cowardice. Even Maisonneuve's soldiers began to doubt -him. - -"My lord, my lord," they urged, "are the enemy never to get a sight of -you? Are we never to face the foe?" - -Maisonneuve's answer was in March, 1644, when ambushed hostiles were -detected stealing on the fort. - -{79} "Follow me," he ordered thirty men, leaving D'Ailleboust in -command of the fort. - -Near the place now known as Place d'Armes the little band was greeted -by the eldritch scream of eighty painted Iroquois. Shots fell thick -and fast. The Iroquois dashed to rescue their wounded, and a young -chief, recognizing Maisonneuve as the leader of the white men, made a -rush for the honor of capturing the French commander alive. -Maisonneuve had put himself between his retreating men and the -advancing warriors. Firing, he would retreat a pace, then fire again, -keeping his face to the foe. His men succeeded in rushing up the -hillock, then made for the gates in a wild stampede. Maisonneuve was -backing away, a pistol in each hand. The Iroquois circled from tree to -tree, near and nearer, and like a wildwood creature of prey was -watching his chance to spring, when the Frenchman fired. The pistol -missed. Dodging, the Indian leaped. Maisonneuve discharged the other -pistol. The Iroquois fell dead, and while warriors rescued the body, -Maisonneuve gained the fort gates. This was only one of countless -frays when the dog Pilot with her puppies sounded the alarm of prowlers -in the woods. - - -What were the letters, what the adventures described by the Jesuits, -that aroused such zeal and inspired such heroism? It would require -many volumes to record the adventures of the Jesuits in Canada, and a -long list to include all their heroes martyred for the faith. Only a -few of the most prominent episodes in the Jesuits' adventures can be -given here. - -When Pierre le Jeune reached Quebec after the victory of the Kirke -brothers, he found only the charred remains of a mission on the old -site of Cartier's winter quarters down on the St. Charles. Of houses, -only the gray-stone cottage of Madame Hebert had been left standing. -Here Le Jeune was welcomed and housed till the little mission could be -rebuilt. At first it consisted of only mud-plastered log cabins, -thatch-roofed, divided into four rooms, with garret and cellar. One -room decorated with saints' images and pictures served as chapel; -another, as {80} kitchen; a third, as lodgings; the fourth, as -refectory. In this humble abode six Jesuit priests and two lay -brothers passed the winter after the war. The roof leaked like a -sieve. The snow piled high almost as the top of the door. Le Jeune's -first care was to obtain pupils. These consisted of an Indian boy and -a negro lad left by the English. Meals of porridge given free -attracted more Indian pupils; but Le Jeune's greatest difficulty was to -learn the Indian language. Hearing that a renegade Indian named -Pierre, who had served the French as interpreter, lodged with some -Algonquins camped below Cape Diamond, Le Jeune tramped up the river -bank, along what is now the Lower Road, where he found the Indians -wigwamming, and by the bribe of free food obtained Pierre. Pierre was -at best a tricky scoundrel, who considered it a joke to give Le Jeune -the wrong word for some religious precept, gorged himself on the -missionaries' food, stole their communion wine, and ran off at Lent to -escape fasting. - -[Illustration: PIERRE LE JEUNE] - -When Champlain returned to receive Quebec back from the English, more -priests joined the Jesuits' mission. Among them was the lion-hearted -giant, Brebeuf. - -If Champlain's bush lopers could join bands of wandering Indians for -the extension of French dominion, surely the Jesuits could dare as -perilous a life "for the greater glory of God,"--as their vows declared. - -{81} Le Jeune joined a band of wandering Montaignais, Pierre, the -rascal, tapping the keg of sacramental wine the first night out, and -turning the whole camp into a drunken bedlam, till his own brother -sobered him with a kettle of hot water flung full in the face. That -night the priest slept apart from the camp in the woods. By the time -the hunters reached the forest borderland between Quebec and New -Brunswick, their number had increased to forty-five. By Christmas time -game is usually dormant, still living on the stores of the fall and not -yet driven afield by spring hunger. In camp was no food. The hunters -halted the march, and came in Christmas Eve of 1633 with not so much as -a pound of flesh for nearly fifty people. From the first the Indian -medicine man had heaped ridicule on the white priest, and Pierre had -refused to interpret as much as a single prayer; but now the whole camp -was starving. Pierre happened to tell the other Indians that Christmas -was the day on which the white man's God had come to earth. In vain -the medicine man had pounded his tom-tom and shouted at the Indian gods -from the top of the wigwams and offered sacrifice of animals to be -slain. No game had come as the result of the medicine man's invocation. - -Le Jeune gathered the people about him and through Pierre, the -interpreter, bade them try the white man's God. In the largest of the -wigwams a little altar was fitted up. Then the Indians repeated this -prayer after Le Jeune: - -Jesus, Son of the Almighty . . . who died for us . . . who promised -that if we ask anything in Thy name, Thou wilt do it--I pray Thee with -all my heart, give food to these people . . . this people promises Thee -faithfully they will trust Thee entirely and obey Thee with all their -heart! My Lord, hear my prayer! I present Thee my life for this -people, most willing to die that they may live and know Thee. - - -"Take that back," grunted the chief. "We love you! We don't want you -to die." - -"I only want to show that I am your friend," answered the priest. - -Le Jeune then commanded them to go forth to the hunt, full of faith -that God would give them food. - -{82} But alas for the poor father's hopes and the childlike Indian vow! -True, they found abundance of food,--a beaver dam full of beaver, a -moose, a porcupine taken by the Indian medicine man. Father Le Jeune, -with radiant face, met the hunters returning laden with game. - -"We must thank your God for this," said the Indian chief, throwing down -his load. - -"Bah," says Pierre, "you 'd have found it anyway." - -"This is not the time to talk," sneered the medicine man. "Let the -hungry people eat." - -And by the time the Indians had gorged themselves with ample measure -for their long fast, they were torpid with sleep. The sad priest was -fain to wander out under the stars. There, in the snow-padded silences -of the white-limned forest, far from the joyous peal of Christmas -bells, he knelt alone and worshiped God. - -For five months he wandered with the Montaignais, and now in April the -hunters turned toward Quebec with their furs. At three in the morning -Le Jeune knocked on the door of the mission house at Quebec, and was -welcomed home by the priests. The pilgrimage had taught him what the -Jesuits have always held--the way to power with a people is through the -education of the children. "Give me a child for the first seven years -of its life," said a famous educator, "and I care not what you do with -him the rest of his years." Missions and schools must be established -among the tribes of Hurons and Iroquois. - - -Consequently, when Champlain sent his soldiers in 1634 to build a fort -at Three Rivers, they were accompanied by three Jesuits, chief of whom -was Jean de Brebeuf, lion-hearted, bound for the land of the Hurons. -The chapel bells of Quebec rang and rang again in honor of the new -Jesuit mission--morning, noon, and night they chimed in airy music, -calling men's thoughts to God, just as you may hear the chimes to-day; -and the ramparts below Quebec thundered and reechoed with salvos of -cannon when the missionaries set out for Three Rivers. - -{83} At Three Rivers waited the Indians of the Up-Country. The Jesuits -embarked with them for the land of the Hurons. The priests traveled -barefoot to avoid injuring the frail bark of the canoes. Barely had -farewell cheers faded on the river, when the canoes spread apart. With -pieces of buckskin hoisted on fishing rods for sail, and a flipping of -paddles as naked, bronzed arms set the pace, the voyage had begun. -Heroism is easy with chapel bells ringing; it is another matter, -barefoot and with sleeves rolled up. - -It was the same trail that Champlain had followed up the Ottawa. Only -Champlain was assured of good treatment, for he had promised to fight -in the Indian wars; but the Jesuits were dependent on the caprice of -their conductors. Any one, who, from experience in the wilds, has -learned how the term "tenderfoot" came to be applied, will realize the -hardships endured--and endured without self-pity--by these scholarly -men of immured life. The rocks of the portage cut their naked feet. -The Indians refused to carry their packs overland and flung bundles of -clothing and food into the water. In fair weather the voyageurs slept -on the sand under the overturned canoes; in rain a wigwam was raised, -and into the close confines of this tent crowded men, women, and -children, for the most part naked, and with less idea of decency than a -domestic dog. Each night, as the boats were beached, the priests -wandered off into the woods to hold their prayers in privacy. Soon the -canoes were so far apart the different boats did not camp together, and -the white men were scattered alone among the savages. Robberies -increased till, when Brebeuf reached Georgian Bay, thirty days from -leaving Three Rivers, he had little left but the bundles he had carried -for himself. - -Brebeuf had been to the Huron country before with Etienne Brule, -Champlain's pathfinder; but of the first mission no record exists. -Brebeuf found that Brule had been murdered near the modern Penetang; -and the Indians had scarcely brought the priest's canoe ashore, when -they bolted through the woods, leaving him to follow as best he could. - -{84} Take a map of modern Ontario. Draw a circle round Georgian Bay, -running from Muskoka through Lake Simcoe and up into Manitoulin Island. -Here, on the very stamping ground of the summer tourist, was the scene -of the Jesuits' Huron mission. - -[Illustration: GEORGIAN BAY] - -When Brebeuf's tall frame emerged from the woods, the whole village of -Ihonateria dashed out to welcome him, shouting, "He has come! He has -come again! Behold, the Black Robe has come again!" Young braves -willingly ran back through the forest for the baggage, which the -voyageurs had thrown aside; and at one o'clock in the morning, as the -messengers came through the moonlit forest, Brebeuf took up his abode -in the house of the leading chief. Later came Fathers Davost and -Daniel. By October the Indians had built the missionaries their -wigwam, a bark-covered house of logs, thirty-six feet long, divided -into three rooms, reception room, living quarters, church. In the -entrance hall assembled the Indians, squatting on the floor, gazing in -astonishment at the religious pictures on the wall, and, above all, at -the clock. - -{85} "What does he say?" they would ask, listening solemnly to the -ticking. - -"He says 'Hang on the kettle,'" Brebeuf would answer as the clock -struck twelve, and the whole conclave would be given a simple meal of -corn porridge; but at four the clock sang a different song. - -"It says 'Get up and go home,'" Brebeuf would explain, and the Indians -would file out, knowing well that the Black Robes were to engage in -prayer. - -No holiday in the wildwoods was the Jesuit mission. Chapel bell called -to service at four in the morning. Eight was the breakfast hour. The -morning was passed teaching, preaching, visiting. At two o'clock was -dinner, when a chapter of the Bible was read. After four the Indians -were dismissed, and the missionaries met to compare notes and plan the -next day's campaign. - -By 1645, five mission houses had been established, with Ste. Marie on -the Wye, east of Midland, as the central house. Near Lake Simcoe were -two missions,--St. Jean Ba'tiste and St. Joseph; near Penetang, St. -Louis, and St. Ignace. Westward of Ste. Marie on the Wye were half a -dozen irregular missions among the Tobacco Indians. Each of the five -regular missions boasted palisaded inclosures, a chapel of log slabs -with bell and spire, though the latter might be only a high wooden -cross. At Ste. Marie, the central station, were lodgings for sixty -people, a hospital, kitchen garden, with cattle, pigs, and poultry. At -various times soldiers had been sent up by the Quebec governors, till -some thirty or forty were housed at Ste. Marie. In all were eighteen -priests, four lay brothers, seven white servants, and twenty-three -volunteers, unpaid helpers--donnes, they were called, young men -ardently religious, learning woodlore and the Indian language among the -Jesuits, as well as exploring whenever it was possible for them to -accompany the Indians. Among the volunteers was one Chouart -Groseillers, who, if he did not accompany Father Jogues on a preaching -tour to the tribes of Lake Superior, had at least gone as far as the -Sault and learned of the vast unexplored world beyond Lake Superior. -{86} Food, as always, played a large part in winning the soul of the -redskin. On church fete days as many as three thousand people were fed -and lodged at Ste. Marie. That the priests suffered many trials among -the unreasonable savages need not be told. When it rained too heavily -they were accused of ruining the crops by praying for too much rain; -when there was drouth they were blamed for not arranging this matter -with their God; and when the scourge of smallpox raged through the -Huron villages, devastating the wigwams so that the timber wolves -wandered unmolested among the dead, it was easy for the humpback -sorcerer to ascribe the pestilence also to the influence of the Black -Robes. Once their houses were set on fire. Again and again their -lives were threatened. Often after tramping twenty miles through the -sleet-soaked, snow-drifted spring forests, arriving at an Indian -village foredone and exhausted, the Jesuit was met with no better -welcome than a wigwam flap closed against his entrance, or a rabble of -impish children hooting and jeering him as he sought shelter from house -to house. - -But an influence was at work on the borders of the St. Lawrence that -yearly rendered the Hurons more tractable. From raiding the -settlements of the St. Lawrence, the Iroquois were sweeping in a -scourge more deadly than smallpox up the Ottawa to the very forests of -Georgian Bay. The Hurons no longer dared to go down to Quebec in -swarming canoes. Only a few picked warriors--perhaps two hundred and -fifty--would venture so near the Iroquois fighting ground. - -One winter night, as the priests sat round their hearth fire watching -the mournful shadows cast by the blazing logs on the rude walls, -Brebeuf, the soldier, lion-hearted, the fearless, told in a low, dreamy -voice of a vision that had come,--the vision of a huge fiery cross -rising slowly out of the forest and moving across the face of the sky -towards the Huron country. It seemed to come from the land of the -Iroquois. Was the priest's vision a dream, or his own intuition deeper -than reason, assuming dire form, portending a universal fear? Who can -tell? I can but repeat the story as it is told in their annals. - -{87} "How large was the cross?" asked the other priests. Brebeuf gazes -long in the fire. - -"Large enough to crucify us all," he answers. - - -And, as he had dreamed, fell the blow. - -St. Joseph, of the Lake Simcoe region, was situated a day's travel from -the main fortified mission of Ste. Marie. Round it were some two -thousand Hurons to whom Father Daniel ministered. Father Daniel was -just closing the morning services on July the 4th, 1648. His tawny -people were on their knees repeating the responses of the service, when -from the forest, humming with insect and bird life, arose a sound that -was neither wind nor running water--confused, increasing, nearing! -Then a shriek broke within the fort palisades,--"The enemy! the -Iroquois!" and the courtyard was in an uproar indescribable. Painted -redskins, naked but for the breech clout, were dashing across the -cornfields to scale the palisades or force the hastily slammed gates. -Father Daniel rushed from church to wigwams rallying the Huron -warriors, while the women and children, the aged and the feeble, ran a -terrified rabble to the shelter of the chapel. Before the Hurons could -man the walls, Iroquois hatchets had hacked holes of entrance in the -palisades. The fort was rushed by a bloodthirsty horde making the air -hideous with fiendish screams. - -"Fly! Save yourselves!" shouted the priest. "I stay here! We shall -this day meet in Heaven!" - -In the volley and counter volley of ball and arrow, Father Daniel -reeled on his face, shot in the heart. In a trice his body was cut to -pieces, and the Iroquois were bathing their hands in his warm -lifeblood. A moment later the village was in roaring flames, and on -the burning pile were flung the fragments of the priest's body. The -victors set out on the homeward tramp with a line of more than six -hundred prisoners, the majority, women and children, to be brained if -their strength failed on the march, to be tortured in the Iroquois -towns if they survived the abuse on the way. - -{88} Next westward from the Lake Simcoe missions were St. Ignace with -four hundred people and St. Louis with seven hundred, near the modern -Penetang and within short distance of the Jesuits' strong headquarters -on the River Wye. At these two missions labored Brebeuf, the giant, -and a fragile priest named Lalemant. - -Encouraged by the total destruction of St. Joseph, the Iroquois that -very fall took the warpath with more than one thousand braves. -Ascending the Ottawa leisurely, they had passed the winter hunting and -cutting off any stray wanderers found in the forest. - -The Hurons knew the doom that was slowly approaching. Yet they -remained passive, stunned, terrified by the blow at St. Joseph. It was -spring of 1649 before the warriors reached Georgian Bay. March winds -had cleared the trail of snowdrifts, but the forests were still -leafless. St. Ignace mission lay between Lake Simcoe and St. Louis. -Approaching it one windy March night, the Iroquois had cut holes -through the palisades before dawn and burst inside the walls with the -yells and gyrations of some hideous hell dance. Here a warrior -simulated the howl of the wolf. There another approached in the -crouching leaps of a panther, all the while uttering the yelps and -screams of a beast of prey lashed to fury. The poor Hurons were easy -victims. Nearly all their braves happened to be absent hunting, and -the four hundred women and children, rushing from the long houses half -dazed with sleep, fell without realizing their fate, or found -themselves herded in the chapel like cattle at the shambles, Iroquois -guards at every window and door. - -Luckily three Hurons escaped over the palisades and rushed breathless -through the forest to forewarn Brebeuf and Lalemant cooped up in St. -Louis. The Iroquois came on behind like a wolf pack. - -"Escape! Escape! Run to the woods, Black Robes! There is yet time," -the Indian converts urged Brebeuf; but the lion-hearted stood -steadfast, though Lalemant, new to scenes of carnage, turned white and -trembled in spite of his resolution. - -{89} "Who would protect the women if the men fled like deer to the -woods?" demanded Brebeuf, and the tigerish yells of the on-rushing -horde answered the question. - -[Illustration: BREBEUF] - -Before day dawn had tipped the branches of the leafless trees with -shafted sunlight, the enemy were hacking furiously at the palisades. -Trapped and cornered, the most timid of animals will fight. With such -fury, reckless from desperation, cherishing no hope, the Hurons now -fought, but they were handicapped by lack of guns and balls. Thirty -Iroquois had been slain, a hundred wounded, and the assailants drew off -for breath. It was only the lull between two thunderclaps. A moment -later they were on St. Louis' walls and had hacked through a dozen -places. At these spots the fiercest fighting occurred, and those -Iroquois who had not already bathed their faces in the gore of victims -at St. Ignace were soon enough dyed in their own blood. Here, there, -everywhere, were Brebeuf and Lalemant, fighting, administering last -rites, exhorting the Hurons to perish valiantly. Then the rolling -clouds of flame and smoke told the Hurons that their village was on -fire. Some dashed back to die inside the burning wigwams. Others -fought desperately to escape through the broken walls. A few, in the -confusion and smoke, succeeded in reaching the woods, whence they ran -to warn Ste. Marie on the Wye. Brebeuf and Lalemant had been knocked -down, stripped, bound, and were now {90} half driven, half dragged, -with the other captives to be tortured at Ignace. Not a sign of fear -did either priest betray. - -One would fain pass over the next pages of the Jesuit records. It is -inconceivable how human nature, even savage nature, so often stoops -beneath the most repellent cruelties of the brute world. It is -inconceivable unless one acknowledge an influence fiendish; but let us -not judge the Indians too harshly. When the Iroquois warriors were -torturing the Hurons and their missionaries, the populace of civilized -European cities was outdoing the savages on victims whose sins were -political. - -While the Jesuits of Ste. Marie were praying all day and night before -the lighted altar for heavenly intervention to rescue Brebeuf and -Lalemant, the two captured priests stood bound to the torture stakes, -the gapingstock of a thousand fiends. When the Iroquois singed Brebeuf -from head to foot with burning birch bark, he threatened them in tones -of thunder with everlasting damnation for persecuting the servants of -God. The Iroquois shrieked with laughter. Such spirit in a man was to -their liking. Then, to stop his voice, they cut away his lips and -rammed a red-hot iron into his mouth. Not once did the giant priest -flinch or writhe at the torture stake. Then they brought out Lalemant, -that Brebeuf might suffer the agony of seeing a weaker spirit flinch. -Poor Lalemant fell at his superior's feet, sobbing out a verse of -Scripture. Then they wreathed Lalemant in oiled bark and set fire to -it. - -"We baptize you," they yelled, throwing hot water on the dying man. -Then they railed out blasphemies, obscenities unspeakable, against the -Jesuits' religion. Brebeuf had not winced, but his frame was relaxing. -He sank to his knees, a dying man. With the yells of devils jealous of -losing their prey, they ripped off his scalp while he was still alive, -tore his heart from his breast, and drank the warm lifeblood of the -priest. Brebeuf died at four in the afternoon. Strange to relate, -Lalemant, of the weaker body, survived the tortures till daybreak, -when, weary of the sport, the Indians desisted from their mad night -orgies and put an end to his sufferings by braining him. - -{91} Over at Ste. Marie, Ragueneau and the other priests momentarily -awaited the attack; but at Ste. Marie were forty French soldiers and -ample supply of muskets. The Iroquois was bravest as the wolf is -bravest--when attacking a lamb. Three hundred Hurons lay in ambush -along the forest trail. These ran from the Iroquois like sheep; but -when three hundred more sallied from the fort, led by the French, it -was the Iroquois' turn to run, and they fled back behind the palisades -of St. Louis. The Hurons followed, entered by the selfsame breaches -the Iroquois had made, and drove the invaders out. More Iroquois -rushed from Ignace to the rescue. A hundred Iroquois fell in the day's -fight, and when they finally recaptured St. Louis, only twenty Hurons -remained of the three hundred. The victory had been bought at too -great cost. Tying their prisoners to stakes at St. Ignace, they heaped -the courtyard with inflammable wood, set fire to all, and retreated, -taking only enough prisoners to carry their plunder. - -[Illustration: REMNANTS OF WALLS OF FORT ST. MARY ON CHRISTIAN ISLAND -IN 1891] - -Ste. Marie for the time was safe. The invaders had gone; but the blow -had crushed forever the prowess of the Huron nation. The remaining -towns had thought for nothing but flight. {92} Town after town was -forsaken and burned in the summer of 1649, the corn harvest left -standing in the fields, while the panic-stricken people put out in -their canoes to take refuge on the islands of Georgian Bay. Ste. Marie -on the Wye alone remained, and the reason for its existence was -vanishing like winter snow before summer sun, for its people fled . . . -fled . . . fled . . . daily fled to the pink granite islands of the -lake. The Hurons begged the Jesuits to accompany them, and there was -nothing else for Ragueneau to do. Ste. Marie was stripped, the stock -slain for food. Then the buildings were set on fire. June 14, just as -the sunset bathed water and sky in seas of gold, the priest led his -homeless people down to the lake as Moses of old led the children of -Israel. Oars and sweeps, Georgian Bay calm as glass, they rafted -slowly out to the Christian Islands,--Faith, Hope, and Charity,--which -tourists can still see from passing steamers, a long wooded line beyond -the white water-fret of the wind-swept reefs. The island known on the -map as Charity, or St. Joseph, was heavily wooded. Here the refugees -found their haven, and the French soldiers cleared the ground {93} for -a stone fort of walled masonry,--the islands offering little else than -stone and timber, though the fishing has not failed to this day. - -[Illustration: MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES Showing the territory of the -Jesuit Huron missions] - -By autumn the walled fort was complete, but some eight thousand -refugees had gathered to the island. Such numbers could not subsist on -Georgian Bay in summer. In winter their presence meant starvation, and -before the spring of 1650 half had perished. Of the survivors, many -had fed on the bodies of the dead. No help had come from Quebec for -almost three years. The clothing of the priests had long since worn to -shreds. Ragueneau and his helpers were now dressed in skins like the -Indians, and reduced to a diet of nuts and smoked fish. - -With warm weather came sickness. And also came bands of raiding -Iroquois striking terror to the Tobacco Indians. Among them, too, -perished Jesuit priests, martyrs to the faith. Did some of the Hurons -venture from the Christian Islands across to the mainland to hunt, they -were beset by scalping parties and came back to the fort with tales -that crazed Ragueneau's Indians with terror. The Hurons decided to -abandon Georgian Bay. Some scattered to Lake Superior, to Green Bay, -to Detroit. Others found refuge on Manitoulin Island. A remnant of a -few hundreds followed Ragueneau and the French down the Ottawa to take -shelter at Quebec. Their descendants may be found to this day at the -mission of Lorette. - -To-day, as tourists drive through Quebec, marveling at the massive -buildings and power and wealth of Catholic orders, do they pause to -consider that the foundation stones of that power were dyed in the -blood of these early martyrs? Or, as the pleasure seekers glide among -the islands of Georgian Bay, do they ever ponder that this fair world -of blue waters and pink granite islands once witnessed the most bloody -tragedy of brute force, triumphant over the blasted hopes of religious -zeal? - - - - -{94} - -CHAPTER VI - -FROM 1650 TO 1672 - -Radisson captured by Iroquois--Radisson escapes--At Onandaga--How the -French were saved--Word of the western land--Westward bound--Dollard's -Heroes--The fight at the Long Sault--To seek the north sea--Discovers -Hudson Bay--Origin of the great fur company - - -Having destroyed the Hurons, who were under French protection, it is -not surprising that the Iroquois now set themselves to destroy the -French. From Montreal to Tadoussac the St. Lawrence swarmed with war -canoes. No sooner had the river ice broken up and the birds begun -winging north than the Iroquois flocked down the current of the -Richelieu, across Lake St. Peter to Three Rivers, down the St. Lawrence -to Quebec, up the St. Lawrence to Montreal. And the snows of midwinter -afforded no truce to the raids, for the Iroquois cached their canoes in -the forest, and roamed the woods on snowshoes. Settlers fled terrified -from their farms to the towns; farmers dared not work in their fields -without a sentry standing guard; Montreal became a prison; Three Rivers -lay blockaded; and at Quebec the war canoes passed defiantly below the -cannon of Cape Diamond, paddles beating defiance against the gun'els, -or prows flaunting the scalps of victims within cannon fire of Castle -St. Louis. Rich and poor, priests and parishioners, governors and -habitants, all alike trembled before the lurking treachery. Father -Jogues had been captured on his way from the Huron mission; Pere Poncet -was likewise kidnapped at Quebec and carried to the tortures of the -Mohawk towns; and a nephew of the Governor of Quebec was a few years -later attacked while hunting near Lake Champlain. - -The outraged people of New France realized that fear was only -increasing the boldness of the Iroquois. A Mohawk-chief fell into -their hands. By way of warning, they bound him to a stake and burned -him to death. The Indian revenge fell swift and sure. In 1653 the -Governor of Three Rivers and twelve leading citizens were murdered a -short distance from the fort gates. {95} One night in May of 1652 a -tall, slim, swarthy lad about sixteen years of age was seen winding his -way home to Three Rivers from a day's shooting in the marshes. He had -set out at day dawn with some friends, but fear of the Iroquois had -driven his comrades back. Now at nightfall, within sight of Three -Rivers, when the sunset glittered from the chapel spire, he unslung his -bag of game and sat down to reload his musket. Then he noticed that -the pistols in his belt had been water-soaked from the day's wading, -and he reloaded them too. - -Any one who is used to life in the open knows how at sundown wild birds -foregather for a last conclave. Ducks were winging in myriads and -settling on the lake with noisy flacker. Unable to resist the -temptation of one last shot, the boy was gliding noiselessly forward -through the rushes, when suddenly he stopped as if rooted to the -ground, with hands thrown up and eyes bulging from his head. At his -feet lay the corpses of his morning comrades,--scalped, stripped, -hacked almost piecemeal! Then the instinct of the hunted thing, of -flight, of self-protection, eclipsed momentary terror, and the boy was -ducking into the rushes to hide when, with a crash of musketry from the -woods, the Iroquois were upon him. - -When he regained consciousness, he was pegged out on the sand amid a -flotilla of beached canoes, where Iroquois warriors were having an -evening meal. So began the captivity, the love of the wilds, the wide -wanderings of one of the most intrepid explorers in New France,--Pierre -Esprit Radisson. - -His youth and the fact that he would make a good warrior were in his -favor. When he was carried back to the Mohawk town and with other -prisoners compelled to run the gauntlet between two lines of -tormentors, Radisson ran so fast and dodged so dexterously that he was -not once hit. The feat was greeted with shrieks of delight by the -Iroquois; and the high-spirited boy was given in adoption to a captive -Huron woman. - -Things would have gone well had he not bungled an attempt to escape; -but one night, while in camp with three Iroquois hunters, an Algonquin -captive entered. While the Iroquois {96} slept with guns stacked -against the trees, the sleepless Algonquin captive rose noiselessly -where he lay by the fire, seized the Mohawk warriors' guns, threw one -tomahawk across to Radisson, and with the other brained two of the -sleepers. The French boy aimed a blow at the third sleeper, and the -two captives escaped. But they might have saved themselves the -trouble. They were pursued and overtaken on Lake St. Peter, within -sight of Three Rivers. This time Radisson had to endure all the -_diableries_ of Mohawk torture. For two days he was kept bound to the -torture stake. The nails were torn from his fingers, the flesh burnt -from the soles of his feet, a hundred other barbarous freaks of impish -Indian children wreaked on the French boy. Arrows with flaming points -were shot at his naked body. His mutilated finger ends were ground -between stones, or thrust into the smoking bowl of a pipe full of -coals, or bitten by fiendish youngsters being trained up the way a -Mohawk warrior should go. - -[Illustration: A CANADIAN IN SNOWSHOES (After La Potherie)] - -Radisson's youth, his courage, his very dare-devil rashness, together -with presents of wampum belts from his Indian parents, {97} saved his -life for a second time, and a year of wild wanderings with Mohawk -warriors finally brought him to Albany on the Hudson, where the Dutch -would have ransomed him as they had ransomed the two Jesuits, Jogues -and Poncet; but the boy disliked to break faith a second time with his -loyal Indian friends. Still, the glimpse of white man's life caused a -terrible upheaval of revulsion from the barbarities, the filth, the -vice, of the Mohawk camp. He could endure Indian life no longer. One -morning, in the fall of 1653, he stole out from the Mohawk lodges, -while the mist of day dawn still shadowed the forest, and broke at a -run down the trail of the Mohawk valley for Albany. All day he ran, -pursued by the phantom fright of his own imagination, fancying -everything that crunched beneath his moccasined tread some Mohawk -warrior, seeing in the branches that reeled as he passed the arms of -pursuers stretched out to stop him;--on . . . and on . . . and on, he -ran, pausing neither to eat nor rest; here dashing into the bed of a -stream and running along the pebbled bottom to throw pursuers off the -trail; there breaking through a thicket of brushwood away from the -trail, only to come back to it breathless farther on, when some alarm -of the wind in the trees or deer on the move had proved false. Only -muscles of iron strength, lithe as elastic, could have endured the -strain. Nightfall at last came, hiding him from pursuers; but still he -sped on at a run, following the trail by the light of the stars and the -rush of the river. By sunrise of the second day he was staggering; for -the rocks were slippery with frost and his moccasins worn to tatters. -It was four in the afternoon before he reached the first outlying cabin -of the Dutch settlers. For three days he lay hidden in Albany behind -sacks of wheat in a thin-boarded attic, through the cracks of which he -could see the Mohawks searching everywhere. The Jesuit Poncet gave him -passage money to take ship to Europe by way of New York. New York was -then a village of a few hundred houses, thatch-roofed, with stone fort, -stone church, stone barracks. Central Park was a rocky wilderness. -What is now Wall Street was the stamping ground of pigs and goats. -January of 1654 Radisson {98} reached Europe, no longer a boy, but a -man inured to danger and hardships and daring, though not yet eighteen. - - -When Radisson came back to Three Rivers in May he found changes had -taken place in New France. Among the men murdered with the Governor of -Three Rivers by the Mohawks the preceding year had been his sister's -husband, and the widow had married one Medard Chouart de Groseillers, -who had served in the Huron country as a lay helper with the martyred -Jesuits. Also a truce had been patched up between the Iroquois and the -French. The Iroquois were warring against the Eries and wanted arms -from the French. A still more treacherous motive underlay the -Iroquois' peace. They wanted a French settlement in their country as a -guarantee of non-intervention when they continued to raid the refugee -Hurons. Such duplicity was unsuspected by New France. The Jesuits -looked upon the peace as designed by Providence to enable them to -establish missions among the Iroquois. Father Le Moyne went from -village to village preaching the gospel and receiving belts of wampum -as tokens of peace--one belt containing as many as seven thousand -beads. When the Onondagas asked for a French colony, Lauzon, the -French Governor, readily consented if the Jesuits would pay the cost, -estimated at about $10,000; and in 1656 Major Dupuis had led fifty -Frenchmen and four Jesuits up the St. Lawrence in long boats through -the wilderness to a little hill on Lake Onondaga, where a palisaded -fort was built, and the lilies of France, embroidered on a white silk -flag by the Ursuline nuns, flung from the breeze above the Iroquois -land. The colony was hardly established before three hundred Mohawks -fell on the Hurons encamped under shelter of Quebec, butchered without -mercy, and departed with shouts of laughter that echoed below the guns -at Cape Diamond, scalps waving from the prow of each Iroquois canoe. -Quebec was thunderstruck, numb with fright. The French dared not -retaliate, or the Iroquois would fall on the colony at Onondaga. -Perhaps people who keep their vision too constantly fixed on heaven -lose {99} sight of the practical duties of earth; but when eighty -Onondagas came again in 1657, inviting a hundred Hurons to join the -Iroquois Confederacy, the Jesuits again suspected no treachery in the -invitation, but saw only a providential opportunity to spread one -hundred Huron converts among the Iroquois pagans. Father Ragueneau, -who had led the poor refugees down from the Christian Islands on -Georgian Bay, now with another priest offered to accompany the Hurons -to the Iroquois nation. An interpreter was needed. Young Radisson, -now twenty-one years of age, offered to go as a lay helper, and the -party of two hundred and twenty French, eighty Iroquois, one hundred -Hurons, departed from the gates of Montreal, July 26. - -[Illustration: SAUSON'S MAP, 1656] - - -Hardly were they beyond recall, before scouts brought word that twelve -hundred Iroquois had gone on the warpath against Canada, and three -Frenchmen of Montreal had been scalped. At last the Governor of Quebec -bestirred himself: he caused twelve Iroquois to be seized and held as -hostages for the safety of the French. - -The Onondagas had set out from Montreal carrying the Frenchmen's -baggage. Beyond the first portage they flung the packs on the ground, -hurried the Hurons into canoes so that no two Hurons were in one boat, -and paddled over the {100} water with loud laughter, leaving the French -in the lurch. Father Ragueneau and Radisson quickly read the ominous -signs. Telling the other French to gather up the baggage, they armed -themselves and paddled in swift pursuit. That night Ragueneau's party -and the Onondagas camped together. Nothing was said or done to evince -treachery. Friends and enemies, Onondagas and Hurons and white men, -paddled and camped together for another week; but when, on August 3, -four Huron warriors and two women forcibly seized a canoe and headed -back for Montreal, the Onondagas would delay no longer. That afternoon -as the Indians paddled inshore to camp on one of the Thousand Islands, -some Onondaga braves rushed into the woods as if to hunt. As the -canoes grated the pebbled shore a secret signal was given. The Huron -men with their eyes bent on the beach, intent on landing, never knew -that they had been struck. Onondaga hatchets, clubs, spears, were -plied from the water side, and from the hunters ambushed on shore -crashed musketry that mowed down those who would have fled to the woods. - -By night time only a few Huron women and the French had survived the -massacre. Such was the baptism of blood that inaugurated the French -colony at Onondaga. Luckily the fort built on the crest of the hill -above Lake Onondaga was large enough to house stock and provisions. -Outside the palisades there daily gathered more Iroquois warriors, who -no longer dissembled a hunger for Jesuits' preaching. Among the -warriors were Radisson's old friends of the Mohawks, and his foster -father confessed to him frankly that the Confederacy were only delaying -the massacre of the French till they could somehow obtain the freedom -of the twelve Iroquois hostages held at Quebec. - -Daily more warriors gathered; nightly the war drum pounded; week after -week the beleaguered and imprisoned French heard their stealthy enemy -closing nearer and nearer on them, and the painted foliage of autumn -frosts gave place to the leafless trees and the drifting snows of -midwinter. The French were hemmed in completely as if on a desert -isle, and no help could come from Quebec, where New France was -literally under Iroquois siege. - -{101} The question was, what to do? Messengers had been secretly sent -to Quebec, but the Mohawks had caught the scouts bringing back answers, -and there was no safe escape from the colony through ambushed woods in -midwinter. The Iroquois could afford to bide their time for victims -who could not escape. All winter the whites secretly built boats in -the lofts of the fort, but when the timbers were put together the boats -had to be brought downstairs, and a Huron convert spread a terrifying -report of a second deluge for which the white men were preparing a -second Noah's Ark. Mohawk warriors at once scented an attempt to -escape when the ice broke up in spring, and placed their braves in -ambush along the portages. Also they sent a deputation to see if that -story of the boats were true. Forewarned by Radisson, the whites built -a floor over the boats, heaped canoes above the floor, and invited the -Mohawk spies in. The Mohawks smiled grimly and were reassured. Canoes -would be ripped into shingles if they ran the ice jam of spring. The -Iroquois felt doubly certain of their victims; but Radisson, free to go -among the warriors as one of themselves, learned that they were -plotting to murder half the colony and hold the other half as hostages -for the safety of the twelve Indians in the dungeon at Quebec. The -whites could delay no longer. Something must be done, but what? -Radisson, knowing the Indian customs, proposed a way out. - -No normally built savage could refuse an invitation to a sumptuous -feast. According to Indian custom, no feaster dare leave uneaten food -on his plate. Waste to the Indian is crime. In the words of the -Scotch proverb, "Better burst than waste." And all Indians have -implicit faith in dreams. Radisson dreamed--so he told the -Indians--that the white men were to give them a marvelous banquet. No -sooner dreamed than done! The Iroquois probably thought it a chance to -obtain possession inside the fort; but the whites had taken good care -to set the banquet between inner and outer walls. - -Such a repast no savage had ever enjoyed in the memory of the race. -All the ambushed spies flocked in from the portages. {102} The painted -warriors washed off their grease, donned their best buckskin, and -rallied to the banquet as to battle. All the stock but one solitary -pig, a few chickens and dogs, had been slaughtered for the kettle. -Such an odor of luscious meat steamed up from the fort for days as -whetted the warriors' hunger to the appetite of ravenous wolves. -Finally, one night, the trumpets blew a blare that almost burst -eardrums. Fifes shrilled, and the rub-a-dub-dub of a dozen drums set -the air in a tremor. A great fire had been kindled between the inner -and outer walls that set shadows dancing in the forest. Then the gates -were thrown open, and in trooped the feasters. All the French acting -as waiters, the whites carried in the kettles--kettles of wild fowl, -kettles of oxen, kettles of dogs, kettles of porridge and potatoes and -corn and what not? That is it--what not? Were the kettles drugged? -Who knows? The feasters ate till their eyes were rolling lugubriously; -and still the kettles came round. The Indians ate till they were -torpid as swollen corpses, and still came the white men with more -kettles, while the mischievous French lad, Radisson, danced a mad jig, -shouting, yelling, "Eat! eat! Beat the drum! Awake! awake! Cheer up! -Eat! eat!" - -By midnight every soul of the feast had tumbled over sound asleep, and -at the rear gates were the French, stepping noiselessly, speaking in -whispers, launching their boats loaded with provisions and ammunition. -The soldiers were for going back and butchering every warrior, but the -Jesuits forbade such treachery. Then Radisson, light-spirited as if -the refugees had been setting out on a holiday, perpetrated yet a last -trick on the warriors. To the bell rope of the main gate he fastened a -pig, so when the Indians would pull the rope for admission, they would -hear the tramp of a sentry inside. Then he stuffed effigies of men on -guard round the windows of the fort. - -It was a pitchy, sleety night, the river roaring with the loose ice of -spring flood, the forests noisy with the boisterous March wind. Out on -the maelstrom of ice and flood launched the fifty-three colonists, -March 20, 1658. By April they were safe {103} inside the walls of -Quebec, and chance hunters brought word that what with sleep, and the -measured tramp, tramp of the pig, and the baying of the dogs, and the -clucking of the chickens inside the fort, the escape of the whites had -not been discovered for a week. The Indians thought the whites had -gone into retreat for especially long prayers. Then a warrior climbed -the inner palisades, and rage knew no bounds. The fort was looted and -burnt to the ground. - - -Peltry traffic was the life of New France. Without it the colony would -have perished, and now the rupture of peace with the Iroquois cut off -that traffic. To the Iroquois land south of the St. Lawrence the -French dared not go, and the land of the Hurons was a devastated -wilderness. The boats that came out to New France were compelled to -return without a single peltry, but there still remained the unknown -land of the Algonquin northwest and beyond the Great Lakes. Year after -year young French adventurers essayed the exploration of that land. In -1634 Jean Nicolet, one of Champlain's wood runners, had gone westward -as far as Green Bay and coasted the shores of Lake Michigan. Jesuits, -where they preached on Lake Superior, had been told of a vast land -beyond the Sweet Water Seas,--Great Lakes,--a land where wandered -tribes of warriors powerful as the Iroquois. - -Yearly, when the Algonquins came down the Ottawa to trade, Jesuits and -young French adventurers accompanied the canoes back up the Ottawa, -hoping to reach the Unknown Land, which rumor said was bounded only by -the Western Sea. However, the priests went no farther than Lake -Nipissing; but two nameless French wood runners came back from Green -Bay in August of 1656 with marvelous tales of wandering hunters to the -north called "Christines" (Crees), who passed the winter hunting -buffalo on a land bare of trees (the prairie) and the summer fishing on -the shores of the North Sea (Hudson's Bay). They told also of fierce -tribes south of the Christines (the Sioux), who traded with the Indians -of the Spanish settlements in Mexico. - -{104} All New France became fired by these reports. When Radisson -returned from Onondaga in April of 1659, he found his brother-in-law, -Chouart Groseillers, just back from Nipissing, where he had been -serving the Jesuits, with more tales of this marvelous undiscovered -land. The two kinsmen decided to go back with the Algonquins that very -year; for, confessed Radisson in his journal, "I longed to see myself -again in a boat." - -Thirty other Frenchmen and two Jesuits had assembled in Montreal to -join the Algonquins. More than sixty canoes set out from Montreal in -June, the one hundred and forty Algonquins well supplied with firearms -to defend themselves from marauding Iroquois. Numbers begot courage, -courage carelessness; and before the fleet had reached the Chaudiere -Falls, at the modern city of Ottawa, the canoes had spread far apart in -utter forgetfulness of danger. Not twenty were within calling distance -when an Indian prophet, or wandering medicine man, ran down to the -shore, throwing his blanket and hatchet aside as signal of peace, and -shouting out warning of Iroquois warriors ambushed farther up the river. - -Drunk with the new sense of power from the possession of French -firearms, perhaps drunk too with French brandy obtained at Montreal, -the Algonquins paused to take the strange captive on board, and -returned thanks for the friendly warning by calling their benefactor a -"coward and a dog and a hen." At the same time they took the -precaution of sleeping in mid-stream with their canoes abreast tied to -water-logged trees. A dull roar through the night mist foretold they -were nearing the great Chaudiere Falls; and at first streak of day dawn -there was a rush to land and cross the long portage before the mist -lifted and exposed them to the hostiles. - -To any one who knows the region of Canada's capital the scene can -easily be recalled: the long string of canoes gliding through the gray -morning like phantoms; Rideau Falls shimmering on the left like a snowy -curtain; the dense green of Gatineau Point as the birch craft swerved -across the river inshore to the right; the wooded heights, now known as -Parliament Hill, {105} jutting above the river mist, the new foliage of -the topmost trees just tipped with the first primrose shafts of -sunrise; then the vague stir and unrest in the air as the sun came up -till the gray fog became rose mist shot with gold, and rose like a -curtain to the upper airs, revealing the angry, tempest-tossed cataract -straight ahead, hurtling over the rocks of the Chaudiere in walls of -living waters. Where the lumber piles of Hull on the right to-day jut -out as if to span Ottawa River to Parliament Hill, the voyageurs would -land to portage across to Lake Du Chene. - -Just as they sheered inshore the morning air was split by a hideous din -of guns and war whoops. The Iroquois had been lying in ambush at the -portage. The Algonquins' bravado now became a panic. They abandoned -canoes and baggage, threw themselves behind a windfall of trees, and -poured a steady rain of bullets across the portage in order to permit -the other canoes to come ashore. When the fog lifted, baggage and -canoes lay scattered on the shore. Behind one barricade of logs lay -the French and Algonquins; behind another, the Iroquois; and woe betide -the warrior who showed his head or dared to cross the open. All day -the warriors kept up their cross fire. Thirteen Algonquins had -perished, and the French were only waiting a chance to abandon the -voyage. Luckily, that night was pitch-dark. The Algonquin leader blew -a long low call through his birch trumpet. All hands rallied and -rushed for the boats to cross the river. All the Frenchmen's baggage -had been lost. Of the white adventurers every soul turned back but -Groseillers and Radisson. - -The Algonquins now made up in caution what they had at first lacked. -They voyaged only by night and hid by day. No camp fires were kindled. -No muskets were fired even for game; and the paddlers were presently -reduced to food of _tripe de roche_--green moss scraped from rocks. -Birch canoes could not cross Lake Huron in storm; so the Indians kept -close to the south shore of Georgian Bay, winding among the pink -granite islands, past the ruined Jesuit missions across to the Straits -of Mackinac and on down Lake Michigan to Green Bay. - -{106} "But our mind was not to stay here," relates Radisson, "but to -know the remotest people." Sometime between April and July of 1659 the -two white men had followed the Indian hunters across what is now the -state of Wisconsin to "a mighty river like the St. Lawrence." They had -found the Mississippi, first of white men to view the waters since the -treasure-seeking Spaniards of the south crossed the river. They had -penetrated the Unknown. They had discovered the Great Northwest--a -world boundlessly vast; so vast no man forever after in the history of -the human race need be dispossessed of his share of the earth. -Something of the importance of the discovery seems to have impressed -Radisson; for he speaks of the folly of the European nations fighting -for sterile, rocky provinces when here is land enough for all--land -enough to banish poverty. - -The two Frenchmen's wanderings with the tribes of the prairie--whether -those tribes were Omahas or Iowas or Mandanes or Mascoutins or -Sioux--cannot be told here. It would fill volumes. I have told the -story fully elsewhere. By spring of 1660 Radisson and Groseillers are -back at Sault Ste. Marie, having gathered wealth of beaver peltries -beyond the dreams of avarice; but scouts have come to the Sault with -ominous news--news of one thousand Iroquois braves on the warpath to -destroy every settlement in New France. Hourly, daily, weekly, have -Quebec and Three Rivers and Montreal been awaiting the blow. - -The Algonquins refuse to go down to Quebec with Radisson and -Groseillers. "Fools," shouts Radisson in full assembly of their chiefs -squatting round a council fire, "are you going to allow the Iroquois to -destroy you as they destroyed the Hurons? How are you going to fight -the Iroquois unless you come down to Quebec for guns? Do you want to -see your wives and children slaves? For my part, I prefer to die like -a man rather than live a slave." - -The chiefs were shamed out of their cowardice. Five hundred young -warriors undertook to conduct the two white men down to Quebec. They -embarked at once, scouts to the fore reconnoitering all portages, and -guards on duty wherever the {107} boats landed. A few Iroquois braves -were seen near the Long Sault Rapids, but they took to their heels in -such evident fright that Radisson was puzzled to know what had become -of the one thousand braves on the warpath. Carrying the beaver pelts -along the portage so they could be used as shields in case of attack, -the Algonquins came to the foot of the Long Sault Rapids near Montreal, -and saw plainly what had happened to the invading warriors. A -barricade of logs the shape of a square fort stood on the shore. From -the pickets hung the scalps of dead Indians and on the sands lay the -charred remains of white men. Every tree for yards round was peppered -with bullet holes. Here was a charred stake where some victim had been -tortured; there the smashed remnants of half-burnt canoes; and at -another point empty powder barrels. A terrible battle had been waged -but a week before. Radisson could trace, inside the barricade of logs, -holes scooped in the sand where the besieged, desperate with thirst, -had drunk the muddy water. At intervals in the palisades openings had -been hacked, and these were blood stained, as if the scene of the -fiercest fighting. Bark had been burnt from the logs in places, where -the assailants had set fire to the fort. - -From Indian refugees at Montreal, Radisson learned details of the -fight. It was the battle most famous in early Canadian annals--the -Long Sault. All winter Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal had cowered -in terror of the coming Iroquois. In imagination the beleaguered -garrisons foresaw themselves martyrs of Mohawk ferocity. It was -learned that seven hundred of the Iroquois warriors were hovering round -the Richelieu opposite Three Rivers. The rest of the braves had passed -the winter man-hunting in the Huron country, and were in spring -descending the Ottawa to unite with the lower band. - -Week after week Quebec awaited the blow; but the blow never fell, for -at Montreal was a little band of seventeen heroes, led by a youth of -twenty-five,--Adam Dollard,--who longed to wipe out the stain of a -misspent boyhood by some glorious exploit in the service of the Holy -Cross. - -{108} When word came that the upper foragers were descending from the -country of the Hurons to unite with the lower Iroquois against -Montreal, Dollard proposed to go up the Ottawa with a picked party of -chosen fighters, waylay the Iroquois at the foot of the Long Sault -Rapids, and so prevent the attack on Montreal. Sixteen young men -volunteered to join him. Charles Le Moyne, now acting as interpreter -at Montreal, begged the young heroes to delay till reenforcements could -be obtained: seventeen Frenchmen against five hundred Mohawks meant -certain death; but delay meant risk, and Dollard coveted nothing more -than a death of glory. At the chapel of the Hotel Dieu the young -heroes made what they knew would certainly be their last confession, -bade eternal farewell to friends, and with crushed corn for provisions -set out in canoes for the upper Ottawa. May 1, they came to the foot -of the Long Sault. Here a barricade of logs had been erected in some -skirmish the year before, and here, too, was the usual camping place of -the Iroquois as their canoes came bounding down the swift waters of the -Ottawa. Dollard and his brave boys landed, slung their kettles for the -night meal, and sent scouts upstream to forewarn when the Iroquois -came. The night was passed in prayer. Next day arrived unexpected -reenforcements. Two bands of forty Hurons and four Algonquins, under a -brave Huron convert of the Christian Islands, had asked Maisonneuve's -permission to join Dollard and wreak their pent vengeance on the -Mohawks. Early one morning the scouts reported five Iroquois canoes -coming slowly downstream, and two hundred more warriors behind. There -was not even care to bring a supply of water inside the barricade or -remove kettles from the sticks. Posted in ambush, the young soldiers -fired as soon as the first canoes came within range. This put the rest -of the Iroquois on guard. The whites rushed for the shelter of their -barricade. The Indians dashed to erect a fort of their own. Inside -Dollard's palisades all was activity. Cracks were plastered up with -mud between logs, four marksmen with double stands of arms posted at -each loophole, and a big musketoon leveled straight for the {109} -Iroquois redoubt. The Iroquois rushed out yelling like fiends, and -jumping sideways as they advanced, to avoid becoming targets; but the -scattering fire of the musketoon caught them full abreast and a Seneca -chief fell dead. The Iroquois then broke up Dollard's canoes and tried -to set fire to the logs; but again the musketoon's scattering bullets -mowed a swath of death in the advancing ranks, and for a second time -the red warriors sought shelter behind the logs. Probably to obtain -truce till they could send word to the other warriors on the Richelieu, -the Iroquois then hung out a flag of parley; but the Huron chief knew -what peace with an Iroquois meant. He it was, on the Christian -Islands, who, when the Iroquois had proposed a similar parley for the -purpose of massacring the Hurons, invited their chiefs into the Huron -camp and brained them for their treachery. Dollard's band made answer -to the flag hoisted above the Iroquois pickets by rushing out, securing -the head of the Seneca chief, and elevating it on a pike above their -fort. - -But as the fight went on, the whites had to have water, and a few -rushed for the river to fill kettles. This rejoiced the hearts of the -Iroquois. They could guess if the whites were short of water, it only -required more warriors to surround the barricade completely and compel -surrender. Scouts had meanwhile gone for the Iroquois at Richelieu; -and on the fifth day of the siege a roar, gathering volume as it -approached, told Dollard that the seven hundred warriors were coming -through the forest. Among the newcomers were Huron renegades, who -approached within speaking distance of the fort and called out for the -Hurons to save themselves from death by surrender. Death was plainly -inevitable, and all the Hurons but the chief deserted. This reduced -Dollard's band, from sixty to twenty. The whites were now weak from -lack of food and sleep; but for three more days and nights the marksmen -and musketoon plied such deadly aim at the assailants that the Iroquois -actually held a council whether they should retire. The Iroquois -chiefs argued that it would disgrace the nation forever if one thousand -of their warriors were to retire before a handful of beardless white -boys. {110} Solemnly the bundle of war sticks was thrown on the -ground. Then each warrior willing to go on with the siege picked up a -stick. The chiefs chose first and the rest were shamed into doing -likewise. Inside the fort, Dollard's men were at the last extremities. -Blistered and blackened with powder smoke, the fevered men were half -delirious from lack of sleep and water. Some fell to their knees and -prayed. Others staggered with sleep where they stood. Others had not -strength to stand and sank, muttering prayers, to their knees. The -Iroquois were adopting new tactics. They could not reach the palisades -in the face of the withering fire from the musketoon, so they -constructed a movable palisade of trees, behind which marched the -entire band of warriors. In vain Dollard's marksmen aimed their -bullets at the front carriers. Where one fell another stepped in his -place. Desperate, Dollard resolved on a last expedient. Some accounts -say he took a barrel of powder; others, that he wrapped powder in a -huge bole of birch bark. Putting a light to this, he threw it with all -his might; but his strength had failed; the dangerous projectile fell -back inside the barricade, exploding; marksmen were driven from their -places. A moment later the Iroquois were inside the barricade -screeching like demons. They found only three Frenchmen alive; and so -great was the Mohawk rage to be foiled of victims that they fell on the -Huron renegades in their own ranks and put them to death on the spot. - -Such was the Battle of the Long Sault of which Radisson saw the scars -on his way down the Ottawa. It saved New France. If seventeen boys -could fight in this fashion, how--the Iroquois asked--would a fort full -of men fight? A few days later Radisson was conducted in triumph -through the streets of Quebec and personally welcomed by the new -governor, d'Argenson. - -It can well be imagined that Radisson's account of the vast new lands -discovered by him aroused enthusiasm at Quebec. Among the Crees, -Radisson and Groseillers had heard of that Sea of the North--Hudson -Bay--to which Champlain had {111} tried to go by way of the Ottawa. -The Indians had promised to conduct the two Frenchmen overland to the -North Sea; but Radisson deemed it wise not to reveal this fact lest -other voyageurs should forestall them. Somehow the secret leaked out. -Either Groseillers told it or his wife dropped some hint of it to her -father confessor; but the two explorers were amazed to receive official -orders to conduct the Jesuits to the North Sea by way of the Saguenay. -They refused point-blank to go as subordinates on any expedition. The -fur trade was at this time regulated by license. Any one who proceeded -to the woods without license was liable to imprisonment, the galleys -for life, death if the offense were repeated. Radisson and Groseillers -asked for a license to go north in 1661. D'Avaugour, a bluff soldier -who had become governor, would grant it only on condition of receiving -half the profits. Groseillers and Radisson set off by night without a -license. - -[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE--JESUIT RELATION OF 1662-1663] - -{112} This time the Indian canoes struck off into Lake Superior instead -of Lake Michigan, and coasted that billowy inland sea with its iron -shore and shadowy forests. On the northwest side of the lake, -somewhere between Duluth and Fort William, the explorers joined the -Crees, and proceeded northwestward with them, hunting along that Indian -trail to become famous as the fur traders' highway--from Lake Superior -to the Lake of the Woods. The first white man's fort built west of the -Great Lakes, the terrible famine that winter, and the visits of the -Sioux--are all a story in themselves. Spring found the explorers -following the Crees over the height of land from Lake Superior to -Hudson Bay. As soon as the ice loosened, dugouts were launched, and -the voyageurs began that hardest of all canoe trips in America, through -the forest hinterland of Ontario. Here the rivers were a stagnant -marsh, with outlet hidden by dankest forest growth where the light of -the sun never penetrated. There the waters swollen by spring thaw and -broken by the ice jam whirled the {113} boats into rapids before the -paddlers realized. There was wading to mid-waist in ice water. There -were nights when camp was made on water-soaked moss. There were days -when the windfall compelled the canoemen to take the canoes out of the -water and carry them half the time. "At last," writes Radisson, "we -came to the sea, where we found an old house all demolished and -battered with bullets. The Crees told us about Europeans being here; -and we went from isle to isle all that summer." At this time the -canoes must have been coasting the south shore of James Bay, headed -east; for Radisson presently explains that they came to a river, which -rose in a lake near the source of the Saguenay--namely Rupert River. -What was the old house battered with bullets? Was it Hudson's winter -fort of 1610-1611? The Indians of Rupert River to this day have -legends of Hudson having come back to his fort when cast away by the -mutineers. - -[Illustration: THE JESUIT MAP OF LAKE SUPERIOR (From the Relation of -1670-1671)] - -The furs that Radisson and Groseillers brought back from the north this -time were worth fabulous wealth. The cargo saved New France from -bankruptcy; but the explorers had defied both Church and Governor, and -all the greedy monopolists of Quebec fell on Radisson and Groseillers -with jealous fury. They were fined $20,000 to build a fort at Three -Rivers, though given permission to inscribe their coats of arms on the -gate. A $30,000 fine went to the public treasury of New France, and a -tax of $70,000 was imposed by the Farmers of the Revenue. Of the total -cargo there was left to Radisson and Groseillers only $20,000. - - -Disgusted, the two explorers personally appealed to the Court of -France; but there the monopolists were all-powerful, and justice was -denied. They tried to induce some of the fishing fleet off Cape Breton -to venture to the North Sea; but there the monopolists' malign -influence was again felt. They were accused of having broken the laws -of Quebec. Zechariah Gillam, a sea captain of Boston, who chanced to -be at Port Royal, offered them his vessel for a voyage to Hudson Bay; -but when the {114} doughty captain came to the ice-locked straits, his -courage failed and he refused to enter. Finally, at Port Royal, with -the last of their meager and dwindling capital, they hired two ships -for a voyage; but one was wrecked on Sable Island while fishing for -supplies, and instead of sailing for Hudson Bay in 1665, Radisson and -Groseillers were summoned to Boston in a lawsuit over the lost vessel. - -In Boston they met commissioners of the English government and were -invited to lay their plans before Charles II, King of England. At last -the tide of fortune seemed to be turning. Sailing with Sir George -Carterett, after pirate raid and shipwreck, they reached London to find -the plague raging, and were ordered to Windsor, where Charles received -them, recommended their venture to Prince Rupert, and provided 2 pounds -a week each for their living expenses. - -[Illustration: Charles II] - -From being penniless outcasts, Radisson and Groseillers suddenly -wakened to find themselves famous. Groseillers seems to have kept in -the background, but Radisson, the younger man, enjoyed the full blaze -of glory, was seen in the King's box at the theater, and was presently -paying furious court to Mistress Mary Kirke, daughter of Sir John -Kirke, whose ancestors had captured Quebec. What with war and the -plague, it was 1668 before the English Admiralty could loan the two -ships _Eaglet_ and _Nonsuch_ for a voyage to Hudson Bay. The expense -was to be defrayed by a band of {115} friends known as the "Gentlemen -Adventurers of England Trading to Hudson Bay," subscribing so much -stock in cash, provision, and goods for trade. Radisson's ship, the -_Eaglet_, was driven back, damaged by storm; but the other, under -Groseillers, went on to Hudson Bay, where the marks set up on the -overland voyage were found at Rupert River, and a small fort was built -for trade. During the delay Radisson was not idle in London. He wrote -the journals of his first four voyages. He married Mary Kirke--some -accounts say, eloped with her. With the help of King Charles and -Prince Rupert he organized what is now known as the Hudson's Bay Fur -Company; for when Groseillers' ship returned in the fall of 1669, its -success in trade had been so great that the Adventurers at once applied -for a royal charter of exclusive monopoly in trade to all the regions, -land and sea, rivers and territories, adjoining Hudson Bay. The -monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company to the Great Northwest was granted -by King Charles in May, 1670. - -Here, then, was the situation. England was intrenched south of the St. -Lawrence. England was taking armed possession of all lands bordering -on Hudson Bay and such other lands as the Adventurers might find. -Wedged between was New France with a population of less than six -thousand. If France could have foreseen what her injustice to two poor -adventurers would cost the nation in blood and money, it would have -paid her to pension Radisson like a prince of the blood royal. - - -NOTE TO CHAPTER VI. The viceroys of New France were shifted so -frequently that little record remains of several but their names. The -official list of the governors under the French regime stands as -follows: - -Samuel de Champlain, died at Quebec, Christmas, 1635. - -Marc Antoine de Chasteaufort, _pro tem_. - -Charles Huault de Montmagny, 1636. - -Louis d'Ailleboust of the Montreal Crusaders, 1648. - -Jean de Lauzon, 1651. - -Charles de Lauzon-Charny (son), _pro tem_. - -Louis d'Ailleboust, 1657. - -Viscount d'Argenson, 1658, a young man who quarreled with Jesuits. - -Viscount d'Avagour, 1661, a bluff soldier, who also quarreled with -Jesuits. - -De Mezy, 1663, appointed by Jesuits' influence, but quarreled with them. - -{116} Marquis de Tracy, 1663, who was viceroy of all French possessions -in America, and really sent out to act as general. - -De Courcelle, 1665, who acts as governor under De Tracy and succeeds -him. - -Frontenac, 1672, was recalled through influence of Jesuits, whose -interference he would not tolerate in civil affairs. - -De La Barre, 1682, an impotent, dishonest old man, who came to mend his -fortunes. - -De Brisay de Denonville, 1685. - -Frontenac, 1689. - -De Calliere, 1699. - -Marquis de Vaudreuil, 1703. - -Charles le Moyne, Baron de Longeuil, 1725, son of Le Moyne, the famous -fighter and interpreter of Montreal; brother of Le Moyne d'Iberville, -the commander. - -Marquis de Beauharnois, 1726. - -Count de la Galissoniere, 1747. - -Marquis de la Jonquiere, 1749. - -Charles le Moyne, Baron de Longeuil, 1752, son of former Governor. - -Duquesne,1752. - -Marquis de Vaudreuil, 1755, descendant of first Vaudreuil. - - - - -{117} - -CHAPTER VII - -FROM 1672 TO 1688 - -The fur fairs of Montreal--Customs of people--Shiploads of brides--The -Iroquois and De Tracy--Who first found Ontario?--Through western -Ontario--Up the Great Lakes--Marquette and Jolliet--Frontenac and La -Salle--La Salle rouses enemies--La Salle descends the Mississippi--Death -of La Salle - - -While Radisson and other coureurs of the woods were ranging the wilds -from the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi and from the Great Lakes to -Hudson Bay, changes were almost revolutionizing the little colony of New -France. No longer was everything subservient to missions. When -Marguerite Bourgeoys and Jeanne Mance, of Ville-Marie Mission at -Montreal, went home to France to bring out more colonists in 1659, they -learned that the founder of their mission--Dauversiere, the tax -collector--had gone bankrupt. Montreal was penniless, though sixty more -men and thirty-two girls were accompanying the nuns out this very year. -The Sulpician priests had from the first been ardent friends of the -Montrealers. The priests of St. Sulpice now assumed charge of Montreal. -Though "God's Penny" was still collected at the fairs and market places -of Old France for the conversion of Indians at Mont Royal, the fur trade -was rapidly changing the character of the place. - -Afraid of the Iroquois raiders, the tribes of the Up-Country now flocked -to Montreal instead of Quebec, where the traders met them annually at the -great Fur Fairs. - -No more picturesque scene exists in Canada's past than these Fur Fairs. -Down the rapids of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence bounded the canoes of -the Indian hunters, Hurons and Pottawatomies from Lake Michigan, Crees -and Ojibways from Lake Superior, Iroquois and Eries and Neutrals from -what is now the Province of Ontario, the northern Indians in long birch -canoes light as paper, the Indians of Ontario in dugouts of oak and -walnut. The Fur Fair usually took place between June and August; and the -Viceroy, magnificent in red cloak faced with velvet and ornamented with -gold braid, came up from Quebec {118} for the occasion and occupied a -chair of state under a marquee erected near the Indian tents. Wigwams -then went up like mushrooms, the Huron and Iroquois tents of sewed bark -hung in the shape of a square from four poles, the tepees of the Upper -Indians made of birch and buffalo hides, hung on poles crisscrossed at -the top to a peak, spreading in wide circle to the ground. Usually the -Fur Fair occupied a great common between St. Paul Street and the river. -Furs unpacked, there stalked among the tents great sachems glorious in -robes of painted buckskin garnished with wampum, Indian children stark -naked, young braves flaunting and boastful, wearing headdresses with -strings of eagle quills reaching to the ground, each quill signifying an -enemy taken. Then came "the peddlers,"--the fur merchants,--unpacking -their goods to tempt the Indians, men of the colonial noblesse famous in -history, the Forests and Le Chesnays and Le Bers. Here, too, gorgeous in -finery, bristling with firearms, were the bushrovers, the interpreters, -the French voyageurs, who had to come out of the wilds once every two -years to renew their licenses to trade. There was Charles Le Moyne, son -of an innkeeper of Dieppe, who had come to Montreal as interpreter and -won such wealth as trader that his family became members of the French -aristocracy. Two of his descendants became governors of Canada; and the -history of his sons is the history of Canada's most heroic age. There -was Louis Jolliet, who had studied for the Jesuit priesthood but turned -fur trader among the tribes of Lake Michigan. There was Daniel Greysolon -Duluth, a man of good birth, ample means, and with the finest house in -Montreal, who had turned bushrover, gathered round him a band of three or -four hundred lawless, dare-devil French hunters, and now roamed the woods -from Detroit halfway to Hudson Bay, swaying the Indians in favor of -France and ruling the wilds, sole lord of the wilderness. There were -Groseillers and Radisson and a shy young man of twenty-five who had -obtained a seigniory from the Sulpicians at Lachine--Robert Cavelier de -La Salle. Sometimes, too, Father Marquette came down with his Indians -from the missions on Lake Superior. Maisonneuve, {119} too, was there, -grieving, no doubt, to see this Kingdom of Heaven, which he had set up on -earth, becoming more and more a kingdom of this world. Later, when the -Hundred Associates lost their charter and Canada became a Royal Province -governed directly by the Crown, Maisonneuve was deprived of the -government of Montreal and retired to die in obscurity in Paris. Louis -d'Ailleboust, Governor of Montreal when Maisonneuve is absent, Governor -at Quebec when state necessities drag him from religious devotion, moves -also in the gay throng of the Fur Fair. In later days is a famous -character at the Fur Fairs--La Motte Cadillac of Detroit, bushrover and -gentleman like Duluth, but prone to break heads when he comes to town -where the wine is good. - -[Illustration: PLAN OF MONTREAL IN 1672] - -Trade was regulated by royal license. Only twenty-five canoes a year -were allowed to go to the woods with three men in each, and a license was -good for only two years. Fines, branding, the galleys for life, death, -were the penalties for those who traded without license; but that did not -prevent more than one thousand young Frenchmen running off to the woods -to live like Indians. In fact, there was no other way for the youth of -New {120} France to earn a living. Penniless young noblemen, criminals -escaping the law, the sons of the poorest, all were on the same footing -in the woods. He who could persuade a merchant to outfit him for trade -disappeared in the wilds; and if he came back at all, came back with -wealth of furs and bought off punishment, "wearing sword and lace and -swaggering as if he were a gentleman," the annals of the day complain; -and a long session in the confessional box relieved the prodigal's -conscience from the sins of a life in the woods. If my young gentleman -were rich enough, the past was forgotten, and he was now on the highroad -to distinguished service and perhaps a title. - -[Illustration: LA SALLE'S HOUSE NEAR MONTREAL] - -In the early days a beaver skin could be bought for a needle or a bell or -a tin mirror; and in spite of all the priests could do to prevent it, -brandy played a shameful part in the trade. In vain the priests preached -against it, and the bishop thundered anathemas. The evils of the brandy -traffic were apparent to all--the Fur Fairs became a bedlam of crime; but -when the Governor called in all the traders to confer on the subject, it -was plain that if the Indians did _not_ obtain liquor from the French, -they would go on down with their furs to the English of New York, and the -French Governor was afraid to forbid the evil. - -[Illustration: KITCHEN, CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY, MONTREAL] - -The Fur Fair over, the Governor departed for Quebec; the Indians, for -their own land; the bushrovers, for their far wanderings; and there -settled over Montreal for another year drowsy quiet but for the chapel -bells of St. Sulpice and Ville Marie and Bon Secours--the Chapel of Ste. -Anne's Good Help--built close on the verge of the river, that the -voyageurs coming and going might cross themselves as they passed her -spire; drowsy peace but for the chapel chimes ringing . . . ringing . . . -ringing . . . morning . . . noon . . . and night . . . lilting and -singing and calling all New France to prayers. As the last canoe glided -up the river, and sunset silence fell on Montreal, there knelt before the -dimly lighted altars of the chapels, shadow figures--Maisonneuve praying -for his mission; D'Ailleboust, asking Heaven's blessing on the new shrine -down at St. Anne de Beaupre near Quebec, which he had built for the -miraculous {121} healing of physical ills; Dollier de Casson, priest of -the wilds, manly and portly and strong, wilderness fighter for the Cross. -Then the organ swells, and the chant rolls out, and till the next Fur -Fair Montreal is again a mission. - - -When New France becomes a Crown Colony, the government consists solely -and only of the Sovereign Council, to whom the King transmits his will. -This council consists of the Governor, his administrative officer called -the "Intendant," the bishop, and several of the inhabitants of New France -nominated by the other members of the council. Of elections there are -absolutely none. Popular meetings are forbidden. New France is a -despotism, with the Sovereign Council representing the King. Domestic -disputes, religious quarrels, civil cases, crimes,--all come before the -Sovereign Council. Clients could plead their own cases without a fee, or -hire a notary. Cases are tried by the Sovereign Council. Laws are -passed by it. Fines are imposed and sentences pronounced; but as the -Sovereign Council met only once a week, the management of affairs fell -chiefly to the Intendant, whose palace became known as the Place of -Justice. Of systematic taxation there was none. One fourth of all -beaver went for public revenue. Part of Labrador was reserved as the -King's Domain for trading, and sometimes a duty of ten per cent was -charged on liquor brought into the colony. The stroke of the Sovereign -Council's pen could create a law, and the stroke of the King's pen annul -it. Laws are passed forbidding men, who are not nobles, assuming the -title of Esquire or Sieur on penalty of what would be a $500 fine. "Wood -is not to be piled on the streets." "Chimneys are to be built large -enough to admit a chimney sweep." "Only shingles of oak and walnut may -be used in towns where there is danger of fire." Swearing is punished by -fines, by the disgrace of being led through the streets at the end of a -rope and begging pardon on knees at the church steps, by branding if the -offense be repeated. Murderers are punished by being shot, or exposed in -an iron cage on the cliffs above the St. Lawrence till death {122} comes. -No detail is too small for the Sovereign Council's notice. In fact, a -case is on record where a Mademoiselle Andre is expelled from the colony -for flirting so outrageously with young officers that she demoralizes the -garrison. Mademoiselle avoids the punishment by bribing one of the -officers on the ship where she is placed, and escaping to land in man's -clothing. - -The people of New France were regulated in every detail of their lives by -the Church as well as the Sovereign Council. For trading brandy to the -Indians, Bishop Laval thunders excommunication at delinquents; and Bishop -St. Valliere, his successor, publicly rebukes the dames of New France for -wearing low-necked dresses, and curling their hair, and donning gay -ribbons in place of bonnets. "The vanity of dress among women becomes a -greater scandal than before," he complains. "They affect immodest -headdress, with heads uncovered or only concealed under a collection of -ribbons, laces, curls, and other vanities." - -[Illustration: LAVAL (After the portrait in Laval University, Quebec)] - -The laws came from the King and Sovereign Council. The enforcement of -them depended on the Intendant. As long as he was a man of integrity, -New France might live as happily as a family under a despotic but wise -father. It was when the Intendant became corrupt that the system fell to -pieces. {123} Of all the intendants of New France, one name stands -preeminent, that of Jean Talon, who came to Canada, aged forty, in 1665, -at the time the country became a Crown Province. One of eleven children -of Irish origin, Talon had been educated at the Jesuit College of Paris, -and had served as an intendant in France before coming to Canada. -Officially he was to stand between the King and the colony, to transmit -the commands of one and the wants of the other. He was to stand between -the Governor and the colony, to watch that the Governor did not overstep -his authority and that the colony obeyed the laws. He was to stand -between the Church and the colony, to see that the Church did not usurp -the prerogatives of the Governor and that the people were kept in the -path of right living without having their natural liberties curtailed. -He was, in a word, to accept the thankless task of taking all the cuffs -from the King and the kicks from the colony, all the blame of whatever -went amiss and no credit for what went well. - -When Talon came to Canada there were less than two thousand people in the -colony. He wrote frantically to His Royal Master for colonists. "We -cannot depeople France to people Canada," wrote the King; but from his -royal revenue he set aside money yearly to send men to Canada as -soldiers, women as wives. In 1671 one hundred and sixty-five girls were -sent out to be wedded to the French youth. A year later came one hundred -and fifty more. Licenses would not be given to the wood rovers for the -fur trade unless they married. Bachelors were fined unless they quickly -chose a wife from among the King's girls. Promotion was withheld from -the young ensigns and cadets in the army unless they found brides. -Yearly the ships brought girls whom the cures of France had carefully -selected in country parishes. Yearly Talon gave a bounty to the -middle-aged duenna who had safely chaperoned her charges across seas to -the convents of Quebec and Montreal, where the bashful suitors came to -make choice. "We want country girls, who can work," wrote the Intendant; -and girls who could work the King sent, instructing Talon to mate as many -as he {124} could to officers of the Carignan Regiment, so that the -soldiers would be likely to turn settlers. Results: by 1674 Canada had a -population of six thousand seven hundred; by 1684, of nearly twelve -thousand, not counting the one thousand bush lopers who roamed the woods -and married squaws. - -Between Acadia and Quebec lay wilderness. Jean Talon opened a road -connecting the two far-separated provinces. The Sovereign Council had -practically outlawed the bush lopers. Talon pronounced trade free, and -formed them into companies of bush fighters--defenders of the colony. -Instead of being wild-wood bandits, men like Duluth at Lake Superior and -La Motte Cadillac at Detroit became commanders, holding vast tribes loyal -to France. For years there had been legends of mines. Talon opened -mines at Gaspe and Three Rivers and Cape Breton. All clothing had -formerly been imported from France. Talon had the inhabitants -taught--and they badly needed it, for many of their children ran naked as -Indians--to weave their own clothes, make rugs, tan leather, grow straw -for hats,--all of which they do to this day, so that you may enter a -habitant house and not find a single article except saints' images, a -holy book, and perhaps a fiddle, which the habitant has not himself made. -"The Jesuits assume too much authority," wrote the King. Talon lessened -their power by inviting the Recollets to come back to Canada and by -encouraging the Sulpicians. Instead of outlawing young Frenchmen for -deserting to the English, Talon asked the King to grant titles of -nobility to those who were loyal, like the Godefrois and the Denis' and -the Le Moynes and young Chouart Groseillers, son of Radisson's -brother-in-law, so that there sprang up a Canadian noblesse which was as -graceful with the frying pan of a night camp fire in the woods as with -the steps of a stately dance in the governor's ballroom. Above all did -Talon encourage the bush-rovers in their far wanderings to explore new -lands for France. - - -New France had not forgotten the Iroquois treachery to the French colony -at Onondaga. Iroquois raid and ambuscade kept the hostility of these -sleepless foes fresh in French memory. {125} When Jean Talon came to -Canada as intendant, there had come as governor Courcelle, with the -Marquis de Tracy as major general of all the French forces in -America,--the West Indies as well as Canada. The Carignan Regiment of -soldiers seasoned in European campaigns had been sent to protect the -colonists from Indian raid; and it was determined to strike the Iroquois -Confederacy a blow that would forever put the fear of the French in their -hearts. - -Richelieu River was still the trail of the Mohawk warrior; and De Tracy -sent his soldiers to build forts on this stream at Sorel and -Chambly--named after officers of the regiment. January, 1666, Courcelle, -the Governor, set out on snowshoes to invade the Iroquois Country with -five hundred men, half Canadian bushrovers, half regular soldiers. By -some mistake the snow-covered trail to the Mohawks was missed, the wrong -road followed, and the French Governor found himself among the Dutch at -Schenectady. March rains had set in. Through the leafless forests in -driving sleet and rain retreated the French. Sixty had perished from -exposure and disease before Courcelle led his men back to the Richelieu. -The Mohawk warriors showed their contempt for this kind of white-man -warfare by raiding some French hunters on Lake Champlain and killing a -young nephew of De Tracy. - -Nevertheless, on second thought, twenty-four Indian deputies proceeded to -Quebec with the surviving captives to sue for peace. De Tracy was ready -for them. Solemnly the peace pipe had been puffed and solemnly the peace -powwow held. The Mohawk chief was received in pompous state at the -Governor's table. Heated with wine and mistaking French courtesy for -fear, the warrior grew boastful at the white chief's table. - -"This is the hand," he exclaimed, proudly stretching out his right arm, -"this is the hand that split the head of your young man, O Onontio!" - -"Then by the power of Heaven," thundered the Marquis de Tracy, springing -to his feet ablaze with indignation, "it is the hand that shall never -split another head!" - -{126} Forthwith the body of the great Mohawk chief dangled a scarecrow to -the fowls of the air; and the other terrified deputies tore breathlessly -back for the Iroquois land with such a story as one may guess. - -With thirteen hundred men and three hundred boats the Marquis de Tracy -and Courcelle set out from the St. Lawrence in October for the Iroquois -cantons. Charles Le Moyne, the Montreal bushrover, led six hundred -wild-wood followers in their buckskin coats and beaded moccasins, with -hair flying to the wind like Indians; and one hundred Huron braves were -also in line with the Canadians. The rest of the forces were of the -Carignan Regiment. Dollier de Casson, the Sulpician priest, powerful of -frame as De Tracy himself, marched as chaplain. - -[Illustration: A MAP IN THE RELATION OF 1662-1663 (This map includes -Lake Ontario and the Iroquois Country. It shows the relative positions -of the Five Nations and Fort d'Orange (Albany). It also gives plans of -the forts on the Richelieu and shows their location)] - - -Never had such an expedition been seen before on the St. Lawrence. Drums -beat reveille at peep of dawn. Fifes outshrilled the roar of rapids, and -stately figures in gold braid {127} and plumed hats glided over the -waters of the Richelieu among the painted forests of the frost-tinted -maples. Indians have a way of conveying news that modern trappers -designate as "the moccasin telegram." "Moccasin telegram" now carried -news of the coming army to the Iroquois villages, and the alarm ran like -wildfire from Mohawk to Onondaga and from Onondaga to Seneca. When the -French army struck up the Mohawk River, and to beat of drum charged in -full fury out of the rain-dripping forests across the stubble fields to -attack the first palisaded village, they found it desolate, deserted, -silent as the dead, though winter stores crammed the abandoned houses and -wildest confusion showed that the warriors had fled in panic. So it was -with the next village and the next. The Iroquois had stampeded in blind -flight, and the only show of opposition was a wild whoop here and there -from ambush. De Tracy took possession of the land for France, planted a -cross, and ordered the villages set on fire. For a time, at least, peace -was assured with the Iroquois. - - -Who first discovered the Province of Ontario? Before Champlain had -ascended the Ottawa, or the Jesuits established their missions south of -Lake Huron, young men sent out as wood rovers had canoed up the Ottawa -and gone westward to the land of the Sweet Water Seas. Was it Vignau, -the romancer, or Nicolet, the coureur de bois, or the boy Etienne Brule, -who first saw what has been called the Garden of Canada, the rolling -meadows and wooded hills that lie wedged in between the Upper and the -Lower of the Great Lakes? Tradition says it was Brule; but however that -may be, little was known of what is now Ontario except in the region of -the old Jesuit missions around Georgian Bay. It was not even known that -Michigan and Huron were _two_ lakes. The Sulpicians of Montreal had a -mission at the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario, and the south shore of the -lake, where it touched on Iroquois territory, was known to the Jesuits; -but from Quinte Bay to Detroit--a distance equal to that from New York to -Chicago, or London to Italy--was an unknown world. - -{128} But to return to the explorations which Jean Talon, the Intendant, -had set in motion-- - -When Dollier de Casson, the soldier who had become Sulpician priest, -returned from the campaign against the Iroquois, he had been sent as a -missionary to the Nipissing Country. There he heard among the Indians of -a shorter route to the Great River of the West--the Mississippi--than by -the Ottawa and Sault Ste. Marie. The Indians told him if he would ascend -the St. Lawrence to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, he could portage overland -to the Beautiful River,--Ohio,--which would carry him down to the -Mississippi. - -The Sulpicians had been encouraged by Talon in order to eclipse and hold -in check the Jesuits. They were eager to send their missionaries to the -new realm of this Great River, and hurried Dollier de Casson down to -Quebec to obtain Intendant Talon's permission. - -There, curiously enough, Dollier de Casson met Cavalier de La Salle, the -shy young seigneur of La Chine, intent on almost the same aim,--to -explore the Great River. Where the Sulpicians had granted him his -seigniory above Montreal he had built a fort, which soon won the nickname -of La Chine,--China,--because its young master was continually -entertaining Iroquois Indians within the walls, to question them of the -Great River, which might lead to China. - -Governor Courcelle and Intendant Talon ordered the priest and young -seigneur to set out together on their explorations. The Sulpicians were -to bear all expenses, buying back La Salle's lands to enable him to -outfit canoes with the money. Father Galinee, who understood map making, -accompanied Dollier de Casson, and the expedition of seven birch canoes, -with three white men in each, and two dugouts with Seneca Indians, who -had been visiting La Salle, set out from Montreal on July 6, 1669. Not a -leader in the party was over thirty-five years of age. Dollier de -Casson, the big priest, was only thirty-three and La Salle barely -twenty-six. Corn meal was carried as food. For the rest, they were to -depend on chance shots. With {129} numerous portages, keeping to the -south shore of the St. Lawrence because that was best known to the Seneca -guides, the canoes passed up Lake St. Louis and Lake St. Francis and -glided through the sylvan fairyland of the Thousand Islands, coming out -in August on Lake Ontario, "which," says Galinee, "appeared to us like a -great sea." Striking south, they appealed to the Seneca Iroquois for -guides to the Ohio, but the Senecas were so intent on torturing some -prisoners recently captured, that they paid no heed to the appeal. A -month was wasted, and the white men proceeded with Indian slaves for -guides, still along the south shore of the lake. - -[Illustration: GALINEE'S MAP OF THE GREAT LAKES, 1669 (The next oldest -chart to that of Champlain)] - -At the mouth of Niagara River they could hear the far roar of the famous -falls, which Indian legend said "fell over rocks twice the height of the -highest pine tree." The turbulent torrent of the river could not be -breasted, so they did not see the falls, but rounded on up Lake Ontario -to the region now near the city of Hamilton. Here they had prepared to -portage overland to some stream that would bring them down to Lake Erie, -when, to their amazement, they learned from a passing Indian camp that -two Frenchmen were on their way down this very lake from searching copper -mines on Lake Superior. - -{130} The two Frenchmen were Louis Jolliet, yet in his early twenties, to -become famous as an explorer of the Mississippi, and one Monsieur Jean -Pere, soldier of fortune, who was to set France and England by the ears -on Hudson Bay. September 24, as La Salle and Dollier were dragging their -canoes through the autumn-colored sumacs of the swamp, there plunged from -among the russet undergrowth the two wanderers from the north,--Jolliet -and Pere, dumb with amazement to meet a score of men toiling through this -tenantless wilderness. The two parties fell on each other's necks with -delight and camped together. Jolliet told a story that set the -missionaries' zeal on fire and inflamed La Salle with mad eagerness to -pass on to the goal of his discoveries. Jolliet and Pere had not found -the copper mine for Talon on Lake Superior, but they had learned two -important secrets from the Indians. First, if Iroquois blocked the way -up the Ottawa, there was clear, easy water way down to Quebec by Lake -Huron and Lake Ste. Claire and Lake Erie. Jolliet's guide had brought -them down this way, first of white men to traverse the Great Lakes, only -leaving them as they reached Lake Erie and advising them to portage -across up Grand River to avoid Niagara Falls. Second, the Indians told -him the Ohio could be reached by way of Lake Erie. - -Sitting round the camp fires near what is now Port Stanley, La Salle -secretly resolved to go on down to Quebec with Jolliet and rearrange his -plans independent of the missionaries. The portaging through swamps had -affected La Salle's health, and he probably judged he could make quicker -time unaccompanied by missionaries. As for Galinee and Dollier, when -they knelt in prayer that night, they fervently besought Heaven to let -them carry the Gospel of truth to those benighted heathen west of Lake -Michigan, of whom Jolliet told. Dollier de Casson sent a letter by -Jolliet to Montreal, begging the Sulpicians to establish a mission near -what is now Toronto. Early next morning an altar was laid on the propped -paddles of the canoes and solemn service held. La Salle and his four -canoes went back to Montreal with Jolliet and Pere; Dollier and Galinee -coasted along the shores of Lake Erie westward. - -{131} It was October. The forests were leafless, the weather damp, the -lake too stormy for the frail canoes. As game was plentiful, the priests -decided to winter on a creek near Port Dover. Here log houses were -knocked up, and the servants dispersed moose hunting for winter supplies. -Then followed the most beautiful season of the year in the peninsula of -Ontario, Indian summer, dreamy warm days after the first cold, filling -the forest with a shimmer of golden light, the hills with heat haze, -while the air was odorous with smells of nuts and dried leaves and grapes -hanging thick from wild vines. "It was," writes Galinee, "simply an -Earthly Paradise, the most beautiful region that ever I have seen in my -life, with open woods and meadows and rivers and game in plenty." In -this Earthly Paradise the priests passed the winter, holding services -three times a week--"a winter that ought to be worth ten years of any -other kind of life" Dollier calculated, counting up masses and vespers -and matins. Sometimes when the snow lay deep and the weird voices of the -wind hallooed with bugle sound through the lonely forest, the priests -listening inside fancied that they heard "the hunting of -Arthur,"--unearthly huntsmen coursing the air after unearthly game. - -March 23 (Sunday), 1670, the company paraded down to Lake Erie from their -sheltered quarters, and, erecting a cross, took possession of this land -for France. Then they launched their boats to ascend the other Sweet -Water Seas. The preceding autumn the priests had lost some of their -baggage, and now, in camp near Point Pelee, a sweeping wave carried off -the packs in which were all the holy vessels and equipments for the -mission chapel. They decided to go back to Montreal by way of Sault Ste. -Marie, and ascended to Lake Ste. Claire. Game had been scarce for some -days, the weather tempestuous, and now the priests thought they had found -the cause. On one of the rocks of Lake Ste. Claire was a stone, to which -the Indians offered sacrifices for safe passage on the lakes. To the -priests the rude drawing of a face seemed graven images of -paganism,--signs of Satan, who had baffled their hunting and caused loss -{132} of their packs. "I consecrated one of my axes to break this god of -stone, and, having yoked our canoes abreast, we carried the largest -pieces to the middle of the river and cast them in. God immediately -rewarded us, for we killed a deer." Following the east shore of Lake -Huron, the priests came, on May 25, to Sault Ste. Marie, where the -Jesuits Dablon and Marquette had a mission. Three days late, they -embarked by way of the Ottawa for Montreal, where they arrived on June -18, 1670. - - -Meanwhile, what had become of Jolliet and Pere and La Salle? - -They have no sooner reached Quebec with their report than Talon orders -St. Lusson to go north and take possession at Sault Ste. Marie of all -these unknown lands for France. Jolliet accompanies St. Lusson. -Nicholas Perrot, a famous bushrover, goes along to summon the Indians, -and the ceremony takes place on June 14, 1671, in the presence of the -Jesuits at the Sault, by which the King of France is pronounced lord -paramount of all these regions. - -When Jolliet comes down again to Quebec, he finds Count Frontenac has -come as governor, and Jean Talon, the Intendant, is sailing for France. -Before leaving, Talon has recommended Jolliet as a fit man to explore the -Great River of the West. With him is commissioned Jacques Marquette, the -Jesuit, who has labored among the Indians west of Lake Superior. The two -men set out in birch canoes, with smoked meat for provisions, from -Michilimackinac mission, May 17, 1673, for Green Bay, Lake Michigan. -Ascending Fox River on June 17, they induce the Mascoutin Indians, who -had years ago conducted Radisson by this same route, to pilot them across -the portage to the headwaters of the Wisconsin River. - -Their way lies directly across that wooded lake region, which has in our -generation become the resort first of the lumberman, then of the -tourist,--a rolling, wooded region of rare sylvan beauty, park-like -forests interspersed with sky-colored lakes. Six weeks from the time -they had left the Sault, Wisconsin River carried their canoe out on the -swift eddies of a mighty river {133} flowing south,--the Mississippi. -For the first time the boat of a Canadian voyageur glided down its waters. - -Each night as the explorers landed to sleep under the stars, the tilted -canoe inverted with end on a log as roof in case of rain, Marquette fell -to knees and invoked the Virgin's aid on the expedition; and each morning -as Jolliet launched the boat out on the waters through the early mist, he -headed closely along shore on the watch for sign or footprint of Indian. - -The river gathered volume as it rolled southward, carving the clay cliffs -of its banks in a thousand fantastic forms. Where the bank was broken, -the prairies were seen in heaving seas of grass billowing to the wind -like water, herds of countless buffalo pasturing knee-deep. To Marquette -and Jolliet, burning with enthusiasm, it seemed as if they were finding a -new world for France half as large as all Europe. For two weeks not a -sail, not a canoe, not a soul did they see. Then the river carried them -into the country of the Illinois, past Illinois Indians who wore French -clothing, and pictured rocks where the Indians had painted their sign -language. There was no doubt now in the explorers' minds,--the -Mississippi did not lead to China but emptied in the Gulf of Mexico. A -furious torrent of boiling muddy water pouring in on the right forewarned -the Missouri; and in a few more days they passed on the left the clear -current of Beautiful River,--the Ohio. - -It was now midsummer. The heat was heavy and humid. Marquette's health -began to suffer, and the two explorers spread an awning of sailcloth -above the canoe as they glided with the current. Towards the Arkansas, -Indians appeared on the banks, brandishing weapons of Spanish make. -Though Jolliet, with a peace pipe from the Illinois Indians, succeeded in -reassuring the hostiles, it was unsafe to go farther south. They had -established the fact,--the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of -Mexico,--and on July 17 turned back. It was harder going against stream, -which did not mend Marquette's health; so when the Illinois Indians -offered to show them a shorter way to Lake Michigan, they followed up -Illinois River and crossed the Chicago portage {134} to Lake Michigan. -Jolliet went on down to Quebec with his report. Marquette remained half -ill to establish missions in Michigan. Here, traveling with his Indians -in 1675, the priest died of the malady contracted in the Mississippi -heat, and was buried in a lonely grave of the wildwood wilderness where -he had wandered. Louis Jolliet married and settled down on his seigniory -of Anticosti Island. - - -Though he had as yet little to show for the La Chine estate, which he had -sacrificed, La Salle had not been idle, but was busy pushing French -dominion by another route to the Mississippi. - -Count Frontenac had come to New France as all the viceroys -came--penniless, to mend his fortunes; and as the salary of the Governor -did not exceed $3000 a year, the only way to wealth was by the fur trade; -but which way to look for fur trade! Hudson Bay, thanks to Radisson, was -in the hands of England. Taudoussac was farmed out to the King. The -merchants of Quebec and Three Rivers and Montreal absorbed all the furs -of the tribes from the Ottawa; and New England drained the Iroquois land. -There remained but one avenue of new trade, and that was west of the -Lakes, where Jolliet had been. - -Taking only La Salle into his confidence, Frontenac issued a royal -mandate commanding all the officers and people of New France to -contribute a quota of men for the establishment of a fort on Lake -Ontario. By June 28, 1673, the same year that Jolliet had been -dispatched for the Mississippi, there had gathered at La Chine, La -Salle's old seigniory near Montreal, four hundred armed men and one -hundred and twenty canoes, which Frontenac ordered painted gaudily in red -and blue. With these the Governor moved in stately array up the St. -Lawrence, setting the leafy avenues of the Thousand Islands ringing with -trumpet and bugle, and sweeping across Lake Ontario in martial lines to -the measured stroke of a hundred paddles. - -Long since, La Salle's scouts had scurried from canton to canton, -rallying the Iroquois to the council of great "Onontio." At break of -day, July 13, while the sunrise was just bursting up {135} over the lake, -Frontenac, with soldiers drawn up under arms, himself in velvet cloak -laced with gold braid, met the chiefs of the Iroquois Confederacy at the -place to be known for years as Fort Frontenac, now known as Kingston, a -quiet little city at the entrance of Lake Ontario on the north shore. - -[Illustration: ROBERT DE LA SALLE] - -Ostensibly the powwow was to maintain peace. In reality, it was to -attract the Iroquois, and all the tribes with whom they traded, away from -the English, down to Frontenac's new fort with their furs. It is a -question if all the military pomp deceived a living soul. Before the -Governor had set his sappers to work on the foundations of a fort, the -merchants of Montreal--the Le Bers and Le Moynes and Le Chesnayes and Le -Forests--were furious with jealousy. Undoubtedly Fort Frontenac would be -the most valuable fur post in America. - -{136} - -[Illustration: OLD PLAN OF FORT FRONTENAC] - -Determined to have the support of the Court, where his wife was in high -favor, Count Frontenac dispatched La Salle to France in 1674 with letters -of strongest recommendation, which, no doubt, Jean Talon, the former -Intendant, indorsed on the spot. La Salle's case was a strong one. He -was to offer to found a line of forts establishing French dominion from -Lake Ontario to the valley of the Mississippi, which Jolliet had just -explored. In return, he asked for patent of nobility and the grant of a -seigniory at Fort Frontenac; in other words, the monopoly of the furs -there, which would easily clear him $20,000 a year. It has never been -proved, but one may suspect that his profits were to be divided with -Count Frontenac. Both requests were at once granted; and La Salle came -back to a hornet's nest of enmity in Canada. Space forbids to tell of -the means taken to defeat him; for, by promising to support Recollet -friars at his fort instead of Jesuits, La Salle had added {137} to the -enmity of the merchants, the hatred of the Jesuits. Poison was put in -his food. Iroquois were stirred up to hostility against him. - -Meanwhile no enmity checks his ardor. He has replaced the wooden walls -of Fort Frontenac with stone, mounted ten cannon, manned the fort with -twenty soldiers, maintained more than forty workmen, cleared one hundred -acres for crops, and in 1677 is off again for France to ask permission to -build another fort above Niagara. This time, when La Salle comes out, he -is accompanied by a man famous in American annals, a soldier of fortune -from Italy, cousin of Duluth the bushrover, one Henry Tonty, a man with a -copper hand, his arm having been shattered in war, who presently comes to -have repute among the Indians as a great "medicine man," because blows -struck by that metal hand have a way of being effective. By 1678 the -fort is built above Niagara. By 1679 a vessel of forty-five tons and ten -cannon is launched on Lake Erie, the _Griffon_, the first vessel to plow -the waters of the Great Lakes. As she slides off her skids, August 17, -to go up to Michilimackinac for a cargo of furs, _Te Deum_ is chanted -from the new fort, and Louis Hennepin, the Dutch friar, standing on deck -in full vestments, asks Heaven's blessing on the ship's venture. - -Scant is the courtesy of the Michilimackinac traders as the _Griffon's_ -guns roar salute to the fort. Cold is the welcome of the Jesuits as La -Salle enters their chapel dressed in scarlet mantle trimmed with gold. -And to be frank, though La Salle was backed by the King, he had no right -to trade at Michilimackinac, for his monopoly explicitly states he shall -not interfere with the trade of the north, but barter only with the -tribes towards the Illinois. Never mind! he loads his ships to the water -line with furs to pay his increasing debts, and sends the ship on down to -Niagara with the cargo, while he and Tonty, with different parties, -proceed to the south end of Lake Michigan to cross the Chicago portage -leading to the Mississippi. Did the jealous traders bribe the pilot to -sink the ship to bottom? Who knows? Certain it is when Tonty and La -Salle went down the {138} Illinois early in the new year of 1680, news of -disasters came thick and fast. The _Griffon_ had sunk with all her -cargo. The ship from France with the year's supplies for La Salle at -Fort Frontenac had been wrecked at the mouth of the St. Lawrence; and -worse than these losses, which meant financial ruin, here among the -Illinois Indians were Mascoutin Indian spies bribed to stir up trouble -for La Salle. Small wonder that he named the fort built here Fort -Crevecoeur,--Fort Broken Heart. - -[Illustration: THE BUILDING OF THE _GRIFFON_ (After the engraving in -Father Hennepin's "Nouvelle Decouverte," Amsterdam, 1704)] - -If La Salle had been fur trader only, as his enemies averred, and not -patriot, one wonders why he did not sit still in his fort at Frontenac -and draw his profits of $20,000 a year, instead of risking loss and -poison and ruin and calumny and death by chasing the phantom of his great -desire to found a New France on the Mississippi. - -Never pausing to repine, he orders Hennepin, the friar, to take two -voyageurs and descend Illinois River as far as the Mississippi. Tonty he -leaves in charge of the Illinois fort. He {139} himself proceeds -overland the width of half a continent, to Fort Frontenac and Montreal. - -Friar Hennepin's adventures have been told in his own book of marvels, -half truth, half lies. Jolliet, it will be remembered, had explored the -Great River south of the Wisconsin. Hennepin struck up from the mouth of -the Illinois, to explore north, and he found enough adventure to satisfy -his marvel-loving soul. The Sioux captured him somewhere near the -Wisconsin. In the wanderings of his captivity he went as far north as -the Falls of St. Anthony, the site of Minnesota's Twin Cities, and he -finally fell in with a band of Duluth's bushrovers from Kaministiquia -(modern Fort William), Lake Superior. - - -The rest of the story of La Salle on the Mississippi is more the history -of the United States than of Canada, and must be given in few words. - -When La Salle returned from interviewing his creditors on the St. -Lawrence, he found the Illinois Indians dispersed by hostile Iroquois -whom his enemies had hounded on. Fort Crevecoeur had been destroyed and -plundered by mutineers among his own men. Only Tonty and two or three -others had remained faithful, and they had fled for their lives to Lake -Michigan. Not knowing where Tonty had taken refuge, La Salle pushed on -down the Illinois River, and for the first time beheld the Mississippi, -the goal of all his dreams; but anxiety for his lost men robbed the event -of all jubilation. Once more united with Tonty at Michilimackinac, La -Salle returned dauntlessly to the Illinois. Late in the fall of 1681 he -set out with eighteen Indians and twenty Frenchmen from Lake Michigan for -the Illinois. February of 1682 saw the canoes floating down the -winter-swollen current of the Illinois River for the Mississippi, which -was reached on the 6th. A week later the river had cleared of ice, and -the voyageurs were camped amid the dense forests at the mouth of the -Missouri. The weather became warmer. Trees were donning their bridal -attire of spring and the air was heavy with the odor of blossoms. -Instead of high cliffs, carved fantastic by {140} the waters, came -low-lying swamps, full of reeds, through which the canoes glided and lost -themselves. Camp after camp of strange Indian tribes they visited, till -finally they came to villages where the Indians were worshipers of the -sun and wore clothing of Spanish make. By these signs La Salle guessed -he was nearing the Gulf of Mexico. Fog lay longer on the river of -mornings now. Ground was lower. They were nearing the sea. April 6 the -river seemed to split into three channels. Different canoes followed -each channel. The muddy river water became salty. Then the blue sky -line opened to the fore through the leafy vista of the forest-grown -banks. Another paddle stroke, and the canoes shot out on the Gulf of -Mexico,--La Salle erect and silent and stern as was his wont. April 9, -1682, a cross is planted with claim to this domain for France. To fire -of musketry and chant of Te Deum a new empire is created for King Louis -of France. Louisiana is its name. - - -Take a map of North America. Look at it. What had the pathfinders of -New France accomplished? Draw a line from Cape Breton to James Bay, from -James Bay down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico, from the Gulf of -Mexico across to Cape Breton. Inside the triangle lies the French empire -of the New World,--in area the size of half Europe. That had the -pathfinders accomplished for France. - -La Salle was too ill to proceed at once from the Mississippi to Quebec. -As long as Frontenac remained governor, La Salle could rely on his hungry -creditors and vicious enemies--now eager as wolves, to confiscate his -furs and seize his seigniory at Fort Frontenac--being restrained by the -strong hand of the Viceroy; but while La Salle lay ill at the Illinois -fort, Frontenac was succeeded by La Barre as viceroy; and the new -Governor was a weak, avaricious old man, ready to believe any evil tale -carried to his ears. He at once sided with La Salle's enemies, and wrote -the French King that the explorer's "_head was turned_"; that La Salle -"_accomplished nothing, but spent his life leading bandits through the -forests, pillaging Indians; {141} that all the story of discovering the -Mississippi was a fabrication_." When La Salle came from the wilderness -he found himself a ruined man. Fort Frontenac had been seized by his -enemies. Supplies for the Mississippi had been stopped, and officers -were on their way to seize the forts there. - -Leaving Tonty in charge of his interests, La Salle sailed for France -where he had a strong friend at court in Frontenac. As it happened, -Spain and France were playing at the game of checkmating each other; and -it pleased the French King to restore La Salle's forts and to give the -Canadian explorer four ships to colonize the Mississippi by way of the -Gulf of Mexico. This was to oust Spain from her ancient claim on the -gulf; but Beaujeu, the naval commander of the expedition, was not in -sympathy with La Salle. Beaujeu was a noble by birth; La Salle, only a -noble of the merchant classes. The two bickered and quarreled from the -first. By some blunder, when the ships reached the Gulf of Mexico, laden -with colonists, in December of 1684, they missed the mouth of the -Mississippi and anchored off Texas. The main ship sailed back to France. -Two others were wrecked, and La Salle in desperation, after several trips -seeking the Mississippi, resolved to go overland by way of the -Mississippi valley and the Illinois to obtain aid in Canada for his -colonists. All the world knows what happened. Near Trinity River in -Texas some of his men mutinied. Early in the morning of the 19th of -March, 1687, La Salle left camp with a friar and Indian to ascertain what -was delaying the plotters, who had not returned from the hunt. Suddenly -La Salle seemed overwhelmed by a great sadness. He spoke of death. A -moment later, catching sight of one of the delinquents, he had called -out. A shot rang from the underbush; another shot; and La Salle reeled -forward dead, with a bullet wound gaping in his forehead. The body of -the man who had won a new empire for France was stripped and left naked, -a prey to the foxes and carrion birds. So perished Robert Cavelier de La -Salle, aged forty-four. - -Nor need the fate of the mutineers be told here. The fate of mutineers -is the same the world over. Having slain their {142} commander, they -fell on one another and perished, either at one another's hands or among -the Indians. As for the colonists of men, women, and girls left in -Texas, the few who were not massacred by the Indians fell into the hands -of the Spaniards. La Salle's debts at the time of his death were what -would now be half a million dollars. His life had ended in what the -world calls ruin, but France entered into his heritage. - -With the passing of Robert de La Salle passes the heroic age of -Canada,--its age of youth's dream. Now was to come its manhood,--its -struggles, its wars, its nation building, working out a greater destiny -than any dream of youth. - - - - -{143} - -CHAPTER VIII - -FROM 1679 TO 1713 - -Radisson quarrels with company--Up Labrador coast--Radisson captures -his rivals--Radisson ordered back to England--Death of Radisson--Jan -Pere the spy--The raid on Moose Factory--Sargeant besieged - - -Before leaving for France, Jean Talon, the Intendant, had set another -exploration in motion. English trade was now in full sway on Hudson -Bay. In possession of the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Illinois, the -Great Lakes, France controlled all avenues of approach to the Great -Northwest except Hudson Bay. This she had lost through injustice to -Radisson; and already the troublesome question had come up,--What was -to be the boundary between the fur-trading domain of the French -northward from the St. Lawrence and the fur-trading domain of the -English southward from Hudson Bay. Fewer furs came down to Quebec from -Labrador, the King's Domain, from Kaministiquia (Fort William), the -stamping ground of Duluth, the forest ranger. The furs of these -regions were being drained by the English of Hudson Bay. - -Talon determined to put a stop to this, and had advised Frontenac -accordingly. August, 1671, Governor Frontenac dispatched the English -Jesuit--Father Albanel--with French guides and Indian voyageurs to set -up French arms on Hudson Bay and to bear letters to Radisson and -Groseillers. The journey was terrific. I have told the story -elsewhere. Autumn found the voyageurs beyond the forested shores of -the Saguenay and Lake St. John, ascending a current full of boiling -cascades towards Lake Mistassini. Then the frost-painted woods became -naked as antlers, with wintry winds setting the dead boughs crashing; -and the ice, thin as mica, forming at the edges of the streams, had -presently thickened too hard for the voyageurs to break with their -paddles. Albanel and his comrades wintered in the Montaignais' lodges, -which were banked so heavily with snow that scarcely a breath of pure -air could penetrate the {144} stench. By day the priest wandered from -lodge to lodge, preaching the gospel. At night he was to be found afar -in the snow-padded solitudes of the forest engaged in prayer. At last, -in the spring of 1672, thaw set the ice loose and the torrents rushing. -Downstream on June 10 launched Albanel, running many a wild-rushing -rapid, taking the leap with the torrential waters over the lesser -cataracts, and avoiding the larger falls by long detours over rocks -slippery as ice, through swamps to a man's armpits. The hinterland of -Hudson Bay, with its swamps and rough portages and dank forests of -unbroken windfall, was then and is to-day the hardest canoe trip in -North America; but towards the end of June the French canoes glided out -on the arm of the sea called James Bay, hoisted the French flag, and in -solemn council with the Indians presented gifts to induce them to come -down the Saguenay to Quebec. Fort Rupert, the Hudson's Bay Company's -post, consisted of two barrack-like log structures. When Albanel came -to the houses he found not a soul, only boxes of provisions and one -lonely dog. - -A few weeks previously the men of the English company had gone on up -the west coast of Hudson Bay, prospecting for the site of a new -settlement. Before Albanel had come at all, there was friction among -the English. Radisson and Groseillers were Catholics and French, and -they were supervisors of the entire trade. Bayly, the English -governor, was subject to them. So was Captain Gillam, with whom they -had quarreled long ago, when he refused to take his boat into Hudson -Straits on the voyage from Port Royal. Radisson and Groseillers were -for establishing more posts up the west coast of Hudson Bay, farther -from the competition of Duluth's forest rovers on Lake Superior. They -had examined the great River Nelson and urged Bayly, the English -governor, to build a fort there. Bayly sulked and blustered by turns. -In this mood they had come back to Prince Rupert to find the French -flag flying above their fort and the English Jesuit, Albanel, snugly -ensconced, with passports from Governor Frontenac and personal letters -for Radisson and Groseillers. - -{145} England and France were at peace. Bayly had to respect Albanel's -passports, but he wished this English envoy of French rivals far -enough; and when Captain Gillam came from England the old quarrel -flamed out in open hostility. Radisson and Groseillers were accused of -being in league with the French traders. A thousand rumors of what -next happened have gained currency. One writer says that the English -and French came to blows; another, that Radisson and Groseillers -deserted, going back overland with Albanel. In the Archives of -Hudson's Bay House I found a letter stating that the English captain -kidnapped the Jesuit Albanel and carried him a captive to England. It -may as well be frankly stated these rumors are all sheer fiction. -Albanel went back overland as he came. Radisson and Groseillers did -not go with him, though there may have been blows. Instead, they went -to England on Gillam's ship to present their case to the company. - -[Illustration: PRINCE RUPERT (After the painting by Sir P. Lely)] - -The Hudson's Bay Company was uneasy. Radisson and Groseillers were -aliens. True, Radisson had married Mary Kirke, the daughter of a -shareholder, and was bound to the English; but if Radisson and -Groseillers had forsworn one land, might they not forswear another, and -go back to the French, as Frontenac's letters no doubt urged? The -company offered Radisson a salary of 100 pounds a year to stay as clerk -in England. They did not want him out on the bay again; but {146} -France had offered Radisson a commission in the French navy. Without -more ado the two Frenchmen left London for Paris, and Paris for America. - - -The year 1676 finds Radisson back in Quebec engaged in the beaver trade -with all those friends of his youth whose names have become famous,--La -Salle of Fort Frontenac, and Charles Le Moyne the interpreter of -Montreal, and Jolliet of the Mississippi, and La Forest who befriended -La Salle, Le Chesnaye who opposed him, and Duluth whose forest rangers -roved from Lake Superior to Hudson Bay. It can be guessed what these -men talked about over the table of the Sovereign Council at Quebec, -whither they had been called to discuss the price of beaver and the use -of brandy. - -The fur traders were at that time in two distinct rings,--the ring of -La Salle and La Forest, supported by Frontenac; the Montreal ring, -headed by Le Chesnaye, who fought against the opening of the west -because Lake Ontario trade would divert his trade from the Ottawa. -Radisson's report of that west coast of Hudson Bay, in area large as -all New France, interested both factions of the fur trade intensely. -He was offered two ships for Hudson Bay by the men of both rings. -Because England and France were at peace, Frontenac dared not recognize -the expedition officially; but he winked at it,--as he winked at many -irregularities in the fur trade,--granted the Company of the North -license to trade on Hudson Bay, and gave Radisson's party passports "to -fish off Gaspe." In the venture Radisson, Groseillers, and the son -Chouart Groseillers, invested their all, possibly amounting to $2500 -each. The rest of the money for the expedition came from the Godfreys, -titled seigneurs of Three Rivers; Dame Sorel, widow of an officer in -the Carignan Regiment; Le Chesnaye, La Salle's lieutenant, and others. - -The boats were rickety little tubs unfit for rough northern seas, and -the crews sulky, underfed men, who threatened mutiny at every watering -place and only refrained from cutting Radisson's {147} throat because -he kept them busy. July 11, 1682, the explorers sheered away from the -fishing fleet of the St. Lawrence and began coasting up the lonely iron -shore of Labrador. Ice was met sweeping south in mountainous bergs. -Over Isle Demons in the Straits of Belle Isle hung storm wrack and -brown fog as in the days when Marguerite Roberval pined there. Then -the ships were cutting the tides of Labrador; here through fog; there -skimming a coast that was sheer masonry to the very sky; again, -scudding from storm to refuge of some hole in the wall. - -[Illustration: MAP OF HUDSON BAY] - -{148} Before September the ships rode triumphantly into -Five-Fathom-Hole off Nelson River, Hudson Bay. Here two great rivers, -wide as the St. Lawrence, rolled to the sea, separated by a long tongue -of sandy dunes. The north river was the Nelson; the south, the Hayes. -Approach to both was dangerous, shallow, sandy, and bowlder strewn; but -Radisson's vessels were light draught, and he ran them in on the tide -to Hayes River on the south, where his men took possession for France -and erected log huts as a fort. - -Groseillers remained at the fort to command the twenty-seven men. -Young Chouart ranged the swamps and woods for Indians, and Radisson had -paddled down the Hayes from meeting some Assiniboine hunters, when, to -his amazement, there rolled across the wooded swamps the most -astonishing report that could be heard in desolate solitudes. It was -the rolling reverberation, the dull echo of a far-away cannon firing -signal after signal. - -Like a flash Radisson guessed the game. After all, the Hudson's Bay -Company had taken his advice and were sending ships to trade on the -west coast. The most of men, supported by only twenty-seven mutineers, -would have scuttled ships and escaped overland, but the explorers of -New France, Champlain and Jolliet and La Salle, were not made of the -stuff that runs from trouble. - -Picking out three men, Radisson crossed the marsh northward to -reconnoiter on Nelson River. Through the brush he espied a white tent -on what is now known as Gillam's Island, a fortress half built, and a -ship at anchor. All night he and his spies watched, but none of the -builders came near enough to be seized, and next day at noon Radisson -put a bold face on and paddled within cannon shot of the island. - -Here was a pretty to-do, indeed! The Frenchman must have laughed till -he shook with glee! It was not the Hudson's Bay Company ship at all, -but a poacher, a pirate, an interloper, forbidden by the laws of the -English Company's monopoly; and who was the poacher but Ben Gillam, of -Boston, son of Captain Gillam of the Hudson's Bay Company, with whom, -no doubt, he was in collusion to defraud the English traders! Calling -for {149} Englishmen to come down to the shore as hostages for fair -treatment, Radisson went boldly aboard the young man's ship, saw -everything, counted the men, noted the fact that Gillam's crew were -mutinous, and half frightened the life out of the young Boston captain -by telling him of the magnificent fort the French had on the south -river, of the frigates and cannon and the powder magazines. As a -friend he advised young Gillam not to permit his men to approach the -French; otherwise they might be attacked by the Quebec soldiers. Then -the crafty Radisson paddled off, smiling to himself; but not so fast, -not so easy! As he drifted down Nelson River, what should he run into -full tilt but the Hudson's Bay Company ship itself, bristling with -cannon, manned by his old enemy, Captain Gillam! - -If the two English parties came together, Radisson was lost. He must -beat them singly before they met; and again putting on a bold face, he -marched out, met his former associates, and as a friend advised them -not to ascend the river farther. Fortunately for Radisson, both Gillam -and Bridgar, the Hudson's Bay governor, were drinking heavily and glad -to take his advice. The winter passed, with Radisson perpetrating such -tricks on his rivals as a player might with the dummy men on a -chessboard; but the chessboard, with the English rivals for pawns, was -suddenly upset by the unexpected. Young Gillam discovered that -Radisson had no fort at all,--only log cabins with a handful of -ragamuffin bushrovers; and Captain Gillam senior got word of young -Gillam's presence. Radisson had to act, act quickly, and on the nail. - -Leaving half a dozen men as hostages in young Gillam's fort, Radisson -invited the youth to visit the French fort for which the young Boston -fellow had expressed such skeptical scorn. To make a long story short, -young Gillam was no sooner out of his own fort than the French hostages -took peaceable possession of it, and Gillam was no sooner in Radisson's -fort than the French clapped him a prisoner in their guardroom. -Ignorant that the French had captured young Gillam's fort, the Hudson's -Bay Company men had marched upstream at dead of night to his {150} -rescue. The English knocked for admittance. The French guards threw -open the gates. In marched the English traders. The French clapped -the gates to. The English were now themselves prisoners. Such a -double victory would have been impossible to the French if the Hudson's -Bay Company men had not fuddled themselves with drink and allowed their -fine ship, the _Prince Rupert_, to be wrecked in the ice drive. - -In spring the ice jam wrecked Radisson's vessels, too, so he was -compelled to send the most of his prisoners in a sloop down Hudson Bay -to Prince Rupert, while he carried the rest with him on young Gillam's -ship down to Quebec with an enormous cargo of furs. - -By all the laws of navigation Ben Gillam was nothing more or less than -pirate. The monopoly of the Hudson's Bay Company forbade him trading -on Hudson Bay. The license of the Company of the North at Quebec also -excluded him. In later years, indeed, young Gillam turned pirate -outright, was captured in connection with Captain Kidd at Boston, and -is supposed to have been executed with the famous pirate. But when -Radisson left Nelson in charge of young Chouart and came down to Quebec -with young Gillam's ship as prize, a change had taken place at Quebec. -Governor Frontenac had been recalled. In his place was La Barre, whose -favor could be bought by any man who would pay the bribe, and who had -already ruined La Salle by permitting creditors to seize Fort -Frontenac. England and France were at peace. Therefore La Barre gave -Gillam's vessel back to him. The revenue collectors were permitted to -seize all the furs which La Chesnaye had not already shipped to France. -Though La Barre was reprimanded by the King for both acts, not a sou -did Radisson and Groseillers and Chouart ever receive for their -investment; and Radisson was ordered to report at once to the King in -France. - - -The next part of Radisson's career has always been the great blot upon -his memory, a blot that seemed incomprehensible except on the ground -that his English wife had induced him to {151} return to the Hudson's -Bay Company; but in the memorials left by Radisson himself, in Hudson's -Bay House, London, I found the true explanation of his conduct. - -France and England were, as yet, at peace; but it was a pact of -treacherous kind,--secret treaty by which the King of England drew pay -from the King of France. The King of France dared not offend England -by giving public approval to Radisson's capture of the Hudson's Bay -Company's territory; therefore he ordered Radisson to go back to -Hudson's Bay Company service and restore what he had captured. But the -King of France had no notion of relinquishing claim to the vast -territory of Hudson Bay; therefore he commanded Radisson to go -unofficially. Groseillers, the brother, seems to have dropped from all -engagements from this time, and to have returned to Three Rivers. A -copy of the French minister's instructions is to be found in the -Radisson records of the Hudson's Bay Company to-day. Not a sou of -compensation was Radisson to receive for the money that he and his -friends had invested in the venture of 1682-1683. Not a penny of -reparation was he to obtain for the furs at Nelson, which he was to -turn over to the Hudson's Bay Company. - -In France, preparation went forward as if for a second voyage to -Nelson; but Radisson secretly left Paris for London, where he was -welcomed by the courtiers of England in May, 1684, and given presents -by King Charles and the Duke of York, who were shareholders in the -Hudson's Bay Company. May 17 he sailed with the Hudson's Bay Company -vessels for Port Nelson, and there took over from young Chouart the -French forts with 20,000 pounds worth of furs for the English company. - -Young Chouart Groseillers and his five comrades were furious. They had -borne the brunt of attack from both English and Indian enemies during -Radisson's absence, and they were to receive not a penny for the furs -collected. And their fury knew no bounds when they were forcibly -carried back to England. The English had invited them on board one of -the vessels for last instructions. Quickly the anchor was slipped, -sails run {152} out, and the kidnapped Frenchmen carried from the bay. -In a second, young Chouart's hand was on his sword, and he would have -fought on the spot, but Radisson begged him to conceal his anger; -"for," urged Radisson, "some of these English ruffians would like -nothing better than to stab you in a scuffle." - -In London, Radisson was lionized, publicly thanked by the company, -presented to the court, and given a present of silver plate. As for -the young French captives, they were treated royally, voted salaries of -100 pounds a year, and all their expenses of lodgings paid; but when -they spoke of returning to France, unexpected obstructions were -created. Their money was held back; they were dogged by spies. -Finally they took the oath of allegiance to England, and accepted -engagements to go back as servants of the Hudson's Bay Company to -Nelson at salaries ranging from 100 pounds to 40 pounds, good pay as -money was estimated in those days, equal to at least five times as much -money of the present day. It was even urged on young Chouart that he -should take an English wife, as Radisson had; but the young Frenchmen -smiled quietly to themselves. Secret offers of a title had been -conveyed to Chouart by the French ambassador; and to his mother in -Three Rivers he wrote: - -I could not go to Paris; I was not at liberty; but I shall be at the -rendezvous or perish trying. I cannot say more in a letter. I would -have left this kingdom, but they hold back my pay, and orders have been -given to arrest me if I try to leave. Assure Mr. Duluth of my humble -services. I shall see him as soon as I can. Pray tell my good friend, -Jan Pere. - - -Pere, it will be remembered, was a bushranger of Duluth's band, who had -been with Jolliet on Lake Superior. - -As for Radisson, the English kept faith with him as long as the Stuarts -and his personal friends ruled the English court. He spent the summers -on Hudson Bay as superintendent of trade, the winters in England -supervising cargoes and sales. His home was on Seething Lane near the -great Tower, where one of his friends was commander. Near him dwelt -the merchant princes of London like the Kirkes and the Robinsons and -the Youngs. His next-door neighbor was the man of fashion, {153} -Samuel Pepys, in whose hands Radisson's Journals of his voyages finally -fell. His income at this time was 100 pounds in dividends, 100 pounds -in salary, equal to about five times that amount in modern money. - -Then came a change in Radisson's fortunes. The Stuarts were dethroned -and their friends dispersed. The shareholders of the fur company bore -names of men who knew naught of Radisson's services. War destroyed the -fur company's dividends. Radisson's income fell off to 50 pounds a -year. His family had increased; so had his debts; and he had long -since been compelled to move from fashionable quarters. A petition -filed in a lawsuit avers that he was in great mental anxiety lest his -children should come to want; but he won his lawsuits against the -company for arrears of salary. Peace brought about a resumption of -dividends, and the old pathfinder seems to have passed his last years -in comparative comfort. Some time between March and July, 1710, -Radisson set out on the Last Long Voyage of all men, dying near London. -His burial place is unknown. As far as Canada is concerned, Radisson -stands foremost as pathfinder of the Great Northwest. - - -But to return to "good friend, Jan Pere," whom the Frenchmen, forced -into English service, were to meet somewhere on Hudson Bay. It is like -a story from borderland forays. - -Seven large ships set sail from England for Hudson Bay in 1685, -carrying Radisson and young Chouart and the five unwilling Frenchmen. -The company's forts on the bay now numbered four: Nelson, highest up on -the west; Albany, southward on an island at the mouth of Albany River; -Moose, just where James Bay turns westward; and Rupert at the southeast -corner. But French ships under La Martiniere of the Sovereign Council -had also set sail from Quebec in 1685, commissioned by the indignant -fur traders to take Radisson dead or alive; for Quebec did not know the -secret orders of the French court, which had occasioned Radisson's last -defection. - -July saw the seven Hudson's Bay ships worming their way laboriously -through the ice floes of the straits. Small sails only {154} were -used. With grappling hooks thrown out on the ice pans and crews -toiling to their armpits in ice slush, the boats pulled themselves -forward, resting on the lee side of some ice floe during ebb tide, all -hands out to fight the roaring ice pans when the tide began to come in. -At length on the night of July 27, with crews exhausted and the timbers -badly rammed, the ships steered to rest in a harbor off Digge's Island, -sheltered from the ice drive. The nights of that northern sea are -light almost as day; but clouds had shrouded the sky and a white mist -was rising from the water when there glided like ghosts from gloom two -strange vessels. Before the exhausted crews of the English ships were -well awake, the waters were churned to foam by a roar of cannonading. -The strange ships had bumped keels with the little _Merchant -Perpetuana_ of the Hudson's Bay. Radisson, on whose head lay a price, -was first to realize that they were attacked by French raiders; and his -ship was out with sails and off like a bird, followed by the other -English vessels, all except the little _Perpetuana_, now in death -grapple between her foes. Captain Hume, Mates Smithsend and -Grimmington fought like demons to keep the French from boarding her; -but they were knocked down, fettered and clapped below hatches while -the victors plundered the cargo. Fourteen men were put to the sword. -August witnessed ship, cargo, and captives brought into Quebec amid -noisy acclaim and roar of cannon. The French had not captured Radisson -nor ransomed Chouart, but there was booty to the raiders. New France -had proved her right to trade on Hudson Bay spite of peace between -France and England, or secret commands to Radisson. Thrown in a -dungeon below Chateau St. Louis, Quebec, the English captives hear wild -rumors of another raid on the bay, overland in winter; and Smithsend, -by secret messenger, sends warning to England, and for his pains is -sold with his fellow-captives into slavery in Martinique, whence he -escapes to England before the summer of 1686. - -But what is Jan Pere of Duluth's bushrovers doing? All unconscious of -the raid on the ships, the governors of the four {155} English forts -awaited the coming of the annual supplies. At Albany was a sort of -harbor beacon as well as lookout, built high on scaffolding above a -hill. One morning, in August of 1685, the sentry on the lookout was -amazed to see three men, white men, in a canoe, steering swiftly down -the rain-swollen river from the Up-Country. Such a thing was -impossible. "White men from the interior! Whence did they come?" -Governor Sargeant came striding to the fort gate, ordering his cannon -manned. Behold nothing more dangerous than three French forest rangers -dressed in buckskins, but with manners a trifle too smooth for such -rough garb, as one doffs his cap to Governor Sargeant and introduces -himself as Jan Pere, a woodsman out hunting. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY FRENCH MAP OF HUDSON BAY AND VICINITY] - -England and France were at peace; so Governor Sargeant invited the -three mysterious gentlemen inside to a breakfast of sparkling wines and -good game, hoping no doubt that the wines would unlock the gay fellows' -tongues to tell what game _they_ were playing. As the wine passed -freely, there were stories of {156} the hunt and the voyage and the -annual ships. When might the ships be coming? "Humph," mutters -Sargeant through his beard; and he does n't urge these knights of the -wild woods to tarry longer. Their canoe glides gayly down coast to the -salt marshes, where the shooting is good; but by chance that night, -_purely by chance_, the French leave their canoe so that the tide will -carry it away. Then they come back crestfallen to the English fort. - -Meanwhile a ship has arrived with the story of the raid on the -_Perpetuana_. Sargeant is so enraged that he sends two of the French -spies across to Charlton Island, where they can hunt or die; Monsieur -Jan Pere he casts into the cellar of Albany with irons on his wrists -and balls on his feet. When the ships sail for England, Pere is sent -back as prisoner without having had one word with Chouart Groseillers. -As for the two Frenchmen placed on Charlton Island, did Sargeant think -they were bush-rovers and would stay on an island? By October they -have laid up store of moose meat, built themselves a canoe, paddled -across to the mainland, and are speeding like wildfire overland to -Michilimackinac with word that Jan Pere is held prisoner at Albany. As -Jan Pere drops out of history here, it may be said that he was kept -prisoner in England as guarantee for the safety of the English crew -held prisoners at Quebec. When he escaped to France he was given money -and a minor title for his services. - -The news that Pere lay in a dungeon on Hudson Bay supplied the very -excuse that the Quebec fur traders needed for an overland raid in time -of peace. These were the wild rumors of which the captive English crew -sent warning to England; but the northern straits would not be open to -the company ships before June of 1686, and already a hundred wild -French bushrovers were rallying to ascend the Ottawa to raid the -English on Hudson Bay. - -And now a change comes in Canadian annals. For half a century its -story is a record of lawless raids, bloody foray, dare-devil courage -combined with the most fiendish cruelty and sublime heroism. Only a -few of these raids can be narrated here. {157} June 18, 1686, when the -long twilight of the northern night merged with dawn, there came out -from the thicket of underbrush round Moose Factory, Hudson Bay, one -hundred bush-rovers, led by Chevalier de Troyes of Niagara, accompanied -by Le Chesnaye of the fur trade, Quebec, and the Jesuit, Sylvie. Of -the raiders, sixty-six were Indians under Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville -and his brothers, Maricourt and Ste. Helene, aged about twenty-four, -sons of Charles Le Moyne, the Montreal interpreter. Moose Factory at -this time boasted fourteen cannon, log-slab palisades, commodious -warehouses, and four stone bastions,--one with three thousand pounds of -powder, another used as barracks for twelve soldiers, another housing -beaver pelts, and a fourth serving as kitchen. Iberville and his -brothers, scouting round on different sides of the fort, soon learned -that not a sentinel was on duty. The great gate opposite the river, -studded with brass nails, was securely bolted, but not a cannon {158} -had been loaded. The bushrangers then cast aside all clothing that -would hamper, and, pistol in hand, advanced silent and stealthy as -wild-cats. Not a twig crunched beneath the moccasin tread. The water -lay like glass, and the fort slept silent as death. Hastily each -raider had knelt for the blessing of the priest. Pistols had been -recharged. Iberville bade his wild Indians not to forget that the -Sovereign Council of Quebec offered ten crowns reward for every enemy -slain, twenty for every enemy captured. In fact, there could be no -turning back. Two thousand miles of juniper swamps and forests lay -between the bush-rovers and home. They must conquer or perish. De -Troyes led his white soldiers round to make a pretense of attack from -the water front. Iberville posted his sixty-six Indians along the -walls with muskets rammed through the loopholes. Then, with an -unearthly yell, the Le Moyne brothers were over the tops of the -pickets, swords in hand, before the English soldiers had awakened. The -English gunner reeled from his cannon at the main gate with head split -to the collar bone. The gates were thrown wide, trees rammed the doors -open, and Iberville had dashed halfway up the stairs of the main house -before the inmates, rushing out in their nightshirts, realized what had -happened. Two men only were killed, one on each side. The French were -masters of Moose Fort in less than five minutes, with sixteen captives -and rich supply of ammunition. - -[Illustration: LE MOYNE D'IBERVILLE] - -Eastward of Moose was Rupert Fort, where the company's ship anchored. -Hither the raiders plied their canoes by sea. Look at the map! Across -the bottom of James Bay projects a long tongue of swamp land. To save -time, Iberville portaged across this, and by July 1 was opposite Prince -Rupert's bastions. At the dock lay the English ship. That day -Iberville's men kept in hiding, but at night he had ambushed his men -along shore and paddled across to the ship. Just as Iberville stepped -on the deck a man on guard sprang at his throat. One blow of -Iberville's sword killed the Englishman on the spot. Stamping to call -the crew aloft, Iberville sabered the men as they scrambled up the -hatches, till the Governor himself threw {159} up hands in -unconditional surrender. The din had alarmed the fort, and hot shot -snapping fire from the loopholes kept the raiders off till the Le Moyne -brothers succeeded in scrambling to the roofs of the bastions, hacking -holes through the rough thatch and firing inside. This drove the -English gunners from their cannon. A moment later, and the raiders -were on the walls. It was a repetition of the fight at Moose Factory. -The English, taken by surprise, surrendered at once; and the French now -had thirty prisoners, a good ship, two forts, but no provisions. - -Northwestward three hundred miles lay Albany Fort. Iberville led off -in canoes with his bushrovers. De Troyes followed on the English boat -with French soldiers and English prisoners. To save time, as the bay -seemed shallow, Iberville struck out from the shore across seas. All -at once a north wind began whipping the waters, sweeping down a -maelstrom of churning ice. Worse still, fog fell thick as wool. Any -one who knows canoe travel knows the danger. Iberville avoided -swamping by ordering his men to camp for the night on the shifting ice -pans, canoes held above heads where the ice crush was wildest, the -voyageurs clinging hand to hand, making a life line if one chanced to -slither through the ice slush. When daylight came with worse fog, -Iberville kept his pistol firing to guide his followers, and so pushed -on. Four days the dangerous traverse lasted, but August 1 the -bushrovers were in camp below the cliffs of Albany. - -Indians had forewarned Governor Sargeant. The loopholes of his -palisades bristled with muskets and heavy guns that set the bullets -flying soon as De Troyes arrived and tried to land the cannon captured -from the other forts for assault on Albany. Drums beating, flags -flying, soldiers in line, a French messenger goes halfway forward and -demands of an English messenger come halfway out the surrender of Sieur -Jan Pere, languishing in the dungeons of Albany. The English Governor -sends curt word back that Pere has been sent home to France long ago, -and demands what in thunder the French mean by these raids in time of -peace. The French retire that night to consider. {160} Cannon they -have, but they have used up nearly all their ammunition. They have -thirty prisoners, but they have no provisions. The prisoners have told -them there are 50,000 pounds worth of furs stored at Albany. - -Inside the fort the English were in almost as bad way. The larder was -lean, powder was scarce, and the men were wildly mutinous, threatening -to desert _en masse_ for the French on the excuse they had not hired to -fight, and "_if any of us lost a leg, the company could not make it -good_." - -At the end of two days' desultory firing, the company Governor captured -down at Rupert came to Sargeant and told him frankly that the -bloodthirsty bushrovers were desperate; they had either to conquer or -starve, and if they were compelled to fight, there would be no quarter. -Men and women alike would be butchered in hand-to-hand fight. Still -Sargeant hung on, hoping for the annual frigate of the company. Then -powder failed utterly. Still Sargeant would not show the white flag; -so an underfactor flourished a white sheet from an upper window. -Chevalier De Troyes came forward and seated himself on one of the -cannon. Governor Sargeant went out and seated himself on the same -cannon with two bottles of wine. The English of Albany were allowed to -withdraw to Charlton Island to await the company ship. As for the -other prisoners, those who were not compelled to carry the plundered -furs back to Quebec, were turned adrift in the woods to find their way -overland north to Nelson. Iberville's bushrovers were back in Montreal -by October. - - - - -{161} - -CHAPTER IX - -FROM 1686 TO 1698 - -War with the Iroquois--The year of the massacre--Frontenac returns--The -heroine of Vercheres--Indian raid and counter-raid--Massacre and -Schenectady--The massacre at Fort Loyal--Boston roused to -action--Quebec besieged--Phips and Frontenac--Retreat of the -English--Iberville's gallant sea fight--Nelson surrenders - - -For ten years Hudson Bay becomes the theater of northern buccaneers and -bushraiders. A treaty of neutrality in 1686 provides that the bay -shall be held in common by the fur traders of England and France; but -the adventurers of England and the bushrovers of Quebec have no notion -of leaving things so uncertain. Spite of truce, both fit out raiders, -and the King of France, according to the shifting diplomacy of the day, -issues secret orders "to permit not a vestige of English possession on -the northern bay." - -Maricourt Le Moyne held the newly captured forts on the south shore of -James Bay till Iberville came back overland in 1687. The fort at -Rupert had been completely abandoned after the French victory of the -previous summer, and the Hudson's Bay Company sloop, the _Young_, had -just sailed into the port to reestablish the fur post. Iberville -surrounded the sloop by his bushrovers, captured it with all hands, and -dispatched four spies across to Charlton Island, where another sloop, -the _Churchill_, swung at anchor. Here Iberville's run of luck turned. -Three of his four spies were captured, fettered, and thrown into the -hold of the vessel for the winter. In the spring of 1688 one was -brought above decks to help the English sailors. Watching his chance, -the grizzled bushrover waited till six of the English crew were up the -ratlines. Quick as flash the Frenchman tiptoed across decks in his -noiseless moccasins, took one precautionary glance over his shoulder, -brained two Englishmen with an ax, liberated his comrades, and at -pistol point kept the other Englishmen up the masts till he and his -fellows had righted the ship and steered the vessel across to Rupert -River, where the provisions were just in time to save Iberville's party -from starvation. - -{162} This episode is typical of what went on at the Hudson's Bay forts -for ten years. Each year, when the English ships came out to Nelson on -the west coast, armed bands were sent south to wrest the forts on James -Bay from the French; and each spring, when Iberville's bushrovers came -gliding down the rivers in their canoes from Canada, there was a fight -to drive out the English. Then the Indians would scatter to their -hunting grounds. No more loot of furs for a year! The English would -sail away in their ships, the French glide away in their canoes; and -for a winter the uneasy quiet of calm between two thunderclaps would -rest over the waters of Hudson Bay. - -In the spring of 1688, about the time that the brave bush-rovers had -brought the English ship from Charlton Island across to Rupert River, -two English frigates under Captain Moon, with twenty-four soldiers over -and above the crews, had come south from Nelson to attack the French -fur traders at Albany. As ill luck would have it, the ice floes began -driving inshore. The English ships found themselves locked in the ice -before the besieged fort. Across the jam from Rupert River dashed -Iberville with his Indian bandits, portaging where the ice floes -covered the water, paddling where lanes of clear way parted the -floating drift. Iberville hid his men in the tamarack swamps till -eighty-two Englishmen had landed and all unsuspecting left their ships -unguarded. Iberville only waited till the furs in the fort had been -transferred to the holds of the vessels. The ice cleared. The -Frenchman rushed his bushrovers on board, seized the vessel with the -most valuable cargo, and sailed gayly out of Albany for Quebec. The -astounded English set fire to the other ship and retreated overland. - -But the dare-devil bushrovers were not yet clear of trouble. As the -ice drive jammed and held them in Hudson Straits, they were aghast to -see, sailing full tilt with the roaring tide of the straits, a fleet of -English frigates, the Hudson's Bay Company's annual ships; but -Iberville sniffed at danger as a war horse glories in gunpowder. He -laughed his merriest, and as the ice drive locked all the ships within -gunshot, ran up an {163} English flag above his French crew and had -actually signaled the captains of the English frigates to come aboard -and visit him, when the ice cleared. Hoisting sail, he showed swift -heels to the foe. Iberville's ambition now was to sweep _all_ the -English from Hudson Bay, in other words, to capture Nelson on the west -coast, whence came the finest furs; but other raids called him to -Canada. - - -It will be recalled that La Salle's enemies had secretly encouraged the -Iroquois to attack the tribes of the Illinois; and now the fur traders -of New York were encouraging the Iroquois to pillage the Indians of the -Mississippi valley, in order to divert peltries from the French on the -St. Lawrence to the English at New York. Savages of the north, rallied -by Perrot and Duluth and La Motte Cadillac, came down by the lakes to -Fort Frontenac to aid the French; but they found that La Barre, the new -governor, foolish old man, had been frightened into making peace with -the Iroquois warriors, abandoning the Illinois to Iroquois raid and -utterly forgetful that _a peace which is not a victory is not worth the -paper it is written on_. - -For the shame of this disgraceful peace La Barre was recalled to France -and the Marquis de Denonville, a brave soldier, sent out as governor. -Unfortunately Denonville did not understand conditions in the colony. -The Jesuit missionaries were commissioned to summon the Iroquois to a -conference at Fort Frontenac, but when the deputies arrived they were -seized, tortured, and fifty of them shipped to France by the King's -order to serve as slaves on the royal galleys. It was an act of -treachery heinous beyond measure and exposed the Jesuit missionaries -among the Five Nations to terrible vengeance; but the Iroquois code of -honor was higher than the white man's. "Go home," they warned the -Jesuit missionary. "We have now every right to treat thee as our foe; -but we shall not do so! Thy heart has had no share in the wrong done -to us. We shall not punish thee for the crimes of another, tho' thou -didst act as the unconscious tool. But leave us! When our young {164} -men chant the song of war they may take counsel only of their fury and -harm thee! Go to thine own people"; and furnishing him with guides, -they sent him to Quebec. - -Though Denonville marched with his soldiers through the Iroquois -cantons, he did little harm and less good; for the wily warriors had -simply withdrawn their families into the woods, and the Iroquois were -only biding their time for fearful vengeance. - -This lust of vengeance was now terribly whetted. Dongan, the English -governor of New York, had been ordered by King James of England to -observe the treaty of neutrality between England and France; but this -did not hinder him supplying the Iroquois with arms to raid the French -and secretly advising them "not to bury the war hatchet,--just to hide -it in the grass, and stand on their guard to begin the war anew." - -[Illustration: FORT FRONTENAC AND THE ADJACENT COUNTRY] - -Nor did the treaty of neutrality prevent the French from raiding Hudson -Bay and ordering shot in cold blood any French bushrover who dared to -guide the English traders to the country of the Upper Lakes. - -In addition to English influence egging on the Iroquois, the treachery -of the Huron chief, The Rat, lashed the vengeance {165} of the Five -Nations to a fury. He had come down to Fort Frontenac to aid the -French. He was told that the French had again arranged peace with the -Iroquois, and deputies were even now on their way from the Five Nations. - -"Peace!" The old Huron chief was dumbfounded. What were these fool -French doing, trusting to an Iroquois peace? "Ah," he grunted, "that -may be well"; and he withdrew without revealing a sign of his -intentions. Then he lay in ambush on the trail of the deputies, fell -on the Iroquois peace messengers with fury, slaughtered half the band, -then sent the others back with word that he had done this by order of -Denonville, the French governor. - -"There," grunted The Rat grimly, "I 've killed the peace for them! We -'ll see how Onontio gets out of this mess." - -Meanwhile war had been declared between England and France. The -Stuarts had been dethroned. France was supporting the exiled monarch, -and William of Orange had become king of England. Iberville and Duluth -and La Motte Cadillac, the famous fighters of Canada's wildwood, were -laying plans before the French Governor for the invasion and conquest -of New York; and New York was preparing to defend itself by pouring -ammunition and firearms free of cost into the hands of the Iroquois. -Then the Iroquois vengeance fell. - -Between the night and morning of August 4 and 5, in 1689, a terrific -thunderstorm had broken over Montreal. Amidst the crack of hail and -crash of falling trees, with the thunder reverberating from the -mountain like cannonading, whilst the frightened people stood gazing at -the play of lightning across their windows, fourteen hundred Iroquois -warriors landed behind Montreal, beached their canoes, and stole upon -the settlement. What next followed beggars description. Nothing else -like it occurs in the history of Canada. For years this summer was to -be known as "the Year of the Massacre." - -Before the storm subsided, the Iroquois had stationed themselves in -circles round every house outside the walls of Montreal. At the signal -of a whistle, the warriors fell on the settlement {166} like beasts of -prey. Neither doors nor windows were fastened in that age, and the -people, deep in sleep after the vigil of the storm, were dragged from -their beds before they were well awake. Men, women, and children fell -victims to such ingenuity of cruelty as only savage vengeance could -conceive. Children were dashed to pieces before their parents' eyes; -aged parents tomahawked before struggling sons and daughters; fathers -held powerless that they might witness the tortures wreaked on wives -and daughters. Homes which had heard some alarm and were on guard were -set on fire, and those who perished in the flames {167} died a merciful -death compared to those who fell in the hands of the victors. By -daybreak two hundred people had been wantonly butchered. A hundred and -fifty more had been taken captives. As if their vengeance could not be -glutted, the Iroquois crossed the river opposite Montreal, and, in full -sight of the fort, weakly garrisoned and paralyzed with fright, spent -the rest of the week, day and night, torturing the white captives. By -night victims could be seen tied to the torture stake amid the -wreathing flames, with the tormentors dancing round the camp fire in -maniacal ferocity. Denonville was simply powerless. He lost his head, -and seemed so panic-stricken that he forbade even volunteer bands from -rallying to the rescue. For two months the Iroquois overran Canada -unchecked. Indeed, it was years before the boldness engendered by this -foray became reduced to respect for French authority. Settlement after -settlement, the marauders raided. From Montreal to Three Rivers crops -went up in flame, and the terrified habitants came cowering with their -families to the shelter of the palisades. - -[Illustration: WILLIAM OF ORANGE] - -In the midst of this universal terror came the country's savior. -Frontenac had been recalled because he quarreled with the intendant and -he quarreled with the Jesuits and he quarreled with the fur traders; -but his bitterest enemies did not deny that he could put the fear of -the Lord and respect for the French into the Iroquois' heart. -Arbitrary he was as a czar, but just always! To be sure he mended his -fortunes by personal fur trade, but in doing so he cheated no man; and -he worked no injustice, and he wrought in all things for the lasting -good of the country. Homage he demanded as to a king, once going so -far as to drive the Sovereign Councilors from his presence with the -flat of a sword; but he firmly believed and he had publicly proved that -he was worthy of homage, and that the men who are forever shouting -"liberty--liberty and the people's rights," are frequently wolves in -sheep's clothing, eating out the vitals of a nation's prosperity. - -Here, then, was the haughty, hot-headed, aggressive Frontenac, sent -back in his old age to restore the prestige of New France, {168} where -both La Barre the grafter, and Denonville the courteous Christian -gentleman, had failed. - - -To this period of Iroquois raids belongs one of the most heroic -episodes in Canadian life. The only settlers who had not fled to the -protection of the palisaded forts were the grand old seigniors, the new -nobility of New France, whose mansions were like forts in themselves, -palisaded, with stone bastions and water supply and yards for stock and -mills inside the walls. Here the seigniors, wildwood knights of a -wilderness age, held little courts that were imitations of the -Governor's pomp at Quebec. Sometimes during war the seignior's wife -and daughters were reduced to plowing in the fields and laboring with -the women servants at the harvest; but ordinarily the life at the -seigniory was a life of petty grandeur, with such style as the -backwoods afforded. In the hall or great room of the manor house was -usually an enormous table used both as court of justice by the seignior -and festive board. On one side was a huge fireplace with its homemade -benches, on the other a clumsily carved chiffonier loaded with solid -silver. In the early days the seignior's bedstead might be in the same -room,--an enormous affair with panoplies of curtains and counterpanes -of fur rugs and feather mattresses, so high that it almost necessitated -a ladder. But in the matter of dress the rude life made up in style -what it lacked in the equipments of a grand mansion. - -The bishop's description of the women's dresses I have already given, -though at this period the women had added to the "sins" of bows and -furbelows and frills, which the bishop deplored, the yet more heinous -error of such enormous hoops that it required fine maneuvering on the -part of a grand dame to negotiate the door of the family coach; and -however pompous the seignior's air, it must have suffered temporary -eclipse in that coach from the hoops of his spouse and his spouse's -daughters. As for the seignior, when he was not dressed in buckskin, -leading bushrovers on raids, he appeared magnificent in all the -grandeur that a 20 pounds wig and Spanish laces and French ruffles -{169} and imported satins could lend his portly person; and if the -figure were not portly, one may venture to guess, from the pictures of -stout gentlemen in the quilted brocades of the period, that padding -made up what nature lacked. - - -Such a seigniory was Vercheres, some twenty miles from Montreal, on the -south side of the St. Lawrence. M. de Vercheres was an officer in one -of the regiments, and chanced to be absent from home during October of -1696, doing duty at Quebec. Madame de Vercheres was visiting in -Montreal. Strange as it may seem, the fort and the family had been -left in charge of the daughter, Madeline, at this time only fourteen -years of age. At eight o'clock on the morning of October 22 she had -gone four hundred paces outside the fort gates when she heard the -report of musket firing. The rest of the story may be told in her own -words: - -I at once saw that the Iroquois were firing at our settlers, who lived -near the fort. One of our servants call out: "Fly, Mademoiselle, fly! -The Iroquois are upon us!" - -Instantly I saw some forty-five Iroquois running towards me, already -within pistol shot. Determined to die rather than fall in their hands, -I ran for the fort, praying to the Blessed Virgin, "Holy Mother, save -me! Let me perish rather than fall in their hands!" Meanwhile my -pursuers paused to fire their guns. Bullets whistled past my ears. -Once within hearing of the fort, I shouted, "To arms! To arms!" - -There were but two soldiers in the fort, and they were so overcome by -fear that they ran to hide in the bastion. At the gates I found two -women wailing for the loss of their husbands. Then I saw several -stakes had fallen from the palisades where enemies could gain entrance; -so I seized the fallen planks and urged the women to give a hand -putting them back in their places. Then I ran to the bastion, where I -found two of the soldiers lighting a fuse. - -"What are you going to do?" I demanded. - -"Blow up the fort," answered one cowardly wretch. - -"Begone, you rascals," I commanded, putting on a soldier's helmet and -seizing a musket. Then to my little brothers: "Let us fight to the -death! Remember what father has always said,--that gentlemen are born -to shed their blood in the service of God and their King." - -My brothers and the two soldiers kept up a steady fire from the -loopholes. I ordered the cannon fired to call in our soldiers, who -were hunting; {170} but the grief-stricken women inside kept wailing so -loud that I had to warn them their shrieks would betray our weakness to -the enemy. While I was speaking I caught sight of a canoe on the -river. It was Sieur Pierre Fontaine, with his family, coming to visit -us. I asked the soldiers to go out and protect their landing, but they -refused. Then ordering Laviolette, our servant, to stand sentry at the -gate, I went out myself, wearing a soldier's helmet and carrying a -musket. I left orders if I were killed the gates were to be kept shut -and the fort defended. I hoped the Iroquois would think this a ruse on -my part to draw them within gunshot of our walls. That was just what -happened, and I got Pierre Fontaine and his family safely inside by -putting a bold face on. Our whole garrison consisted of my two little -brothers aged about twelve, one servant, two soldiers, one old habitant -aged eighty, and a few women servants. Strengthened by the Fontaines, -we began firing. When the sun went down the night set in with a -fearful storm of northeast wind and snow. I expected the Iroquois -under cover of the storm. Gathering our people together, I said: "God -has saved us during the day. Now we must be careful for the night. To -show you I am not afraid to take my part, I undertake to defend the -fort with the old man and a soldier, who has never fired a gun. You, -Pierre Fontaine and La Bonte and Galet (the two soldiers), go to the -bastion with the women and children. If I am taken, never surrender -though I am burnt and cut to pieces before your eyes! You have nothing -to fear if you will make some show of fight!" - -I posted two of my young brothers on one of the bastions, the old man -of eighty on the third, and myself took the fourth. Despite the -whistling of the wind we kept the cry "All's well," "All's well" -echoing and reechoing from corner to corner. One would have imagined -the fort was crowded with soldiers, and the Iroquois afterwards -confessed they had been completely deceived; that the vigilance of the -guard kept them from attempting to scale the walls. About midnight the -sentinel at the gate bastion called out, "Mademoiselle! I hear -something!" - -I saw it was our cattle. - -"Let me open the gates," urged the sentry. - -"God forbid," said I; "the savages are likely behind, driving the -animals in." - -Nevertheless I _did_ open the gates and let the cattle in, my brothers -standing on each side, ready to shoot if an Indian appeared. - -At last came daylight; and we were hopeful for aid from Montreal; but -Marguerite Fontaine, being timorous as all Parisian women are, begged -her husband to try and escape. The poor husband was almost distracted -as she insisted, and he told her he would set her out in the canoe with -her two sons, who could paddle it, but he would not abandon -Mademoiselle in Vercheres. I had been twenty-four hours without rest -or food, and had not {171} once gone from the bastion. On the eighth -day of the siege Lieutenant de La Monnerie reached the fort during the -night with forty men. - -One of our sentries had called out, "Who goes?" - -I was dozing with my head on a table and a musket across my arm. The -sentry said there were voices on the water. I called, "Who are you?" - -They answered, "French--come to your aid!" - -I went down to the bank, saying: "Sir, but you are welcome! I -surrender my arms to you!" - -"Mademoiselle," he answered, "they are in good hands." - -I forgot one incident. On the day of the attack I remembered about one -in the afternoon that our linen was outside the fort, but the soldiers -refused to go out for it. Armed with our guns, my brothers made two -trips outside the walls for our linen. The Iroquois must have thought -it a trick to lure them closer, for they did not approach. - - -It need scarcely be added that brave mothers make brave sons, and it is -not surprising that twenty-five years later, when Madeline Vercheres -had become the wife of M. de La Naudiere, her own life was saved from -Abenaki Indians by her little son, age twelve. - -But to return to Count Frontenac, marching up the steep streets of -Quebec to Chateau St. Louis that October evening of 1689, amid the -jubilant shouts of friends and enemies, Jesuit and Recollet, fur trader -and councilor,--the haughty Governor set himself to the task of not -only crushing the Iroquois but invading and conquering the land of the -English, whom he believed had furnished arms to the Iroquois. Now that -war had been openly declared between England and France, Frontenac was -determined on a campaign of aggression. He would keep the English so -busy defending their own borders that they would have no time to tamper -with the Indian allies of the French on the Mississippi. - - -This is one of the darkest pages of Canada's past. War is not a pretty -thing at any time, but war that lets loose the bloodhounds of Indian -ferocity leaves the blackest scar of all. - -There were to be three war parties: one from Quebec to attack the -English settlements around what is now Portland, {172} Maine; a second -from Three Rivers to lay waste the border lands of New Hampshire; a -third from Montreal to assault the English and Dutch of the Upper -Hudson. - -The Montrealers set out in midwinter of 1690, a few months after -Frontenac's arrival, led by the Le Moyne brothers, Ste. Helene and -Maricourt and Iberville, with one of the Le Bers, and D'Ailleboust, -nephew of the first D'Ailleboust at Montreal. The raiders consisted of -some two hundred and fifty men, one hundred Indian converts and one -hundred and fifty bushrovers, hardy, supple, inured to the wilderness -as to native air, whites and Indians dressed alike in blanket coat, -hood hanging down the back, buckskin trousers, beaded moccasins, -snowshoes of short length for forest travel, cased musket on shoulder, -knife, hatchet, pistols, bullet pouch hanging from the sashed belt, and -provisions in a blanket, knapsack fashion, carried on the shoulders. - -[Illustration: QUEBEC, 1689] - -The woods lay snow padded, silent, somber. Up the river bed of the -Richelieu, over the rolling drifts, glided the bushrovers. {173} -Somewhere on the headwaters of the Hudson the Indians demanded what -place they were to attack. Iberville answered, "Albany." "Humph," -grunted the Indians with a dry smile at the camp fire, "since _when_ -have the French become so brave?" A midwinter thaw now turned the -snowy levels to swimming lagoons, where snowshoes were useless, and the -men had to wade knee-deep day after day through swamps of ice water. -Then came one of those sudden changes,--hard frost with a blinding -snowstorm. Where the trail forked for Albany and Schenectady it was -decided to follow the latter, and about four o'clock in the afternoon, -on the 8th of February, the bush-rovers reached a hut where there -chanced to be several Mohawk squaws. Crowding round the chimney place -to dry their clothes now stiff with ice, the bushrangers learned from -the Indian women that Schenectady lay completely unguarded. There had -been some village festival that day among the Dutch settlers. The -gates at both ends of the town lay wide open, and as if in derision of -danger from the far distant French, a snow man had been mockingly -rolled up to the western gate as sentry, with a sham pipe stuck in his -mouth. The Indian rangers harangued their braves, urging them to wash -out all wrongs in the blood of the enemy, and the Le Moyne brothers -moved from man to man, giving orders for utter silence. At eleven that -night, shrouded by the snowfall, the bushrovers reached the palisades -of Schenectady. They had intended to defer the assault till dawn, but -the cold hastened action, and, uncasing their muskets, they filed -silently past the snow man in the middle of the open gate and encircled -the little village of fifty houses. When the lines met at the far -gate, completely investing the town, a wild yell rent the air! Doors -were hacked down. Indians with tomahawks stood guard outside the -windows, and the dastardly work began,--as gratuitous a butchery of -innocent people as ever the Iroquois perpetrated in their worst raids. -Two hours the massacre lasted, and when it was over the French had, to -their everlasting discredit, murdered in cold blood thirty-eight men -(among them the poor inoffensive dominie), ten women, {174} twelve -children; and the victors held ninety captives. To the credit of -Iberville he offered life to one Glenn and his family, who had aided in -ransoming many French from the Iroquois, and he permitted this man to -name so many friends that the bloodthirsty Indians wanted to know if -all Schenectady were related to this white man. One other house in the -town was spared,--that of a widow with five children, under whose roof -a wounded Frenchman lay. For the rest, Schenectady was reduced to -ashes, the victors harnessing the Dutch farmers' horses to carry off -the plunder. Of the captives, twenty-seven men and boys were carried -back to Quebec. The other captives, mainly women and children, were -given to the Indians. Forty livres for every human scalp were paid by -the Sovereign Council of Quebec to the raiders. - -[Illustration: FRENCH SOLDIER OF THE PERIOD] - -The record of the raiders led from Three Rivers by Francois Hertel was -almost the same. Setting out in January, he was followed by -twenty-five French and twenty-five Indians to the border lands between -Maine and New Hampshire. The end of March saw the bushrovers outside -the little village of Salmon Falls. Thirty inhabitants were tomahawked -on the spot, the houses burned, and one hundred prisoners carried off; -but news had gone like wildfire to neighboring settlements, and Hertel -was pursued by two hundred Englishmen. He placed his bushrovers on a -small bridge across Wooster River and here held the pursuers at bay -till darkness enabled him to escape. - -But the darkest deed of infamy was perpetrated by the third band of -raiders,--a deed that reveals the glories of war as they {175} exist, -stripped of pageantry. Portneuf had led the raiders from Quebec, and -he was joined by that famous leader of the Abenaki Indians, Baron de -Saint-Castin, from the border lands between Acadia and Maine. Later, -when Hertel struck through the woods with some of his followers, -Portneuf's men numbered five hundred. With these he attacked Fort -Loyal, or what is now Portland, Maine, in the month of June. The fort -boasted eight great guns and one hundred soldiers. Under cover of the -guns Lieutenant Clark and thirty men sallied out to reconnoiter the -attacking forces ambushed in woods round a pasturage. At a musket -crack the English were literally cut to pieces, four men only escaping -back to the fort. The French then demanded unconditional surrender. -The English asked six days to consider. In six days English vessels -would have come to the rescue. Secure, under a bluff of the ocean -cliff, from the cannon fire of the fort, the French began to trench an -approach to the palisades. Combustibles had been placed against the -walls, when the English again asked a parley, offering to surrender if -the French would swear by the living God to conduct them in safety to -the nearest English post. To these conditions the French agreed. -Whether they could not control their Indian allies or had not intended -to keep the terms matters little. The English had no sooner marched -from the fort than, with a wild whoop, the Indians fell on men, women, -and children. Some were killed by a single blow, others reserved for -the torture stake. Only four Englishmen survived the onslaught, to be -carried prisoners to Quebec. - -The French had been victorious on all three raids; but they were -victories over which posterity will never boast, which no writer dare -describe in all the detail of their horrors, and which leave a black -blot on the escutcheon of Canada. - - -It was hardly to be expected that the New England colonies would let -such raids pass unpunished. The destruction of Schenectady had been -bad enough. The massacre of Salmon Falls caused the New Englanders to -forget their jealousies for the once and to unite in a common cause. -All the colonies agreed {176} to contribute men, ships, and money to -invade New France by land and sea. The land forces were placed under -Winthrop and Schuyler; but as smallpox disorganized the expedition -before it reached Lake Champlain, the attack by land had little other -effect than to draw Frontenac from Quebec down to Montreal, where -Captain Schuyler, with Dutch bushmen, succeeded in ravaging the -settlements and killing at least twenty French. - -The expedition by sea was placed under Sir William Phips of -Massachusetts,--a man who was the very antipodes of Frontenac. One of -a poor family of twenty-six children, Phips had risen from being a -shepherd boy in Maine to the position of ship's carpenter in Boston. -Here, among the harbor folk, he got wind of a Spanish treasure ship -containing a million and a half dollars' worth of gold, which had been -sunk off the West Indies. Going to England, Phips succeeded in -interesting that same clique of courtiers who helped Radisson to -establish the Hudson's Bay Company,--Albemarle and Prince Rupert and -the King; and when, with the funds which they advanced, Phips succeeded -in raising the treasure vessel, he received, in addition to his share -of the booty, a title and the appointment as governor of Massachusetts. - -[Illustration: SIR WILLIAM PHIPS] - -Here, then, was the daring leader chosen to invade New France. Phips -sailed first for Port Royal, which had in late years become infested -with French pirates, preying on Boston commerce. Word had just come of -the fearful massacres of {177} colonists at Portland. Boston was -inflamed with a spirit of vengeance. The people had appointed days of -fasting and prayer to invoke Heaven's blessing on their war. When -Phips sailed into Annapolis Basin with his vessels and seven hundred -men in the month of May, he found the French commander, Meneval, ill of -the gout, with a garrison of about eighty soldiers, but all the cannon -chanced to be dismounted. The odds against the French did not permit -resistance. Meneval stipulated for an honorable surrender,--all -property to be respected and the garrison to be sent to some French -port; but no sooner were the English in possession than, like the -French at Portland, they broke the pledge. There was no massacre as in -Maine, but plunderers ran riot, seizing everything on which hands could -be laid, ransacking houses and desecrating the churches; and sixty of -the leading people, including Meneval and the priests, were carried off -as prisoners. Leaving one English flag flying, Phips sailed home. - -Indignation at Boston had been fanned to fury, for now all the details -of the butchery at Portland were known; and Phips found the colony -mustering a monster expedition to attack the very stronghold of French -power,--Quebec itself. England could afford no aid to her colonies, -but thirty-two merchant vessels and frigates had been impressed into -the service, some of them carrying as many as forty-four cannon. -Artisans, sailors, soldiers, clerks, all classes had volunteered as -fighters, to the number of twenty-five hundred men; but there was one -thing lacking,--they had no pilot who knew the St. Lawrence. Full of -confidence born of inexperience, the fleet set sail on the 9th of -August, commanded again by Phips. - -Time was wasted ravaging the coasts of Gaspe, holding long-winded -councils of war, arguing in the commander's stateroom instead of -drilling on deck. Three more weeks were wasted poking about the lower -St. Lawrence, picking up chance vessels off Tadoussac and Anticosti. -Among the prize vessels taken near Anticosti was one of Jolliet's, -bearing his wife and mother-in-law. The ladies delighted the hearts of -the Puritans by the {178} news that not more than one hundred men -garrisoned Quebec; but Phips was reckoning without his host, and his -host was Frontenac. Besides, it was late in the season--the middle of -October--before the English fleet rounded the Island of Orleans and -faced the Citadel of Quebec. - -[Illustration: COUNT FRONTENAC (From a statue at Quebec)] - -Indians had carried word to the city that an Englishwoman, taken -prisoner in their raids, had told them more than thirty vessels had -sailed from Boston to invade New France. Frontenac was absent in -Montreal. Quickly the commander at Quebec sent coureurs with warning -to Frontenac, and then set about casting up barricades in the narrow -streets that led from Lower to Upper Town. - -Frontenac could not credit the news. Had he not heard here in Montreal -from Indian coureurs how the English overland expedition lay rotting of -smallpox near Lake Champlain, such pitiable objects that the Iroquois -refused to join them against the French? New France now numbered a -population of twelve thousand and could muster three thousand fighting -men; and though the English colonies numbered twenty {179} thousand -people, how could they, divided by jealousies, send an invading army of -twenty-seven hundred, as the rumor stated? Frontenac, grizzled old -warrior, did not credit the news, but, all the same, he set out amid -pelting rains by boat for Quebec. Half-way to Three Rivers more -messengers brought him word that the English fleet were now advancing -from Tadoussac. He sent back orders for the commander at Montreal to -rush the bush-rovers down to Quebec, and he himself arrived at the -Citadel just as the Le Moyne brothers anchored below Cape Diamond from -a voyage to Hudson Bay. Maricourt Le Moyne reported how he had escaped -past the English fleet by night, and it would certainly be at Quebec by -daybreak. - -Scouts rallied the bushrangers on both sides of the St. Lawrence to -Quebec's aid. Frontenac bade them guard the outposts and not desert -their hamlets, while Ste. Helene and the other Le Moynes took command -of the sharpshooters in Lower Town, scattering them in hiding along the -banks of the St. Charles and among the houses facing the St. Lawrence -below Castle St. Louis. - -Sure enough, at daybreak on Monday, October 16, sail after sail, -thirty-four in all, rounded the end of Orleans Island and took up -position directly opposite Quebec City. It was a cold, wet autumn -morning. Fog and rain alternately chased in gray shadows across the -far hills, and above the mist of the river loomed ominous the red-gray -fort which the English had come to capture. Castle St. Louis stood -where Chateau Frontenac stands to-day; and what is now the promenade of -a magnificent terrace was at that time a breastwork of cannon extending -on down the sloping hill to the left as far as the ramparts. In fact, -the cannon of that period were more dangerous than they are to-day, for -long-range missiles have rendered old-time fortifications adapted for -close-range fighting almost useless; and the cannon of Upper Town, -Quebec, that October morning swept the approach to three sides of the -fort, facing the St. Charles, opposite Point Levis and the St. -Lawrence, where it curves back on itself; and the fourth side was sheer -wall--invulnerable. - -{180} With a rattling of anchor chains and a creaking of masts the -great sails of the English fleet were lowered, and a little boat put -out at ten o'clock under flag of truce to meet a boat half-way from -Lower Town. Phips' messenger was conducted blindfold up the barricaded -streets leading to Castle St. Louis; and the gunners had been -instructed to clang their muskets on the stones to give the impression -of great numbers. Suddenly the bandage was taken from the man's eyes -and he found himself in a great hall, standing before the august -presence of Frontenac, surrounded by a circle of magnificently dressed -officers. The New Englander delivered his message,--Phips' letter -demanding surrender: "_Your prisoners, your persons, your estates . . . -and should you refuse, I am resolved by the help of God, in whom I -trust, to revenge by force of arms all our wrongs_." . . . As the -reading of the letter was finished the man looked up to see an insolent -smile pass round the faces of Frontenac's officers, one of whom -superciliously advised hanging the bearer of such insolence without -waste of time. The New Englander pulled out his watch and signaled -that he must have Frontenac's answer within an hour. The haughty old -Governor pretended not to see the motion, and then, with a smile like -ice, made answer in {181} words that have become renowned: "I shall not -keep you waiting so long! Tell your General I do not recognize King -William! I know no king of England but King James! Does your General -suppose that these brave gentlemen"--pointing to his officers--"would -consent to trust a man who broke his word at Port Royal?" - -[Illustration: CASTLE ST. LOUIS] - -As the shout of applause died away, the trembling New Englander asked -Frontenac if he would put his answer in writing. - -"No," thundered the old Governor, never happier than when fighting, "I -will answer your General with my cannon! I shall teach him that a man -of my rank"--with covert sneer at Phips' origin, "is not to be summoned -in such rude fashion! Let him do his best! I shall do mine!" - -It was now the turn of the English to be amazed. This was not the -answer they had expected from a fort weakly garrisoned by a hundred -men. If they had struck and struck quickly, they might yet have won -the day; but all Monday passed in futile arguments and councils of war, -and on Tuesday, the 17th, towards night, was heard wild shouting within -Quebec walls. - -[Illustration: ATTACK ON QUEBEC, 1690] - -"My faith, Messieurs!" exclaimed one of the French prisoners aboard -Phips' ship; "now you _have_ lost your chance! Those {182} are the -coureurs de bois from Montreal and the bushrovers of the Pays d'en -Haut, eight hundred strong." - -The news at last spurred Phips to action. All that night the people of -Quebec could hear the English drilling, and shouting "_God save King -William_!" with beat of drum and trumpet calls that set the echoes -rolling from Cape Diamond; and on the 18th small boats landed fourteen -hundred men to cross the St. Charles River and assault the Lower Town, -while the four largest ships took up a position to cannonade the city. -It was four in the afternoon before the soldiers had been landed amid -peppering bullets from the Le Moyne bushrovers. Only a few cannon -shots were fired, and they did no damage but to kill an urchin of the -Upper Town. - -Firing began in earnest on the morning of October 19. The river was -churned to fury and the reverberating echoes set the rocks crashing -from Cape Diamond, but it was almost impossible for the English to -shoot high enough to damage the upper fort. It was easy for the French -to shoot down, and great wounds gaped from the hull of Phips' ship, -while his masts went over decks in flame, flag and all. The tide -drifted the admiral's flag on shore. The French rowed out, secured the -prize, and a jubilant shout roared from Lower Town, to be taken up and -echoed and reechoed from the Castle! For two more days bombs roared in -midair, plunging through the roofs of houses in Lower Town or -ricochetting back harmless from the rock wall below Castle St. Louis. -At the St. Charles the land forces were fighting blindly to effect a -crossing, but the Le Moyne bushrovers lying in ambush repelled every -advance, though Ste. Helene had fallen mortally wounded. On the -morning of the 21st the French could hardly believe their senses. The -land forces had vanished during the darkness of a rainy night, and ship -after ship, sail after sail, was drifting downstream--was it -possible?--in retreat. Another week's bombarding would have reduced -Quebec to flame and starvation; but another week would have exposed -Phips' fleet to wreckage from winter weather, and he had drifted down -to Isle Orleans, where the {183} dismantled fleet paused to rig up -fresh masts. It was Madame Jolliet who suggested to the Puritan -commander an exchange of the prisoners captured at Port Royal with the -English from Maine and New Hampshire held in Quebec. She was sent -ashore by Phips and the exchange was arranged. Winter gales assailed -the English fleet as it passed Anticosti, and what with the wrecked and -wounded, Phips' loss totaled not less than a thousand men. - -[Illustration: CASTLE ST. LOUIS, QUEBEC] - -Frontenac had been back in Canada only a year, and in that time he had -restored the prestige of French power in America. The Iroquois were -glad to sue for peace, and his bitterest enemies, the Jesuits, joined -the merrymakers round the bonfires of acclaim kindled in the old -Governor's honor as the English retreated, and the joy bells pealed -out, and processions surged shouting through the streets of Quebec! -From Hudson Bay to the Mississippi, from the St. Lawrence to Lake -Superior and the land of the Sioux, French power reigned supreme. Only -Port Nelson, high up on the west coast of Hudson Bay, remained -unsubdued, draining the furs of the prairie tribes to England away from -Quebec. Iberville had captured it in the fall of 1694, at the cost of -his brother Chateauguay's life; but when Iberville departed from Hudson -Bay, English men-of-war had come out in 1696 and wrested back this most -valuable of all the fur posts. It was now determined to drive the -English forever from Hudson Bay. Le Moyne d'Iberville was chosen for -the task. - - -April, 1697, Serigny Le Moyne was dispatched from France with five -men-of-war to be placed under the command of Iberville at Placentia, -Newfoundland, whence he was "to proceed {184} to Hudson Bay and to -leave not a vestige of the English in the North." The frigates left -Newfoundland July 8. Three weeks later they were crushing through the -ice jam of Hudson Straits. Iberville commanded the _Pelican_ with two -hundred and fifty men. Bienville, a brother, was on the same ship. -Serigny commanded the _Palmier_, and there were three other frigates, -the _Profound_, the _Violent_, the _Wasp_. Ice locked round the fleet -at the west end of Hudson Straits, and fog lay so thick there was -nothing visible of any ship but the masthead. For eighteen days they -lay, crunched and rammed and separated by the ice drive, till on August -25, early in the morning, the fog suddenly lifted. Iberville saw that -Serigny's ship had been carried back {185} in the straits. The _Wasp_ -and _Violent_ were not to be seen, but straight ahead, locked in the -ice, stood the _Profound_, and beside the French vessel three English -frigates, the _Hampshire_, the _Deering_, the _Hudson's Bay_, on their -annual voyage to Nelson! A lane of water opened before Iberville. -Like a bird the _Pelican_ spread her wings to the wind and fled. - -[Illustration: PLAN OF QUEBEC (after Franquelin, 1683)] - -September 3 Iberville sighted Port Nelson, and for two days cruised the -offing, scanning the sea for the rest of his fleet. Early on September -5 the sails of three vessels heaved and rose above the watery horizon. -Never doubting these were his own ships, Iberville signaled. There was -no answer. A sailor scrambled to the masthead and shouted down -terrified warning. These were not the French ships! They were the -English frigates bearing straight down on the single French vessel -commanded by Iberville! - -On one side was the enemy's fort, on the other the enemy's fleet coming -over the waves before a clipping wind, all sails set. Of Iberville's -crew forty men were ill of scurvy. Twenty-five had gone ashore to -reconnoiter. He had left one hundred and fifty fighting men. Amid a -rush of orders, ropes were stretched across decks for handhold, cannon -were unplugged, and the batterymen below decks stripped themselves for -the hot work ahead. The soldiers assembled on decks, sword in hand, -and the Canadian bushrovers stood to the fore, ready to leap across the -enemy's decks. - -By nine in the morning the ships were abreast, and roaring cannonades -from the English cut the decks of the _Pelican_ to kindling wood and -set the masts in flame. At the same instant one fell blast of musketry -mowed down forty French; but Iberville's batterymen below decks had now -ceased to pour a stream of fire into the English hulls. The odds were -three to one, and for four hours the battle raged, the English shifting -and sheering to lock in death grapple, Iberville's sharpshooters -peppering the decks of the foe. - -It had turned bitterly cold. The blood on the decks became ice, and -each roll of the sea sent wounded and dead weltering {186} from rail to -rail. Such holes had been torn in the hulls of both English and French -ships that the gunners below decks were literally looking into each -other's smoke-grimmed faces. Suddenly all hands paused. A frantic -scream cleft the air. The vessels were careening in a tempestuous sea, -for the great ship _Hampshire_ had refused to answer to the wheel, had -lurched, had sunk,--sunk swift as lead amid hiss of flames into the -roaring sea! Not a soul of her two hundred and fifty men escaped. The -frigate _Hudson's Bay_ surrendered and the _Deering_ fled. Iberville -was victor. - -[Illustration: LANDING OF IBERVILLE'S MEN AT PORT NELSON (After La -Potherie)] - -But a storm now broke in hurricane gusts over the sea. Iberville -steered for land, but waves drenched the wheel at every wash, and, -driving before the storm, the _Pelican_ floundered in the sands a few -miles from Nelson. All lifeboats had been shot away. In such a sea -the Canadian canoes were useless. The shattered masts were tied in -four-sided racks. To these {187} Iberville had the wounded bound, and -the crew plunged for the shore. Eighteen men perished going ashore in -the darkness. On land were two feet of snow. No sooner did the French -castaways build fires to warm their benumbed limbs than bullets -whistled into camp. Governor Bayly of Port Nelson had sent out his -sharpshooters. Luckily Iberville's other ships now joined him, and, -mustering his forces, the dauntless French leader marched against the -fort. Storm had permitted the French to land their cannon undetected. -Trenches were cast up, and three times Serigny Le Moyne was sent to -demand surrender. - -[Illustration: CAPTURE OF FORT NELSON BY THE FRENCH (After La -Potherie)] - -"The French are desperate," he urged. "They must take the fort or -perish of want, and if you continue the fight there will be no mercy -given." - -The Hudson's Bay people capitulated and were permitted to march out -with arms, bag and baggage. An English ship carried the refugees home -to the Thames. - -The rest of Iberville's career is the story of colonizing the -Mississippi. He was granted a vast seigniory on the Bay of {188} -Chaleur, and in 1699 given a title. On his way from the Louisiana -colony to France his ship had paused at Havana. Here Iberville -contracted yellow fever and died while yet in the prime of his manhood, -July 9, 1706. - -After the victory on Hudson Bay the French were supreme in America and -Frontenac supreme in New France. The old white-haired veteran of a -hundred wars became the idol of Quebec. Friends and enemies, Jesuits -and Recollets, paid tribute to his worth. In November of 1698 the -Governor passed from this life in Castle St. Louis at the good old age -of seventy-eight. He had demonstrated--demonstrated in action so that -his enemies acknowledged the fact--that the sterner virtues of the -military chieftain go farther towards the making of great nationhood -than soft sentiments and religious emotionalism. - - - - -{189} - -CHAPTER X - -FROM 1698 TO 1713 - -Petty regulations and blue laws--Massacre of Deerfield--Madame -Freneuse, the painter lady--"Old Wooden Sword"--Subercase at Port -Royal--Paul Mascarene's plight--Court dandies cause naval disaster - - -While Frontenac was striking terror into the heart of New England with -his French Canadian bushrovers, the life of the people went on in the -same grooves. Spite of a dozen raids on the Iroquois cantons, there -was still danger from the warriors of the Mohawk, but the Iroquois -braves had found a new stamping ground. Instead of attacking Canada -they now crossed westward to war on the allies of the French, the -tribes of the Illinois and the Mississippi; and with them traveled -their liege friends, English traders from New York and Pennsylvania and -Virginia. - -The government of Canada continued to be a despotism, pure and simple. -The Supreme Council, consisting of the governor, the intendant, the -bishop, and at different times from three to twelve councilors, stood -between the people and the King of France, transmitting the King's will -to the people, the people's wants to the King; and the laws enacted by -the council ranged all the way from criminal decrees to such petty -regulations as a modern city wardman might pass. Laws enacted to meet -local needs, but subject to the veto of an absent ruler, who knew -absolutely nothing of local needs, exhibited all the absurdities to be -expected. The King of France desires the Sovereign Council to -discourage the people from using horses, which are supposed to cause -laziness, as "it is needful the inhabitants keep up their snowshoe -travel so necessary in their wars." "If in two years the numbers of -horses do not decrease, they are to be killed for meat." Then comes a -law that reflects the presence of the bishop at the governing board. -Horses have become the pride of the country beaux, and the gay -be-ribboned carrioles are the distraction of the village cure. "Men -are forbidden to gallop their horses within a third of a mile from the -church on {190} Sundays." New laws, regulations, arrests, are -promulgated by the public crier, "crying up and down the highway to -sound of trumpet and drum," chest puffed out with self-importance, gold -braid enough on the red-coated regalia to overawe the simple habitants. -Though the companies holding monopoly over trade yearly change, -monopoly is still all-powerful in New France,--so all pervasive that in -1741, in order to prevent smuggling to defraud the Company of the -Indies, it is enacted that "people using chintz-covered furniture" must -upholster their chairs so that the stamp "La Cie des Indes" will be -visible to the inspector. The matter of money is a great trouble to -New France. Beaver is coin of the realm on the St. Lawrence, and -though this beaver is paid for in French gold, the precious metal -almost at once finds its way back to France for goods; so that the -colony is without coin. Government cards are issued as coin, but as -Europe will not accept card money, the result is that gold still flows -from New France, and the colony is flooded with paper money worthless -away from Quebec. - -As of old, the people may still plead their own cases in lawsuits -before the Sovereign Council, but now the privileges of caste and class -and feudalism begin to be felt, and it is enacted that gentlemen may -plead their own cases before the council only "when wearing their -swords." Young men are urged to qualify as notaries. In addition to -the title of "Sieur," baronies are created in Canada, foremost among -them that of the Le Moynes of Montreal. The feudal seignior now has -his coat of arms emblazoned on the church pew where he worships, on his -coach door, and on the stone entrance to his mansion. The habitants -are compelled to grind their wheat at his mill, to use his great bake -oven, to patronize his tannery. The seigniorial mansion itself is -taking on more of pomp. Cherry and mahogany furniture have replaced -homemade, and the rough-cast walls are now covered with imported -tapestries. - -Not gently does the Sovereign Council deal with delinquents. In 1735 -it is enacted of a man who suicided, "that the corpse be tied to a -cart, dragged on a hurdle, head down, face to ground, {191} through the -streets of the town, to be hung up by the feet, an object of derision, -then cast into the river in default of a cesspool." Criminals who -evade punishment by flight are to be hanged in effigy. Montreal -citizens are ordered to have their chimneys cleaned every month and -their houses provided with ladders. Also "the inhabitants of Montreal -must not allow their pigs to run in the street," and they "are -forbidden to throw snowballs at each other," and--a regulation which -people who know Montreal winters will appreciate--"they are ordered to -make paths through the snow before their houses,"--to all of which -petty regulations did royalty subscribe sign manual. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY MAP (after La Hontan, 1689) (The line shows -the French idea of the territory under English control)] - - -The Treaty of Ryswick closed the war between France and England the -year before Frontenac died, but it was not known in Canada till 1698. -As far as Canada was concerned it was no peace, barely a truce. Each -side was to remain in possession of what it held at the time of the -treaty, which meant that France retained all Hudson Bay but one small -fort. Though the English of Boston had captured Port Royal, they had -left {192} no sign of possession but their flag flying over the -tenantless barracks. The French returned from the woods, tore the flag -down, and again took possession; so that, by the Treaty of Ryswick, -Acadia too went back under French rule. - -Indeed, matters were worse than before the treaty, for there could be -no open war; but when English settlers spreading up from Maine met -French traders wandering down from Acadia, there was the inevitable -collision, and it was an easy trick for the rivals to stir up the -Indians to raid and massacre and indiscriminate butchery. For Indian -raids neither country would be responsible to the other. The story -belongs to the history of the New England frontier rather than to the -record of Canada. It is a part of Canada's past which few French -writers tell and all Canadians would fain blot out, but which the -government records prove beyond dispute. Indian warfare is not a thing -of grandeur at its best, but when it degenerates into the braining of -children, the bayoneting of women, the mutilation of old men, it is a -horror without parallel; and the amazing thing is that the white men, -who painted themselves as Indians and helped to wage this war, were so -sure they were doing God's work that they used to kneel and pray before -beginning the butchery. To understand it one has to go back to the -Middle Ages in imagination. New France was violently Catholic, New -England violently Protestant. Bigotry ever looks out through eyes of -jaundiced hatred, and in destroying what they thought was a false -faith, each side thought itself instrument of God. As for the French -governors behind the scenes, who pulled the strings that let loose the -helldogs of Indian war, they were but obeying the kingcraft of a royal -master, who would use Indian warfare to add to his domain. - - -"The English have sent us presents to drive the Black Gowns away," -declared the Iroquois in 1702 regarding the French Jesuits. "You did -well," writes the King of France to his Viceroy in Quebec, "to urge the -Abenakis of Acadia to raid the English of Boston." The Treaty of -Ryswick became {193} known at Quebec towards the end of 1698. The -border warfare of ravage and butchery had begun by 1701, the English -giving presents to the Iroquois to attack the French of the Illinois, -the French giving presents to the Abenakis to raid the New England -borders. Quebec offers a reward of twenty crowns for the scalp of -every white man brought from the English settlements. New England -retaliates by offering 20 pounds for every Indian prisoner under ten -years of age, 40 pounds for every scalp of full-grown Indian. -Presently the young _noblesse_ of New France are off to the woods, -painted like Indians, leading crews of wild bushrovers on ambuscade and -midnight raid and border foray. - -[Illustration: HERTEL DE ROUVILLE] - -"We must keep things stirring towards Boston," declared Vaudreuil, the -French governor. Midwinter of 1704 Hertel de Rouville and his four -brothers set out on snowshoes with fifty-one bushrovers and two hundred -Indians for Massachusetts. Dressed in buckskin, with musket over -shoulder and dagger in belt, the forest rangers course up the frozen -river beds southward of the St. Lawrence, and on over the height of -land towards the Hudson, two hundred and fifty miles through pine woods -snow padded and silent as death. Two miles from Deerfield the marchers -run short of food. It is the last day of February, and the sun goes -down over rolling snowdrifts high as the slab stockades of the little -frontier town whose hearth-fire smoke hangs low in the frosty air, -curling and clouding and lighting to rainbow colors as the ambushed -{194} raiders watch from their forest lairs. Snowshoes are laid aside, -packs unstrapped, muskets uncased and primed, belts reefed tighter. -Twilight gives place to starlight. Candles on the supper tables of the -settlement send long gleams across the snow. Then the villagers hold -their family prayers, all unconscious that out there in the woods are -the bushrovers on bended knees, uttering prayers of another sort. -Lights are put out. The village lies wrapped in sleep. Still -Rouville's raiders lie waiting, shivering in the snow, till starlight -fades to the gray darkness that precedes dawn. Then the bushrovers -rise, and at moccasin pace, noiseless as tigers, skim across the snow, -over the drifts, over the tops of the palisades, and have dropped into -the town before a soul has awakened. There is no need to tell the -rest. It was not war. It was butchery. Children were torn from their -mother's breast to be brained on the hearthstone. Women were hacked to -pieces. Houses were set on fire, and before the sun had risen -thirty-eight persons had been slaughtered, and the French rovers were -back on the forest trail, homeward bound with one hundred and six -prisoners. Old and young, women of frail health and children barely -able to toddle, were hurried along the trail at bayonet point. Those -whose strength was unequal to the pace were summarily knocked on the -head as they fagged, or failed to ford the ice streams. Twenty-four -perished by the way. Of the one hundred and six prisoners scattered as -captives among the Indians, not half were ever heard of again. The -others were either bought from the Indians by Quebec people, whose pity -was touched, or placed round in the convents to be converted to the -Catholic faith. These were ultimately redeemed by the government of -Massachusetts. - -New England's fury over such a raid in time of peace knew no bounds. -Yet how were the English to retaliate? To pursue an ambushed Indian -along a forest trail was to follow a vanishing phantom. - -From earliest times Boston had kept up trade with Port Royal, and of -late years Port Royal had been infested with French pirates, who raided -Boston shipping. Colonel Ben {195} Church of Long Island, a noted -bushfighter, of gunpowder temper and form so stout that his men had -always to hoist him over logs in their forest marches, went storming -from New York to Boston with a plan to be revenged by raiding Acadia. - -Rouville's bushrovers had burned Deerfield the first of March. By May, -Church had sailed from Boston with six hundred men on two frigates and -half a hundred whaleboats, on vengeance bent. First he stopped at -Baron St. Castin's fort in Maine. St. Castin it was who led the -Indians against the English of Maine. The baron was absent, but his -daughter was captured, with all the servants, and the fort was burned -to the ground. Then up Fundy Bay sailed Church, pausing at -Passamaquoddy to knock four Frenchmen on the head; pausing at Port -Royal to take eight men prisoners, kill cattle, ravage fields; pausing -at Basin of Mines to capture forty habitants, burn the church, and cut -the dikes, letting the sea in on the crops; pausing at Beaubassin, the -head of Fundy Bay, in August, to set the yellow wheat fields in flames! -Then he sailed back to Boston with French prisoners enough to insure an -exchange for the English held at Quebec. - -No sooner had English sails disappeared over the sea than the French -came out of the woods. St. Castin rebuilt his fort in Maine. The -local Governor, who had held on with his gates shut and cannon pointed -while Church ravaged Port Royal village, now strengthened his walls. -Acadia took a breath and went on as before,--a little world in itself, -with the pirate ships slipping in and out, loaded to the water line -with Boston booty; with the buccaneer Basset throwing his gold round -like dust; with the brave soldier Bonaventure losing his head and -losing his heart to the painted lady, Widow Freneuse, who came from -nobody knew where and lived nobody knew how, and plied her mischief of -winning the hearts of other women's husbands. "She must be sent away," -thundered the priest from the pulpit, straight at the garrison officer -whose heart she dangled as her trophy. "She must be sent away," -thundered the King's mandate; but the King was in France, and Madame -Freneuse {196} wound her charms the tighter round the hearts of the -garrison officers, and bided her time, to the scandal of the parish and -impotent rage of the priest. Was she vixen or fool, this fair snake -woman with the beautiful face, for whose smile the officers risked -death and disgrace? Was she spy or adventuress? She signed herself as -"Widow Freneuse," and had applied to the King for a pension as having -grown sons fighting in the Indian wars. She will come into this story -again, snakelike and soft-spoken, and appealing for pity, and fair to -look upon, but leaving a trail of blood and treachery and disgrace -where she goes. - -The fur trade of Port Royal at this time was controlled by a family -ring of La Tours and Charnisays, descendants of the ancient foes; and -they lived a life of reckless gayety, spiced with all the excitement of -war and privateering and matrimonial intrigue. Such was life _inside_ -Port Royal. _Outside_ was the quiet peace of a home-loving, -home-staying peasantry. Few of the farmers could read or write. The -houses were little square Norman cottages,--"wooden boxes" the -commandant called them,--with the inevitable porch shaded by the fruit -trees now grown into splendid orchards. By diking out the sea the -peasants farmed the marsh lands and saved themselves the trouble of -clearing the forests. Trade was carried on with Boston and the West -Indies. No card money here! The farmers of Acadia demanded coin in -gold from the privateers who called for cargo, and it is said that in -time of such raids as Colonel Church's, great quantities of this gold -were carried out by night and buried in huge pots,--as much as 5000 -louis d'ors (pounds) in one pot,--to be dug up after the raiders had -departed. Naturally, as raids grew frequent, men sometimes made the -mistake of digging up other men's pots, and one officer lost his -reputation over it. All his knowledge of the outside world, of -politics, of religion, the Acadian farmer obtained from his parish -priest; and the word of the cure was law. - -Encouraged by Church's success and stung by the raids of French -corsairs from Port Royal, New England set herself seriously to the task -of conquering Acadia. Colonel March sailed {197} from Boston with one -thousand men and twenty-three transports, and on June 6, 1707, came -into Port Royal. Misfortunes began from the first. March's men were -the rawest of recruits,--fishermen, farmers, carpenters, turned into -soldiers. Unused to military discipline, they resisted command. A -French guardhouse stood at the entrance to Port Royal Basin, and -fifteen men at once fled to the fort with warning of the English -invasion. Consequently, when Colonel March and Colonel Appleton -attempted to land their men, they were serenaded by the shots of an -ambushed foe. Also French soldiers deserted to the English camp with -fabulous stories about the strength of the French under Subercase. -These yarns ought to have discredited themselves, but they struck -terror to the hearts of March's green fighters. Then came St. Castin -from St. John River with bushrovers to help Subercase. To the -amazement of the French the English hoisted sail and returned, on June -16, without having fired more than a round of shot. The truth is, -March's carpenters and fishermen refused to fight, though -reenforcements joined them halfway home and they made a second attempt -on Port Royal in August. March returned to Boston heartbroken, for his -name had become a byword to the mob, and he was greeted in the streets -with shouts of "Old Wooden Sword!" - - -While Boston was attempting to wreak vengeance on Acadia for the -raiders of Quebec, the bushrovers from the St. Lawrence continued to -scourge the outlying settlements of New England. To post soldiers on -the frontier was useless. Wherever there were guards the raiders -simply passed on to some unprotected village, and to have kept soldiers -along the line of the whole frontier would have required a standing -army. Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, northern New -York,--on the frontier of each reigned perpetual terror. And the -fiendish work was a paying business to the pagan Indian; for the -Christian white men paid well for all scalps, and ransom money could -always be extorted for captives. Barely had the Boston raid on Port -Royal failed, when Governor de Vaudreuil of Quebec {198} retaliated by -turning his raiders loose on Haverhill. The English fleet failed at -Port Royal in June. By dawn of Sunday, August 29, Hertel de Rouville -had swooped on the English village of Haverhill with one hundred -Canadian bushrovers and one hundred and fifty Indians. The story of -one raid is the story of all; so this one need not be told. As the -raiders were discovered at daylight, the people had a chance to defend -themselves, and some of the villagers escaped, the family of one being -hidden by a negro nurse under tubs in the cellar. Alarm had been -carried to the surrounding settlements, and men rode hot haste in -pursuit of the forty prisoners. Hertel de Rouville coolly sent back -word, if the pursuers did not desist, all the prisoners would be -scalped and left on the roadside. Some fifty English had fallen in the -fight, but the French lost fifteen, among them young Jared of -Vercheres, brother of the heroine. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY PLAN OF PORT ROYAL BASIN] - -The only peace for Massachusetts was the peace that would be a victory, -and again New England girded herself to the task of capturing Acadia. -It was open war now, for the crowns of England and France were at odds. -The troops were commanded by General Francis Nicholson, an English -officer who brought out four war ships and four hundred trained -marines. There were, besides, thirty-six transports and three thousand -provincial troops, clothed and outfitted by Queen Anne of England. -Sunday, September 24, 1710, the fleet glides majestically into Port -Royal Basin. That night the wind blew a hurricane and the transport -_Caesar_ went aground with a crash that smashed her timbers to kindling -wood and sent twenty-four men to a watery grave; but General Nicholson -gave the raw provincials no time for panic fright. Day dawn, Monday, -drums rolling a martial tread, trumpets blowing, bugles setting the -echoes flying, flags blowing to the wind in the morning sun, he -commanded Colonel Vetch to lead the men ashore. Inside Port Royal's -palisades Subercase, the French commander, had less than three hundred -men, half that number absolutely naked of clothing, and all short of -powder. There were not provisions to last a month; but, game to his -soul's marrow, as all the warriors of {199} those early days, Subercase -put up a brave fight, sending his bombs singing over the heads of the -English troops in a vain attempt to baffle the landing. Nicholson -retaliated by moving his bomb ship, light of draught, close to the -French fort and pouring a shower of bombs through the roofs of the -French fort. Spite of the wreck the night before, by four o'clock -Monday afternoon all the English had landed in perfect order and high -spirits. Slowly the English forces swung in a circle completely round -the fort. Again and again, by daylight and dark, Subercase's naked -soldiers rushed, screeching the war whoop, to ambush and stampede the -English line; but Nicholson's regulars stood the fire like rocks, and -the desperate sortie of the French ended in fifty of Subercase's -soldiers deserting en masse to the English. By Friday Nicholson's guns -were all mounted in place to bombard the little wooden fort. Subercase -was desperate. Women and children from the settlement had crowded into -the fort for protection, and were now crazed with fear by the bursting -bombs, while the naked soldiers could be kept on the walls only at the -sword point of their commanding officers. {200} For two hundred French -to have held out longer against three thousand five hundred English -would have been madness. Subercase made the presence of the women in -Port Royal an excuse to send a messenger with flag of truce across to -Nicholson, asking the English to take the women under their protection. -Nicholson might well have asked what protection the French raiders had -accorded the women of the New England frontiers; but he sent back -polite answer that "as he was not warring on women and children" he -would receive them in the English camp, meanwhile holding Subercase's -messenger prisoner, as he had entered the English camp without warning, -eyes unbound. Sunday, October 1, the English bombs again began singing -overhead. Subercase sends word he will capitulate if given honorable -terms. For a month the parleying continues. Then November 13 the -terms are signed on both sides, the English promising to furnish ships -to carry the garrison to some French port and pledging protection to -the people of the settlement. November 14 the French officers and -their ladies come across to the English camp and breakfast in pomp with -the English commanders. Seventeen New England captives are hailed -forth from Port Royal dungeons, "all in rags, without shirts, shoes, or -stockings." On the 16th Nicholson draws his men up in two lines, one -on each side of Port Royal gates, and the two hundred French soldiers -marched out, saluting Nicholson as they passed to the transports. On -the bridge, halfway out, French officers meet the English officers, -doff helmets, and present the keys to the fort. For the last time Port -Royal changes hands. Henceforth it is English, and in gratitude for -the Queen's help Nicholson renamed the place as it is known -to-day,--Annapolis. Among the raiders capitulating is the famous -bushrover Baron St. Castin of Maine. - - -When Nicholson returned to Boston all New England went mad with -delight. Thanksgiving services were held, joy bells rang day and night -for a week, and bonfires blazed on village commons to the gleeful -shoutings of rustic soldiers returned to the home settlements glorified -heroes. - -{201} - -[Illustration: PAUL MASCARENE] - -At Annapolis (Port Royal) Paul Mascarene, a French Huguenot of Boston, -has mounted guard with two hundred and fifty New England volunteers. -Colonel Vetch is nominally the English governor; but Vetch is in Boston -the most of the time, and it is on Mascarene the burden of governing -falls. His duties are not light. Palisades have been broken down and -must be repaired. Bombs have torn holes in the fort roofs, and all -that winter the rain leaks in as through a sieve. The soldier -volunteers grumble and mope and sicken. And these are not the least of -Paul Mascarene's troubles. French priests minister to the Acadian -farmers outside the fort, to the sinister Indians ever lying in ambush, -to the French bushrovers under young St. Castin across Fundy Bay on St. -John River. Not for love or money can Mascarene buy provisions from -the Acadians. Not by threats can he compel them to help mend the -breaches in the palisades. The young commandant was only twenty-seven -years of age, but he must have guessed whence came the unspoken -hostility. The first miserable winter wears slowly past and the winter -of 1711 is setting in, with the English garrison even more poverty -stricken than the year before, when there drifts into Annapolis Basin, -in a birch canoe paddled by a New Brunswick Indian, a white woman with -her little son. She has come, she says, from the north side of Fundy -Bay, because the French {202} on St. John River are starving. Whether -the story be true or false matters little. It was the Widow Freneuse, -the snake woman of mischief-making witchery, who had woven her spells -round the officers in the days of the French at Port Royal. True or -false, her story, added to her smile, excited sympathy, and she was -welcomed to the shelter of the fort. It had been almost impossible for -the English to obtain trees to repair the walls of the fort, and -seventy English soldiers were sent out secretly by night to paddle up -the river in a whaleboat for timber. Who conveyed secret warning of -this expedition to the French bushraiders outside? No doubt the fair -spy, Widow Freneuse, could have told if she would; but five miles from -Port Royal, where the river narrowed to a place ever since known as -Bloody Brook, a crash of musket shots flared from the woods on each -side. Painted Indians, and Frenchmen dressed as Indians, among whom -was a son of Widow Freneuse, dashed out. Sixteen English were killed, -nine wounded, the rest to a man captured, to be held for ransoms -ranging from 10 pounds to 50 pounds. Oddly enough, the very night -after the attack, before news of it had come to Annapolis, the Widow -Freneuse disappears from the fort. Henceforth Paul Mascarene's men -kept guard night and day, and slept in their boots. Ever like a -sinister shadow of evil moved St. Castin and his raiders through the -Acadian wildwoods. - -Only one thing prevented the French recapturing Port Royal at this -time. All troops were required to defend Quebec itself from invasion. - - -Nicholson's success at Port Royal spurred England and her American -colonies to a more ambitious project,--to capture Quebec and subjugate -Canada. This time Nicholson was to head twenty-five hundred provincial -troops by way of Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence, while a British -army of twelve thousand, half soldiers, half marines, on fifteen -frigates and forty-six transports, was to sail from Boston for Quebec. -The navy was under command of Sir Hovender Walker; the army, of General -Jack Hill, a court favorite of Queen Anne's, more noted for {203} his -graces than his prowess. The whole expedition is one of the most -disgraceful in the annals of English war. The fleet left Boston on -July 30, 1711, Nicholson meanwhile waiting encamped on Lake Champlain. -Early in August the immense fleet had rounded Sable Island and was off -the shores of Anticosti. Though there was no good pilot on board, the -two commanders nightly went to bed and slept the sleep of the just. -Off Egg Islands, on the night of August 22, there was fog and a strong -east wind. Walker evidently thought he was near the south shore, -ignorant of the strong undertow of the tide here, which had carried his -ships thirty miles off the course. The water was rolling in the lumpy -masses of a choppy cross sea when a young captain of the regulars -dashed breathlessly into Walker's stateroom and begged him "for the -Lord's sake to come on deck, for there are reefs ahead and we shall all -be lost!" - -With a seaman's laugh at a landsman's fears, the Admiral donned -dressing gown and slippers and shuffled up to the decks. A pale moon -had broken through the ragged fog wrack, and through the white light -they plainly saw mountainous breakers straight ahead. Walker shouted -to let the anchor go and drive to the wind. Above the roar of breakers -and trample of panic-stricken seamen over decks could be heard the -minute guns of the other ships firing for help. Then pitch darkness -fell with slant rains in a deluge. The storm abated, but all night -long, above the boom of an angry sea, could be heard shrieks and -shoutings for help; and by the light of the Admiral's ship could be -seen the faces of the dead cast up by the moil of the sea. Before dawn -eight transports had suffered shipwreck and one thousand lives were -lost. - -It was a night to put fear in the hearts of all but very brave men, and -neither Walker nor Hill proved man enough to stand firm to the shock. -Walker ascribed the loss to the storm and the storm to Providence; and -when war council was held three days later Jack Hill, the court dandy, -was only too glad of excuse to turn tail and flee to England without -firing a gun. Poor old Nicholson, waiting with his provincials up on -Lake Champlain, {204} goes into apoplexy with tempests of rage and -chagrin, when he hears the news, stamping the ground, tearing off his -wig, and shouting, "Rogues! rogues!" He burns his fort and disbands -his men. - -The Peace of Utrecht in 1713 for the time closed the war. France had -been hopelessly defeated in Europe, and the terms were favorable to -England. - -All of Hudson Bay was to be restored to the English; but--note well--it -was not specified where the boundaries were to be between Hudson Bay -and Quebec. That boundary dispute came down as a heritage to modern -days--thanks to the incompetency and ignorance of the statesmen who -arranged the treaty. - -Acadia was given to England, but Cape Breton was retained by the -French, and--note well--it was not stated whether Acadia included New -Brunswick and Maine, as the French formerly contended, or included only -the peninsula south of the Bay of Fundy. That boundary dispute, too, -came down. - -Newfoundland was acknowledged as an English possession, but the French -retained the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, with fishing -privileges on the shores of Newfoundland. That concession, too, has -come down to trouble modern days,--thanks to the same defenders of -colonial interests. - -The Iroquois were acknowledged to be subjects of England, but it was -not stated whether that concession included the lands of the Ohio -raided and subjugated by the Iroquois; and that vagueness was destined -to cost both New France and New England some of its best blood. - - -It has been stated, and stated many times without dispute, that when -England sacrificed the interests of her colonies in boundary -settlements, she did so because she was in honor bound to observe the -terms of treaties. One is constrained to ask whose ignorance was -responsible for the terms of those treaties. - -Looking back on the record so far,--both of France and England,--which -has spent the more both of substance and of life for defense; the -mother countries or the colonies? - - - - -{205} - -CHAPTER XI - -FROM 1713 TO 1755 - -La Verendrye's adventuring to the West--Adventurers reach Lake -Winnipeg--From Assiniboine to Missouri--Intrigue with Indians--The -building of Louisburg--The siege of the great fort--Jokes bandied by -fighters--Quarrels left unsettled--Beyond the Alleghenies--Washington -and Jumonville--Braddock's march--Defeat of Braddock--Abbe Le -Loutre--The Acadians--Deportation of French--At Lake Champlain--Dieskau -defeated - - -What with clandestine raids and open wars, it might be thought that the -little nation of New France had vent enough for the buoyant energy of -its youth. While the population of the English colonies was nearing -the million mark, New France had not 60,000 inhabitants by 1759. Yet -what had the little nation, whose mainspring was at Quebec, -accomplished? Look at the map! Her bushrovers had gone overland to -Hudson Bay far north as Nelson. Before 1700 Duluth had forts at -Kaministiquia (near modern Fort Williams) on Lake Superior. Radisson, -Marquette, Jolliet, and La Salle had blazed a trail to the Mississippi -from what is now Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. By 1701 La Motte -Cadillac had built what is now Detroit in order to stop the progress of -the English traders up the lakes to Michilimackinac; and by 1727 the -Company of the Sioux had forts far west as Lake Pepin. With Quebec as -the hub of the wheel, draw spokes across the map of North America. -Where do they reach? From Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico, to the -Missouri, to the Upper Mississippi, to Lake Superior, to Hudson Bay. -Who blazed the way through these far pathless wilds? Nameless -wanderers dressed in rags and tatters,--outcasts of society, forest -rovers lured by the Unknown as by a siren, soldiers of fortune, -penniless, in debt, heartbroken, slandered, persecuted, driven by the -demon of their own genius to earth's ends,--and to ruin! - -Spite of clandestine raids and open wars, New France was now setting -herself to stretch the lines of her discoveries farther westward. - - -It will be remembered it was at Three Rivers that the Indians of the Up -Country paused on their way down the St. Lawrence. {206} From the days -of Radisson in 1660 the passion for discovery had been in the very air -of Three Rivers. In this little fort was born in 1686 Pierre Gaultier -Varennes de La Verendrye, son of a French officer. From childhood the -boy's ear must have been accustomed to the uncouth babblings of the -half-naked Indians, whose canoes came swarming down the river soon as -ice broke up in spring. One can guess that in his play the boy many a -time simulated Indian voyageur, bushrover, coming home clad in furs, -the envy of the villagers. At fourteen young Pierre had decided that -he would be a great explorer, but destiny for the time ruled otherwise. -At eighteen he was among the bushraiders of New England. Nineteen -found him fighting the English in Newfoundland. Then came the honor -coveted by all Canadian boys,--an appointment to the King's army in -Europe. Young La Verendrye was among the French forces defeated by the -great Marlborough; but the Peace of Utrecht sent him back to Canada, -aged twenty-seven, to serve in the far northern fur post of Nepigon, -eating his heart out with ambition. - -It was here the dreams of his childhood emerged like a commanding -destiny. Old Indian chief Ochagach drew maps on birch bark of a trail -to the Western Sea. La Verendrye took canoe for Quebec, and, with -heart beating to the passion of a secret ambition, laid the drawings -before Governor Beauharnois. He came just in the nick of time. -English traders were pressing westward. New France lent ready ear for -schemes of wider empire. The court could grant no money for -discoveries, but it gave La Verendrye permission for a voyage and -monopoly in furs over the lands he might discover; but the lands must -be found before there would be furs, and here began the mundane worries -of La Verendrye's glory. - -Montreal merchants outfitted him, but that meant debt; and his little -party of fifty grizzled woodrovers set out with their ninety-foot birch -canoes from Montreal on June 8, 1731. Three sons were in his party and -a nephew, Jemmeraie, from the Sioux country of the west. Every foot -westward had been consecrated by heroism to set the pulse of -red-blooded men jumping. There {207} was the seigniory of La Chine, -named in derision of La Salle's project to find a path to China. There -was the Long Sault, where Dollard had fought the Iroquois. There were -the pink granite islands of Georgian Bay, where the Jesuits had led -their harried Hurons. There was Michilimackinac, with the brawl of its -vice and brandy and lawless traders from the woods, where La Motte -Cadillac ruled before going to found Detroit. Seventy-eight days from -Montreal, there were the pictured rocks of Lake Superior, purple and -silent and deep as ocean, which Radisson had coasted on his way to the -Mississippi. Then La Verendrye came to Duluth's old stamping -ground--Kaministiquia. - -[Illustration: LA VERENDRYE'S FORTS AND THE RIVER OF THE WEST (After -Jeffery's map, 1762)] - - -The home-bound boats were just leaving the fur posts for the St. -Lawrence. Frosts had already stripped the trees of foliage, and winter -would presently lock all avenues of retreat in six months' ice. La -Verendrye's men began to doubt the wisdom of chasing a will-o'-the-wisp -to an unknown Western Sea. The explorer sent half the party forward -with his nephew Jemmeraie and his son Jean, while he himself remained -at Kaministiquia with the mutineers to forage for provisions. {208} -Winter found Jemmeraie's men on the Minnesota side of Rainy Lake, where -they built Fort Pierre and drove a rich trade in furs with the encamped -Crees. In summer of 1732 came La Verendrye, his men in gayest apparel -marching before the awe-struck Crees with bugle blowing and flags -flying. Then white men and Crees advanced in canoes to the Lake of the -Woods, coasting from island to island through the shadowy defiles of -the sylvan rocks along the Minnesota shore to the northwest angle. -Here a second winter witnessed the building of a second post, Fort St. -Charles, with four rows of fifteen-foot palisades and thatched-roofed -log cabins. The Western Sea seemed far as ever,--like the rainbow of -the child, ever fleeing as pursued,--and La Verendrye's merchant -partners were beginning to curse him for a rainbow chaser. He had been -away three years, and there were no profits. Suspicious that he might -be defrauding them by private trade or sacrificing their interests to -his own ambitions, they failed to send forward provisions for this -year. La Verendrye was in debt to his men for three years' wages, in -debt to his partners for three years' provisions. To fail now he dared -not. Go forward he could not, so he hurried down to Montreal, where he -prevailed on the merchants to continue supplies by the simple argument -that, if they stopped now, there would be total loss. - -Young Jean La Verendrye and Jemmeraie have meanwhile descended Winnipeg -River's white fret of waterfalls to Winnipeg Lake, where they build -Fort Maurepas, near modern Alexander,--and wait. Fishing failed. The -hunt failed. The winter of 1735-1736 proved of such terrible severity -that famine stalked through the western woods. La Verendrye's three -forts were reduced to diet of skins, moccasin soup, and dog meat. In -desperation Jemmeraie set out with a few voyageurs to meet the -returning commander, but privation had undermined his strength. He -died on the way and was buried in his hunter's blanket beside an -unknown stream between Lake Winnipeg and the Lake of the Woods. -Accompanied by the priest Aulneau, young Jean de La Verendrye decided -to rush canoes down from the Lake of the Woods to Michilimackinac for -food and powder. A furious pace was {209} to be kept all the way to -Lake Superior. The voyageurs had risen early one morning in June, and -after paddling some miles through the mist had landed to breakfast when -a band of marauding Sioux fell on them with a shout. The priest -Aulneau fell pierced in the head by a stone-pointed arrow. Young Jean -La Verendrye was literally hacked to pieces. Not a man of the -seventeen French escaped, and Massacre Island became a place of ill -omen to the French from that day. At last came the belated supplies, -and by February of 1737 La Verendrye had moved his main forces west to -Lake Winnipeg. This was no Western Sea, though the wind whipped the -lake like a tide,--which explained the Indian legend of an inland -ocean. Though it was no Western Sea, it was a new empire for France. -The bourne of the Unknown still fled like the rainbow, and La Verendrye -still pursued. - -[Illustration: MAP PUBLISHED IN PARIS IN 1752 SHOWING THE SUPPOSED SEA -OF THE WEST] - -Down to Quebec for more supplies with tales of a vast Beyond Land! -Back to Lake Winnipeg by September of 1738 with canoes gliding up the -muddy current of Red River for the Unknown Land of the Assiniboines; -past Nettley Creek, then known as Massacre Creek or Murderers' River, -from the Sioux having slain the encamped wives and children of the Cree -who had gone to Hudson Bay with their furs; between the wooded banks of -what are now East and West Selkirk, flat to left, high to right; -tracking up the Rapids of St. Andrews, thick oak woods to east, {210} -rippling prairie russet in the autumn rolling to the west,--La -Verendrye and his voyageurs came to the forks of Red River and the -Assiniboine, or what is now known as the city of Winnipeg. Where the -two rivers met on the flats to the west were the high scaffoldings of -an ancient Cree graveyard, bizarre and eerie and ghostlike between the -voyageurs and the setting sun. On the high river bank of what is now -known as Assiniboine Avenue gleamed the white skin of ten Cree tepees, -where two war chiefs waited to meet La Verendrye. Drawing up their -canoes near where the bridge now spans between St. Boniface and -Winnipeg, the voyageurs came ashore. - -It was a fair scene that greeted them, such a scene as any westerner -may witness to-day of a warm September night when the sun hangs low -like a blood-red shield, and the evening breeze touches the rustling -grasses of the prairie beyond the city to the waves of an ocean. It -was not the Western Sea, but it was a Sea of Prairie. It was a New -World, unbounded by hill or forest, spacious as the very airs of -heaven, fenced only by the blue dip of a shimmering horizon. It was a -world, though La Verendrye knew it not, five times larger than New -France, half as big as all Europe. He had discovered the Canadian -Northwest. - -One can guess how the tired wanderers at rest beneath the uptilted -canoes that night wondered whither their quest would lead them over the -fire-dyed horizon where the sun was sinking as over a sea. The Cree -chiefs told them of other lands and other peoples to the south, "who -trade with a people who dwelt on the great waters beyond the mountains -of the setting sun,"--the Spaniards. - -Leaving men to knock up a trading post near the suburb now known as -Fort Rouge, La Verendrye, on September 26, steers his canoes up the -shallow Assiniboine far as what is now known as Portage La Prairie, -where a trail leads overland to the Saskatchewan and so down to the -English traders of Hudson Bay. But this is not the trail to the -Western Sea; La Verendrye's quest is set towards those people "who live -on the great waters to the south." - -{211} - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE SUPPOSED SEA OF THE WEST, WITH -APPROACHES TO THE MISSISSIPPI AND GREAT LAKES, PARIS, 1755] - -Fort de La Reine is built at the Portage of the Prairie, and October -18, to beat of drum, with flag flying, La Verendrye marches forth with -fifty-two men towards Souris River for the land of the Mandanes on the -Missouri. December 3 he is welcomed to the Mandane villages; but here -is no Western Sea, only the broad current of the Missouri rolling -turbulent and muddy southward towards the Mississippi; but the Mandanes -tell of a people to the far west, "who live on the great waters bitter -for drinking, who dress in armor and dwell in stone houses." These -must be the Spaniards. La Verendrye's quest has become a receding -phantom. Leaving men to learn the Missouri dialects, La Verendrye -marched in the teeth of mid-winter storms back to the Portage of the -Prairie on the Assiniboine. Of that march, space forbids to tell. A -blizzard raged, driving the fine snows into eyes and skin like hot -salt. When the marchers camped at night they had to bury themselves in -snow to keep from freezing. Drifts covered all landmarks. The men -lost their bearings, doubled back on their own tracks, were -frost-bitten, buffeted by the storm, and short of food. Christmas -{212} was passed in the camps of wandering Assiniboines, and February -10, 1739, the fifty men staggered, weak and starving, back to the -Portage of the Prairie. - -The wanderings of La Verendrye and his sons for the next few years led -southwestward far as the Rockies in the region of Montana, -northwestward far as the Bow River branch of the Saskatchewan. -Meanwhile, all La Verendrye's property had been seized by his -creditors. Jealous rivals were clamoring for possession of his fur -posts. The King had conferred on him the Order of the Cross of St. -Louis, but eighteen years of exposure and worry had broken the -explorer's health. On the eve of setting out again for the west he -died suddenly on the 6th of December, 1749, at Montreal. - -Look again at the map! The spokes of the wheel running out from Quebec -extend to the Gulf of Mexico on the south, to the Rockies on the west, -to Hudson Bay on the north. And the population of New France does not -yet number 60,000 people. Is it any wonder French Canadians look back -on these days as the Golden Age? - - -And while the bushrovers of Canada are pushing their way through the -wilderness westward, there come slashing, tramping, swearing, stamping -through the mountainous wilds of West and East Siberia the Cossack -soldiers of Peter the Great, led by the Dane, Vitus Bering, bound on -discovery to the west coast of America. La Verendrye's men have -crossed only half a continent. Bering's Russians cross the width of -two continents, seven thousand miles, then launch their crazily planked -ships over unknown northern seas for America. From 1729 to August of -1742 toil the Russian sea voyagers. Their story is not part of -Canada's history. Suffice to say, December of 1741 finds the Russian -crews cast away on two desert islands of Bering Sea west of Alaska, now -known as the Commander Islands. Half the crew of seventy-seven perish -of starvation and scurvy. Bering himself lies dying in a sandpit, with -the earth spread over him for warmth. Outside the sand holes, {213} -where the Russians crouch, scream hurricane gales and white billows and -myriad sea birds. The ships have been wrecked. The Russians are on an -unknown island. Day dawn, December 8, lying half buried in the sand, -Bering breathes his last. On rafts made of wreckage the remnant of his -crew find way back to Asia, but they have discovered a trail across the -sea to a new land. Fur hunters are moving from the east, westward. -Fur hunters are moving from the west, eastward. These two tides will -meet and clash at a later era. - - -The Treaty of Utrecht had stopped open war, but that did not prevent -the bushrovers from raiding the border lands of Maine, of -Massachusetts, of New York. The story of one raid is the story of all, -and several have already been related. Now comes a half century of -petty war that raged on the border lands from Saratoga and Northfield -to Maine and New Brunswick. The story of these "little wars," as the -French called them, belongs more to the history of the United States -than Canada. - -Nor did the Peace of Utrecht stop the double dealing and intrigue by -which European rulers sought to use bigoted missionaries and ignorant -Indians as pawns in the game of statecraft. - -"Sentiments of opposition to the English in Acadia must be secretly -fostered," commanded the King of France in 1715, two years after Acadia -had been deeded over to England. "The King is pleased with the efforts -of Pere Rasle to induce the Indians not to allow the English to settle -on their lands," runs the royal dispatch of 1721 regarding the border -massacres of Maine. "Advise the missionaries in Acadia to do nothing -that may serve as a pretext for sending them out of the country, but -have them induce the Indians to organize enterprises against the -English," command the royal instructions of 1744. "The Indians," -writes the Canadian Governor, "can be depended on to bring in the -scalps of the English as long as we furnish ammunition. This is the -opinion of the missionary, M. Le Loutre." Again, from the Governor of -New France: "If the settlers of {214} Acadia hesitate to rise against -their English masters, we can employ threats of the Indians and force. -It is inconceivable that the English would try to remove these people. -Letters from M. Le Loutre report that his Indians have intercepted -dispatches of the English officers. M. Le Loutre will keep us informed -of everything in Acadia. We have furnished him with secret signals to -our ships, which will tell us of every movement on the part of the -enemy." - - -Of all the hotbeds of intrigue, Acadia, from its position, had become -the worst. Here was a population of French farmers, which in half a -century had increased to 12,000, held in subjection by an English -garrison at Annapolis of less than two hundred soldiers so destitute -they had neither shoes nor stockings, coats nor bedding. The French -were guaranteed in the Treaty of Utrecht the freedom and privileges of -their religion by the English; but in matters temporal as well as -spiritual they were absolutely subject to priests, acting as spies for -the Quebec plotters. - -France, as has been told, retained Cape Breton (Isle Royal) and Prince -Edward Island (Isle St. Jean), and the Treaty of Utrecht had hardly -been signed before plans were drawn on a magnificent scale for a French -fort on Cape Breton to effect a threefold purpose,--to command the sea -towards Boston, to regain Acadia, to protect the approach to the River -St. Lawrence. - -The Island of Cape Breton is like a hand with its fingers stuck out in -the sea. The very tip of a long promontory commanding one of the -southern arms of the sea was chosen for the fort that was to be the -strongest in all America. On three sides were the sea, with outlying -islands suitable for powerful batteries and a harbor entrance that was -both narrow and deep. To the rear was impassable muskeg--quaking moss -above water-soaked bog. Two weaknesses only had the fort. There were -hills to right and left from which an enemy might pour destruction -inside the walls, but the royal engineers of France depended on the -outlying island batteries preventing any enemy gaining possession of -these hills. By 1720 walls thirty-six feet thick had encircled {215} -an area of over one hundred acres. Outside the rear wall had been -excavated a ditch forty feet deep and eighty wide. Bristling from the -six bastions of the walls were more than one hundred and eighty heavy -cannon. Besides the two batteries commanding the entrance to the -harbor was an outer Royal Battery of forty cannon directly across the -water from the fort, on the next finger of the island. Twenty years -was the fort in building, costing what in those days was regarded as an -enormous sum of money,--equal to $10,000,000. Such was Louisburg, -impregnable as far as human foresight could judge,--the refuge of -corsairs that preyed on Boston commerce; the haven of the schemers who -intrigued to wean away the Acadians from English rule, the guardian -sentinel of all approach to the St. Lawrence. - -"It would be well," wrote the King the very next year after the treaty -was signed, "to attract the Acadians to Cape Breton, but act with -caution." And now twenty years had passed. Some Acadians had gone to -Cape Breton and others to Prince Edward Island; but statecraft judged -the simple Acadian farmer would be more useful where he was,--on the -spot in Acadia, ready to rebel when open war would give the French of -Louisburg a chance to invade. - -Late in 1744 Europe breaks into that flame of war known as the Austrian -Succession. Before either Quebec or Boston knows of open war, -Louisburg has word of it and sends her rangers burning fishing towns -and battering at the rotten palisades of Annapolis (Port Royal). Port -Royal is commanded by that same Paul Mascarene of former wars, grown -old in service. The French bid him save himself by surrender before -their fleet comes. Though Mascarene has less than a hundred men, the -weather is in his favor. It is September. Winter will drive the -invaders home, so he sends back word that he will bide his time till -the hostile fleet comes. As for the Abbe Le Loutre, let the -treacherous priest beware how he brings his murderous Indians within -range of the fort guns! Meanwhile the Acadian habitants are threatened -with death if they do not rise to aid the {216} French, but they too -bide their time, for if they rebel and fail, that too means death; and -"_the Neutrals_" refuse to stir till the invaders, from lack of -provisions, are forced to decamp, and the Abbe Le Loutre, with his -black hat drawn down over his eyes, vanishes into forest with his crew -of painted warriors. - -News of the war and of the ravaging of Acadian fishing towns set -Massachusetts in flame. To Boston, above all New England towns, was -Louisburg a constant danger. The thing seemed absolute stark -madness,--the thoughtless daring of foolhardy enthusiasts,--but it is -ever enthusiasm which accomplishes the impossible; and April 30, 1745, -after only seven weeks of preparation, an English fleet of sixty-eight -ships--some accounts say ninety, including the whalers and transports -gathered along the coast towns--sails into Gabarus Bay, behind -Louisburg, where the waters have barely cleared of ice. William -Pepperrell, a merchant, commands the four thousand raw levies of -provincial troops, the most of whom have never stepped to martial music -before in their lives. Admiral Warren has come up from West India -waters with his men-of-war to command the united fleets. Early Monday -morning, against a shore wind, the boats are tacking to land, when the -alarm bells begin ringing and ringing at Louisburg and a force of one -hundred and fifty men dashes downshore for Flat Cove to prevent the -landing. Pepperrell out-tricks the enemy by leaving only a few boats -to make a feint of landing at the Cove, while he swings his main fleet -inshore round a bend in the coast a mile away. Here, with a prodigious -rattling of lowered sails and anchor chains, the crews plunge over the -rolling waves, pontooning a bridge of small boats ashore. By nightfall -the most of the English have landed, and spies report the harbor of -Louisburg alive with torches where the French are sinking ships to -obstruct the entrance and setting fire to fishing stages that might -interfere with cannon aim. The next night, May 1, Vaughan's New -Hampshire boys--raw farmers, shambling in their gait, singing as they -march--swing through the woods along the marsh {217} behind the fort, -and take up a position on a hill to the far side of Louisburg, creating -an enormous bonfire with the French tar and ships' tackling stored -here. The result of this harmless maneuver was simply astounding. It -will be recalled that Louisburg had an outer battery of forty cannon on -this side. The French soldiers holding this battery mistook the -bonfire for the {218} English attacking forces, and under cover of -darkness abandoned the position,--battery, guns, powder and all,--which -the English promptly seized. This was the Royal Battery, which -commanded the harbor and could shell into the very heart of the fort. - -[Illustration: WILLIAM PEPPERRELL] - -The next thing for the English was to get their heavy guns ashore -through a rolling surf of ice-cold water. For two weeks the men stood -by turns to their necks in the surf, steadying the pontoon gangway as -the great cannon were trundled ashore; and this was the least of their -difficulties. The question was how to get their cannon across the -marsh behind the fort to the hill on the far side. The cannon would -sink from their own weight in such a bog, and either horses or oxen -would flounder to death in a few minutes. Again, the fool-hardy -enthusiasm of the raw levies overcame the difficulty. They built large -stone boats, raft-shaped, such as are used on farms to haul stones over -ground too rough for wagons. Hitching to these, teams of two hundred -men stripped to midwaist, they laboriously hauled the cannon across the -quaking moss to the hills commanding the rear of the fort, bombs and -balls whizzing overhead all the while, fired from the fort bastions. -It was cold, damp spring weather. The men who were not soaked to their -necks in surf and bog were doing picket duty alongshore, sleeping in -their boots. Consequently, in three weeks, half Pepperrell's force -became deadly ill. At this time, within two days, occurred both a -cheering success and a disheartening rebuff. A French man-of-war with -seventy cannon and six hundred men was seen entering Louisburg. As if -in panic fright, one of the small English ships fled. The French ship -pursued. In a trice she was surrounded by the English fleet and -captured. The flight of the little vessel had been a trick. A few -days later four hundred English in whaleboats attempted the mad project -of attacking the Island Battery at the harbor entrance. The boats set -out about midnight with muffled oars, but a wind rose, setting a -tremendous surf lashing the rocks, and yet the invaders might have -succeeded but for a piece of rashness. A hundred men had gained the -shore when, with the thoughtlessness of schoolboys, they uttered a -jubilant yell. {219} Instantly, porthole, platform, gallery, belched -death through the darkness. The story is told that a raw New England -lad was in the act of climbing the French flagstaff to hang out his own -red coat as English flag when a Swiss guard hacked him to pieces. The -boats not yet ashore were sunk by the blaze of cannon. A few escaped -back in the darkness, but by daylight over one hundred English had been -captured. Cannon, mortars, and musketoons were mounted to command the -fort inside the walls, and a continuous rain of fire began from the -hills. In vain Duchambon, the French commander, waited for -reenforcements from Canada. Convent, hospital, barracks, all the -houses of the town, were peppered by bombs till there was not a roof -intact in the place. The soldiers, of whom there were barely two -thousand, were ready to mutiny. The citizens besought Duchambon to -surrender. Provisions ran out. Looking down from the tops of the -walls, cracking jokes with the English across the ditch, the French -soldiers counted more than a thousand scaling ladders ready for -hand-to-hand assault, and a host of barrels filled with mud behind -which the English sharpshooters crouched. It had just been arranged -between Warren and Pepperrell that the {220} former should attack by -sea while the latter assaulted by land, when on June 16 the French -capitulated. How the New England enthusiasts ran rampant through the -abandoned French fort need not be told. How Parson Moody, famous for -his long prayers, hewed down images in the Catholic chapel till he was -breathless and then came to the officers' state dinner so exhausted -that when asked to pronounce blessing he could only mutter, "Good Lord, -we have so much to thank Thee for, time is too short; we must leave it -to eternity. Amen"; how the New Englanders, unused to French wines, -drank themselves torpid on the stores of the fort cellar; how the -French the next year made superhuman effort to regain Louisburg, only -to have a magnificent fleet of one hundred and fifty sail wrecked on -Sable Island, Duke d'Anville, the commander, dying of heartbreak on his -ship anchored near Halifax, his successor killing himself with his own -sword,--cannot be told here. Louisburg was the prize of the war, and -England threw the prize away by giving it back to France in the Treaty -of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. The English government paid back the -colonies for their outlay, but of all the rich French pirate ships -loaded with booty, captured at Louisburg by leaving the French flag -flying, not a penny's worth went to the provincial troops. Warren's -seamen received all the loot. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AT LOUISBURG] - - -Like all preceding treaties, the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle left -unsettled the boundaries between New France and New England. In -Acadia, in New York, on the Ohio, collisions were bound to come. - -In Acadia the English send their officers to the Isthmus of Chignecto -to establish a fort near the bounds of what are now Nova Scotia and New -Brunswick. The priestly spy, Louis Joseph Le Loutre, leads his wild -Micmac savages through the farm settlement round the English fort, -setting fire to houses putting a torch even to the church, and so -compelling the habitants of the boundary to come over to the French and -take sides. The treaty has restored Louisburg to the French, but the -very {221} next year England sends out Edward Cornwallis with two -thousand settlers to establish the English fort now known as Halifax. -By 1752 there are four thousand people at the new fort, though the -Indian raiders miss no occasion to shoot down wayfarers and farmers; -and the French Governor at Quebec continues his bribes--as much as -eight hundred dollars a year to a man--to stir up hostility to the -English and prevent the Acadian farmers taking the oath of fidelity to -England. So much for the peace treaty in Acadia. It was not peace; it -was farce. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY PLAN OF THE ATTACK ON LOUISBURG] - -In New York state matters were worse. The Iroquois had been -acknowledged allies of the English, and before 1730 the English fort at -Oswego had been built at the southeast corner of Lake Ontario to catch -the fur trade of the northern tribes coming down the lakes to New -France, and to hold the Iroquois' friendship. Also, as French traders -pass up the lake to Fort Frontenac (Kingston) and Niagara with their -national flag flying from the prow of canoe and flatboat, chance -bullets from the {222} English fort ricochet across the advancing -prows, and soldiers on the galleries inside Fort Oswego take bets on -whether they can hit the French flag. Prompt as a gamester, New France -checkmates this move. Peter Schuyler has been settling English farmers -round Lake Champlain. At Crown Point, long known as Scalp Point, where -the lake narrows and portage runs across to Lake George and the Mohawk -land, the French in 1731 erect a strong fort. As for the English -traders at Fort Oswego catching the tribes from the north, New France -counterchecks that by sending Portneuf in April of 1749, only a year -after the peace, to the Toronto portage where the Indians come from the -Upper Lakes by way of Lake Simcoe. What is now known as Toronto is -named Rouille, after a French minister; and as if this were not -checkmate enough to the English advancing westward, the Sulpician -priest from Montreal, Abbe Picquet, zealously builds a fort straight -north of Oswego, on the south side of the St. Lawrence, to keep the -Iroquois loyal to France. Picquet calls his fort "Presentation." His -enemies call it "Picquet's Folly." It is known to-day as Ogdensburg. -Look at the map. France's frontier line is guarded by forts that stand -like sentinels at the gateways of all waters leading to the -interior,--Ogdensburg, Kingston, Toronto, Niagara, Detroit, -Michilimackinac, and La Verendrye's string of forts far west as the -Rockies. New York's frontier line is guarded by one fort -only,--Oswego. Here too, as in Acadia, the peace is a farce. - -[Illustration: FORT PRESENTATION] - -But it was in the valley of the Ohio where the greatest struggle over -boundaries took place. One year after the peace, Celoron de Bienville -is sent in July, 1749, to take possession of the {223} Ohio for France. -France claims right to this region by virtue of La Salle's explorations -sixty years previously, and of all those French bushrangers who have -roved the wilds from the Great Lakes to Louisiana. Small token did -France take of La Salle's exploits while he lived, but great store do -her statesmen set by his voyages now that he has been sixty years dead. -"But pause!" commands the English Governor of Virginia. "Since time -immemorial have our traders wandered over the Great Smoky Mountains, -over the Cumberlands, over the Alleghenies, down the Tennessee and the -Kanawha and the Monongahela and the Ohio to the Mississippi." As a -matter of fact, one Major General Wood had in 1670 and 1674 sent his -men overland, if not so far as the Mississippi, then certainly as far -as the Ohio and the valley of the Mississippi. But Wood was a private -adventurer. For years his exploit had been forgotten. No record of it -remained but an account written by his men, Batts and Hallam. The -French declared the record was a myth, and it has, in fact, been so -regarded by the most of historians. Yet, curiously enough, ranging -through some old family papers of the Hudson's Bay Company in the -Public Records, London, I found with Wood's own signature his record of -the trip across the mountains to the Indians of the Ohio and the -Mississippi. It is probable that the {224} English cared quite as much -for claims founded on La Salle's voyage as the French cared for claims -founded on the horseback trip of Major General Wood's men. The fact -remained: here were the English traders from Virginia pressing -northward by way of the Ohio; here were the French adventurers pressing -south by way of the Ohio. As in Acadia and New York, peace or no -peace, a clash was inevitable. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF OSWEGO] - - -Duquesne has come out governor of Canada, and by 1753 has dispatched a -thousand men into the Ohio valley, who blaze a trail through the -wilderness and string a line of forts from Presqu' Isle (Erie) on Lake -Erie southward to Fort Duquesne at the junction of the Allegheny and -Monongahela, where Pittsburg stands to-day. - -One December night at Fort Le Boeuf, on the trail to the Ohio, the -French commandant was surprised to see a slim youth of twenty years -ride out of the rain-drenched, leafless woods, followed by four or five -whites and Indians with a string of belled pack-horses. The young -gentleman introduces himself with great formality, though he must use -an interpreter, for he does not speak French. He is Major George -Washington, sent by Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia to know why the -French have been seizing the fur posts of English traders in this -region. The French commander, Saint Pierre, receives the young -Virginian courteously, plies master and men with such lavish -hospitality that Washington has much trouble to keep his drunk Indians -from deserting, and dismisses his visitor with the smooth but bootless -response that as France and England are at peace he cannot answer -Governor Dinwiddie's message till he has heard from the Governor of -Canada, Marquis Duquesne. Not much satisfaction for emissaries who had -forded ice-rafted rivers and had tramped the drifted forests for three -hundred miles. - -[Illustration: GOVERNOR DINWIDDIE OF VIRGINIA] - -By January of 1754 Washington is back in Virginia. By May he is on the -trail again, blazing a path through the wilderness down the Monongahela -towards the French fort; for what purpose one may guess, though these -were times of piping peace. Come {225} an old Indian chief and an -English bushwhacker one morning with word that fifty French raiders are -on the trail ten miles away; for what purpose one may guess, spite of -peace. Instantly Washington sends half a hundred Virginia frontiersmen -out scouting. They find no trace of raiders, but the old chief picks -up the trail of the ambushed French. Here they had broken branches -going through the woods; there a moccasin track punctures the spongy -mold; here leaves have been scattered to hide camp ashes. At midnight, -with the rain slashing through the forest black as pitch, Washington -sets out with forty men, following his Indian guide. Through the dark -they feel rather than follow the trail, and it is a slow but an easy -trick to those acquainted with wildwood travel. Leave the path by as -much as a foot length and the foliage lashes you back, or the windfall -trips you up, or the punky path becomes punctured beneath moccasin -tread. By day dawn, misty and gray in the May woods, the English are -at the Indian camp and march forward escorted by the redskins, single -file, silent as ghosts, alert as tigers. Raindrip swashes on the -buckskin coats. Muskets are loaded and carefully cased from the wet. -The old chief stops suddenly . . . and points! There lie the French in -a rock ravine sheltered by the woods like a cave. The next instant the -French had leaped up with a whoop. Washington shouted "Fire!" When -the smoke of the musket crash cleared, ten French lay dead, among them -their officer, Jumonville; {226} and twenty-two others surrendered. No -need to dispute whether Washington was justified in firing on thirty -bush rovers in time of peace! The bushrovers had already seized -English forts and were even now scouring the country for English -traders. For a week their scouts had followed Washington as spies. - -Expecting instant retaliation from Fort Duquesne, Washington retreated -swiftly to his camping place at Great Meadows and cast up a log -barricade known as Fort Necessity. A few days later comes a company of -regular troops. By July 1 he has some four hundred men, but at Fort -Duquesne are fourteen hundred French. The French wait only for orders -from Quebec, then march nine hundred bushrovers against Washington. -July 3, towards midday, they burst from the woods whooping and yelling. -Washington chose to meet them on the open ground, but the French were -pouring a cross fire over the meadow; and to compel them to attack in -the open, Washington drew his men behind the barricade. By nightfall -the Virginians were out of powder. Twelve had been killed and -forty-three were wounded. Before midnight the French beat a parley. -All they desired was that the English evacuate the fort. To fight -longer would have risked the extermination of Washington's troops. -Terms of honorable surrender were granted, and the next day--the day -which Washington was to make immortal, July 4--the English retreated -from Fort Necessity. Such was the peace in the Ohio valley. - -Though the peace is still continued, England dispatches in 1755 two -regiments of the line under Major General Braddock to protect Virginia, -along with a fleet of twelve men-of-war under Admiral Boscawen. France -keeps up the farce by sending out Baron Dieskau with three thousand -soldiers and Admiral La Motte with eighteen ships. Coasting off -Newfoundland, the English encounter three of the French ships that have -gone astray in the fog. "Is it peace or war?" shout the French across -decks. "Peace," answers a voice from the English deck; and -instantaneously a hurricane cannonade rakes the decks of the French, -killing eighty. Two of the French ships surrendered. The other -escaped through the fog. Such was the peace! - -{227} So began the famous Seven Years' War; and Major General Braddock, -in session with the colonial governors, plans the campaign that is to -crush New France's pretensions south of the Great Lakes. Acadia, Lake -Champlain, the Ohio,--these are to be the theaters of the contest. - -[Illustration: TITLE-PAGE OF WASHINGTON'S JOURNAL] - -Braddock himself, accompanied by Washington, marches with twenty-two -hundred men over the Alleghenies along the old trail of the Monongahela -against Fort Duquesne. Of Braddock, the least said the better. A -gambler, full of arrogant contempt towards all people and things that -were not British, hail-fellow-well-met to his boon companions, -heartless towards all outside the pale of his own pride, a blustering -bully yet dogged, and withal a gentleman after the standard of the age, -he was neither better nor worse than the times in which he lived. Of -Braddock's men, fifteen hundred were British regulars, the rest -Virginian bushfighters; and the redcoat troops held such contempt -towards the buckskin frontiersmen that friction arose from the first -about the relative rank of regulars and provincials. From the time -they set out, the troops had been retarded by countless delays. There -was trouble buying up supplies of beef cattle {228} among the -frontiersmen. Scouts scoured the country for horses and wagons to haul -the great guns and heavy artillery. Braddock's high mightiness would -take no advice from colonials about single-file march on a bush trail -and swift raids to elude ambushed foes. Everything proceeded slowly, -ponderously, with the system and routine of an English guardroom. -Scouts to the fore and on both flanks, three hundred bushwhackers went -ahead widening the bridle path to a twelve-foot road for the wagons; -and along this road moved the troops, five and six abreast, the red -coats agleam through the forest foliage, drums rolling, flags flying, -steps keeping time as if on parade, Braddock and his officers mounted -on spirited horses, the heavy artillery and supply wagons lagging far -behind in a winding line. - -[Illustration: A SKETCH OF THE FIELD OF BATTLE AT BRADDOCK'S DEFEAT] - -What happened has been told times without number in story and history. -It was what the despised colonials feared and any bushranger could have -predicted. July 9, in stifling heat, the marchers had come to a loop -in the Monongahela River. Braddock thought to avoid the loop by -fording twice. He was now within eight miles of Fort Duquesne--the -modern Pittsburg. Though Indian raiders had scalped some wanderers -from the trail and insolent messages had been occasionally found -scrawled in French on birch trees, not a Frenchman had been seen on the -march. The advance guard had crossed the second ford about midday when -the road makers at a little opening beyond the river saw a white man -clothed in buckskin, but wearing an officer's badge, dash out of the -woods to the fore, wave his hat, . . . and disappear. A moment later -the well-known war whoop of the French bushrovers tore the air to -tatters; and bullets rained from ambushed foes in a sheet of fire. In -vain the English drums rolled . . . and rolled . . . and soldiers -shouted, "The King! God save the King!" One officer tried to rally -his men to rush the woods, but they were shot down by a torrent of -bullets from an unseen foe. The Virginian bushfighters alone knew how -to meet such an emergency. Jumping from tree to tree for shelter like -Indians dancing sideways to avoid the enemy's aim, they had broken from -rank to fight in bushman fashion when Braddock {229} came galloping -furiously from the rear and ordered them back in line. What use was -military rank with an invisible foe? As well shoot air as an unseen -Indian! Again the Virginians broke rank, and the regulars, huddled -together like cattle in the shambles, fired blindly and succeeded only -in hitting their own provincial troops. Braddock stormed and swore and -rode like a fury incarnate, roaring orders which no one could hear, -much less obey. Five horses were shot under him and the dauntless -commander had mounted a fresh one when the big guns came plunging -forward; but the artillery on which Braddock had pinned his faith only -plowed pits in the forest mold. Of eighty officers, sixty had fallen -and a like proportion of men. Braddock ordered a retreat. The march -became a panic, the panic frenzied terror, the men who had stood so -stolidly under withering fire now dashing in headlong flight from the -second to the first ford and back over the trail, breathless as if -pursued by demons! Artillery, cattle, supplies, dispatch boxes,--all -were abandoned. Washington's clothes had been riddled by bullets, but -he had escaped injury. Braddock reeled from his horse mortally -wounded, to be carried {230} back on a litter to that scene of -Washington's surrender the year before. Four days later the English -general died there. Of the English troops, more than a thousand lay -dead, blistering in the July sun, maimed and scalped by the Indians. -Braddock was buried in his soldier's coat beside the trail, all signs -of the grave effaced to prevent vandalism. - -[Illustration: PLAN OF FORT BEAUSEJOUR] - -Of all the losses the most serious were the dispatch boxes; for they -contained the English plans of campaign from Acadia to Niagara, and -were carried back to Fort Duquesne, where they put the French on guard. -The jubilant joy at the French fort need not be described. When he -heard of the English advance, Contrecoeur, the commander, had been -cooped up with less than one thousand men, half of whom were Indians. -Had Braddock once reached Fort Duquesne, he could have starved it into -surrender without firing a gun, or shelled it into kindling wood with -his heavy artillery. Beaujeu, an officer under Contrecoeur, had -volunteered to go out and meet the English. "My son, my son, will you -walk into the arms of death?" demanded the Indian chiefs. "My fathers, -will you allow me to go alone?" answered Beaujeu; and out he sallied -with six hundred picked men. It was Beaujeu whom Braddock's men had -seen dash out and wave his hat. The brave Frenchman fell, shot at the -first {231} volley from the English, and his Indian friends avenged his -death by roasting thirty English prisoners alive. - - -The Isthmus of Chignecto, or the boundary between New Brunswick and -Nova Scotia, was the scene of the border-land fights in Acadia. To -narrate half the forays, raids, and ambuscades would require a volume. -Fights as gallant as Dollard's at the Sault waged from Beausejour, the -French fort north of the boundary, to Grand Pre and Annapolis, where -the English were stationed. After the founding of Halifax the Abbe Le -Loutre, whose false, foolish counsels had so often endangered the -habitant farmer, moved from his mission in the center of Acadia up to -Beausejour on the New Brunswick side. Here he could be seen with his -Indians toiling like a demon over the trenches, when Monckton, the -English general, came on June 1, 1855, with the British fleet, to land -his forces at Fort Lawrence, the English post on the south side. -Colonel Lawrence was now English governor of Acadia, and he had decided -with Monckton that once and for all the French of Acadia must be -subjugated. The French of Beausejour had in all less than fifteen -hundred men, half of whom were simple Acadian farmers forced into -unwilling service by the priest's threats of Indian raid in this world -and damnation in the next. Day dawn of June 4 the bugles blew to arms -and the English forces, some four thousand, had marched to the south -shore of the Missaguash River, when the French on the north side -uttered a whoop and emitted a clatter of shots. Black-hatted, -sinister, tireless, the priest could be seen urging his Indians on. -The English brought up three field cannon and under protection of their -scattering fire laid a pontoon bridge. Crossing the river, they -marched within a mile of the fort. That night the sky was alight with -flame; for Vergor, the French commander, and Abbe Le Loutre set fire to -all houses outside the fort walls. In a few days the English cannon -had been placed in a circle round the fort, and set such strange music -humming in the ears of the besieged that the Acadian farmers deserted -and the priest nervously thought of flight. Louisburg {232} could send -no aid, and still the bombs kept bursting through the roofs of the fort -houses. One morning a bomb crashed through the roof of the breakfast -room, killing six officers on the spot; and the French at once hung out -the white flag; but when the English troops marched in on June 16, at -seven in the evening, Le Loutre had fled overland through the forests -of New Brunswick for Quebec. - -There scant welcome awaited the renegade priest. The French governors -had been willing to use him as their tool at a price ($800 a year), but -when the tool failed of its purpose they cast him aside. Le Loutre -sailed for France, but his ship was captured by an English cruiser and -he was imprisoned for eight years on the island of Jersey. - -[Illustration: GENERAL MONCKTON] - -Meanwhile, how was fate dealing with the Acadian farmers? Ever since -the Treaty of Utrecht they had been afraid to take the oath of -unqualified loyalty to England, lest New France, or rather Abbe Le -Loutre, let loose the hounds of Indian massacre on their peaceful -settlements. Besides, had not the priest assured them year in and year -out that France would recover Acadia and put to the sword those -habitants who had forsworn France? And they had been equally afraid to -side with the French, for in case of failure the burden of punishment -would fall on them alone. For almost half a century they had been -known as _Neutrals_. Of their population of 12,000, 3000 had been -lured away to Prince Edward Island and Cape Breton. When Cornwallis -had founded Halifax he had intended to wait only till the English were -firmly established, when he would demand an oath of unqualified -allegiance from {233} the Acadians. They, on their part, were willing -to take the oath with one proviso,--that they should never be required -to take up arms against the French; or they would have been willing to -leave Acadia, as the Treaty of Utrecht had provided, in case they did -not take the oath of allegiance. But in the early days of English -possession the English governors were not willing they should leave. -If the Acadians had migrated, it would simply have strengthened the -French in Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. -Obstructions had been created that prevented the supply of transports -to move the Acadians. The years had drifted on, and a new generation -had grown up, knowing nothing of treaty rights, but only that the -French were threatening them on one side if they did not rise against -England, and the English on the other side if they did not take oath of -unqualified allegiance. Cornwallis had long since left Halifax, and -Lawrence, the English governor, while loyal to a fault, was, like -Braddock, that type of English understrapper who has wrought such -irreparable injury to English prestige purely from lack of sympathetic -insight with colonial conditions. For years before he had become -governor, Lawrence's days had been embittered by the intrigues of the -French with the Acadian farmers. He had been in Halifax when the Abbe -Le Loutre's Indian brigands had raided and slain as many as thirty -workmen at a time near the English fort. He had been at the Isthmus of -Chignecto that fatal morning when some Indians dressed in the suits of -French officers waved a white flag and lured Captain Howe of the -English fort across stream, where they shot him under flag of truce in -cold blood. - -These are not excuses for what Lawrence did. Nothing can excuse the -infamy of his policy toward the Acadians. There are few blacker crimes -in the history of the world; but these facts explain how a man of -Lawrence's standing could assume the responsibility he did. In -addition, Lawrence was a bigoted Protestant. He not only hated the -Acadians because they were French; he hated them as "a colony of -rattlesnakes" because they were Catholics; and being an Englishman, he -despised them {234} because they were colonials. France and England -were now on the verge of the great struggle for supremacy in America. -Eighteen French frigates had come to Louisburg and three thousand -French regulars to Quebec. If Lawrence did not yet know that Braddock -had been defeated on July 9 at Duquesne,--as his friends declare in his -defense,--it is a strange thing; for by August the bloody slaughter of -the Monongahela was known everywhere else in America from Quebec to New -Spain. With Lawrence and Monckton and Murray and Boscawen and the -other English generals sent to conduct the campaign in Acadia, the -question was what to do with the French habitants. Let two facts be -distinctly stated here and with great emphasis: first, the colonial -officers, like Winslow from Massachusetts, knew absolutely nothing of -the English officers' plans; they were not admitted to the conferences -of the English officers and were simply expected to obey orders; -second, the English government knew absolutely nothing of the English -officers' course till it was too late for remedy. In fact, later -dispatches of that year inquire sharply what Lawrence meant by an -obscure threat to drive the Acadians out of the country. - -[Illustration: GENERAL JOHN WINSLOW] - -Did a darker and more sinister motive underlie the policy of Lawrence -and his friends? Poems, novels, histories have waged war of words over -this. Only the facts can be stated. Land to the extent of twenty -thousand acres each, which had belonged to {235} the Acadians, was -ultimately deeded to Lawrence and his friends. Charges of corruption -against Lawrence himself were lodged with the British government both -by mail and by personal delegates from Halifax. Unfortunately Lawrence -died in Halifax in 1760 before the investigation could take place; and -whether true or false, the odium of the charges rests upon his fame. - -What he did with the Acadians is too well known to require telling. In -secret conclave the infamous edict was pronounced. Quickly messengers -were sent with secret dispatches to the officers of land forces and -ships at Annapolis, at Mines, at Chignecto, to repair to the towns of -the Acadians, where, upon opening their dispatches, they would find -their orders, which were to be kept a secret among the officers. The -colonial officers, on reading the orders, were simply astounded. "It -is the most grievous affair that ever I was in, in my life," declared -Winslow. The edict was that every man, woman, and child of the -Acadians should be forcibly deported, in Lawrence's words, "in such a -way as to prevent the reunion of the colonists." The men of the -Acadian settlements were summoned to the churches to hear the will of -the King of England. Once inside, doors were locked, English soldiers -placed on guard with leveled bayonet, and the edict read by an officer -standing on the pulpit stairs or on a table. The Acadians were snared -like rats in a trap. Outside were their families, hostages for the -peaceable conduct of the men. Inside were the brothers and husbands, -hostages for the good conduct of the families outside. Only in a few -places was there any rioting, and this was probably caused by the -brutality of the officers. Murray and Monckton and Lawrence refer to -their prisoners as "Popish recusants," "poor wretches," "rascals who -have been bad subjects." While the Acadians were to be deported so -they could never reunite as a colony, it was intended to keep the -families together and allow them to take on board what money and -household goods they possessed; but there were interminable delays for -transports and supplies. From September to December the deportation -dragged on, and when the Acadians, patient as sheep at the shambles, -became restless, some of the ships were sent off {236} with the men, -while the families were still on land. In places the men were allowed -ashore to harvest their crops and care for their stock; but harvest and -stock fell to the victors as burning hayricks and barns nightly lighted -to flame the wooded background and placid seas of the fair Acadian -land. Before winter set in, the Acadians had been scattered from New -England to Louisiana. A few people in the Chignecto region had escaped -to the woods of New Brunswick, and one shipload overpowered its -officers and fled to St. John River; but in all, six thousand six -hundred people were deported. - -It is the blackest crime that ever took place under the British flag, -and the expulsion was only the beginning of the sufferers' woes. Some -people found their way to Quebec, but Quebec was destitute and in the -throes of war. The wanderers came to actual starvation. The others -wandered homeless in Boston, in New York, in Philadelphia, in -Louisiana. After the peace of 1763 some eight hundred gathered -together in Boston and began the long march overland through the -forests of Maine and New Brunswick, to return to Acadia. Singing -hymns, dragging their baggage on sleighs, pausing to hunt by the way, -these sad pilgrims toiled more than one thousand miles through forest -and swamp, and at the end of two years found themselves back in Acadia. -But they were like ghosts of the dead revisiting scenes of childhood! -Their lands were occupied by new owners. Of their herds naught -remained but the bleaching bone heaps where the lowing cattle had -huddled in winter storms. New faces filled their old houses. Strange -children rambled beneath the little dormer windows of the Acadian -cottages, and the voices of the boys at play in the apple orchards -shouted in an alien tongue. The very names of the places had vanished. -Beausejour was now Cumberland. Beaubassin had become Amherst. -Cobequid was now Truro. Grand Pre was now known as Horton. The -heart-broken people hurried on like ghosts to the unoccupied lands of -St. Mary's Bay,--St. Mary's Bay, where long ago Priest Aubry had been -lost. Here they settled, to hew out for themselves a second home in -the wilderness. - -{237} It will be recalled that Braddock's plans had been captured by -the French, and those plans told Baron Dieskau, who had come out to -command the French troops, that the English under William Johnson, a -great leader of the Iroquois, inured to bush life like an Indian, were -to attack the French fort at Crown Point on Lake Champlain. Now -observe: on the Ohio, Braddock the regular had been defeated; in -Acadia, Lawrence and Monckton and Murray, the English generals, had -brought infamy across England's renown by their failure to understand -colonial conditions. At Lake Champlain the conditions are reversed. -Johnson, the English leader, is, from long residence in America, almost -a colonial. Dieskau, the commander of the French, is a veteran of -Saxon wars, but knows nothing of bushfighting. What happens? - -[Illustration: MAP OF ACADIA AND THE ADJACENT ISLANDS, 1755] - -Dieskau had intended to attack the English at Oswego, but the plans for -Johnson on Lake Champlain brought the commander of the French rushing -up the Richelieu River with three thousand soldiers, part regulars, -part Canadians. Crown Point--called Fort Frederick by the French--was -reached in August. No English are here, but scouts bring word that -Johnson has built a fort on the south end of Lake George, and, leaving -only five hundred men to garrison it, is moving up the lake with his -main troops. - -{238} - -[Illustration: SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON] - -Fired by the French victories over Braddock, Dieskau planned to capture -the English fort and ambush Johnson on the march. Look at the map! -The south end of Lake Champlain lies parallel with the north end of -Lake George. The French can advance on the English one of two -ways,--portage over to Lake George and canoe up the lake to Johnson's -fort, or ascend the marsh to the south of Lake Champlain, then cross -through the woods to Johnson's fort. Dieskau chose the latter trail. -Leaving half his men to guard the baggage, Dieskau bade fifteen hundred -picked men follow him on swiftest march with provisions in haversack -for only eight days. September 8, 10 A.M., the marchers advance -through the woods on Johnson's fort, when suddenly they learn that -their scout has lied,--_Johnson himself is still at the fort_. Instead -of five hundred are four thousand English. Advancing along the trail -V-shape, regulars in the middle, Canadians and Indians on each side, -the French come on a company of five hundred English wagoners. In the -wild melee of shouts the English retreat in a rabble. "Pursue! March! -Fire! Force the place!" yells Dieskau, dashing forward sword in hand, -thinking to follow so closely on the heels of the rabble that he can -enter the English fort before the enemy know; but his Indians have -forsaken him, and Johnson's scouts have forewarned the approach of the -French. Instead of ambushing {239} the English, Dieskau finds his own -army ambushed. He had sneered at the un-uniformed plowboys of the -English. "The more there are, the more we shall kill," he had boasted; -but now he discovers that the rude bushwhackers, "who fought like boys -in the morning, at noon fought like men, and by afternoon fought like -devils." Their sharpshooters kept up a crash of fire to the fore, and -fifteen hundred doubled on the rear of his army, "folding us up," he -reported, "like a pack of cards." Dieskau fell, shot in the leg and in -the knee, and a bullet struck the cartridge box of the servant who was -washing out the wounds. - -[Illustration: CONTEMPORARY MAP OF THE REGION OF LAKE GEORGE] - -"Lay my telescope and coat by me, and go!" ordered Dieskau. "This is -as good a deathbed as anyplace. Go!" he thundered, seeing his second -officer hesitate. "Don't you see you are needed? Go and sound a -retreat." - -A third shot penetrated the wounded commander's bladder. Lying alone, -propped against a tree, he heard the drums rolling a retreat, when one -of the enemy jumped from the woods with pointed pistol. - -"Scoundrel!" roared the dauntless Dieskau; "dare to shoot a man -weltering in his blood." The fellow proved to be a Frenchman who had -long ago deserted to the English, and he muttered {240} out some excuse -about shooting the devil before the devil shot him; but when he found -out who Dieskau was, he had him carried carefully to Johnson's tent, -where every courtesy was bestowed upon the wounded commander. Johnson -himself lay wounded. - -All that night Iroquois kept breaking past the guard into the tent. - -"What do they want?" asked Dieskau feebly. - -"To skin you and eat you," returned Johnson laconically. Whose was the -victory? The losses had been about even,--two hundred and fifty on -each side. Johnson had failed to advance to Crown Point, but Dieskau -had failed to dislodge Johnson. If Dieskau had not been captured, it -is a question if either side would have considered the fight a victory. -As it was, New France was plunged in grief; joy bells rang in New -England. Johnson was given a baronetcy and 5000 pounds for his -victory. He had named the lake south of Lake Champlain after the -English King, Lake George. - -So closed the first act in the tragic struggle for supremacy in America. - - - - -{241} - -CHAPTER XII - -FROM 1756 TO 1763 - -Bigot at Quebec--New France on verge of ruin--Bigot's vampires suck -country's lifeblood--Scene on lake--Massacre at Fort William -Henry--Louisburg besieged--Surrender of famous fort--The attack at -Ticonderoga--Abercrombie's forces flee--Wolfe sails for Quebec--Signal -fires forewarn approach of enemy--Both sides become scalp -raiders--English fail at Montmorency--Slip silently down the great -river--The two armies face each other--Death of Montcalm--Why New -France fell - - -How stand both sides at the opening of the year 1756, on the verge of -the Seven Years' War,--the struggle for a continent? - -There has been open war for more than a year, but war is not formally -declared till May 18, 1756. - -Take Acadia first. - -The French have been expelled. The infamous Le Loutre is still in -prison in England, and when he is released, in 1763, he toils till his -death, in 1773, trying to settle the Acadian refugees on some of the -French islands of the English Channel. The smiling farms of Grand Pre -and Port Royal lie a howling waste. Only a small English garrison -holds Annapolis, where long ago Marc L'Escarbot and Champlain held -happy revel; and the seat of government has been transferred to -Halifax, now a settlement and fort of some five thousand people. So -much for the English. Across a narrow arm of the sea is Isle Royal or -Cape Breton, where the French are intrenched as at a second Gibraltar -in the fortress of Louisburg. Since the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle -restored the fort to the French, millions have been spent strengthening -its walls, adding to the armaments; but Intendant Bigot has had charge -of the funds, and Intendant Bigot has a sponge-like quality of -absorbing all funds that flow through his hands. Cannon have been -added, but there are not enough balls to go round. The walls have been -repaired, but with false filling (sand in place of mortar), so that the -first shatter of artillery will send them clattering down in wet -plaster. - -Take the Ohio next. - -"Beautiful River" is the highway between New France and Louisiana. By -Braddock's defeat the English have been driven out to a man. Matters -are a thousandfold worse than before, for {242} the savage allies of -the French now swarm down the bush road cut by Braddock's army and -carry bloody havoc to all the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania and -Virginia. How many pioneers perished in this border war will never be -known. It is a tale by itself, and its story is not part of Canada's -history. George Washington was the officer in charge of a thousand -bushfighters to guard this frontier. - -Take the valley of Lake Champlain. - -This is the highway of approach to Montreal north, to Albany south. -Johnson had defeated Dieskau here, but neither side was strong enough -to advance from the scene of battle into the territory of the enemy. -The English take possession of Lake George and intrench themselves at -the south end in Fort William Henry. Sir William Johnson strings a -line of forts up the Mohawk River towards Oswego on Lake Ontario, and -he keeps his forest rangers, under the famous scout Major Robert -Rogers, scouring the forest and mountain trails of Lake Champlain for -French marauder and news of what the French are doing. Rogers' -Rangers, too, are a story by themselves, but a story which does not -concern Canada. Skating and snowshoeing by winter, canoeing by night -in summer, Rogers passed and repassed the enemy's lines times without -number, as if his life were charmed, though once his wrist was shot -when he had nothing to stanch the blood but the ribbon tying his wig, -and once he stumbled back exhausted to Fort William Henry, to lie -raging with smallpox for the winter. Among the forest rangers of New -Hampshire and New York, Major Robert Rogers was without a peer. No -danger was too great, no feat too daring, for his band of scouts. The -English have established Fort William Henry at the south end of Lake -George. The French checkmate the move by strengthening Crown Point on -Lake Champlain and moving a pace farther south into English -territory,--to Carillon, where the waters of Lake George pour into -Champlain. Here on a high angle between the river and the lake, -commanding all travel north and south, the French build Carillon or -Fort Ticonderoga. - -{243} As for the Great Northwest, New France with her string of -posts--Frontenac, Niagara, Detroit, Michilimackinac, Kaministiquia -(Fort William), Fort Rogue (Winnipeg), Portage la Prairie--stretches -clear across to the foothills of the Rockies. The English fur traders -of Hudson Bay have, in 1754, sent Anthony Hendry up the Saskatchewan, -but when Hendry comes back with word of equestrian Indians--the -Blackfeet on horseback--and treeless plains, the English set him down -as a lying impostor. Indians on horseback! They had never seen -Indians but in canoes and on snowshoes! Hendry was dismissed as -unreliable, and no Englishman went up the Saskatchewan for another ten -years. - - -If the disasters of 1755 did nothing more, they at last stirred the -home governments to action. Earl Loudon is sent out in 1756 to command -the English, and to New France in May comes Louis Joseph, Marquis de -Montcalm, age forty-four, soldier, scholar, country gentleman, with a -staff composed of Chevalier de Levis, Bourlamaque, and one -Bougainville, to become famous as a navigator. - -Though New France consists of a good three quarters of America, things -are in evil plight that causes Montcalm many sleepless nights. -Vaudreuil, the French governor, descendant of that Vaudreuil who long -ago set the curse of Indian warfare on the borders of New England, had -expected to be appointed chief commander of the troops and jealously -resents Montcalm's coming. With the Governor is leagued Intendant -Bigot, come up from Louisburg. Bigot is a man of sixty, of noble -birth, a favorite of the butterfly woman who rules the King of -France,--the Pompadour,--and he has come to New France to mend his -fortunes. How he planned to do it one may guess from his career at -Louisburg; but Quebec offered better field, and it was to Bigot's -interest to ply Montcalm and Vaudreuil with such tittle-tattle of -enmity as would foment jealousy, keep their attention on each other, -and their eyes off his own doings. As he had done at Louisburg, so he -now did at Quebec. The King was requisitioned for enormous sums to -strengthen the fort. Bigot's {244} ring of friends acted as -contractors. The outlay was enormous, the results trifling. "I -think," complained the King, "that Quebec must be fortified in gold, it -has cost so much." It was time of war. Enormous sums were to be -expended for presents to keep the Indians loyal; and the King complains -that he cannot understand how baubles of beads and powderhorns cost so -much, or how the western tribes seem to become more and more numerous, -or how the French officers, who distribute the presents, become -millionaires in a few years. A friend of Bigot's handled these funds. -There are meat contracts for the army. A worthless, lowbred scamp is -named commissary general. He handles these contracts, and he, too, -swiftly graduates into the millionaire class, is hail-fellow well met -with Bigot, drinks deep at the Intendant's table, and gambles away as -much as $40,000 in a single night. It is time of war, and it is time -of famine too; for the crops have failed. Every inhabitant between the -ages of fifteen and fifty has been drafted into the army. Not counting -Indians, there is an army of fifteen to twenty thousand to be fed; so -Bigot compels the habitants to sell him provisions at a low price. -These provisions he resells to the King for the army and to the -citizens at famine prices. The King's warehouse down by the -Intendant's palace becomes known as La Friponne,--The Cheat. - -And though the country is on verge of ruin, though poor people of the -three towns are rioting in the streets for food, old women cursing the -little wizened Intendant with his pimpled face as he rolls past -resplendent in carriage with horses whose harness is a blaze of silver, -the troops threatening to mutiny because they are compelled to use -horse flesh,--though New France is hovering over a volcano of disaster, -they dance to their death, thoughtless as butterflies, gay as children, -these manikin imitators of the French court, who are ruining New France -that they may copy the vices of an Old World playing at kingcraft. The -regular troops are uniformed in white with facings of blue and red and -gold and violet, three-cornered hat, and leather leggings to knee. -What with chapel bells ringing and ringing, and bugle {245} call and -counter call echoing back from Cape Diamond; what with Monsieur Bigot's -prancing horses and Madame Pean's flashy carriage,--Madame Pean of whom -Bigot is so enamored he has sent her husband to some far western post -and passes each evening at her gay receptions,--what with the grounding -of the sentry's arms and the parade of troops, Quebec is a gay place -these years of black ruin, and the gossips have all they can do to keep -track of the amours and the duels and the high personages cultivating -Madame Pean; for cultivated she must be by all who covet place or -power. A word from Madame Pean to Bigot is of more value than a bribe. -Even Montcalm and De Levis attend her revels. - -[Illustration: RUINS OF CHATEAU BIGOT] - -Twenty people sup with Monsieur Bigot each night, either at the -Intendant's palace down by Charles River, or nine miles out towards -Beauport, where he has built himself the Forest Hermitage, now known as -Chateau Bigot,--a magnificent country manor house of red brick, hidden -away among the hills with the gay shrubberies of French gardens set -down in an American wilderness. Supper over by seven, the guests sit -down to play, and the amount a man may gamble is his social barometer, -whether {246} he lose or win, cheat or steal. If dancing follows -gambling, the rout will not disperse till seven in the morning. What -time is left of the twenty-four hours in a day will be devoted to -public affairs. - -Montcalm's salary is only 25,000 francs, or $5,000. To maintain the -dignity of the King, the commander in chief must keep the pace, and he -too gives weekly suppers, with places set for forty people, "whom I -don't know," he writes dejectedly to his wife, "and don't want to know; -and wish that I might spend the evenings quietly in my own chamber." -To Montcalm, who was of noble birth with no shamming, this lowbred -pretense and play at courtcraft became a bore; to his staff of -officers, a source of continual amusement; but De Levis presently falls -victim to a pair of fine eyes possessed by the wife of another man. - -War filled the summers, but the winters were given up to social life; -and of all midwinter social gayeties the most important was the -official visit of the Governor and the Intendant to Montreal. By this -time a good road had been cut from Quebec to Montreal along the north -shore, and the sleighs usually set out in January or February. Bigot -added to the occasion all the prestige of a social rout. All the grand -dames and cavaliers of Quebec were invited. Baggage was sent on ahead -with servants to break the way, find quarters for the night, and -prepare meals. After a dinner at the Intendant's palace the sleighs -set out, two horses to each, driven tandem because the sleigh road was -too narrow for a team. Each sleigh held only two occupants, and to the -damage done by fair eyes was added the glow of exhilaration from -driving behind spirited horses in frosty air with the bells of a -hundred carryalls ringing across the snow. At seven was pause for -supper. High play followed till ten. Then early to bed and early to -rise and on the road again by seven in the morning! In Montreal was -one continual round of dinners and dances. Between times, appointments -were made to the military posts and trading stations of the Up-Country. -He who wanted a good post must pay his court to Madame Pean. No wonder -Montcalm breathed a sigh of relief when Lent put a stop to the gayeties -and he could quietly pass his evenings with the Sulpician priests. -{247} To break from Bigot's ring during the war was impossible. -Creatures of his choosing filled the army, handled the supplies, -controlled the Indians; and when the King's reproof became too sharp, -Bigot simply threatened to resign, which wrought consternation, for no -man of ability would attempt to unwind the tangle of Bigot's dishonesty -during a critical war. Montcalm wrote home complaints in cipher. The -French government bided its time, and Bigot tightened his vampire -suckers on the lifeblood of the dying nation. The whole era is a theme -for the allegory of artist or poet. - -[Illustration: PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, OTTAWA] - -[Illustration: QUEBEC, CHATEAU FRONTENAC AND THE CITADEL] - - -Montcalm had arrived in May of 1756. By midsummer he was leading three -thousand French artillerymen across Lake Ontario from Fort Frontenac -(Kingston), to attack the English post on the south side, Oswego. -Inside the fort walls were seven hundred raw English provincials, ill -of scurvy from lack of food. The result need scarcely be told. Seven -hundred ill men behind wooden walls had no chance against three -thousand soldiers in health with heavy artillery. To take the English -by surprise, Montcalm had crossed the lake on August 4 by night. Two -days later all the transport ships had landed the troops and the cannon -had actually been mounted before the English knew of the enemy's -presence. On the east side of the river was Fort Ontario, a barricade -of logs built in the shape of a star, housing an outguard of three -hundred and seventy men. On discovering the French, the sentry spiked -their cannon, threw their powder in the river, and retired at midnight -inside Oswego's walls. Working like beavers, Montcalm's men dragged -twenty cannon to a hill commanding the fort, known as "Fort Rascal" -because the outfort there was useless to the English. Before -Montcalm's cannonade Oswego's walls, plastered with clay and rubble, -fell like the staves of a dry barrel. The English sharpshooters then -hid behind pork barrels placed in three tiers filled with sand; but -Colonel Mercer, their officer, was literally cut in two by a cannon -shot, and the women, cooped up inside the barracks, begged the officers -to avoid Indian massacre by surrender. {248} A white flag was waved. -Including women, something under a thousand English surrendered -themselves prisoners to Montcalm. The Indians fell at once to mad -plunder. Spite of the terms of honorable surrender, the English were -stripped of everything, and only Montcalm's promise of $10,000 worth of -presents to the savages prevented butchery. The victors decamped to -Montreal, well pleased with the campaign of 1756. It need not be told -that there were constant raids and counter raids along the frontier -during the entire year. - -Loudon, the English commander, did not arrive in New York till well on -in midsummer of 1756, and he found far different material from the -trained bushfighters in the hands of Montcalm. The English soldiers -were raw provincial recruits, dressed, at best, in buckskin, but for -the most part in the rough homespun which they had worn when they had -left plow and carpenter's bench and fishing boat. While Montcalm was -capturing Oswego, Loudon was licking his rough recruits into shape, -"making men out of mud" for the campaign of 1757. Indeed, it was said -of Loudon, and the saying stuck to him as characteristic of his -campaign, that he resembled the wooden horse figure of a tavern -sign,--always on horseback but never rode forward. Instead of striking -at Lake Champlain or on the Ohio, where the French were aggressors, -Loudon planned to repeat the brilliant capture of Louisburg. July of -1857 found him at Halifax planting vegetable gardens to prevent -scurvy,--"the cabbage campaign" it was derisively called,--and waiting -for Gorham's rangers to reconnoiter Louisburg. Gorham's scouts brought -back word that the French admiral had come in with twenty-four -men-of-war and seven thousand men. To overpower such strength meant a -prolonged siege. It was already August. Loudon sailed back to New -York without firing a gun, while the English fleet, trying to -reconnoiter Louisburg, suffered terrible shipwreck. - -[Illustration: THE EARL OF LOUDON] - -Montcalm was not the enemy to let the chance of Loudon's absence from -the scene of action pass unimproved. While Loudon is pottering at -Halifax, Montcalm marshals his troops to the {249} number of eight -thousand, including one thousand Indians at Carillon or Ticonderoga, -where Lake George empties into Lake Champlain. Portaging two hundred -and fifty flatboats with as many birch canoes up the river, the French -invade the mountain wilderness of Lake George. Towards the end of -July, Levis leads part of the troops by land up the west shore towards -the English post of Fort William Henry. Montcalm advances on the lake -with the flatboats and canoes, and the rafts with the heavy artillery. -Each night Levis' troops kindle their signal fires on the mountain -slope, and each night Montcalm from the lake signals back with torches. -It needs artist's brush to paint the picture: the forested mountains -green and lonely and silent in the shimmering sunlight of the summer -sky; the lake gold as molten metal in the fire of the setting sun; the -soldiers in their gay uniforms of white and blue, hoisting tent cloths -on oar sweeps for sails as a breeze dimples the waters; the French -voyageurs clad in beaded buckskin chanting some ditty of Old-World fame -to the rhythmic dip of the Indian paddles; the Indians naked, painted -for war, with a glitter in their eyes of a sinister intent which they -have no mind to tell Montcalm; and then, at the south of Lake George, -nestling between the hills and the water, the little palisaded -fort,--Fort William Henry,--with gates fast shut and two thousand -bushfighters behind the walls, weak from an epidemic of smallpox, and, -as usual, so short of provisions that siege means starvation. - -{250} Twenty miles southeastward is another English fort,--Fort -Edward,--where General Webb with sixteen hundred men is keeping the -road barred against advance to Albany. Soon as scouts bring word to -Fort William Henry of the advancing French, Lieutenant Monro sends -frantic appeal to Webb for more men; but Webb has already sent all the -men he can spare. If he leaves Fort Edward, the French by a flank -movement through the woods can march on Albany, so Monro unplugs his -seventeen cannon, locks his gates, and bides his fate. - -Montcalm follows the same tactics as at Oswego,--brings heavy artillery -against slab walls. For the first week of August, eight hundred of his -men are digging trenches by night to avoid giving target for the fiery -bombs whizzing through the dark from Monro's cannon. By day they lie -hidden in the woods with a cordon of sharpshooters encircling the fort, -Montcalm encamped on the west to prevent help from Sir William Johnson -up the Mohawk, Levis on the southeast to cut off aid from Webb. Monro -sends yet one last appeal for help: two thousand men against eight -thousand,--the odds are eloquent of his need! Montcalm's scouts let -the messenger pass through the lines as if unseen, but they make a -point of catching the return messenger and holding Webb's answer that -he cannot come, till their cannon have torn great wounds in the fort -walls. Then Bougainville blindfold carries Webb's answer to Monro and -demands the surrender of the fort. Monro still has a little -ammunition, still hopes against hope that Johnson or Webb or Loudon -will come to the rescue, and he keeps his big guns singing over the -heads of the French in their trenches till all the cannon have burst -but seven, and there are not ten rounds of shells left. Then Colonel -Young, with a foot shot off, rides out on horseback waving a white -flag. Three hundred English have been killed, as many again are -wounded or ill of smallpox, and to the remaining garrison of sixteen -hundred Montcalm promises safe conduct to General Webb at Fort Edward. -Then the English march out. That night--August 9--the vanquished -English camp with Montcalm's forces. The Indians, meanwhile, ramping -through the fort for plunder, {251} have maddened themselves with -traders' rum! Before daybreak they have butchered all the wounded -lying in the hospital and cut to pieces the men ill of smallpox,--a -crime that brought its own punishment in contagion. Next morning, when -the French guard tried to conduct the disarmed English along the trail -to Fort Edward, the Indians snatched at the clothing, the haversacks, -the tent kit of the marchers. With their swords the French beat back -the drunken horde. In answer, the war hatchets were waved over the -heads of the cowering women. The march became a panic; the panic, a -massacre; and for twenty-four hours such bedlam raged as might have put -fiends to shame. The frenzied Indians would listen to no argument but -blows; and when the English prisoners appealed to the French for -protection, the French dared not offend their savage allies by fighting -to protect the English victims. "Take to the woods," they warned the -men, and the women were quickly huddled back to shelter of the fort. -Of the men, sixty were butchered on the spot and some seven hundred -captured to be held for ransom. The remnant of the English soldiers, -along with the women, were held till the Indian frenzy had spent -itself, then sent to Fort Edward. August 16 a torch was put to the -combustibles of the fort ruins, and as the French boats glided out on -Lake George for the St. Lawrence, explosion after explosion, flame -leaping above flame, proclaimed that of Fort William Henry there would -remain naught but ashes and charred ruins and the skeletons of the -dead. So closed the campaign of 1857 [Transcriber's note: 1757?]. For -three years hand running England had suffered defeat. - - -The spring of 1758 witnessed a change. The change was the rise to -power of a man who mastered circumstances instead of allowing them to -master him. Such men are the milestones of human progress, whether -heroes, or quiet toilers unknown to the world. The man was Pitt, the -English statesman. Instead of a weak ministry fighting the -machinations of France, it was now Pitt versus Pompadour, the English -patriot against the light woman who ruled the councils of France. - -{252} From fighting weakly on the defensive, England sprang into the -position of aggressor all along the line. The French were to be -attacked at all points simultaneously, at Louisburg on the east, at -Ticonderoga or Carillon on Lake Champlain, at Duquesne on the Ohio, at -Frontenac on Lake Ontario, and finally at Quebec itself. London is -recalled as commander in chief. Abercrombie succeeds to the position, -with the brilliant young soldier, Lord Howe, as right-hand man; but -Pitt takes good care that there shall be good chiefs and good -right-hand men at _all_ points. The one mistake is Abercrombie,--"Mrs. -Nabby Crombie" the soldiers called him. He was an indifferent, -negative sort of man; and indifferent, negative sorts of people, by -their dishwater goodness, can sometimes do more harm in critical -positions than the branded criminal. Red tape had forced him on Pitt, -but Pitt trusted to the excellence of the subordinate officers, -especially Lord Howe. - -Louisburg first! - -No more dillydallying and delay "to plant cabbages!" The thing is to -reach Louisburg before the French have entered the harbor. Men-of-war -are stationed to intercept the French vessels coming from the -Mediterranean, and before winter has passed Admiral Boscawen has sailed -for America with one hundred and fifty vessels, including forty -men-of-war, frigates, and transports carrying twelve thousand men. -General Amherst is to command the land forces, and with Amherst is -Brigadier James Wolfe, age thirty-one, a tall, slim, fragile man, whose -delicate frame is tenanted by a lion spirit; or, to change the -comparison, by a motive power too strong for the weak body that held -it. By May the fleet is in Halifax. By June Amherst has joined -Boscawen, and the ships beat out for Louisburg through heavy fog, with -a sea that boils over the reefs in angry surf. - -Louisburg was in worse condition than during the siege of 1745. The -broken walls have been repaired, but the filling is false,--sand grit. -Its population is some four thousand, of whom three thousand eight -hundred are the garrison. On the ships lying in the harbor are three -thousand marines, a defensive force, in all, {253} of six thousand -eight hundred. On walls and in bastions are some four hundred and -fifty heavy guns, cannon, and mortars. Imagine a triangle with the -base to the west, the two sides running out to sea on the east. The -fort is at the apex. The wall of the base line is protected by a -marsh. On the northeast side is the harbor protected by reefs and -three batteries. Along the south side, Drucourt, the French commander, -has stationed two thousand men at three different points where landing -is possible, to construct batteries behind barricades of logs. - -[Illustration: BOSCAWEN] - -Fog had concealed the approach of the English, but such a ground swell -was raging over the reefs as threatened any ship with instant -destruction. For a week Amherst and Wolfe and Lawrence row up and down -through the roiling mist and raging surf and singing winds to take -stock of the situation. With those batteries at the landing places -there is only one thing to do,--cannonade them, hold their attention in -a life-and-death fight while the English soldiers scramble through the -surf for the shore. From sunrise to sundown of the 8th furious -cannonading set the green seas churning and tore up the French -barricades as by hurricane. At sunset the firing ceased, and three -detachments of troops launched out in whaleboats at three in the -morning, two of the detachments to make a feint of landing, while Wolfe -with the other division was to run through the surf for the shore at -Freshwater Cove. The French were not deceived. They let Wolfe -approach within range, when the log barricade flashed to flame with a -thousand sharpshooters. Wolfe had foreseen the snare and had waved his -{254} troops off when he noticed that two boat loads were rowing ashore -through a tremendous surf under shelter of a rocky point. Quickly he -signaled the other boats to follow. In a trice the boats had smashed -to kindling on the reefs, but the men were wading ashore, muskets held -high over head, powder pouches in teeth, and rushed with bayonets -leveled against the French, who had dashed from cover to prevent the -landing. This unexpected landing had cut the French off from -Louisburg. Retreating in panic, they abandoned their batteries and -fifty dead. The English had lost one hundred and nine in the surf. It -is said that Wolfe scrambled from the water like a drowned rat and led -the rush with no other weapon in hand but his cane. - -[Illustration: THE SIEGE OF LOUISBURG (From a contemporary print)] - -To land the guns through the jostling sea was the next task. It was -done, as in 1745, by a pontoon bridge of small boats, but the work took -till the 29th of June. Wolfe, meanwhile, has marched with twelve -hundred men round to the rear of the marsh and comes so suddenly on the -Grand and Lighthouse Batteries, which defend the harbor, that the -French abandon them to retreat within the walls. This gives the -English such control of the harbor entrance that Drucourt, the French -commander, sinks six of his ships across the channel to bar out -Boscawen's fleet, the masts of the sunken, vessels sticking above the -water. Amherst's men are working like demons, building a road for the -cannon across the marsh and trenching up to the back wall; but they -work only at night and are undiscovered by the French till the 9th of -July. Then the French rush out with a whoop to drive them off, but the -English already have their guns mounted, and Drucourt's men are glad to -dash for shelter behind the cracking walls. It now became a game of -cannon play pure and simple. Boscawen from harbor front hurls his -whistling bombs overhead, to crash through roofs inside the walls. -Wolfe from the Lighthouse Battery throws shells and flaming -combustibles straight into the midst of the remaining French fleet. At -last, on July 21st, masts, sails, tar ropes, take fire in a terrible -conflagration, and three of the fleet burn to the water line with -terrific explosions of their powder magazines; then the flames hiss out -above {255} the rocking hulls. Only two ships are left to the French, -and the deep bomb-proof casemates inside the fort between outer and -inner walls, where the families and the wounded have been sheltered, -are now in flame. Amherst loads his shells with combustibles and pours -one continuous rain of fiery death on the doomed fort. The houses, -which are of logs, flame like kindling wood, and now the timber work of -the stone bastions is burning from bombs hurtling through the roofs. -The walls crash down in masses. The scared surgeons, all bloody from -amputating shattered limbs, no longer stand in safety above their -operating tables. It is said that Madame Drucourt, the Governor's -wife, actually stayed on the walls to encourage the soldiers, with her -own hands fired some of the great guns, and, when the overworked -surgeons flagged from terror and lack of sleep, it was Madame Drucourt -who attended to the wounded. Drucourt is for holding out to the death, -until one dark night the English row into the harbor and capture his -two last ships. Then Drucourt asks for terms, July 26; but the terms -are stern,--utter surrender,--and Drucourt would have fought till every -man fell from the walls, had not one of the civil officers rushed after -the commander's messenger carrying {256} the refusal, and shouted -across the ditches to the English: "We accept! We surrender! We -accept your terms!" - -Counting soldiers, marines, and townspeople, in all five thousand -French pass over to Amherst, to be carried prisoners on Boscawen's -fleet to England. Wolfe was for proceeding at once to Quebec, but -Amherst considered the season too late and determined to complete the -work where he was. One detachment goes to receive the surrender of -Isle St. John, henceforth known as Prince Edward Island. Another -division proceeds up St. John River, New Brunswick, burning all -settlements that refuse unconditional surrender. Wolfe's grenadiers -are sent to reduce Gaspe and Miramichi and northern New Brunswick. And -now, lest blundering statecraft for a second time return the captured -fort to France, Amherst and Boscawen order the complete disarmament and -destruction of Louisburg. What cannon cannot be removed are tumbled -into the marsh or upset into the sea. The stones from the walls are -carried away to Halifax. By 1760, of Louisburg, the glory of New -France, the pride of America, there remains not a vestige but grassed -slopes overgrown by nettles, ditches with rank growth of weeds, stone -piles where the wild vines grow, and an inner yard where the cows of -the fisher folk pasture. - -Not a poor beginning for the campaign of 1758, though bad enough news -has come from Major General Abercrombie, which was the real explanation -of Amherst's refusal to push on to Quebec. - -Abercrombie, with fifteen thousand men, the pick of the regulars and -provincials, had launched out on Lake George on the 5th of July with -over one thousand boats, to descend the lake northward to the French -fort of Carillon or Ticonderoga. Again, it would require artist's -brush to paint the scene. Rogers' Rangers, dressed in buckskin, led -the way in birch canoes. Lord Howe was there, dressed like a -bushfighter; and with bagpipes setting the echoes ringing amid the -lonely mountains, were the Highland regiments in their tartan plaids. -Flags floated from the prow of every boat. Each battalion had its own -regimental {257} band. Scarcely a breath dimpled the waters of the -lake, and the sun shone without a cloud. Little wonder those who -passed through the fiery Aceldama that was to come, afterwards looked -back on this scene as the fairest in their lives. - -[Illustration: AMHERST] - -Montcalm had only arrived at Ticonderoga on June 30th. There was no -doubting the news. His bushrovers brought in word that the English -were advancing in such multitudes their boats literally covered the -lake. It looked as if the fate of Fort William Henry were to be -reversed. Montcalm never dreamed of Abercrombie attacking without -artillery. To stay cooped up in the fort would invite destruction. -Therefore Montcalm ordered his men out to construct a circular -breastwork from the River of the Chutes on the southeast, which empties -Lake George, round towards Lake Champlain on the northwest. Huge trees -were felled, pile on pile, top-most branches spiked and pointed -outwards. Behind these Montcalm intrenched his four thousand men, -lying in lines three deep, with grenadiers in reserve behind to step up -as the foremost lines fell. At a cannon signal from the fort the men -were to rise to their places, but not to fire till the English were -entangled in the brushwood. It was blisteringly hot weather. It is -said that the troops took off their heavy three-cornered hats and lay -in their shirt sleeves, hand on musket, speaking no word, but waiting. - -{258} On came the English in martial array, pausing in the Narrows at -five o'clock for the troops' evening meal, moving on before daylight of -July 6 to the landing place. The Rangers had brought in word that -Levis was coming posthaste to Montcalm's aid. Abercrombie thought to -defeat Montcalm before reenforcements could come; and now he committed -his cardinal error. He advanced across the portage without his heavy -artillery. Halfway over, the voice of the French scouts rang out, "Who -goes there?" "French," answer the English soldiers; but the French -were not tricked. The ambushed scouts fired. Lord Howe, the very -spirit of the English army, dropped dead, shot through the breast, -though the English avenged his loss by cutting the French scouts to -pieces. On the night of the 7th the English army bivouacked in sight -of the French barricade. Promptly at twelve o'clock next day a cannon -shot from Ticonderoga brought every Frenchman behind the tree line to -his place at a leap. Abercrombie had ordered his men to rush the -barricade. There was fearful silence till the English were within -twenty paces of the trees. There they broke from quick march to a run -with a wild halloo! Death unerring blazed from the French -barricade,--not bullets only, but broken glass and ragged metal that -tore hideous wounds in the ranks of the English. Caught in the -brushwood, unable even to see their foes, the maddened troops wavered -and fell back. Again Abercrombie roared the order to charge. Six -times they hurled themselves against the impassable wall, and six times -the sharpshooters behind the lines met the advance with a rain of fire. -The Highland troops to the right went almost mad. Lord John Murray, -their commander, had fallen, and not a tenth of their number remained -unwounded; but the broadswords wrought small havoc against the spiked -branches of the log barricade. Obstinate as he was stupid, Abercrombie -kept his men at the bloody but futile attempt till the sun had set -behind the mountains, etching the sad scene with the long painted -shadows. Already almost two thousand English had fallen,--seven -hundred killed, the rest wounded. The French behind the barricade, -where Montcalm marched up and down in his shirt {259} sleeves, grimed -with smoke, encouraging the men, had lost less than four hundred. In a -spirit of hilarious bravado a young Frenchman sprang to the top of the -barricade and waved a coat on the end of his bayonet. Mistaking it for -a flag of surrender, the English ceased firing and dashed up with -muskets held on the horizontal above heads. They were actually scaling -the wall when a French officer, realizing the blunder, roared: "Shoot! -shoot! you fools! Don't you see those men will seize you?" - -[Illustration: THE COUNTRY ROUND TICONDEROGA] - -Cleaning guns and eating snatches of food, Montcalm's men slept that -night in their places behind the logs. Montcalm had passed from man to -man, personally thanking the troops for their valor. When daylight -came over the hills with wisps of fog like cloud banners from the -mountain tops, and the sunlight pouring gold mist through the valley, -the French rose and rubbed their eyes. They could scarcely believe it! -Surely Abercrombie would come back with his heavy guns. Like the mists -of the morning the English had vanished. Far down the lake they were -retreating in such panic terror they had left their baggage. Places -were found on the portage by French scouts where the English had fled -in such haste, marchers had lost their boots in the mud and not stopped -to {260} find them. Such was the battle of Carillon, or -Ticonderoga,--good reason for Amherst refusing to go on to Quebec. - - -The year closed with two more victories for the English. Brigadier -John Forbes and Washington succeeded in cutting their way up to Fort -Duquesne by a new road. They found the fort abandoned, and, taking -possession in November, renamed it Pittsburg after the great English -statesman. The other victory was at Frontenac, or Kingston. As the -French had concentrated at Lake Champlain, leaving Frontenac unguarded, -Bradstreet gained permission from Abercrombie to lead three thousand -men across Lake Ontario against La Salle's old fur post. Crossing from -the ruins of old Oswego, Bradstreet encamped beneath the palisades of -Frontenac on the evening of August 25. By morning he had his cannon in -range for the walls. Inside the fort Commandant de Noyan had less than -one hundred men. At seven in the evening of August 27 he surrendered. -Bradstreet permitted the prisoners to go down to Montreal on parole, to -be exchanged for English prisoners held in Quebec. Furs to the value -of $800,000, twenty cannon, and nine vessels were captured. Bradstreet -divided the loot among his men, taking for himself not so much as a -penny's worth. The fort was destroyed. So were the vessels. The guns -and provisions were carried across the lake and deposited at Fort -Stanwix, east of old Oswego. The loss of Duquesne on the Ohio and Fort -Frontenac on Lake Ontario cut French dominion in America in two. -Henceforth there was no highway from New France to Louisiana. In -September, Abercrombie was recalled. Amherst became chief commander. - - -Wolfe had gone home to England ill. It was while sojourning at the -fashion resort, Bath, that he fell desperately in love with a Miss -Lowther, to whom he became engaged. Then came the summons from Pitt to -meet the cabinet ministers in the war office of London. Wolfe was -asked to take command of the campaign in 1759 against Quebec. It had -been his ambition in Louisburg to proceed at once against Quebec. Here -was his opportunity. {261} It need not be told, he took it. Amherst -now, on the field south of Lake Champlain, received 10 pounds a day as -commander in chief. For the greater task of reducing Quebec, Wolfe was -to receive 2 pounds a day. Under him were to serve Monckton, -Townshend, and Murray. Admiral Saunders was to command the fleet. -Wolfe advised sending a few ships beforehand to guard the entrance to -the St. Lawrence, and Durell was dispatched for this purpose long -before the main armaments set out. By April 30 the combined fleet and -army were at Halifax, Wolfe with a force of some 8500 men. Wolfe, now -only in his thirty-third year, had been the subject of such jealousy -that he was actually compelled to sail from Louisburg in June without -one penny of ready money in his army chest. Underling officers, whose -duty it was to advance him money on credit, had raised difficulties. - -[Illustration: GENERAL JAMES WOLFE] - -Cheers and cheers yet again rent the air as the fleet at last set out -for the St. Lawrence, the soldiers on deck shouting themselves hoarse -as Louisburg faded over the watery horizon, the officers at table the -first night out at sea drinking toast after toast to _British colors on -every French fort in America_. - -At Quebec was fast and furious preparation for the coming siege. -Bougainville had been sent to France from Lake Champlain in 1758 with -report of the victory at Ticonderoga. In vain {262} he appealed for -more money, more men for the coming conflict! The French government -sent him back to Quebec with a bundle of advice and platitudes and -titles and badges and promotions and soft words, but of the sinew which -makes war, men and money, France had naught to spare. The rumor of the -English invasion was confirmed by Bougainville. Every man capable of -bearing arms was called to Quebec except the small forces at the -outposts, and Bourlamaque at Champlain was instructed if attacked by -Amherst to blow up Fort Carillon, then Crown Point, and retire. Grain -was gathered into the state warehouses, and so stripped of able-bodied -men were the rural districts that the crops of 1759 were planted by the -women and children. Fire ships and rafts were constructed, the channel -of St. Charles River closed by sinking vessels, and a bridge built -higher up to lead from Quebec City across the river eastward to -Beauport and Montmorency. Along the high cliffs of the St. Lawrence -from Montmorency Falls to Quebec were constructed earthworks and -intrenchments to command the approach up the river. What frigates had -come in with Bougainville were sent higher up the St. Lawrence to be -out of danger; but the crews, numbering 1400, were posted on the -ramparts of Upper Town. Counting mere boys, Quebec had a defensive -force variously given as from 9000 to 14,000; but deducting raw levies, -who scarcely know the rules of the drill room, it is doubtful if -Montcalm could boast of more than 5000 able-bodied fighters. Still he -felt secure in the impregnable strength of Quebec's natural position. -July 29, when the enemy lay encamped beneath his trenches, he could -write, "Unless they [the English] have wings, they cannot cross a river -and effect a landing and scale a precipice." One cruel feature there -was of Quebec's preparations. To keep the habitants on both sides the -river loyal, Vaudreuil, the governor, issued a proclamation telling the -people that the English intended to massacre the inhabitants, men, -women, and children. Meanwhile, morning, noon, and night, the chapel -bells are ringing . . . ringing . . . lilting . . . and calling the -faithful to prayers for the destruction of the heretic invader! Nuns -lie prostrate day and night in prayer for the {263} country's -deliverance from the English. Holy processions march through the -streets, nuns and priests and little children in white, and rough -soldiery in the uniforms with the blue facings, to pray Heaven's aid -for victory. And while the poor people starve for bread, poultry is -daily fattened on precious wheat that it may make tenderest meat for -Intendant Bigot's table, where the painted women and drunken gamblers -and gay officers nightly feast! - -[Illustration: BOUGAINVILLE] - -Signal fires light up the hills with ominous warning as the English -fleet glides slowly abreast the current of the St. Lawrence, now -pausing to sound where the yellow riffle of the current shows shallows, -now following the course staked out by flags, here depending on the -Frenchman, whom they have compelled to act as pilot! Nightly from hill -to hill the signal fires leap to the sky, till one flames from Cape -Tourmente, and Quebec learns that the English are surely very near. -Among the Englishmen who are out in the advance boats sounding is a -young man, James Cook, destined to become a great navigator. - -June 25, sail after sail, frigate after frigate bristling with cannon, -literally swarming with soldiers and marines, glide round the end of -Orleans Island through driving rain and a squall, and to clatter of -anchor chains and rattle of falling sails, come to rest. "Pray Heaven -they be wrecked as Sir Hovenden Walker's fleet was wrecked long ago," -sigh the nuns of Quebec. If they had {264} prayed half as hard that -their corrupt rulers, their Bigots and their kings and their painted -women whose nod could set Europe on fire with war,--if the holy -sisterhood had prayed for this gang of vampires whose vices had brought -doom to the land, to be swallowed in some abyss, their prayers might -have been more effective with Heaven. - -Next day a band of rangers lands from Wolfe's ships and finds the -Island of Orleans deserted. On the church door the cure has pinned a -note, asking the English not to molest his church; and expressing -sardonic regret that the invaders have not come soon enough to enjoy -the fresh vegetables of his garden. - -Wolfe for the first time gazes on the prize of his highest -ambition,--Quebec. He is at Orleans, facing the city. To his right is -the cataract of Montmorency. From the falls past Beauport to St. -Charles River, the St. Lawrence banks are high cliffs. Above the -cliffs are Montcalm's intrenched fighters. Then the north shore of the -St. Lawrence suddenly sheers up beyond St. Charles River into a lofty, -steep precipice. The precipice is Quebec City: Upper Town and the -convents and the ramparts and Castle St. Louis nestling on an upper -ledge of the rock below Cape Diamond; Lower Town crowding between the -foot of the precipice and tide water. Look again how the St. Lawrence -turns in a sharp angle at the precipice. Three sides of the city are -water,--St. Charles River nearest Wolfe, then the St. Lawrence across -the steep face of the rock, then the St. Lawrence again along a still -steeper precipice to the far side. Only the rear of the city is -vulnerable; but it is walled and inaccessible. - -Quebec was a prize for any commander's ambition; but how to win it? - -The night of June 28 is calm, warm, pitch-dark, the kind of summer -night when the velvet heat touches you as with a hand. The English -soldiers of the crowded transports have gone ashore, when suddenly out -of the darkness glide fire ships as from an under world, with flaming -mast poles, and hulls in shadow, roaring with fire, throwing out -combustibles, drifting straight down on the tide towards the English -fleet. But the French have managed {265} badly. They have set the -ships on fire too soon. The air is torn to tatters by terrific -explosions that light up the outlines of the city spires and churn the -river to billows. Then the English sailors are out in small boats, -avoiding the suck of the undertow. Throwing out grappling hooks, they -tow the flaming fire rafts away from their fleet. It is the first play -of the game, and the French have lost. - -[Illustration: THE SITE OF QUEBEC AND THE GROUND OCCUPIED DURING THE -SIEGE OF 1759] - - -Monckton goes ashore south on Point Levis side next day. Townshend has -landed his troops east of the Montmorency on the north shore. It is -the second play of the game, and Wolfe has violated every rule of war, -for he has separated his forces in three divisions close to a powerful -enemy. He is counting on Montcalm's policy, however, and Montcalm's -play is to lie inactive, sleeping in his boots, refusing to be lured to -battle till winter drives the English off. It is usual in all accounts -of the great struggle to find that certain facts have been suppressed. -Let us frankly confess that when the English rangers went foraging they -brought back French scalps, and when the French Indians went scouting -they returned with English scalps. However, manners were improving. -Strict orders are given: this is not a war on women; neither women nor -children are to be touched. Wolfe posts proclamations on the parish -churches, calling on the habitants to stand neutral. In answer, they -tear the proclamations down. {266} By July 12 Wolfe's batteries on the -south side of the river are preparing to shell the city. A band of -five hundred students and habitants rows across from Quebec by night to -dislodge the English gunners, but mistaking their own shots for the -shots of the enemy, fall on each other in the dark and retreat in wild -confusion. Then the English cannon begin to do business. In a single -day half the houses of Lower Town are battered to bits, and high-tossed -bombs have plunged through roofs of Upper Town, burning the cathedral -and setting a multitude of lesser buildings on fire. In the confusion -of cannonade and counter-cannonade and a city on fire, shrouding the -ruins in a pall of smoke, some English ships slip up the river beyond -Quebec, but there the precipice of the river bank is still steeper, and -Bougainville is on guard with two thousand men. For thirty miles -around the English rangers have laid the country waste. Still Montcalm -refuses to come out and fight. - -The enforced inaction exasperates Wolfe, whose health is failing him, -and who sees the season passing, no nearer the object of his ambition -than when he came. As he had stormed the batteries of Louisburg, so -now he decides to storm the heights of Montmorency. To any one who has -stood on the knob of rock above the gorge where the cataract plunges to -the St. Lawrence, or has scrambled down the bank slippery with spray, -and watched the black underpool whirl out to the river, Wolfe's venture -must seem madness; for French troops lined the intrenchments above the -cliff, and below a redoubt or battery had been built. Below the -cataract, when the tide ebbed, was a place which might be forded. From -sunrise to sunset all the last days of July, Wolfe's cannon boomed from -Levis across the city, from the fleet in mid channel, from the land -camp on the east side of Montmorency. Montcalm rightly guessed, this -presaged a night assault. To hide his design, Wolfe kept his -transports shifting up and down the St. Lawrence, as if to land at -Beauport halfway to the city. All the same, two armed transports, as -if by chance, managed to get themselves stranded just opposite the -redoubt below the cliff, where their cannon would protect a landing. -Montcalm saw the move and strengthened the troops behind the earthworks -on the {267} top of the cliff. Toward sunset the tide ebbed, and at -that time cannon were firing from all points with such fury that the -St. Lawrence lay hidden in smoke. As the air cleared, two thousand men -were seen wading and fording below the falls. There was a rush of the -tall grenadiers for the redoubt. The French retreated firing, and the -cliff above poured down an avalanche of shots. At that moment Wolfe -suffered a cruel and unforeseen check. A frightful thunderstorm burst -on the river, lashing earth and air to darkness. It was impossible to -see five paces ahead or to aim a shot. The cliff roared down with -miniature rivulets and the slippery clay bank gave to every step of the -climbers slithering down waist-deep in mud and weeds. Powder was -soaked. As the rain ceased, Indians were seen sliding down the cliff -to scalp the wounded. Wolfe ordered a retreat. The drums rolled the -recall and the English escaped pellmell, the French hooting with -derision at the top of the banks, the English yelling back strong oaths -for the enemy to come out of its rat hole and fight like men. At the -ford the men, soaked like water rats, and a sorry rabble, got into some -sort of rank and burned the two stranded vessels as they passed back to -the east side. In less than an hour four hundred and forty-three men -had fallen, the most of them killed, many both dead and wounded, into -the hands of the Indian scalpers. - -One can guess Wolfe's fearful despair that night. A month had passed. -He had accomplished worse than nothing. In another month the fleet -must leave the St. Lawrence to avoid autumn storms. Fragile at all -times, Wolfe fell ill, ill of fever and of chagrin, and those officers -over whose head he had been promoted did not spare their criticisms, -their malice. It is so easy to win battles of life and war in theory. - -As for Quebec, it was felt the siege was over, the contest won. Still -bad news had come from the west. Niagara had fallen before the -English, and the forts on Lake Champlain were abandoned to Amherst. -Nothing now barred the English advance down the Richelieu to Montreal. -Montcalm dispatches Levis to Montreal with eight hundred men. - -{268} Why did Amherst not come to Wolfe's aid? His enemies say because -the commanding general was so sure the siege of Quebec would fail that -he did not want any share of the blame. That may be unjust. Amherst -was of the slow, cautious kind, who marched doggedly to victory. He -may not have wished to risk a second Ticonderoga. Wolfe's position was -now desperate. His only alternatives were success or ruin. "You can't -cure me," he told his surgeon, "but mend me up so I can go on for a few -days." What he did in those few days left his name immortal. Robert -Stobo, who had been captured from Washington's battalions on the Ohio, -and who knew every foot of Quebec from five years of captivity, had -escaped, joined Wolfe, and drawn plans of all surroundings. From his -ship above Quebec Wolfe could see there was one path just behind the -city where men might ascend to the Plains of Abraham outside the rear -wall, but the path was guarded, and Bougainville's troops patrolled -westward as far as Cape Rouge. - -[Illustration: LOUIS JOSEPH, MARQUIS DE MONTCALM] - -It was now September. From their trenches above the river the French -could see the English evacuating camp at Montmorency. They were -jubilant. Surely the English were giving up the siege. Night after -night English transports loaded with soldiers ascended the St. Lawrence -above Quebec. What did it mean? Was it a feint to draw Montcalm's men -away from the east side? {269} The French general was sleeplessly -anxious. He had not passed a night in bed since the end of June. The -fall rains were beginning, and another month of work in the trenches -meant half the army invalided. - -The most of the English fleet was working up and down with the tide -between the western limits of Quebec and Cape Rouge, nine miles away. -Bougainville's force was increased to three thousand men, and he was -ordered to keep especial watch westward. The steepness of the -precipice was guard enough near the town. Wednesday, the 12th of -September, the English troops were ordered to hold themselves in -readiness. They passed the day cleaning their arms, and were ordered -not to speak after nightfall or permit a sound to be heard from the -ranks. Admiral Saunders with the main fleet was to feign attack on the -east side of the city. Admiral Holmes with Wolfe's army, now numbering -not four thousand men, was to glide down with the tide from Cape Rouge -above Quebec. Because the main fleet lay on the east side Montcalm -felt sure the attack would come from that quarter. Deserters had -brought word to Wolfe that some flatboats with provisions were coming -down the river to Quebec that night. - -Here, then, the position! Saunders on the east side, opposite -Beauport, feigning attack; Montcalm watching him from the Beauport -cliffs; Wolfe nine miles up the river west of the city; Bougainville -watching him, watching too for those provisions, for Quebec was down to -empty larder. - -It is said that as Wolfe rested in his ship, the _Sutherland_, off Cape -Rouge, he felt strange premonition of approaching death, and repeated -the words of Gray's "Elegy,"--"The paths of glory lead but to the -grave,"--but this has been denied. Certainly he had such strange -consciousness of impending death that, taking a miniature of his -fiancee from his breast, he asked a fellow-officer to return it to her. -About midnight the tide began to ebb, and two lanterns were hung as a -sign from the masthead of the _Sutherland_. Instantly all the ships -glided silent as the great river down with the tide. The night was -moonless. Near the little bridle path now known as Wolfe's Cove the -ships draw {270} ashore. Sharp as iron on stone a sentry's voice rings -out, "Who goes?" - -"The French," answers an officer, who speaks perfect French. - -"What regiment?" - -"The Queen's," replies the officer, who chances to know that -Bougainville has a regiment of that name. Thinking they were the -provision transports, this sentry was satisfied. Not so another. He -ran down to the water's edge, and peering through the darkness called, -"Why can't you speak louder?" - -"Hush you! We 'll be overheard," answers the English officer in French. - -Thus the English boats glided towards the little bridle path that led -up to the rear of the city. Wolfe's Cove is not a path steep as a -stair up the face of a rock, as the most of the schoolbooks teach; it -is a little weed-grown, stony gully, easy to climb, but slant and -narrow, where I have walked many a night to drink from the spring near -the foot of the cliff. - -Twenty-four volunteers lead the way up the stony path, silent and agile -as cats. At the top are the tents of the sentries, who rush from their -couches to be overpowered by the English. Before daybreak the whole -army has ascended to the plateau behind the city, known as the Plains -of Abraham. No use entering here into the dispute whether Wolfe took -his place where the goal now stands, or farther back from the city -wall. Roughly speaking, the main line of Wolfe's forces, three deep, -with himself, Monckton, and Murray in command, faced the rear of Quebec -about three quarters of a mile from what was then the wall. To his -left was the wooded road now known as St. Louis. He posts Townshend -facing this, at right angles to his front line. Another battalion lay -in the woods to the rear. There were, besides, a reserve regiment, and -a battalion to guard the landing. - -What was Wolfe's position? Behind him lay Bougainville with three -thousand French soldiers, fresh and in perfect condition. In front lay -Quebec with three thousand more. To his right was the river; to his -left, across the St. Charles, Montcalm's main army of five thousand -men. "When your enemies blunder, {271} don't interrupt them," Napoleon -is reported to have advised. If some one had not blundered badly now, -it might have been a second Ticonderoga with Wolfe; but some one did -blunder most tragically. - -Montcalm had come from the trenches above Beauport, where he had been -guarding against Saunders' landing, and he had ordered hot tea and beer -served to the troops, when he happened to look across the St. Charles -River towards Quebec. It had been cloudy, but the sun had just burst -out; and there, standing in the morning light, were the English in -battle array, red coat and tartan kilt, grenadier and Highlander, in -the distance a confused mass of color, which was not the white uniform -of the French. - -"This is a serious business," said Montcalm hurriedly to his aide. -Then, spurs to his big black horse, he was galloping furiously along -the Beauport road, over the resounding bridge across the St. Charles, -up the steep cobblestone streets that lead from Lower to Upper Town, -and out by the St. Louis road to the Plains of Abraham. In Quebec all -was confusion. _Who_ had given the order for the troops to move out -against the English without waiting for Bougainville to come from Cape -Rouge? But there they were, huddling, disorderly columns that crowded -on each other, filing out of the St. Louis and St. John Gates, with a -long string of battalions following Montcalm up from the St. Charles. -And Ramezay, who was commandant of the city, refused to send out part -of his troops; and Vaudreuil, who was at Beauport, delayed to come; and -though Montcalm waited till ten o'clock, Bougainville did not come up -from Cape Rouge with his three thousand men. Easy to criticise and say -Montcalm should have waited till Bougainville and Vaudreuil came. He -could _not_ wait, for Wolfe's position cut his forces in two, and the -army was without supplies. With his four thousand five hundred men he -accepted fate's challenge. - -Bagpipes shrilling, English flags waving to the wind, the French -soldiers shouting riotously, the two armies moved towards each other. -Then the English halted, silent, motionless {272} statues. The men -were refreshed, for during the four hours' wait from daylight, Wolfe -had permitted them to rest on the grassed plain. The French came -bounding forward, firing as they ran, and bending down to reload. The -English waited till the French were but forty yards away. "They were -not to throw away their fire," Wolfe had ordered. Now forty yards, if -you measure it off in your mind's eye, is short space between hostile -armies. It is not as wide as the average garden front in a suburban -city. Then suddenly the thin red line of the English spoke in a crash -of fire. The shots were so simultaneous that they sounded like one -terrific crash of ear-splitting thunder. The French had no time to -halt before a second volley rent the air. Then a clattering fire -rocketed from the British like echoes from a precipice. With wild -halloo the British were charging, . . . charging, . . . charging, the -Highlanders leading with their broadswords flashing overhead and their -mountain blood on fire, Wolfe to the fore of the grenadiers till a shot -broke his wrist! Wrapping his handkerchief about the wound as he ran, -the victorious young general was dashing forward when a second shot hit -him and a third pierced his breast. He staggered a step, reeled, fell -to the ground. Three soldiers and an officer ran to his aid and -carried him in their arms to the rear. He would have no surgeon. It -was useless, he said. "But the day is ours, and see that you keep it," -he muttered, sinking back unconscious. A moment later he was roused by -wild, hilarious, jubilant, heart-shattering shouts. - -"Gad! they run! See how they run!" said an English voice. - -"_Who_--run?" demanded Wolfe, roused as if from the sleep of death. - -"The enemy, sir. They give way . . . everywhere." - -"Go, one of you," commanded the dying general; "tell Colonel Burton to -march Webb's regiment down Charles River to cut off retreat by the -bridge. Now God be praised!" he added, sinking back; "I die in peace!" -And the spirit of Wolfe had departed, leaving as a heritage a New -Empire of the North, and an immortal fame. - -[Illustration: DEATH OF WOLFE (From the painting by Benjamin West)] - -{273} - -Fate had gone hard against the gallant Montcalm. The first volley from -the English line had mowed his soldiers down like ripe wheat. At the -second volley the ranks broke and the ground was thick strewn with the -dead. When the English charged, the French fled in wildest panic -downhill for the St. Charles. Wounded and faint, Montcalm on his black -charger was swept swiftly along St. Louis road in the blind stampede of -retreat. Near the walls a ball passed through his groins. Two -soldiers caught him from falling, and steadied him on either side of -his horse through St. Louis gate, where women, waiting in mad anxiety, -saw the blood dripping over his horse. - -"My God! My God! Our marquis is slain!" they screamed. - -"It is nothing,--nothing,--good friends; don't trouble about me," -answered the wounded general as he passed for the last time under the -arched gateway of St. Louis road. - -"How long have I to live?" he asked the surgeon into whose house he had -been carried. - -"Few hours, my lord." - -"So much the better," answered Montcalm. "I shall not live to see -Quebec surrendered." - -Before daylight, he was dead. Wrapped in his soldier's cloak, laid in -a rough box, the body was carried that night to the Ursuline Convent, -where a bursting bomb had scooped a great hole in the floor. Sad-eyed -nuns and priests crowded the chapel. By torchlight, amid tears and -sobs, the body was laid to rest. - -Both generals had died as they had lived,--gallantly. To-day both are -regarded as heroes and commemorated by monuments; but how did their -governments treat them? Of course there were wild huzzas in London and -solemn memorial services over Wolfe; but when his aged mother -petitioned the government that her dead son's salary might be computed -at 10 pounds a day,--the salary of a commander in chief,--instead of 2 -pounds a day, she was refused in as curtly uncivil a note as was ever -penned. Montcalm had died in debt, and when his family petitioned the -French government to pay these debts, the King thought it should be -done, but he did not take the trouble to see that his {274} good -intention was carried out. It was easy and cheaper for orators to talk -of heroes giving their lives for their country. There are no better -examples in history of the truth that glory and honor and true service -must be their own reward, independent of any compensation, any -suffering, any sacrifice. - - -Though the panic retreat continued for hours and Quebec was not -surrendered for some days, the battle was practically decided in ten -minutes. The campaign of the next year was gallant but fruitless. In -April, before the fleet has come back to the English, De Levis throws -himself with the remnants of the French army against the rear wall of -Quebec; and as Montcalm had come out to fight Wolfe, so Murray marches -out to fight De Levis. Both sides claimed the battle of Ste. Foye as -victory, but another such victory would have exterminated the English. -Levis outside the walls, Murray glad to be inside the walls, each side -waited for the spring fleet. If France had come to Canada's aid, even -yet the country might have been won, for sickness had reduced Murray's -army to less than three thousand able men; but the flag that flaunted -from the ship that sailed into the harbor of Quebec on the 9th of May -was British. That decided Canada's fate. De Levis retreated swiftly -for Montreal, but by September the slow-moving General Amherst has -closed in on Montreal from the west, and up the St. Lawrence from the -east proceeds General Murray. De Levis and Vaudreuil had less than two -thousand fighting men at Montreal. September 8th they capitulated, and -three years later, by the Treaty of Paris, Canada passed under the -dominion of England. Officers, many of the nobility, Bigot and his -crew, sailed for France, where the Intendant's ring were put on trial -and punished for their corruption and misrule. Bigot suffered -banishment and the confiscation of property. The other members of his -clique received like sentences. - - -Spite of the hopes of her devoted founders,--like Champlain and -Maisonneuve,--spite of the blood of her martyrs and the prayers of her -missionaries, spite of all the pathfinding of her {275} explorers, -spite of the dauntless warfare of her soldier knights,--like Frontenac -and Iberville and Montcalm,--New France had fallen. - -Why? - -For two reasons: because of England's sea power; because of the -unblushing, shameless, gilded corruption of the French court, which -cared less for the fate of Canada than the leer of a painted fool -behind her fan. But be this remembered,--and here was the hand of -overruling Destiny or Providence,--the fall of New France, like the -fall of the seed to the ready soil, was the rebirth of a new nation. -Henceforth it is not New France, the appendage of an Old World nation. -It is Canada,--a New Dominion. - - -To-day wander round Quebec. Tablets and monuments consecrate many of -the old hero days. Though the British government rebuilt a line of -walls in the early eighteen hundreds, you will find it hard to trace -even a vestige of the old French walls. Mounds tell you where there -were bastions. A magnificent boulevard tops the most of the old -ramparts. An imposing hotel stands where Castle St. Louis once frowned -over the St. Lawrence. Of the palace where the Intendant held his -revels there are not even ruins. If you drive out past Beauport, you -will find at the end of a nine-mile forest path the crumbling brick -walls of Chateau Bigot, the Hermitage, half buried, in the days when I -visited it, with rose vines and orchard trees gone wild. That is all -you will find of the court clique whose folly brought Canada's doom; -but as you drive back from Beauport there towers the city from the -rocky heights above the St. Lawrence,--chapel spire and cross and domed -cathedral roofs aglint in the sunlight like a city of gold. The -church, baptized by the blood of its martyrs, is there in pristine -power; and the fruitful meadows bear witness to the prosperity of the -habitant on whom the burden fell in the days of the ancient regime. -Who shall say that habitant and church do not deserve the place of -power they hold in the government of the Dominion? - - - - -{276} - -CHAPTER XIII - -FROM 1763 TO 1812 - -English law and Quebec--French rights guarded--Pontiac's war--Siege of -Detroit--Fight at Bloody Run--Michilimackinac falls--How Bouquet wins -victory--Return of captives--The peddlers--Methods of -Nor'westers--Traders invade the Up Country--Disaffection in -Canada--Canada invaded--Quebec invested--Montgomery's fight--"Rats in a -trap"--Relief at last--Tricks of ringsters--Coming of Loyalists--Life -in the backwoods - - -Quebec has fallen. As jackals gather to feast on the carcass of the -dead lion, so rallies a rabble of adventurers on the trail of the -victorious army. Sutlers, traders, teamsters, riffraff,--soldiers of -fortune,--stampede to Montreal and Quebec as to a new gold field. When -Major Robert Rogers, the English forest ranger, proceeds up the lakes -to take over the western fur posts,--Presqu' Isle, Detroit, -Michilimackinac,--he is followed by hosts of adventurers looking for -swift way to fortune by either the fur trade or by picking the bones of -the dead lion. Major Rogers, beating up Lake Ontario and Lake Erie -with two hundred bushwhackers, pausing in camp near modern Sandusky, -meets the renowned Ottawa warrior, Pontiac, who had fought with the -French against Braddock and now wants to know in voice of thunder what -all this talk about the French being conquered means; how _dare_ the -French, because _they_ have proved paltroons, deed away the Indian -lands of Canada? How dare Rogers, the white chief of the English -rangers, come here with his pale-faced warriors to Pontiac's land? How -Rogers answered the veteran red-skinned warrior is not told. All that -is known is--the French gave up their western furs with bad grace, and -the English commandants forgot to appease the wound to the Indians' -pride by the customary gifts over solemn powwow. At Detroit and -Michilimackinac the French quietly withdraw from the palisades and -build their white-washed cottages outside the limits of the fort--2500 -French habitants there are at Detroit. - -If the four or five hundred English adventurers who swarmed to Canada -on the heels of the English army thought to batten on the sixty -thousand defeated French inhabitants, far otherwise thought and decreed -the English generals, Sir Jeffrey {277} Amherst, and Murray, who -succeeded him. "You will observe that the French are British subjects -as much as we are, and treat them accordingly," ruled Amherst; and -General Murray, who practically became the first governor of Canada on -Amherst's withdrawal, at once set himself to establish justice. - -[Illustration: MAJOR ROBERT ROGERS] - -No more forced labor! No more carrion birds of the official classes, -like Bigot, fattening on the poor habitants! British government in -Canada for the next few years is known as the period of military rule. -At Quebec, at Three Rivers, at Montreal, the commanding officers -established martial law with biweekly courts; and in the parishes the -local French officers, or seigneurs, are authorized to hear civil -cases. By the terms of surrender the people have been guaranteed their -religious liberty; and the Treaty of Paris, which cedes all Canada to -England in 1763, repeats this guarantee, though it leaves a thorn of -trouble in the flesh of England by reserving to France for the benefit -of the Grand Banks fishermen the Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, as -well as shore rights of fishing on the west coast of Newfoundland. -Also, the proprietary rights of Jesuits, Sulpicians, Franciscans, are -to remain in abeyance for the pleasure of the English crown. The -rights of the sisterhoods are at once confirmed. - -{278} One of General Murray's first acts as governor is to convey -gentle hint to the Abbe Le Loutre, now released from prison and come -back to Canada, that his absence will be appreciated by the government. -Within a few years there are five hundred English residents in Montreal -and Quebec; and now trouble begins for the government,--that wrangle -between English and French, between Protestant and Catholic, which is -to go on for a hundred years and retard Canada's progress by a century. - -[Illustration: NORTH AMERICA AT THE CLOSE OF THE FRENCH WARS, 1763] - -Being British-born subjects, the few hundred demand that the Governor -call an assembly,--an elective assembly; but by the laws of England, -Roman Catholics must abjure their religion before they can take office, -and by the Treaty of Paris the Catholics of Canada have been guaranteed -the freedom of their religion. To grant an elective assembly now would -mean that the representatives of the five hundred English traders would -rule over 70,000 French. When accusing the French Catholics of Quebec -of remaining a solidarity so that they may wield the balance of power, -it is well to remember how and when the quarrel began. Murray sides -with the French and stands like a rock for their right. He will have -no elective assembly under present conditions; and he puts summary stop -to the business English magistrates and English bailiffs have hatched -against the rights of the habitant,--of seizing lands for debt at a -time when money is scarce, summoning the debtor simultaneously to two -different courts, then charging such outrageous fees that the debtor's -land is sold for the fees, to be bought in by the rascal ring who have -arranged the plot. Ordinances are still proclaimed in primitive -fashion by the crier going through the streets shouting the laws to -beat of drum; but as the crier {279} shouts in English, the habitants -know no more of the laws than if he shouted in Greek. - -As Murray opposes the clamor of the English minority, the English -petition the home government for Murray's recall. In the light of the -fact that there were no schools at all in Canada except the Catholic -seminaries, and that of the five hundred English residents only two -hundred had permanent homes in Montreal and Quebec, it is rather -instructive to read as one of the grievances of the English minority -"_that the only teachers in Canada were Catholics_." - -The governor-generalship is offered to Chatham, the great statesman, at -5000 pounds a year. Chatham refusing the position, there comes in 1768 -as governor, at 1200 pounds a year, Sir Guy Carleton, fellow-soldier -and friend of Wolfe in the great war, who follows in Murray's -footsteps, stands like a rock for the rights of the French, orders -debtors released from jail, fees reduced, and a stoppage of forced land -sales. Bitter is the disappointment to the land jobbers, who had -looked for a partisan in Carleton; doubly bitter, for Carleton goes one -better than Murray. For years the French government had issued paper -money in Quebec. After the conquest seventeen millions of these -worthless government promissory notes were outstanding in the hands of -the habitants. Knowing that the paper money is to be redeemed by the -English government, English jobbers are now busy buying up the paper -among the poor French at fifteen cents on the dollar. Carleton sends -the town crier from parish to parish, warning the habitants to hold -their money and register the amounts with the magistrates till the -whole matter can be arranged between England and France. - -The first newspaper is established now in Quebec, _The Quebec Gazette_, -printed in both English and French. Also the first trouble now arises -from having ceded France the two tiny islands south of Newfoundland, -St. Pierre and Miquelon. By English navigation laws, all trade must -be in English ships. Good! The smugglers slip into St. Pierre with a -cargo. By night a ship with a white sail slips out of St. Pierre with -that {280} cargo. At Gaspe the sail of that ship is red; at Saguenay -it is yellow; at Quebec it is perhaps brown. Ostensibly the ship is a -fishing smack, but it leaves other cargo than fish at the habitant -hamlets of the St. Lawrence; and the smuggling from St. Pierre that -began in Carleton's time is continued to-day in the very same way. - -[Illustration: GENERAL MURRAY, FIRST GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC] - -And Guy Carleton, though he is an Englishman and owes his appointment -to the complaints of the English minority against Murray, remains -absolutely impartial. Good reason for the wisdom of his policy. There -are rumblings from the New England colonies that forewarn the coming -earthquake. For years friction has been growing between the mother -country and the colonies. The story of the Revolution does not belong -to the story of Canada. For years far-sighted statesmen had predicted -that the minute New England ceased to fear New France, ceased to need -England's protection, that minute the growing friction would flame in -open war. Carleton foresaw that to pander to the English minority -would sacrifice the loyalty of the French. Thus he reported to the -home government, and the Quebec Act of 1774 came to the relief of the -French. By it Canada's boundaries were extended across the region of -the Ohio to the Mississippi. French laws were restored {281} in all -civil actions. English law was to rule in criminal cases, which meant -trial by jury. The French are relieved from oaths of office and -enabled to serve on the jury. Also, the Catholic clergy is entitled to -collect its usual tithe of one twenty-sixth from the Catholics. An -elective assembly is refused for reasons that are plain, but a -legislative council is granted, to be appointed by the crown. For the -expense of government a slight tax is levied on liquor; but as the St. -Pierre smuggling is now flourishing, the tax docs not begin to meet the -cost of government, and the difference is paid from the imperial -treasury. However badly the imperial government blundered with the New -England colonies, her treatment of Quebec was an object lesson in -colonizing to the world. Had she treated her New England colonies half -as justly as she treated Quebec, British America might to-day extend to -Mexico. Had she treated Quebec half as unjustly as she treated her own -offspring of New England, the United States might to-day extend to the -Arctic Circle. The man who saved Canada to England, in the first place -by wisdom, in the second place by war, was Sir Guy Carleton. - - -While the English and French, Protestant and Catholic, wrangle for -power in Quebec there rages on the frontier one of the most devastating -Indian wars known to American history. Not for nothing had Pontiac -drawn himself to his full height and defied Major Rogers down on Lake -Erie. From tribe to tribe the lithe coureurs ran, naked but for the -breechcloth, painted as for war, carrying in one hand the tomahawk -dipped in blood, in the other the wampum belt of purple, typifying war. -The French had deeded away the Indian lands to the English! The news -ran like wildfire, ran by moccasin telegram from Montreal up Ottawa -River to Michilimackinac, from Niagara westward to Detroit, and -southward to Presqu' Isle and all that chain of forts leading -southwestward to the Mississippi. Was it a "Conspiracy of Pontiac," as -it has been called? Hardly. It was more one of those general -movements of unrest, of discontent, of misunderstanding, that but -awaits the appearance of {282} a brave leader to become a torrent of -destruction. Pontiac, the Ottawa chief, was such a leader, and to his -standard rallied Indians from Virginia, from the Mississippi, from Lake -Superior. Of the universal unrest among the Indians the English were -not ignorant, but they failed to realize its significance; failed, too, -to realize that the French fur traders, cast out of the western forts -and now roaming the wilds, fanned the flame, gave presents of gunpowder -and firearms to the savages, and egged the hostiles on against the new -possessors of Canada, in order to divert the fur trade to French -traders still in Louisiana. Down at Miami, southwest of Lake Erie, -Ensign Holmes hears in March of 1763 that the war belt has been carried -to the Illinois. Up at Detroit, in May, Pontiac is camped on the east -side of the river with eight hundred hunters. Daily the French -farmers, who supply the fort with provisions, carry word to Major -Gladwin that the Indians are acting strangely, holding long and secret -powwow, borrowing files to saw off the barrels of their muskets short. -A French woman, who has visited the Indians across the river for a -supply of maple sugar, comes to Gladwin on May 5 with the same story. -From eight hundred, the Indians increase to two thousand. Old -Catherine, a toothless squaw, comes shaking as with the palsy to the -fort, and with mumbling words warns Gladwin to "Beware, beware!" So -does a young girl whose fine eyes have caught the fancy of Gladwin -himself. Breaking out with bitter weeping, she covers her head with -her shawl and bids her white lover have a care how he meets Pontiac in -council. Gladwin himself was a seasoned campaigner, who had escaped -the hurricane of death with Braddock and had also served under Amherst -at Montreal. In his fort are one hundred and twenty soldiers and forty -traders. At the wharf lie the two armed schooners, _Beaver_ and -_Gladwin_. When Pontiac comes with his sixty warriors Gladwin is ready -for him. In the council house the warriors seat themselves, weapons -concealed under blankets; but when Pontiac raises the wampum belt that -was to be the signal for the massacre to begin, Major Gladwin, never -moving his light blue eyes from {283} the snaky gleam of the Indian, -waves his hand, and at the motion there is a roll of drums, a grounding -of the sentry's arms, a trampling of soldiers outside, a rush as of -white men marching. Pontiac is dumfounded and departs without giving -the signal. Back in his cabin of rushes across the river he rages like -a maniac and buries a tomahawk in the skull of the old squaw Catherine. -Monday, May 9, at ten o'clock he comes again, followed by a rabble of -hunters. The gates are shut in his face. He shouts for admittance. -The sentry opens the wicket and in traders' vernacular bids him go -about his business. There is a wild war yell. The siege of Detroit -begins. - -[Illustration: SETTLEMENTS ON THE DETROIT RIVER] - -The story of that siege would fill volumes. For fifteen months it -lasted, the French remaining neutral, selling provisions to both sides, -Gladwin defiant inside his palisades, the Indians persistent as enraged -hornets. Two English officers who have been out hunting are waylaid, -murdered, skinned, the skin sewed into powder pouches, the bloody -carcasses sent drifting down on the flood of waters past the fort -walls. Desperately in need of provisions from the French, Gladwin -consents to temporary truce while Captain Campbell and others go out to -parley with the Indians. {284} Gladwin obtains cart loads of -provisions during the parley, but Pontiac violates the honor of war by -holding the messengers captive. Burning arrows are shot at the fort -walls. Gladwin's men sally out by night, hack down the orchards that -conceal the enemy, burn all outbuildings, and come back without losing -a man. Nightly, too, lapping the canoe noiselessly across water with -the palm of the hand, one of the French farmers comes with fresh -provisions. Gladwin has sent a secret messenger, with letter in his -powder pouch, through the lines of the besiegers to Niagara for aid. -May 30, moving slowly, all sails out, the English flag flying from the -prow, comes a convoy of sailboats up the river. Cheer on cheer rent -the air. The soldiers at watch in the galleries inside the palisades -tossed their caps overhead, but as the ships came nearer the whites -were paralyzed with horror. Silence froze the cheer on the parted -lips. Indian warriors manned the boats. The convoy of ninety-six men -had been cut to pieces, only a few soldiers escaping back to Niagara, a -few coming on, compelled by the Indians to act as rowers. As the boats -passed the fort, whoops of derision, wild war chants, eldritch screams, -rose from the Indians. One desperate white captive rose like a flash -from his place at the rowlocks, caught his Indian captor by the scuff -of the neck and threw him into the river; but the redskin grappled the -other in a grip of death. Turning over and over, locked in each -other's arms, the hate of the inferno in their faces, soldier and -Indian swept down to watery death in the river tide. Taking advantage -of the confusion, and under protection of the fort guns, one of the -other captives sprang into the river and succeeded in swimming safely -to the fort. Terrible was the news he brought. All the other forts -south of Niagara, with the exception of Fort Pitt,--Miami, St. Joseph, -Presqu' Isle,--lay in ashes. From some not a man had escaped to tell -the story. - -That night it was pitch-dark,--soft, velvet, warm summer darkness. -From the fort the soldiers could see the sixty captives from the convoy -burning outside at the torture stakes. Then as gray morning came -mangled corpses floated past on the river tide. June 18 another vessel -glides up the river with help, but {285} the garrison is afraid of a -second disaster, for eight hundred warriors have lain in ambush along -the river. Gladwin orders a cannon fired. The boat fires back answer, -but the wind falls and she is compelled to anchor for the night below -the fort. Sixty soldiers armed to the teeth are on board; but the -captain is determined to out-trick the Indians, and he permits only -twelve of his men at a time on deck. Darkness has barely fallen on the -river before the waters are alive with canoes, and naked warriors -clamber to the decks like scrambling monkeys, so sure they have -outnumbered their prey that they forget all caution. At the signal of -a hammer knock on deck,--rap--rap--rap,--three times short and sharp, -up swarm the soldiers from the hatchway. Fourteen Indians dropped on -the deck in as many seconds. Others were thrown on bayonet points into -the river. It is said that after the fight of a few seconds on the -ship the decks looked like a butcher's shambles. Finally the schooner -anchored at Detroit, to the immense relief of the beleaguered garrison. -So elated were the English, one soldier dashed from a sally port and -scalped a dying Indian in full view of both sides. Swift came Indian -vengeance. Captain Campbell, the truce messenger, was hacked to -pieces. By July 28, Dalzell has come from Niagara with nearly two -hundred men, including Rogers, the famous Indian fighter. Both Dalzell -and Rogers are mad for a rush from the fort to deal one crushing blow -to the Indians. Here the one mistake of the siege was made. Gladwin -was against all risk, for the Indians were now dropping off to the -hunting field, but Dalzell and Rogers were for punishing them before -they left. In the midst of a dense night fog the English sallied from -the fort at two o'clock on the 31st of July for Pontiac's main camp, -about two miles up the river, boats rowing upstream abreast the -marchers. It was hot and sultry. The two hundred and fifty -bushrangers marched in shirt sleeves, two abreast. A narrow footbridge -led across a brook, since known as Bloody Run, to cliffs behind which -the Indians were intrenched. Along the trail were the whitewashed -cottages of the French farmers, who stared from their windows in their -nightcaps, amazed beyond speech at the rashness of the {286} English. -On a smaller scale it was a repetition of Braddock's defeat on the -Ohio. Indians lay in ambush behind every house, every shrub, in the -long grass. They only waited till Dalzell's men had crossed the bridge -and were charging the hill at a run. Then the war whoop shrilled both -to fore and to rear. The Indians doubled up on their trapped foe from -both sides. Rogers' Rangers dashed for hiding in a house. The drum -beat retreat. Under cover of Rogers' shots from one side, shots from -the boats on the other, Dalzell's men escaped at a panic run back over -the trail with a loss of some sixty dead. In September came more ships -with more men, again to be ambushed at the narrows, and again to reach -Detroit, as the old record says, "bloody as a butcher's shop." So the -siege dragged on for more than a year at Detroit. Winter witnessed a -slight truce to fighting, for starvation drove the Indians to the -hunting field; but May saw Pontiac again encamped under the walls of -Detroit till word came from the French on the lower Mississippi in -October, definitely and for all, they would not join the Indians. Then -Pontiac knew his cause was lost. - -Up at Michilimackinac similar scenes were enacted. Major Etherington -and Captain Leslie had some thirty-five soldiers. There were also -hosts of traders outside the walls, among whom was Alexander Henry of -Montreal. Word had come of Pontiac at Detroit, but Etherington did not -realize that the uprising was general. June 4 was the King's birthday. -Shops had been closed. Flags blew above the fort. Gates were wide -open. Squaws with heads under shawls sat hunched around the house -steps, with that concealed beneath their shawls which the English did -not guess. All the men except Henry, who was writing letters, and some -Frenchmen, who understood the danger signs, had gone outside the gates -to watch a fast and furious game of lacrosse. Again and again the ball -came bounding towards the fort gates, only to be whisked to the other -end of the field by a deft toss, followed by the swift runners. No one -was louder in applause than Etherington. The officers were completely -off guard. Suddenly the crowds swayed, gave way, opened; . . . {287} -and down the field towards the fort gates surged the players. A -dexterous pitch! The ball was inside the fort. After it dashed the -Indians. In a flash weapons were grasped from the shawls of the -squaws. Musket and knife did the rest. When Henry heard the war whoop -and looked from a window he saw Indian warriors bending to drink the -blood of hearts that were yet warm. For two days Henry lived in the -rubbish heap of the attic in the house of Langlade, a pioneer of -Wisconsin. Of the whites at Michilimackinac only twenty escaped death, -and they were carried prisoners to the Lower Country for ransom. - -From Virginia to Lake Superior such was the Indian war known as -Pontiac's Campaign. Fort Pitt held out like Detroit. Niagara was too -strong for assault, but in September twenty-four soldiers, who had been -protecting _portage_ past the falls, were waylaid and driven over the -precipice at the place called Devil's Hole. More soldiers sent to the -rescue met like fate, horses and wagons being stampeded over the rocks, -seventy men in all being hurled to death in the wild canyon. - -Amherst, who was military commander at this time, was driven nearly out -of his senses. A foe like the French, who would stand and do battle, -he could fight; but this phantom foe, that vanished like mist through -the woods, baffled the English soldier. In less than six months two -thousand whites had been slain; and Amherst could not even find his -foe, let alone strike him. "_Can we not inoculate them with smallpox, -or set bloodhounds to track them_?" he writes distractedly. - -By the summer of 1764 the English had taken the war path. Bradstreet -was to go up the lakes with twelve hundred men, Bouquet, with like -forces, to follow the old Pennsylvania road to the Ohio, both generals -to unite somewhere south of Lake Erie. Of Bradstreet the least said -the better. He had done well in the great war when he captured Fort -Frontenac almost without a blow; but now he strangely played the fool. -He seemed to think that peace, peace at any price, was the object, -whereas peace that is not a victory is worthless with the Indian. -Deputies met him on the 12th of August near Presqu' Isle, Lake Erie. -{288} They carried no wampum belts and were really spies. Without -demanding reparation, without a word as to restoring harried captives, -without hostages for good conduct, Bradstreet entered into a fool's -peace with his foes, proceeded up to Detroit, and was back at Niagara -by winter; though he must have realized the worthlessness of the -campaign when his messengers sent to the Illinois were ambushed. - -[Illustration: BOUQUET] - -When Bouquet heard of the sham peace he was furious and repudiated -Bradstreet's treaty in toto. Bouquet was a veteran of the great war, -and knew bushfighting from seven years' experience on Pennsylvania -frontiers. Slowly, with his fifteen hundred rangers and five hundred -Highlanders, express riders keeping the trail open from fort to fort, -scouts to fore, Bouquet moved along the old army trail used by Forbes -to reach Fort Pitt. Friendly Indians had been warned to keep green -branches as signals in the muzzles of their guns. All others were to -be shot without mercy. Indians vanished before his march like mist -before the sun. August 5 found Bouquet south of Fort Pitt at a place -known as Bushy Run. The scouts had gone ahead to prepare nooning for -the army at the Run. In seven hours the men had marched seventeen -miles spite of sweltering heat; but at one, just as the thirsty columns -were nearing the rest place, the crack--crack--crack of rifle shots to -the fore set every man's blood jumping. From quick march they broke to -a run, priming guns, ball in mouth as they ran. A moment later the old -trick of Braddock's ambush was being repeated, but this time the -Indians were dealing with a seasoned man. Bouquet swung his fighters -in a circle round the stampeding horses and provision wagons. The heat -was terrific, the men almost mad with thirst, the horses neighing and -plunging and breaking away to the woods; and the army stood, a -red-coated, tartan-plaid target for invisible foes! By this time the -men were fighting as Indians fight--breaking ranks, jumping from tree -to tree. It is n't easy to keep men standing as targets when they -can't get at the foe; but Bouquet, riding from place to place, kept his -men in hand till darkness screened them. Sixty had fallen. A circular -barricade {289} was built of flour bags. Inside this the wounded were -laid, and the army camped without water. The agonies of that night -need not be told. Here the neighing of horses would bring down a -clatter of bullets aimed in the dark; and the groans of the wounded, -trampled by the stampeding cavalcade, would mingle with the screams of -terror from the horses. The night continued hot almost as day in the -sultry forest, and the thirst with both man and beast became anguish. -Another such day and another such night, and Bouquet could foresee his -fate would be worse than Braddock's. Passing from man to man, he gave -the army their instructions for the next day. They would form in three -platoons, with the center battalion advanced to the fore, as if to lead -attack. Suddenly the center was to feign defeat and turn as if in -panic flight. It was to be guessed that the Indians would pursue -headlong. Instantly the flank battalions were to sweep through the -woods in wide circle and close in on the rear of the savages. Then the -fleeing center was to turn. The savages would be surrounded. Daybreak -came with a cracking of shots from ambush. Officers and men carried -out instructions exactly as Bouquet had planned. At ten o'clock the -center column broke ranks, wavered, turned, . . . fled in wild panic! -With the whooping of a wolf pack in full cry, the savages burst from -ambush in pursuit. The sides deployed. A moment later the center had -turned to fight the pursuer, {290} and the Highlanders broke from the -woods, yelling their slogan, with broadswords cutting a terrible -hand-to-hand swath. Sixty Indians were slashed to death in as many -seconds. Though the British lost one hundred and fifteen, killed and -wounded, the Indians were in full flight, blind terror at their heels. -The way was now open to Port Pitt, but Bouquet did not dally inside the -palisades. On down the Ohio he pursued the panic-stricken savages, -pausing neither for deputies nor reenforcements. At Muskingum Creek -the Indians sent back the old men to sue, sue abjectedly, for peace at -any cost. - -Bouquet met them with the stern front that never fails to win respect. -They need not palm off their lie that the fault lay with the foolish -young warriors. If the old chiefs would not control the young braves, -then the whole tribe, the whole Indian race, must pay the penalty. In -terror the deputies hung their heads. He would not even discuss the -terms of peace, Bouquet declared, till the Indians restored every -captive,--man, woman, and child, even the child of Indian parentage -born in captivity. The captives must be given suitable clothing, -horses, and presents. Twelve days only would he permit them to gather -the captives. If man, woman, or child were lacking on the twelfth day, -he would pursue them and punish them to the uttermost ends of earth. - -The Indians were dumfounded. These were not soft words. Not thus had -the French spoken, with the giving of manifold presents. But powder -was exhausted. No more was coming from the French traders of the -Mississippi. Winter was approaching, and the Indians must hunt or -starve. Again the coureurs are sent spurring the woods from tribe to -tribe with wampum belts, but this time the belts are the white bands of -peace. While Bouquet waits he sends back over the trail for hospital -nurses to receive the captives, and the army is set knocking up rude -barracks of log and thatch in the wilderness. Then the captives begin -to come. It is a scene for the brush of artist, for all frontiersmen -who have lost friends have rallied to Bouquet's camp, hoping against -hope and afraid to hope. There is the mother, whose infant child has -been snatched from her arms in {291} some frontier attack, now scanning -the lines as they come in, mad with hope and fear. There is the -husband, whose wife has been torn away to some savage's tepee, -searching, searching, searching among the sad, wild-eyed, ill-clad -rabble for one with some resemblance to the wife he loved. There is -the father seeking lost daughters and afraid of what he may find; and -there are the captives themselves, some of the women demented from the -abuse they have received. England may have spent her millions to -protect her colonies, but she never spent in anguish what these rude -frontiersmen suffered at Bouquet's camp. - -[Illustration: RETURN OF THE ENGLISH CAPTIVES (From a contemporary -print)] - - -So ended what is known as the Pontiac War. Up at Detroit in 1765 -Pontiac, in council with the whites, explains that he has listened to -bad advice, but now his heart is right. "Father, you have stopped the -rum barrel while we talked," he says grimly; "as our business is -finished, we request that you open the barrel, that we may drink and be -merry." - -Not a very heroic curtain fall to a dramatic life. But pause a bit: -the Pontiac War was the last united stand of a doomed race against the -advance of the conquering alien; and the Indian is defeated, and he -knows it, and he acknowledges it, and he {292} drowns his despair in a -vice, and so he passes down the Long Trail of time with his face to the -west, doomed, hopeless, pushed westward and ever west. - -Pontiac goes down the Mississippi to his friends, the French fur -traders of St. Louis. One morning in 1767, after a drinking bout, he -is found across the river, lying in camp, with his skull split to the -neck. By the sword he had lived, by the sword he perished. Was the -murder the result of a drunken quarrel, or did some frenzied -frontiersman with deathless woes bribe the hand of the assassin? The -truth of the matter is unknown, and Pontiac's death remains a theme for -fiction. - - -What with struggles for power and Indian wars, one might think that the -few hundred English colonists of Quebec and Montreal had all they could -do. Not so: their quarrels with the French Catholics and fights with -the Indians are merely incidental to the main aim of their lives, to -the one object that has brought them stampeding to Canada as to a new -gold field, namely, quick way to wealth; and the only quick way to -wealth was by the fur trade. In the wilderness of the Up Country -wander some two or three thousand cast-off wood rovers of the old -French fur trade. As the prodigals come down the Ottawa, down the -Detroit, down the St. Lawrence, the English and Scotch merchants of -Montreal and Quebec meet them. Mighty names those merchants have in -history now,--McGillivrays and MacKenzies and McGills and Henrys and -MacLeods and MacGregors and Ogilvies and MacTavishes and Camerons,--but -at this period of the game the most of them were what we to-day would -call petty merchants or peddlers. In their storehouses--small, -one-story, frame affairs--were packed goods for trade. With these -goods they quickly outfitted the French bushrover--$3000 worth to a -canoe--and packed the fellow back to the wilderness to trade on shares -before any rival firm could hire him. Within five years of Wolfe's -victory in 1759 all the French bushrovers of the Up Country had been -reengaged by merchants of Montreal and Quebec. - -{293} - -[Illustration: MONTREAL (From a contemporary print)] - -Then imperceptible changes came,--the changes that work so silently -they are like destiny. Because it is unsafe to let the rascal -bushrovers and voyageurs go off by themselves with $3000 worth to the -canoe load, the merchants began to accompany them westward. -"Bourgeois," the voyageurs call their outfitters. Then, because -success in fur trade must be kept secret, the merchants cease to have -their men come down to Montreal. They meet them with the goods -halfway, at La Verendrye's old stamping ground on Lake Superior, first -at the place called Grand Portage, then, when the United States -boundary is changed in 1783, at Kaministiquia, or modern Fort William, -named after William McGillivray. Pontiac's War puts a stop to the new -trade, but by 1766 the merchants are west again. Henry goes up the -Saskatchewan to the Forks, and comes back with such wealth of furs he -retires a rich magnate of Montreal. The Frobisher brothers strike for -new hunting ground. So do Peter Pond and Bostonnais Pangman, and the -MacKenzies, Alexander {294} and Roderick. Instead of following up the -Saskatchewan, they strike from Lake Winnipeg northward for Churchill -River and Athabasca, and they bring out furs that transform those -peddlers into merchant princes. A little later the chief buyer of the -Montreal furs is one John Jacob Astor of New York. Then another -change. Rivalry hurts fur trade. Especially do different prices -demoralize the Indians. The Montreal merchants pool their capital and -become known as the Northwest Fur Company. They now hire their -voyageurs outright on a salary. No man is paid less than what would be -$500 in modern money, with board; and any man may rise to be clerk, -trader, wintering partner, with shares worth 800 pounds ($4000), that -bring dividends of two and three hundred per cent. The petty merchants -whom Murray and Carleton despised became in twenty years the opulent -aristocracy of Montreal, holding the most of the public offices, -dominating the government, filling the judgeships, and entertaining -with a lavish hospitality that put vice-regal splendor in the shade. -The Beaver Club is the great rendezvous of the Montreal partners. -"Fortitude in Distress" is the motto and lords of the ascendant is -their practice. No man, neither governor nor judge, may ignore these -Nor'westers, and it may be added they are a law unto themselves. One -example will suffice. A French merchant of Montreal took it into his -head to have a share of this wealth-giving trade. He was advised to -pool his interests with the Nor'westers, and he foolishly ignored the -advice. In camp at Grand Portage on Lake Superior he is told all the -country hereabout belongs to the Nor'westers, and _he_ must decamp. - -"Show me proofs this country is yours," he answers. "Show me the title -deed and I shall decamp." - -Next night a band of Nor'westers, voyageurs well plied with rum, came -down the strand to the intruder's tents. They cut his tents to -ribbons, scatter his goods to the four winds, and beat his voyageurs -into insensibility. - -"Voila! there are our proofs," they say. - -The French merchant hastens down to Montreal to bring lawsuit, but the -judges, you must remember, are shareholders in the {295} Northwest -Company, and many of the Legislative Council are Nor'westers. What -with real delays and sham delays and put-offs and legal fees, justice -is a bit tardy. While the case is pending the French merchant tries -again. This time he is not molested at Fort William. They let him -proceed on his way up the old trail to Lake of the Woods, the trail -found by La Verendrye; and halfway through the wilderness, where the -cataract offers only one path for portage, the Frenchman finds -Nor'-westers building a barricade; he tears it down. They build -another; he tears that down. They build a third; fast as he tears -down, they build up. He must either go back baffled by these suave, -smiling, lawless rivals, or fight on the spot to the death; but there -is neither glory nor wealth being killed in the wilderness, where not -so much as the sands of the shore will tell the true story of the -crime. So the French merchant compromises, sells out to the -Nor'westers at cost plus carriage, and retires to the St. Lawrence -cursing British justice. - - -It may be guessed that the sudden eruption of "the peddlers," these -bush banditti, these Scotch soldiers of fortune with French bullies for -fighters, roused the ancient and honorable Hudson's Bay Company from -its half-century slumber of peace. Anthony Hendry, who had gone up the -Saskatchewan far as the Blackfoot country of the foothills, they had -dismissed as a liar in the fifties because he had reported that he had -seen _Indians on horseback_, whereas the sleepy factors of the bay -ports knew very well they never saw any kind of Indians except Indians -in canoes; but now in the sixties it is noted by the company that not -so many furs are coming down from the Up Country. It is voted "the -French Canadian peddlers of Montreal" be notified of the company's -exclusive monopoly to the trade of these regions. One Findley is sent -to Quebec to look after the Hudson's Bay Company's rights; but while -the English company _talks_ about its rights, the Nor'westers go in the -field and _take_ them. - -The English company rubs its eyes and sits up and scratches its heavy -head, and passes an order that Mr. Moses Norton, chief {296} factor of -Churchill, send Mr. Samuel Hearne to explore the Up Country. Hearne -has heard of Far-Away-Metal River, far enough away in all conscience -from the Canadian peddlers; and thither in December, 1770, he finds his -way, after two futile attempts to set out. Matonabbee, great chief of -the Chippewyans, is his guide,--Matonabbee, who brings furs from the -Athabasca, and is now accompanied by a regiment of wives to act as -beasts of burden in the sledge traces, camp servants, and cooks. -Hearne sets out in midwinter in order to reach the Coppermine River in -summer, by which he can descend to the Arctic in canoes. Storm or -cold, bog or rock, Matonabbee keeps fast pace, so fast he reaches the -great caribou traverse before provisions have dwindled and in time for -the spring hunt. Here all the Indian hunters of the north gather twice -a year to hunt the vast herds of caribou going to the seashore for -summer, back to the Up Country for the winter, herds in countless -thousands upon thousands, such multitudes the clicking of the horns -sounds like wind in a leafless forest, the tramp of the hoofs like -galloping cavalry. Store of meat is laid up for Hearne's voyage by -Matonabbee's Indians; and a band of warriors joins the expedition to go -down Coppermine River. If Hearne had known Indian customs as well as -he knew the fur trade, he would have known that it boded no good when -Matonabbee ordered the women to wait for his return in the Athabasca -country of the west. Absence of women on the march meant only one of -two things, a war raid or hunt, and which it was soon enough Hearne -learned. They had come at last, on July 12, 1771, on Coppermine River, -a mean little stream flowing over rocky bed in the Barren Lands of the -Little Sticks (Trees), when Hearne noticed, just above a cataract, the -domed tepee tops of an Eskimo camp. It was night, but as bright as day -in the long light of the North. Instantly, before Hearne could stop -them, his Indians had stripped as for war, and fell upon the sleeping -Eskimo in ruthless massacre. Men were brained as they dashed from the -domed tents, women speared as they slept, children dispatched with less -thought than the white man would give to the killing of a fly. In vain -Hearne, {297} with tears in his eyes, begged the Indians to stop. They -laughed him to scorn, and doubtless wondered where he thought they -yearly got the ten thousand beaver pelts brought to Churchill. A few -days later, July 17, 1771, Hearne stood on the shores of the Arctic, -heaving to the tide and afloat with ice; but the horrors of the -massacre had robbed him of an explorer's exultation, though he was -first of pathfinders to reach the Arctic overland. Matonabbee led -Hearne back to Churchill in June of 1772 by a wide westward circle -through the Athabasca Bear Lake Country, which the Hudson's Bay people -thus discovered only a few years before the Nor'westers came. - -[Illustration: SAMUEL HEARNE] - -No longer dare the Hudson's Bay Company ignore the Up Country. Hearne -is sent to the Saskatchewan to build Fort Cumberland, and Matthew -Cocking is dispatched to the country of the Blackfeet, modern Alberta, -to beat up trade, where his French voyageur, Louis Primeau, deserts him -bag and baggage, to carry the Hudson's Bay furs off to the Nor'westers. -No longer does the English company slumber on the shores of its frozen -sea. Yearly are voyageurs sent inland,--"patroons of the woods," given -bounty to stay in the wilds, luring any trade from the Nor'westers. - - -The Quebec Act, guaranteeing the rights of the French Canadians, had -barely been put in force before the Congress of the {298} revolting -English colonies sent up proclamations to be posted on the church doors -of the parishes, calling on the French to throw off the British yoke, -to join the American colonies, "to seize the opportunity to be free." -Unfortunately for this alluring invitation, Congress had but a few -weeks previously put on record its unsparing condemnation of the Quebec -Act. Inspired by those New Englanders who, for a century, had suffered -from French raids, Congress had expressed its verdict on the privileges -granted to Quebec in these words: "_Nor can we supress our astonishment -that a British Parliament should establish a religion that has drenched -your island_ [England] _in blood_." This declaration was the cardinal -blunder of Congress as far as Canada was concerned. Of the merits of -the quarrel the simple French habitant knew nothing. He did what his -cure told him to do; and the Catholic Church would not risk casting in -its lot with a Congress that declared its religion had drenched England -in blood. English inhabitants of Montreal and Quebec, who had flocked -to Canada from the New England colonies, were far readier to listen to -the invitation of Congress than were the French. - -Governor Carleton had fewer than 800 troops, and naturally the French -did not rally as volunteers in the impending war between England and -her English colonies. Should the Congress troops invade Canada? The -question was hanging fire when Ethan Allen, with his two hundred Green -Mountain boys of Vermont, marched across to Lake Champlain in May of -1775, hobnobbed with the guards of Ticonderoga, who drank not wisely -but too well, then rowed by night across the narrows and knocked at the -wicket beside the main gate. The sleepy guards, not yet sober from the -night's carouse, admitted the Vermonters as friends. In rushed the -whole two hundred. In a trice the Canadian garrison of forty-four were -all captured and Allen was thundering on the chamber door of La Place, -the commandant. It was five in the morning. La Place sprang up in his -nightshirt and demanded in whose name he was ordered to surrender. -Ethan Allen answered in words that have gone {299} down to history, -"_In the name of the Great Jehovah and the Continental Congress_." -Later fell Crown Point. So began the war with Canada in the great -Revolution. - -And now, from May to September, Arnold's Green Mountain boys sweep from -Lake Champlain down the Richelieu to the St. Lawrence, as Iberville's -bold bushrovers long ago swept through these woods. However, the -American rovers take no permanent occupation of the different forts on -the falls of the Richelieu River, preferring rather to overrun the -parishes, dispatching secret spies and waiting for the habitants to -rally. And they came once too often, once too far, these bold banditti -of the wilderness, clad in buckskin, musket over shoulder, coonskin -cap! Montreal is so full of spies, so full of friendlies, so full of -Bostonnais in sympathy with the revolutionists, that Allen feels safe -in paddling across the St. Lawrence one September morning to the -Montreal side with only one hundred and fifty men. Montreal has grown -in these ten years to a city of some twelve thousand, but the gates are -fast shut against the American scouts; and while Allen waits in some -barns of the suburbs, presto! out sallies Major Garden with twice as -many men armed to the teeth, who assault the barns at a rush. Five -Americans drop at the first crack of the rifles. The Canadians are -preparing to set fire to the barns. Allen's men will be picked off as -they rush from the smoke. Wisely, he saves his Green Mountain boys by -surrender. Thirty-five capitulate. The rest have escaped through the -woods. Carleton refuses to acknowledge the captives as prisoners of -war. He claps irons on their hands and irons on their feet and places -them on a vessel bound for England to be treated as rebels to the -crown. It is said those of Allen's men who deserted were French -Canadians in disguise--which may explain why Carleton made such severe -example of his captives and at once purged Montreal of the disaffected -by compelling all who would not take arms to leave. - -Carleton's position was chancy enough in all conscience. The habitants -were wavering. They refused point-blank to serve as volunteers. They -supplied the invaders with provisions. Spies were everywhere. -Practically no help could come from {300} England till spring, and -scouts brought word that two American armies were now marching in force -on Canada,--one by way of the Richelieu, twelve hundred strong, led by -Richard Montgomery of New York, directed against Montreal; the other by -way of the Kennebec, with fifteen hundred men under Benedict Arnold, to -attack Quebec. Carleton is at Montreal. He rushes his troops, six -hundred and ninety out of eight hundred men, up the Richelieu to hold -the forts at Chambly and St. John's against Montgomery's advance. - -Half September and all October Montgomery camps on the plains before -Fort St. John's, his rough soldiers clad for the most part in their -shirt sleeves, trousers, and coon cap, with badges of "Liberty or -Death" worked in the cap bands, or sprigs of green put in their hats, -in lieu of soldier's uniform. Inside the fort, Major Preston, the -English commander, has almost seven hundred men, with ample powder. It -is plain to Montgomery that he can win the fort in only one of two -ways,--shut off provisions and starve the garrison out, or get -possession of heavy artillery to batter down the walls. It is said -that fortune favors the dauntless. So it was with Montgomery, for he -was enabled to besiege the fort in both ways. Carleton had rushed a -Colonel McLean to the relief of St. John's with a force of French -volunteers, but the French deserted en masse. McLean was left without -any soldiers. This cut off St. John's from supply of provisions. At -Chambly Fort was a Major Stopford with eighty men and a supply of heavy -artillery. Montgomery sent a detachment to capture Chambly for the -sake of its artillery. Stopford surrendered to the Americans without a -blow, and the heavy cannon were forthwith trundled along the river to -Montgomery at St. John's. Preston sends frantic appeal to Carleton for -help. He has reduced his garrison to half rations, to quarter rations, -to very nearly no rations at all! Carleton sends back secret express. -He can send no help. He has no more men. Montgomery tactfully lets -the message pass in. After siege of forty-five days, Preston -surrenders with all the honors of war, his six hundred and eighty-eight -men marching {301} out, arms reversed, and going aboard Montgomery's -ships to proceed as prisoners up Lake Champlain. - -The way is now open to Montreal. Benedict Arnold, meanwhile, with the -army directed against Quebec, has crossed from the Kennebec to the -Chaudiere, paddled across St. Lawrence River, and on the very day that -Montgomery's troops take possession of Montreal, November 13, Arnold's -army has camped on the Plains of Abraham behind Quebec walls, whence he -scatters his foragers, ravaging the countryside far west as Three -Rivers for provisions. The trials of his canoe voyage from Maine to -the St. Lawrence at swift pace have been terrific. More than half his -men have fallen away either from illness or open desertion. Arnold has -fewer than seven hundred men as he waits for Montgomery at Quebec. - -[Illustration: GENERAL RICHARD MONTGOMERY] - -What of Guy Carleton, the English governor, now? Canada's case seemed -hopeless. The flower of her army had been taken prisoners, and no help -could come before May. Desperate circumstances either make or break a -man, prove or undo him. As reverses closed in on Carleton, like the -wrestlers of old he but took tighter grip of his resolutions. - -On November 11, two days before Preston's men surrendered, Carleton, -with two or three military officers disguised as peasants, boarded one -of three armed vessels to go down from Montreal to Quebec. All the -cannon at Montreal had been dismounted and spiked. What powder could -not be carried {302} away was buried or thrown into the river. Amid -funereal silence, shaking hands sadly with the Montreal friends who had -gathered at the wharf to say farewell, the English Governor left -Montreal. That night the wind failed, and the three vessels lay to -with limp sails. At Sorel, at Three Rivers, at every hamlet on both -sides of the St. Lawrence, lay American scouts to capture the English -Governor. All next day the vessels lay wind-bound. Desperate for the -fate of Quebec, Carleton embarked on a river barge propelled by sweeps. -Passing Sorel at night Carleton and his disguised officers could see -the camp fires of the American army. Here oars were laid aside and the -raft steadied down the tide by the rowers paddling with the palms of -their hands. Three Rivers was found in possession of the Americans, -and a story is told of Carleton, foredone from lack of sleep, dozing in -an eating house or tavern with his head sunk forward upon his hands, -when two or three American scouts broke into the room. Not a sign did -the English party in peasant disguise give of alarm or uneasiness, -which might have betrayed the Governor. "Come, come," said one of the -English officers in French, slapping Sir Guy Carleton carelessly on the -back, "we must be going"; and the Governor escaped unsuspected. -November 19, to the inexpressible relief of Quebec Carleton reached the -capital city. - -Quebec now had a population of some five thousand. All able-bodied men -who would not fight were expelled from the city. What with the small -garrison, some marines who happened to be in port, and the citizens -themselves, eighteen hundred defenders were mustered. On the walls -were a hundred and fifty heavy cannon, and all the streets leading from -Lower to Upper Town had been barricaded with cannon mounted above. At -each of the city gates were posted battalions. Sentries never left the -walls, and the whole army literally slept in its boots. It will be -remembered that the natural position of Quebec was worth an army in -itself. On all sides there was access only by steepest climb. In -front, where the modern visitor ascends from the wharf to Upper Town by -Mountain Street {303} steep as a stair, barricades had been built. To -the right, where flows St. Charles River past Lower Town, platforms -mounted with cannon guarded approach. To the rear was the wall behind -which camped Arnold; to the left sheer precipice, above which the -defenders had suspended swinging lanterns that lighted up every -movement on the path below along the St. Lawrence. - -[Illustration: MAP OF QUEBEC DURING SIEGE OF CONGRESS TROOPS] - -Early in December comes Montgomery himself to Quebec, on the very ships -which Carleton had abandoned. Carleton refuses even the letter -demanding surrender. Montgomery is {304} warned that forthwith any -messenger sent to the walls will come at peril of being shot as rebel. -Henceforth what communication Montgomery has with the inhabitants must -be by throwing proclamations inside or bribing old habitant women as -carriers,--for the habitants continue to pass in and out of the city -with provisions; and a deserter presently brings word that Montgomery -has declared he will "_eat his Christmas dinner in Quebec or in Hell_!" -Whereupon Carleton retorts, "He may choose his own place, but he shan't -eat it in Quebec." - -Montgomery was now in the same position as Wolfe at the great siege. -His troops daily grew more ragged; many were without shoes, and -smallpox was raging in camp. He could not tempt his foe to come out -and fight; therefore he must assault the foe in its own stronghold. It -will be remembered, Wolfe had feigned attack to the fore, and made the -real attack to the rear. Montgomery reversed the process. He feigned -attack to the rear gates of St. John and St. Louis, and made the real -attack to the fore from the St. Charles and the St. Lawrence. While a -few soldiers were to create noisy hubbub at St. John and St. Louis -gates from the back of the city, Arnold was to march through Lower Town -from the Charles River side, Montgomery along the narrow cliff below -the Citadel, through Lower Town, to that steep Mountain Street which -tourists to-day ascend directly from the wharves of the St. Lawrence. -On the squares of Upper Town the two armies were to unite and fight -Carleton. The plan of attack practically encompassed the city from -every side. Spies had brought rumors to Carleton that the signal for -assault for the American troops was to be the first dark stormy night. -Christmas passed quietly enough without Montgomery carrying out his -threat, and on the night before New Year's all was quiet. Congress -soldiers had dispersed among the taverns outside the walls, and -Carleton felt so secure he had gone comfortably to bed. For a month, -shells from the American guns had been whizzing over Upper Town, with -such small damage that citizens had continued to go about as usual. On -the walls was a constant popping from the sharpshooters of both sides, -and occasionally {305} an English sentry, parading the walls at -imminent risk of being a target, would toss down a cheery "Good morrow, -gentlemen," to a Congress trooper below. Then, quick as a flash, both -men would lift and fire; but the results were small credit to the aim -of either shooter, for the sentry would duck off the wall untouched, -just as the American dashed for hiding behind barricade or house of -Lower Town. Some of the Americans wanted to know what were the -lanterns and lookouts which the English had constructed above the -precipice of Cape Diamond. Some wag of a habitant answered these were -the sign of a wooden horse with hay in front of it, and that the -English general, Carleton, had said he would not surrender the town -till the horse had caught up to the hay. Skulking riflemen of the -Congress troops had taken refuge in the mansion of Bigot's former -magnificence, the Intendant's Palace, and Carleton had ordered the -cannoneers on his walls to knock the house down. So fell the house of -Bigot's infamy. - -Towards 2 A.M. of December 31 the wind began to blow a hurricane. The -bright moonlight became obscured by flying clouds, and earth and air -were wrapped in a driving storm of sleet. Instantly the Congress -troops rallied to their headquarters behind the city. Montgomery at -quick march swept down the steep cliff of the river to the shore road, -and in the teeth of a raging wind led his men round under the heights -of Cape Diamond to the harbor front. Heads lowered against the wind, -coonskin caps pulled low over eyes, ash-colored flannel shirts buttoned -tight to necks, gun casings and sacks wrapped loosely round loaded -muskets to keep out the damp, the marchers tramped silently through the -storm. Overhead was the obscured glare where the lanterns hung out in -a blare of snow above Cape Diamond. Here rockets were sent up as a -signal to Arnold on St. Charles River. Then Montgomery's men were -among the houses of Lower Town, noting well that every window had been -barricaded and darkened from cellar to attic. Somewhere along the -narrow path in front of the town Montgomery knew that barricades had -been built with cannon behind, but he trusted to the storm concealing -his approach till his men could capture them at a rush. At Pres {306} -de Ville, just where the traveler approaching harbor front may to-day -see a tablet erected in memory of the invasion, was a barricade. -Montgomery halted his men. Scouts returned with word that all was -quiet and in darkness--the English evidently asleep; and uncovering -muskets, the Congress fighters dashed forward at a run. But it was the -silence that precedes the thunderclap. The English had known that the -storm was to signal attack, and guessing that the rockets foretokened -the assailants' approach, they had put out all lights behind the -barricade. Until Montgomery's men were within a few feet of the log, -there was utter quiet; then a voice shrieked out, "Fire!--fire!" -Instantly a flash of flame met the runners like a wall. Groans and -screams split through the muffling storm. Montgomery and a dozen -others fell dead. The rest had broken away in retreat,--a rabble -without a commander,--carrying the wounded. Behind the barricade was -almost as great confusion among the English, for Quebec's defenders -were made up of boys of fifteen and old men of seventy, and the first -crash of battle had been followed by a panic, when half the guards -would have thrown down their arms if one John Coffin, an expelled -royalist from Boston, had not shouted out that he would throw the first -man who attempted to desert into the river. - -Meantime, how had it gone with Arnold? - -[Illustration: SIR GUY CARLETON] - -An English officer was passing near St. Louis Gate when, sometime after -two o'clock, he noticed rockets go up from the river beyond Cape -Diamond. He at once sounded the alarm. Bugles called to arms, drums -rolled, and every bell in the city was set ringing. In less than ten -minutes every man of Quebec's eighteen hundred was in place. American -soldiers marching through St. Roch, Lower Town, have described how the -tolling of the bells rolling through the storm smote cold on their -hearts, for they knew their designs had been discovered, and they could -not turn back, for a juncture must be effected with Montgomery. A -moment later the sham assaults were peppering the rear gates of Quebec, -but Guy Carleton was too crafty a campaigner to be tricked by any sham. -He rightly guessed that the real attack {307} would be made on one of -the two weaker spots leading up from Lower Town. "Now is the time to -show what stuff you are made of," he called to the soldiers, as he -ordered more detachments to the place whence came crash of heaviest -firing. This was at Sault-au-Matelot Street, a narrow, steep -thoroughfare, barely twenty feet from side to side. Up this little -tunnel of a street Arnold had rushed his men, surmounting one barricade -where they exchanged their own wet muskets for the dry guns of the -English deserters, dashing into houses to get possession of windows as -vantage points, over, some accounts say, yet another obstruction, till -his whole army was cooped up in a canyon of a street directly below the -hill front on which had been erected a platform with heavy guns. It -was a gallant rush, but it was futile, for now Carleton outgeneraled -Arnold. Guessing from the distance of the shots that the attack to the -rear was sheer sham, the English general rushed his fighters downhill -by another gate to catch Arnold on the rear. Quebec houses are built -close and cramped. While these troops were stealing in behind Arnold -to close on him like a trap, it was easy trick for another English -battalion to scramble over house roofs, over back walls, and up the -very stairs of houses where Arnold's troops were guarding the windows. -Then Arnold was carried past his men badly wounded. "We are sold," -muttered the Congress troops, "caught like rats in a trap." Still they -pressed toward in hand to hand scuffle, with shots at such close range -the Boston soldiers were {308} shouting, "Quebec men, do not fire on -your true friends!" with absurd pitching of each other by the scruff of -the neck from the windows. Daylight only served to make plainer the -desperate plight of the entrapped raiders. At ten o'clock five hundred -Congress soldiers surrendered. It must not for one moment be forgotten -that each side was fighting gallantly for what it believed to be right, -and each bore the other the respect due a good fighter and upright foe. -In fact, with the exception of two or three episodes mutually -regretted, it may be said there were fewer bitter thoughts that New -Year's morning than have arisen since from this war. The captured -Americans had barely been sent to quarters in convents and hospitals -before a Quebec merchant sent them a gift of several hogsheads of -porter. When the bodies of Montgomery and his fellow-comrades in death -were found under the snowdrifts, they were reverently removed, and -interred with the honors of war just inside St. Louis Gate. - -Though the invaders were defeated, Quebec continued to be invested till -spring, the thud of exploding bombs doing little harm except in the -case of one family, during spring, when a shell fell through the roof -to a dining-room table, killing a son where he sat at dinner. As the -ice cleared from the river in spring, both sides were on the watch for -first aid. Would Congress send up more soldiers on transports; or -would English frigates be rushed to the aid of Quebec? The Americans -were now having trouble collecting food from the habitants, for the -French doubted the invaders' success, and Congress paper money would be -worthless to the holders. One beautiful clear May moonlight night a -vessel was espied between nine and ten at night coming up the river -full sail before the wind. Was she friend or foe? Carleton and his -officers gazed anxiously from the citadel. Guns were fired as signal. -No answer came from the ship. Again she was hailed, and again; yet she -failed to hang out English colors. Carleton then signaled he would -sink her, and set the rampart cannon sweeping her bows. In a second -she was ablaze, a fire ship sent by the enemy loaded with shells and -grenades and bombs that shot off like a fusillade of rockets. At the -same time a boat was seen rowing from the {309} far side of her with -terrific speed. Carleton's precaution had prevented the destruction of -the harbor fleet. Three days later, at six in the morning, the firing -of great guns announced the coming of an English frigate. At once -every man, woman, and child of Quebec poured down to the harbor front, -half-dressed, mad with joy. By midday, Guy Carleton had led eight -hundred soldiers out to the Plains of Abraham to give battle against -the Americans; but General Thomas of the Congress army did not wait. -Such swift flight was taken that artillery, stores, tents, uneaten -dinners cooked and on the table, were abandoned to Carleton's men. -General Thomas himself died of smallpox at Sorel. At Montreal all was -confusion. The city had been but marking time, pending the swing of -victory at Quebec. In the spring of 1776 Congress had sent three -commissioners to Montreal to win Canada for the new republic. One was -the famous Benjamin Franklin, another a prominent Catholic; but the -French Canadian clergy refused to forget the attack of Congress on the -Quebec Act, and remained loyal to England. - -[Illustration: BENEDICT ARNOLD] - -For almost a year, in desultory fashion, the campaign against Canada -dragged on, Carleton reoccupying and fortifying Montreal, Three Rivers, -St. John's, and Chamby, then pushing up Champlain Lake in October of -1776, with three large vessels and ninety small ones. Between Valcour -Island and the mainland he caught Benedict Arnold with the Congress -boats on October 11, and succeeded in battering them to pieces before -{310} Arnold could extricate them. As the boats sank, the American -crews escaped ashore; but the English went no farther south than Crown -Point this year. If Carleton had failed at Quebec, there can be no -doubt Canada would have been permanently lost to England; for the -following year France openly espoused the cause of Congress, and -proclamations were secretly smuggled all through Canada to be posted on -church doors, calling on Canadians to remain loyal to France. -Curiously enough, it was Washington, the leader of the Americans, who -checkmated this move. With a wisdom almost prophetic, he foresaw that -if France helped the United States, and then demanded Canada as her -reward, the old border warfare would be renewed with tenfold more -terror. No longer would it be bushrover pitted against frontiersmen. -It would be France against Congress, and Washington refused to give the -aid of Congress to the scheme of France embroiling America in European -wars. The story of how Clark, the American, won the Mississippi forts -for Congress is not part of Canada's history, nor are the terrible -border raids of Butler and Brant, the Mohawk, who sided with the -English, and left the Wyoming valley south of the Iroquois Confederacy -a blackened wilderness, and the homes of a thousand settlers smoking -ruins. It is this last raid which gave the poet Campbell his theme in -"Gertrude of Wyoming." By the Treaty of Versailles, in 1783, England -acknowledged the independence of the United States, and Canada's area -was shorn of her fairest territory by one fell swath. Instead of the -Ohio being the southern boundary, the middle line of the Great Lakes -divided Canada from her southern neighbor. The River Ste. Croix was to -separate Maine from New Brunswick. The sole explanation of this loss -to Canada was that the American commissioners knew their business and -the value of the ceded territory, and the English commissioners did -not. It is one of the many conspicuous examples of what loyalty has -cost Canada. England is to give up the western posts to the United -States, from Miami to Detroit and Michilimackinac and Grand Portage. -In return the United States federal government is to recommend to the -States {311} Governments that all property confiscated from Royalists -during the war be restored. - - -[Illustration: GENERAL HALDIMAND] - -General Haldimand, a Swiss who has served in the Seven Years' War, -succeeds Carleton as governor in 1778. The times are troublous. There -is still a party in favor of Congress. The great unrest, which ends in -the French Revolution, disturbs habitants' life. Then that provision -of the Quebec Act, by which legislative councilors were to be nominated -by the crown, works badly. Councilors, judges, crown attorneys, even -bailiffs are appointed by the colonial office of London, and find it -more to their interests to stay currying favor in London than to attend -to their duties in Canada. The country is cursed by the evil of absent -officeholders, who draw salaries and appoint incompetent deputies to do -the work. As for the social unrest that fills the air, Haldimand claps -the malcontents in jail till the storm blows over; but the tricks of -speculators, who have flocked to Canada, give trouble of another sort. -Naturally the ring of English speculators, rather than the impoverished -French, became ascendant in foreign trade, and during the American war -the ring got such complete control of the wheat supply that bread -jumped to famine price. Just as he had dealt with the malcontents -soldier fashion, so Haldimand now had a law passed forbidding tricks -with the price of wheat. Like Carleton, {312} Haldimand too came down -hard on the land-jobbers, who tried to jockey poor French peasants out -of their farms for bailiff's fees. It may be guessed that Haldimand -was not a popular governor with the English clique. Nevertheless, he -kept sumptuous bachelor quarters at his mansion near Montmorency Falls, -was a prime favorite with the poor and with the soldiers, and sometimes -deigned to take lessons in pickle making and home keeping from the -grand dames of Quebec. In 1786 Carleton comes back as Lord Dorchester. - - -Congress had promised to protect the property of those Royalists who -had fought on the losing side in the American Revolution, but for -reasons beyond the control of Congress, that promise could not be -carried out. It was not Congress but the local governments of each -individual state that controlled property rights. In vain Congress -recommended the States Governments to restore the property confiscated -from the Royalists. The States Governments were in a condition of -chaos, packed by jobbers and land-grabbers and the riffraff that always -infest the beginnings of a nation. Instead of protecting the -Royalists, the States Governments passed laws confiscating more -property and depriving those who had fought for England of even holding -office. It was easy for the tricksters who had got possession of the -loyalists' lands to create a social ostracism that endangered the very -lives of the beaten Royalists, and there set towards Canada the great -emigration of the United Empire Loyalists. To Nova Scotia, to New -Brunswick, to Prince Edward Island, to Ontario, they came from Virginia -and Pennsylvania and New York and Massachusetts and Vermont, in -thousands upon thousands. The story of their sufferings and far -wanderings has never been told and probably never will, for there is -little official record of it; but it can be likened only to the -expulsion of the Acadians multiplied a hundredfold. To the Maritime -Provinces alone came more than thirty thousand people. To the eastern -townships of Quebec, to the regions of Kingston and Niagara and Toronto -in Ontario came some twenty thousand more. It needs no {313} trick of -fancy to call up the scene, and one marvels that neither poet nor -novelist has yet made use of it. Here were fine old Royalist officers -of New York reduced from opulence to penury, from wealth to such -absolute destitution they had neither clothing nor food, nor money to -pay ship's passage away, now crowded with their families, and such -wrecks of household goods as had escaped raid and fire, on some cheap -government transport or fishing schooner bound from New York Harbor to -Halifax or Fundy Bay. Of the thirteen thousand people bound for -Halifax there can scarcely be a family that has not lost brothers or -sons in the war. Family plate, old laces, heirlooms, even the father's -sword in some cases, have long ago been pawned for food. If one finds, -as one does find all through Nova Scotia, fine old mahogany and walnut -furniture brought across by the Loyalists, it is only because walnut -and mahogany were not valued at the time of the Revolution as they are -to-day. And instead of welcome at Halifax, the refugees met with -absolute consternation! What is a town of five thousand people to do -with so many hungry visitants? They are quartered about in churches, -in barracks, in halls knocked up, till they can be sent to farms. And -these are not common immigrants coming fresh from toil in the fields of -Europe; they are gently nurtured men and women, representing the -aristocracy and wealth and conservatism of New York. This explains why -one finds among the prominent families of Nova Scotia the same names as -among the most prominent families of Massachusetts and New York. To -the officers and heads of families the English government granted from -two thousand to five thousand acres each, and to sons and daughters of -Loyalists two hundred acres each, besides 3,000,000 pounds in cash, as -necessity for it arose. - -On the north side of Fundy Bay hardships were even greater, for the -Loyalists landed from their ships on the homeless shores of the -wildwood wilderness. Rude log cabins of thatch roof and plaster walls -were knocked up, and there began round the log cabin that tiny clearing -which was to expand into the farm. The coming of the Loyalists really -peopled both New Brunswick {314} and Prince Edward Island: the former -becoming a separate province in 1784, named after the ruling house of -England; the latter named after the Duke of Kent, who was in command of -the garrison at Charlottetown. - -More strenuous still was the migration of the United Empire Loyalists -from the south. Rich old planters of Virginia and Maryland, who had -had their colored servants by the score, now came with their families -in rude tented wagons, fine chippendales jumbled with heavy mahogany -furnishings, up the old Cumberland army road to the Ohio, and across -from the Ohio to the southern townships of Quebec, to the backwoods of -Niagara and Kingston and Toronto and modern Hamilton, and west as far -as what is now known as London. I have heard descendants of these old -southern Loyalists tell how hopelessly helpless were these planters' -families, used to hundreds of negro servants and now bereft of help in -a backwoods wilderness. It took but a year or so to wear out the fine -laces and pompous ruffles of their aristocratic clothing, and men and -women alike were reduced to the backwoods costume of coon cap, homespun -garments, and Indian moccasins. Often one could witness such anomalies -in their log cabins as gilt mirrors and spindly glass cabinets ranged -in the same apartment as stove and cooking utensils. If the health of -the father failed or the war had left him crippled, there was nothing -for it but for the mother to take the helm; and many a Canadian can -trace lineage back to a United Empire Loyalist woman who planted the -first crop by hand with a hoe and reaped the first crop by hand with a -sickle. Sometimes the jovial habits of the planter life came with the -Loyalists to Canada, and winter witnessed a furbishing up of old -flounces and laces to celebrate all-night dance in log houses where -partitions were carpets and tapestries hung up as walls. Sometimes, -too,--at least I have heard descendants of the eastern township people -tell the story,--the jovial habits kept the father tippling and card -playing at the village inn while the lonely mother kept watch and ward -in the cabin of the snow-padded forests. Of necessity the Loyalists -banded together to {315} help one another. There were "sugarings off" -in the maple woods every spring for the year's supply of homemade -sugar,--glorious nights and days in the spring forests with the sap -trickling from the trees to the scooped-out troughs; with the grown-ups -working over the huge kettle where the molasses was being boiled to -sugar; with the young of heart, big and little, gathering round the -huge bonfires at night in the woods for the sport of a taffy pull, with -molasses dripping on sticks and huge wooden spoons taken from the pot. -There were threshings when the neighbors gathered together to help one -another beat out their grain from the straw with a flail. There were -"harvest homes" and "quilting bees" and "loggings" and "barn raisings." -Clothes were homemade. Sugar was homemade. Soap was homemade. And -for years and years the only tea known was made from steeping dry -leaves gathered in the woods; the only coffee made from burnt peas -ground up. Such were the United Empire Loyalists, whose lives some -unheralded poet will yet sing,--not an unfit stock for a nation's -empire builders. - - -At the same time that the Loyalists came to Canada, came Joseph -Brant,--Thayendanegea, the Mohawk,--with the remnant of his tribe, who -had fought for the English. To them the government granted some -700,000 acres in Ontario. - -[Illustration: JOSEPH BRANT] - -{316} It is not surprising that the United Empire Loyalists objected to -living under the French laws of the Quebec Act. They had fought for -England against Congress, but they wanted representative government, -and the Constitutional Act was passed in 1791 dividing the country into -Upper and Lower Canada, each to have its own parliament consisting of a -governor, a legislative council appointed by the crown, and an assembly -elected by the people. There was to be no religious test. Naturally -old French laws would prevail in Quebec, English laws in Ontario or -Upper Canada. By this act, too, land known as the Clergy Reserves was -set apart for the Protestant Church. The first parliament in Quebec -met in the bishop's palace in December of 1792; the first parliament of -Ontario in Newark or Niagara in September of the same year, the most of -the newly elected members coming by canoe and dugout, and, as the -Indian summer of that autumn proved hot, holding many of the sessions -in shirt sleeves out under the trees, Lieutenant Governor Simcoe -reporting that the electors seem to have favored "men of the lower -order, who kept but one table and ate with their servants." The -earliest sessions of the Ontario House were marked by acts to remove -the capital from the boundary across to Toronto, and to legalize -marriages by Protestant clergymen other than of the English church. It -is amusing to read how Governor Simcoe regarded the marriage bill as an -opening of the flood gates to {317} republicanism; but for all their -shirt sleeves, the legislators enjoyed themselves and danced till -morning in Navy Hall, the Governor's residence, "Mad Tom Talbot," the -Governor's aid-de-camp, losing his heart to the fine eyes of Brant's -Indian niece, daughter of Sir William Johnson of the old Lake George -battle. - -[Illustration: LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR SIMCOE] - -Down at Quebec things were managed with more pomp, and no social event -was complete without the presence of the Duke of Kent, military -commandant, now living in Haldimand's old house at Montmorency. Nova -Scotia had held parliaments since 1758, when Halifax elected her first -members. - -Besides the United Empire Loyalists, other settlers were coming to -Canada. The Earl of Selkirk, a patriotic young Scotch nobleman, had -arranged for the removal of evicted Highlanders to Prince Edward Island -in 1803 and to Baldoon on Lake St. Clair. Then "Mad Tom Talbot," -Governor Simcoe's aid, descendant of the Talbots of Castle Malahide and -boon comrade of the young soldier who became the Duke of Wellington, -becomes so enamored of wilderness life that he gives up his career in -Europe, gains grant of lands between London and Port Dover, and lays -foundations of settlements in western Ontario, spite of the fact he -remains a bachelor. The man who had danced at royalty's balls and -drunk deep of pleasure at the beck of princes now lived in a log house -of three rooms, laughed at difficulties, "baked his own bread, milked -his own cows, made his own butter, washed his own clothes, ironed his -own linen," and taught colonists who bought his lands "how to do -without the rotten refuse of Manchester warehouses,"--the term he -applied to the broadcloth of the newcomer. - - -Under the French regime, Canada had consisted of a string of fur posts -isolated in a wilderness. It will be noticed that it now consisted of -five distinct provinces of nation builders. - - - - -{318} - -CHAPTER XIV - -FROM 1812 TO 1820 - -Hearne surrenders--Cook on the west coast--Vancouver on -Pacific--Discovery of Mackenzie River--Across to the Pacific--A smash -in bad rapids--Down Fraser River--Cause of war--The Chesapeake -outrage--War declared--Hull surrenders at Detroit--The fight round -Niagara--Soldiers exchange jokes across gorge--The traverse at -Queenston--The surrender at Queenston--1813 A dark year--Raid on -Ogdensburg--Attack on Toronto--Toronto burned--Vincent's soldiers at -Burlington Bay--Ill hap of all the generals--Laura Secord's -heroism--Campaign in the west--Moraviantown Disaster--Chrysler's -farm--De Salaberry's buglers--The charge at Chippewa--Final action at -Lundy's Lane--Great heroism on both sides--Assault at Fort Erie--End of -futile war - - -While Canada waged war for her national existence against her border -neighbors to the south, as in the days of the bushrovers' raids of old, -afar in the west, in the burnt-wood, iron-rock region of Lake Superior, -on the lonely wind-swept prairies, at the foothills where each night's -sunset etched the long shadows of the mountain peaks in somber replica -across the plains, in the forested solitude of the tumultuous Rockies -was the ragged vanguard of empire blazing a path through the -wilderness, voyageur and burnt-wood runner, trapper, and explorer, -pushing across the hinterlands of earth's ends from prairie to -mountains, and mountains to sea. - - -It was but as a side clap of the great American Revolution that the -last French cannon were pointed against the English forts on Hudson -Bay. When France sided with the American colonies a fleet of French -frigates was dispatched under the great Admiral La Perouse against the -fur posts of the English Company. One sleepy August afternoon in 1782, -when Samuel Hearne, governor of Fort Churchill, was sorting furs in the -courtyard, gates wide open, cannon unloaded, guards dispersed, the fort -was electrified by the sudden apparition of three men-of-war, sails -full blown, sides bristling with cannon, plowing over the waves -straight for the harbor gate. French colors fluttered from the -masthead. Sails rattled down. Anchors were cast, and in a few minutes -small boats were out sounding the channel for position to attack the -fort. Hearne had barely forty men, and the most of them were -decrepits, unfit for the hunting field. As sunset merged into the long -white light of northern midnight, four hundred French mariners landed -on the sands outside Churchill. {319} Hearne had no alternative. He -surrendered without a blow. The fort was looted of furs, the Indians -driven out, and a futile attempt made to blow up the massive walls. -Hearne and the other officers were carried off captives. Matonabbee, -the famous Indian guide, came back from the hunt to find the wooden -structures of Churchill in flame. He had thought the English were -invulnerable, and his pagan pride could not brook the shame of such -ignominious defeat. Withdrawing outside the shattered walls, -Matonabbee blew his brains out. A few days later Port Nelson, to the -south, had suffered like fate. The English officers were released by -La Perouse on reaching Europe. As for the fur company servants, they -waited only till the French sails had disappeared over the sea. Then -they came from hiding and rebuilt the burnt forts. Such was the last -act in the great drama of contest between France and England for -supremacy in the north. - - -For two hundred years explorers had been trying to find a northern -passage between Europe and Asia by way of America, from east to west. -Now that Canada has fallen into English hands; now, too, that the -Russian sea-otter hunters are coasting down the west side of America -towards that region which Drake discovered long ago in California, -England suddenly awakens to a passion for discovery of that mythical -Northwest Passage. Instead of seeking from east to west she sought -from west to east, and sent her navigator round the world to search for -opening along the west coast of America. To carry out the exploration -there was selected as commander that young officer, James Cook, who -helped to sound the St. Lawrence for Wolfe, and had since been cruising -the South Seas. On his ships, the _Resolution_ and the _Discovery_, -was a young man whose name was to become a household word in America, -Vancouver, a midshipman. - -March of 1778 the _Resolution_ and _Discovery_ come rolling over the -long swell of the sheeny Pacific towards Drake's land of New Albion, -California. Suddenly, one morning, the dim sky line resolved into the -clear-cut edges of high land, but by night such a roaring hurricane had -burst on the ships as drove them {320} far out from land, too far to -see the opening of Juan de Fuca, leading in from Vancouver Island, -though Cook called the cape there "Flattery," because he had hoped for -an opening and been deluded. Clearer weather found Cook abreast a -coast of sheer mountains with snowy summits jagging through the clouds -in tent peaks. A narrow entrance opened into a two-horned cove. Small -boats towed the ships in amid a flotilla of Indian dugouts whose -occupants chanted weird welcome to the echo of the surrounding hills. -Women and children were in the canoes. That signified peace. The -ships were moored to trees, and the white men went ashore in that -harbor to become famous as the rendezvous of Pacific fur traders, -Nootka Sound, on the sea side of Vancouver Island. - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN COOK] - -Presently the waters were literally swarming with Indian canoes, and in -a few days Cook's crews had received thousands of dollars' worth of -sea-otter skins for such worthless baubles as tin mirrors and brass -rings and bits of red calico. This was the beginning of the fur trade -in sea otter with Americans and English. Some of the naked savages -were observed wearing metal ornaments of European make. Cook did not -think of the Russian fur traders to the north, but easily persuaded -himself these objects had come from the English fur traders of Hudson -Bay, and so inferred there _must_ be a Northeast Passage. By April, -Cook's ships were once more afloat, {321} gliding among the sylvan -channels of countless wooded islands up past Sitka harbor, where the -Russians later built their fort, round westward beneath the towering -opal dome of Mount St. Elias, which Bering had named, to the waters -bordering Alaska; but, as the world knows, though the ships penetrated -up the channels of many roily waters, they found no open passage. Cook -comes down to the Sandwich Islands, New Year of 1779. There the vices -of his white crew arouse the enmity of the pagan savages. In a riot -over the theft of a rowboat, Cook and a few men are surrounded by an -enraged mob. By some mistake the white sailors rowing out from shore -fire on the mob surrounding Cook. Instantly a dagger rips under Cook's -shoulder blade. In another second Cook and his men are literally -hacked to pieces. All night the conch shells of the savages blow their -war challenge through the darkness and the signal fires dance on the -mountains. By dint of persuasion and threats the white men compel the -natives to restore the mangled remains of the commander. Sunday, -February 21, amid a silence as of death over the waters, the body of -the dead explorer is committed to the deep. - -[Illustration: FORT CHURCHILL, AS IT WAS IN 1777] - -[Illustration: TOTEM POLES, BRITISH COLUMBIA] - - -The chance discovery of the sea-otter trade by Cook's crew at Nootka -brings hosts of English and American adventurers to the Pacific Coast -of Canada. There is Meares, the English officer from China, who builds -a rabbit hutch of a barracks at Nootka and almost involves England and -Spain in war because the Spaniards, having discovered this region -before Cook, knock the log barracks into kindling wood and forcibly -seize an English trading ship. There is Robert Gray, the Boston -trader, who pushes the prow of his little ship, _Columbia_, up a -spacious harbor south of Juan de Fuca in May of 1792 and discovers -Columbia River, so giving the United States flag prior claim here. -There is George Vancouver, the English commander, sent out by his -government in 1791-1793 to receive Nootka formally back from the -Spaniards of California and to explore every inlet from Vancouver -Island to Alaska. As luck would have it, Vancouver, the Englishman, -and Gray, the American, are both hovering off {322} the mouth of the -Columbia in April of 1792, but a gale drives the ships offshore, though -turgid water plainly indicates the mouth of a great river somewhere -near. Vancouver goes on up north. Gray, the American, comes back, and -so Vancouver misses discovering the one great river that remains -unmapped in America. Up Puget Sound, named after his lieutenant, up -Fuca Straits, round Vancouver Island, past all those inlets like seas -on the mainland of British Columbia, coasts Vancouver, rounding south -again to Nootka in August. In Nootka lie the Spanish frigates from -California, bristling with cannon, the red and yellow flag blowing to -the wind above the palisaded fort. In solemn parade, with Maquinna, -the Nootka chief, clad in a state of nature, as guest of the festive -board, Don Quadra, the Spanish officer, dines and wines Vancouver; but -when it comes to business, that is another matter! Vancouver -understands that Spain is to surrender _all_ sovereignty north of San -Francisco. Don Quadra, with pompous bow, maintains that the -international agreement was to surrender rights only north of Juan de -Fuca, leaving the rest of the northwest coast free to all nations for -trade. Incidentally, it may be mentioned, Don Quadra was right, but -the two commanders agree to send home to their respective governments -for {323} instructions. Meanwhile Robert Gray, the American, comes -rolling into port with news he has discovered Columbia River. -Vancouver is skeptical and chagrined. Having failed to discover the -river, he goes down coast to explore it. It may be added, he sends his -men higher up the river than Gray has gone, and has England's flag of -possession as solemnly planted as though Robert Gray had never entered -Columbia's waters. The next two years Vancouver spends exploring every -nook and inlet from Columbia River to Lynn Canal. Once and for all and -forever he disproves the myth of a Northeast Passage. His work was -negative, but it established English rights where America's claims -ceased and Russia's began, namely between Columbia River and Sitka, or -in what is now known as British Columbia. - -[Illustration: CAPTAIN GEORGE VANCOUVER] - -[Illustration: NOOTKA SOUND (From an engraving in Vancouver's journal)] - -As the beaver had lured French bushrovers from the St. Lawrence to the -Rockies, so the sea otter led the way to the exploration of the Pacific -Coast. Artist's brush and novelist's pen have drawn all the romance -and the glamour and the adventure of the beaver hunter's life, but the -sea-otter hunter's life is {324} almost an untold tale. Pacific Coast -Indians were employed by the white traders for this wildest of hunting. -The sea otter is like neither otter nor beaver, though possessing -habits akin to both. In size, when full-grown, it is about the length -of a man. Its pelt has the ebony shimmer of seal tipped with silver. -Cradled on the waves, sleeping on their backs in the sea, playful as -kittens, the sea otters only come ashore when driven by fierce gales; -but they must come above to breathe, for the wave wash of storm would -smother them. Their favorite sleeping grounds used to be the kelp beds -of the Alaskan Islands. Storm or calm, to the kelp beds rode the -Indian hunters in their boats of oiled skin light as paper. If heavy -surf ran, concealing sight and sound, the hunters stood along shore -shouting through the surf and waiting for the wave wash to carry in the -dead body; if the sea were calm, the hunters circled in bands of twenty -or thirty, spearing the sea otter as it came up to breathe; but the -best hunting was when hurricane gales churned sea and air to spray. -Then the sea otter came to the kelp beds in herds, and through the -storm over the wave-dashed reefs, like very spirits of the storm -incarnate, rushed the hunters, spear in hand. It is not surprising -that the sea-otter hunters perished by tens of thousands every year, or -that the sea otter dwindled from a yield of 100,000 a year to a paltry -200 of the present day. - - -Meanwhile Nor'west traders from Montreal and Quebec, English traders -from Hudson Bay, have gone up the Saskatchewan far as the Athabasca and -the Rockies. What lies beyond? Whither runs this great river from -Athabasca Lake? Whence comes the great river from the mountains? Will -the river that flows north or the river that comes from the west, -either of them lead to the Pacific Coast, where Cook's crews found -wealth of sea otter? The lure of the Unknown is the lure of the siren. -First you possess it, then it possesses you! Cooped up in his fort on -Lake Athabasca, Alexander MacKenzie, the Nor'wester, begins wondering -about those rivers, but you can't ask business men to bank on the -Unknown, to write blank checks for profits on what {325} you may not -find. And the Nor'westers were all stern business men. For every -penny's outlay they exacted from their wintering partners and clerks -not ten but a hundredfold. And Alexander MacKenzie received no -encouragement from his company to explore these unknown rivers. The -project got possession of his mind. Sometimes he would pace the little -log barracks of Fort Chippewyan from sunset to day dawn, trying to work -out a way to explore those rivers; or, sitting before the huge hearth -place, he would dream and dream till, as he wrote his cousin Roderick, -"I did not know what I was doing or where I was." Finally he induced -his cousin to take charge of the fort for a summer. Then, assuming all -risk and outlay, he set out on his own responsibility June 3, 1789, to -follow the Great River down to the Arctic Ocean. "English Chief," who -often went down to Hudson Bay for the rival company, went as -MacKenzie's guide, and there were also in the canoes two or three white -men, some Indians as paddlers, and squaws to cook and make moccasins. - -[Illustration: FORT CHIPPEWYAN, ATHABASCA LAKE (From a recent -photograph)] - -{326} The canoes passed Peace River pouring down from the mountains; -then six dangerous rapids, where many a Nor'west voyageur had perished, -one of MacKenzie's canoes going smash over the falls with a squaw, who -swam ashore; then rampart shores came, broader and higher than the St. -Lawrence or the Hudson, the boats skimming ahead with blankets hoisted -for sails through foggy days and nights of driving rain. Cramped and -rain-soaked, bailing water from the canoes with huge sponges, the -Indians began to whine that the way was "hard, white man, hard." Then -the river lost itself in a huge lagoon, Slave Lake, named after -defeated Indians who had taken refuge here; and the question was, which -way to go through the fog across the marshy lake! Poking through -rushes high as a man, MacKenzie found a current, and, hoisting a sail -on his fishing pole, raced out to the river again on a hissing tide. -Here lived the Dog Rib Indians, and they frightened MacKenzie's men -cold with grewsome tales of horrors ahead, of terrible waterfalls, of a -land of famine and hostile tribes. The effect was instant. MacKenzie -could not obtain a guide till "English Chief" hoisted a Slave Lake -Indian into the canoe on a paddle handle. Though MacKenzie himself -nightly slept with the vermin-infested guide to prevent desertion, the -fellow escaped one night during the confusion of a thunder-storm. -Again a chance hunter was forcibly put into the canoe as guide; and the -explorer pushed on for another month. North of Bear Lake, Indian -warriors were seen flourishing weapons along shore, and MacKenzie's men -began to remark that the land was barren of game. If they became -winter bound, they would perish. MacKenzie promised his men if he did -not find the sea within seven days, he would turn back. Suddenly the -men lost track of day, for they had come to the region of long light. -The river had widened to swamp lands. Between the 13th and 14th of -July the men asleep on the sand were awakened by a flood of water -lapping in on their baggage. What did it mean? For a minute they did -not realize. Then they knew. It was the tide. They had found the -sea. Hilarious as boys, they jumped from bed to man their canoes and -chase whales. - -{327} September 12, all sails up before a driving wind, the canoes -raced across Athabasca Lake to the fort landing, Roderick, his nephew, -shouting a welcome. MacKenzie had laid one of the two ghosts that -haunted his peace. Now he must lay the other. Where did Peace River -come from? His achievement on MacKenzie River had been greeted by the -other Nor'west partners with a snub. Nevertheless MacKenzie asked for -leave of absence that he might go to London and study the taking of -astronomic observations in order to explore that other river flowing -from the mountains; and in London, though poor and obscure, he heard -all about Cook's voyages and Meare's brush with the Spaniards at -Nootka, and plans for Captain Vancouver to make a final exploration of -the Pacific Coast. Hurrying back to the Nor'wester's fort on Peace -River, he was beset by the blue devils of despondency. What if Peace -River did _not_ lead to the Pacific Ocean at all? What if he were -behind some other discoverer? What if the venture proved a fool's trip -leading to a blind nowhere? He was only a junior partner and could ill -afford either money or time for failure. - -[Illustration: ALEXANDER MACKENZIE] - -Nevertheless, when the furs have been dispatched for Montreal, -MacKenzie launches out on May 9 of 1793 with a thirty-foot birch canoe, -six voyageurs, and Alexander Mackay as lieutenant, for the hinterland -beyond the Rockies. This time the going was _against_ stream,--hard -paddling, but safer than with a {328} swift current in a river with -dangerous rapids. Ten days later the river has become a canyon of -tumbling cascades, the mountains sheer wall on each side, with snowy -peaks jagging up through the clouds. To portage baggage up such cliffs -was impossible. Yet it was equally impossible to go on up the canyon, -and MacKenzie's men became so terrified they refused to land. Jumping -to foothold on the wall, a towrope in one hand, an ax in the other, -MacKenzie cut steps in the cliff, then signaled above the roar of the -rapids for the men to follow. They stripped themselves to swim if they -missed footing, and obeyed, trembling in every limb. The towrope was -warped round trees and the loaded canoe tracked up the cascade. At the -end of that portage the men flatly refused to go on. MacKenzie ignored -the mutiny and ordered the best of provisions spread for a feast. -While the crew rested, he climbed the face of a rocky cliff to -reconnoiter. As far as eye could see were cataracts walled by mighty -precipices. The canoe could not be tracked up such waters. Mackay, -who had gone prospecting a portage, reported that it would be nine -miles over the mountain. MacKenzie did not tell his men what was ahead -of them, but he led the way up the steep mountain, cutting trees to -form an outer railing, and up this trail the canoe was hauled, towline -round trees, the men swearing and sweating and blowing like whales. -Three miles was the record that day, the voyageurs throwing themselves -down to sleep at five in the afternoon, wrapped in their blanket coats -lying close to the glacier edges. Three days it took to cross this -mountain, and the end of the third day found them at the foot of -another mountain. Here the river forked. MacKenzie followed the south -branch, or what is now known as the Parsnip. Often at night the men -would be startled by rocketing echoes like musketry firing, and they -would spring to their feet to keep guard with backs to trees till -morning; but presently they learned the cause of the pistol-shot -reports. They were now on the Uplands among the eternal snows. The -sharp splittings, the far boomings, the dull breaking thuds were frost -cornices of overhanging snow crashing down in avalanches that swept the -mountain slopes clear of forests. - -{329} - -[Illustration: CAUSE OF A PORTAGE] - -A short portage from the Parsnip over a low ridge to a lake, and the -canoe is launched on a stream flowing on the far side of the Divide, -Bad River, a branch of the Fraser, though MacKenzie mistakes it for an -upper tributary of the great river discovered by Gray, the Columbia. -Then, before they realize it, comes the danger of going _with_ the -current on a river with rapids. The stream sweeps to a torrent, mad -and unbridled. The canoe is as a chip in a maelstrom, the precipices -racing past in a blur, the Indians hanging frantically to the gunnels, -bawling aloud in fear, the terrified voyageurs reaching, . . . -grasping, . . . snatching at trees overhanging from the banks. The -next instant a rock has banged through bottom, tearing away the stern. -The canoe reels in a swirl. Bang goes a rock through the bow. The -birch bark flattens like a shingle. Another swirl, and, to the -amazement of all, instead of the death that had seemed impending, -smashed canoe, baggage, and voyageurs are dumped on the shallows of a -sandy reach. One can guess the gasp of relief that went up. Nobody -uttered a word for some {330} time. One voyageur, who had grasped at a -branch and been hoisted bodily from the canoe, now came limping to the -disconsolate group, and had stumbled with lighted pipe in teeth across -the powder that had been spread out to dry, when a terrific yell of -warning brought him to his senses, and relieved the tension. MacKenzie -spread out a treat for the men and sent them to gather bark for a fresh -canoe. Other adventures on Bad River need not be given. This one was -typical. The record was but two miles a day; and now there was no -turning back. The difficulties behind were as great as any that could -be before. June 15 Bad River led them westward into the Fraser, but -somewhere in the canyon between modern Quesnel and Alexandria the way -became impassable. Besides, the river was leading too far south. -MacKenzie struck up Blackwater River to the west. _Caching_ canoe and -provisions on July 4, he marched overland. The Pacific was reached on -July 22, 1793, near Bella Coola. By September, after perils too -numerous to be told, MacKenzie was back at his fur post on Peace River. -As his discoveries on this trip blazed the way to new hunting ground -for his company, they brought both honor and wealth to MacKenzie. He -was knighted by the English King for his explorations, and he retired -to an estate in Scotland, where he died about 1820. - - -Meanwhile, Napoleon has sold Louisiana to the United States. The -American explorers, Lewis and Clark, have crossed from the Missouri to -the Columbia; and now John Jacob Astor, the great fur merchant of New -York, in 1811 sends his fur traders overland to build a fort at the -mouth of Columbia River. The Northwest Company in frantic haste -dispatches explorers to follow up MacKenzie's work and take possession -of the Pacific fur trade before Astor's men can reach the field. It -becomes a race for the Pacific. - -[Illustration: SIMON FRASER] - -Simon Fraser is sent in 1806 to build posts west of the Rockies in New -Caledonia, and to follow that unknown river which MacKenzie mistook for -the Columbia, on down to the sea. Two years he passed building the -posts, that exist to this {331} day as Fraser planned them: Fort -MacLeod at the head of Parsnip River, on a little lake set like an -emerald among the mountains; Fort St. James on Stuart Lake, a reach of -sheeny green waters like the Trossachs, dotted with islands and -ensconced in mountains; Fraser Fort on another lake southward; Fort St. -George on the main Fraser River. Then, in May of 1808, with four -canoes Fraser descends the river named after him, accompanied by Stuart -and Quesnel and nineteen voyageurs. This was the river where the -rapids had turned MacKenzie back, canyon after canyon tumultuous with -the black whirlpools and roaring like a tempest. Before essaying the -worst runs of the cascades Fraser ordered a canoe lightened at the prow -and manned by the five best voyageurs. It shot down the current like a -stone from a catapult. "She flew from one danger to another," relates -Fraser, who was watching the canoe from the bank, "till the current -drove her on a rock. The men disembarked, and we had to plunge our -daggers into the bank to keep from sliding into the river as we went -down to their aid, our lives hanging on a thread." Like MacKenzie, -Fraser was compelled to abandon canoes. Each with a pack of eighty -pounds, the voyageurs set out on foot down that steep gorge where the -traveler to-day can see the trail along the side of the precipice like -basket work between Lilloet and Thompson River. In Fraser's day was no -{332} trail, only here and there bridges of trembling twig ladders -across chasms; and over these swinging footholds the marchers had to -carry their packs, the river rolling below, deep and ominous and -treacherous. At Spuzzum the river turned from the south straight west. -Fraser knew it was not the Columbia. His men named it after himself. -Forty days was Fraser going from St. George to tide water. Early in -August he was back at his fur posts of New Caledonia. - -[Illustration: ASTORIA IN 1813] - -Yet another explorer did the Nor'westers send to take possession of the -region beyond the mountains. David Thompson had been surveying the -bounds between the United States and what is now Manitoba, when he was -ordered to explore the Rockies in the region of the modern Banff. Up -on Canoe River, Thompson and his men build canoes to descend the -Columbia. Following the Big Bend, they go down the rolling milky tide -past Upper and Lower Arrow Lakes, a region of mountains sheer on each -side as walls, with wisps of mist marking the cloud line. Then a -circular sweep westward through what is now Washington, pausing at -Snake River to erect formal claim of possession for England, then a -riffle on the current, a {333} smell of the sea, and at 1 P.M. on July -15, 1811, Thompson glides within view of a little raw new fort, -Astoria. In the race to the Pacific the Americans have gained the -ground at the mouth of the Columbia just two months before Thompson -came. In Astor's fort Thompson finds old friends of the Northwest -Company hired over by Astor. - -[Illustration: MAP OF THE WEST COAST, SHOWING THE OGDEN AND ROSS -EXPLORATIONS] - - -After war has broken out in open flame it is easy to ascribe the cause -to this, that, or the other act, which put the match to the -combustibles; but the real reason usually lies far behind the one act -of explosion, in an accumulation of ill feeling that provided the -combustibles. - -So it was in the fratricidal war of 1812 between Canada and the United -States. The war was criminal folly, as useless as it was unnecessary. -What caused it? What accumulated the ill feeling lying ready like -combustibles for the match? Let us see. - - -The United Empire Loyalists have, by 1812, increased to some 100,000 of -Canada's population, cherishing bitter memories of ruin and -confiscation and persecution because Congress failed to carry out the -pledge guaranteeing protection to the losing side in the Revolution. -Then, because Congress failed to carry out _her_ guarantee, England -delayed turning over the western fur posts to the United States for -almost ten years; and whether true or false, the suspicion became an -open charge that the hostility of the Indians to American frontiersmen -was fomented by the British fur trader. - -Here, then, was cause for rankling anger on both sides, and the -bitterness was unwittingly increased by England's policy. It was hard -for the mother country to realize that the raw new nation of the United -States, child of her very flesh and blood, kindred in thought and -speech, was a power to be reckoned with, on even ground, looking on the -level, eye to eye; and not just a bumptious, underling nation, like a -boy at the hobbledehoy age, to be hectored and chaffed and bullied and -badgered and licked into shape, as a sort of protectorate appended to -English interests. - -I once asked an Englishman why the English press was so virulently -hostile to one of the most brilliant of her rising men. - -"Oh," he answered, "you must be English to understand that. We never -think it hurts a boy to be well ragged when he 's at school." - -Something of that spirit was in England's attitude to the new nation of -the United States. England was hard pressed in life-and-death struggle -with Napoleon. To recruit both army and navy, conscription was rigidly -and ruthlessly enforced. Yet more! England claimed the right to -impress British-born subjects in foreign ports, to seize deserters in -either foreign ports or on foreign ships, and, most obnoxious of all, -to search neutral vessels on the ocean highway for deserters from the -British flag. It was an era of great brutality in military discipline. -Desertions were frequent. Also thousands of immigrants were flocking -to the new nation of the United States and taking out naturalization -papers. England ignored these naturalization papers when taken out by -deserters. - -Let us see how the thing worked out. A passenger vessel is coming up -New York harbor. An English frigate with cannon pointed swings across -the course, signals the American vessel on American waters to slow up, -sends a young lieutenant with some marines across to the American -vessel, searches her from stem to stern, or compels the American -captain to read the roster of the crew, forcibly seizes half a dozen of -the American crew as British deserters, and departs, leaving the -Americans gasping with wonder whether they are a free nation or a tail -to the kite of English designs. It need not be explained that the -offense was often aggravated by the swaggering insolence of the young -officers. They considered the fury of the unprepared American crew a -prime joke. In vain the government at Washington complained to the -government at Westminster. England pigeonholed the complaint and went -serenely on her way, searching American vessels from Canada to Brazil. - -Or an English vessel has come to Hampton Roads to wood and water. An -English officer thinks he recognizes among the {335} American crews men -who have deserted from English vessels. Three men defy arrest and show -their naturalization papers. High words follow, broken heads and -broken canes, and the English crew are glad to escape the mob by rowing -out to their own vessel. - -Is it surprising that the ill feeling on both sides accumulated till -there lacked only the match to cause an explosion? The explosion came -in 1807. H. M. S. _Leopard_, cruising off Norfolk in June, encounters -the United States ship _Chesapeake_. At 3 P.M. the English ship edges -down on the American, loaded to the water line with lumber, and signals -a messenger will be sent across. The young English lieutenant going -aboard the _Chesapeake_ shows written orders from Admiral Berkeley of -Halifax, commanding a search of the _Chesapeake_ for six deserters. He -is very courteous and pleasant about the disagreeable business: the -orders are explicit; he must obey his admiral. The American commander -is equally courteous. He regrets that he must refuse to obey an -English admiral's orders, but his own government has given _most_ -explicit orders that American vessels must _not_ be searched. The -young Englishman returns with serious face. The ships were within -pistol shot of each other, the men on the English decks all at their -guns, the Americans off guard, lounging on the lumber piles. Quick as -flash a cannon shot rips across the _Chesapeake's_ bows, followed by a -broadside, and another, and yet another, that riddle the American decks -to kindling wood before the astonished officers can collect their -senses. Six seamen are dead and twenty-three wounded when the -_Chesapeake_ strikes her colors to surrender; but the _Leopard_ does -not want a captive. She sends her lieutenant back, who musters the -four hundred American seamen, picks out four men as British deserters, -learns that another deserter has been killed and a sixth has jumped -overboard rather than be retaken, takes his prisoners back to the -_Leopard_, which proceeds to Halifax, where they are tried by -court-martial and shot. - -It isn't exactly surprising that the episode literally set the United -States on fire with rage, and that the American President {336} at once -ordered all American ports closed to British war vessels. The quarrel -dragged on between the two governments for five years. England saw at -once that she had gone too far and violated international law. She -repudiated Admiral Berkeley's order, offered to apologize and pension -the heirs of the victims; but _as she would not repudiate either the -right of impressment or the right of search_, the American government -refused to receive the apology. - -[Illustration: GENERAL SIR JAMES HENRY CRAIG, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF -CANADA, 1807-1811] - -Other causes fanned the flame of war. The United States was now almost -the only nation neutral in Napoleon's wars. To cripple English -commerce, Napoleon forbids neutral nations trading at English ports. -By way of retaliation England forbids neutral nations trading with -French ports; and the United States strikes back by closing American -ports to both nations. It means blue ruin to American trade, but the -United States cannot permit herself to be ground between the upper and -nether millstones of two hostile European powers. Then, sharp as a -gamester playing his trump card, Napoleon revokes his embargo in 1810, -which leaves England the offender against the United States. Then -Governor Craig of Canada commits an error that must have delighted the -heart of Napoleon, who always profited by his enemy's blunders. Well -meaning, but {337} fatally ill and easily alarmed, Craig sends one John -Henry from Montreal in 1809 as spy to the United States for the double -purpose of sounding public opinion on the subject of war, and of -putting any Federalists in favor of withdrawing from the Union in touch -with British authorities. Craig goes home to England to die. Henry -fails to collect reward for his ignoble services, turns traitor, and -sells the entire correspondence to the war party in the United States -for $10,000. That spy business adds fuel to fire. Then there are -other quarrels. A deserter from the American army is found teaching -school near Cornwall in Canada. He is driven out of the little -backwoods schoolhouse, pricked across the field with bayonets, out of -the children's view, and shot on Canadian soil by American soldiers, an -outrage almost the same in spirit as the British crew's outrage on the -_Chesapeake_. Also, in spite of apologies, the war ships clash again. -The English sloop _Little Belt_ is cruising off Cape Henry in May of -1811, looking for a French privateer, when a sail appears over the sea. -The _Little Belt_ pursues till she sights the commodore's blue flag of -the United States frigate _President_, then she turns about; but by -this time the _President_ has turned the tables on the little sloop, -and is pursuing to find out what the former's conduct meant. Darkness -settles over the two ships beating about the wind. - -"What sloop is that?" shouts an officer through a speaking trumpet from -the American's decks. - -"What ship is _that_?" bawls back a voice through the darkness from the -little Englander. - -Then, before any one can tell who fired first (in fact, each accuses -the other of firing first), the cannon are pouring hot shot into each -other's hulls till thirty men have fallen on the decks of the _Little -Belt_. Apologies follow, of course, and explanations; but that does -not remedy the ill. In fact, when nations and people want to quarrel, -they can always find a cause. War is declared in June of 1812 by -Congress. It is war against England; but that means war against -Canada, though there are not forty-five hundred soldiers from Halifax -to Lake Huron. As for {338} the American forces, they muster an army -of some one hundred and fifty thousand; but their generals complain -they are "an untrained mob"; and events justified the complaints. - - -There is nothing for Canada to do but stand up to the war of England's -making and fight for hearth and home. Canada on the defensive, there -is nothing for the States to do but invade; and the American generals -don't relish the task with their "untrained mob." - -[Illustration: WILLIAM HULL] - -Upper Canada or Ontario has not four hundred soldiers from Kingston to -Detroit River; but Major General Isaac Brock calls for volunteers. The -clang of arms, of drill, of target practice, resounds in every hamlet -through Canada. At Kingston, at Toronto, at Fort George (Niagara), at -Erie where Niagara River comes from the lake, at Amherstburg, southeast -of Detroit, are stationed garrisons to repel invasion, with hastily -erected cannon and mortar commanding approach from the American side. -And invasion comes soon enough. The declaration of war became known in -Canada about the 20th of June. By July 3 General Hull of Michigan is -at Detroit with two thousand five hundred men preparing to sweep -western Ontario. July 3 an English schooner captures Hull's provision -boat coming up Detroit River, but Hull crosses with his army on July 12 -to Sandwich, opposite Detroit, and issues proclamation calling on the -people to throw off the yoke of English rule. How such an invitation -fell on United Empire Loyalist ears may be guessed. Meanwhile comes -word that the Northwest {339} Company's voyageurs, with four hundred -Indians, have captured Michilimackinac without a blow. The fall of -Michilimackinac, the failure of the Canadians to rally to his flag, the -loss of his provision boat, dampen Hull's ardor so that on August 8 he -moves back with his troops to Detroit. Eight days later comes Brock -from Niagara with five hundred Loyalists and one thousand Indians under -the great chief Tecumseh to join Procter's garrison of six hundred at -Amherstburg. The Canadians have come by open boat up Lake Erie from -Niagara through furious rains; but they are fighting for their homes, -and with eager enthusiasm follow Brock on up Detroit River to Sandwich, -opposite the American fort. Indians come by night and lie in ambush -south of Detroit to protect the Canadians while they cross the river. -Then the cannon on the Canadian side begin a humming of bombs overhead. -While the bombs play over the stream at Sandwich, Brock rushes thirteen -hundred men across the river south of Detroit, and before midday of -August 16 is marching his men through the woods to assault the fort, -when he is met by an officer carrying out the white flag of surrender. -While Brock was crossing the river, something had happened inside the -fort at Detroit. It was one of those curious cases of blind panic when -only the iron grip of a strong man can hold demoralized forces in hand. -The American officers had sat down to breakfast in the mess room at day -dawn, when a bomb plunged through the roof killing four on the spot and -spattering the walls with the blood of the mangled bodies. Disgraceful -stories are told of Hull's conduct. Ashy with fright and trembling, he -dashed from the room, and, before the other officers knew what he was -about, had offered to surrender his army, twenty-five hundred arms, -thirty-three cannon, an armed brig, and the whole state of Michigan. -The case is probably more an example of nervous hysterics than treason, -though the other American officers broke their swords with rage and -chagrin, declaring they had been sold for a price. It was but the -first of the many times the lesson was taught in this war, that however -well intentioned a volunteer's courage may be, it takes a seasoned man -to make war. {340} Ten minutes later, a boy had climbed the flagstaff -and hung out the English flag over Detroit. Of the captured American -army Brock permitted the volunteer privates to go home on parole. The -regulars, including Hull, were carried back prisoners on the boats to -Niagara, to be forwarded to Montreal. At Montreal, Hull was given back -to the Americans in exchange for thirty British prisoners. He was -sentenced by court-martial to be shot for treason and cowardice, but -the sentence was commuted. - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS ON -THE DETROIT RIVER] - - -At Niagara River, where the main troops of Ontario were centered, -Brock's victory was greeted with simply a madness of joy. From the -first it had been plain that the principal fighting in Ontario would -take place at Niagara, and along the river Brock had concentrated some -sixteen hundred volunteer troops, {341} raw farm hands most of them, -with a goodly proportion of descendants from the United Empire -Loyalists, who had furbished out their fathers' swords. But the army -was in rags and tatters; many men had no shoes; before Brock captured -the guns at Detroit there had not been muskets to go round the men, and -there were not cannon enough to mount the batteries cast up along -Niagara River facing the American defenses. As the boats came down -Lake Erie and disembarked the American prisoners on August 24, at Fort -Erie on the Canadian side, opposite Black Rock and Buffalo, wild yells -of jubilation rent the air. By nightfall every camp on the Canadian -side for the whole forty miles of Niagara River's course echoed to -shout and counter shout, and a wild refrain which some poet of the -haversack had composed on the spot: - - We 'll subdue the mighty Democrats and pull their dwellings down, - And have the States inhabited with subjects of the Crown. - - -Take a survey of the Niagara region. South is Lake Erie, north is Lake -Ontario, between them Niagara River flowing almost straight north -through a steep dark gorge hewn out of the solid rock by the living -waters of all the Upper Lakes, crushed and cramped, carving a turbulent -way through this narrow canyon. Midway in the river's course the blue -waters begin to race. The race becomes a dizzy madness of blurred, -whirling, raging waters. Then there is the leap, the plunge, the -shattering anger of inland seas hurling their strength over the sheer -precipice in resistless force. Then the foaming whirlpool below, and -the shadowy gorge, and the undercurrent eddying away in the -swift-flowing waters of the river coming out on Lake Ontario. On one -side are the Canadian forts, on the other the American, slab-walled all -of them, with scarcely a stone foundation except in bastions used as -powder magazines. Fort Erie on the Canadian side faces Buffalo and -Black Rock on the American side. Where the old French voyageurs used -to portage past the Falls, about halfway on the Canadian side south of -the precipice, is the village of Chippewa. Here Brock has stationed -{342} a garrison with cannon. Then halfway between the Falls and Lake -Ontario are high cliffs known as Queenston Heights, in plain view of -the American town of Lewiston on the other side. Cannon line the river -cliffs on both sides here. All about Lewiston the fields are literally -white with the tents of General Van Rensselaer's army, now grown from -twenty-five hundred to almost eight thousand. On the Canadian side -cannon had been mounted on the cliffs known as Queenston Heights. -Possibly because the two hundred men would make poor showing in -tents, Brock has his soldiers here take quarters in the farmhouses. -For the rest it is such a rural scene as one may witness any -midsummer,--rolling yellow wheat fields surrounded by the zigzag rail -fences, with square farmhouses of stone and the fields invariably -backed by the uncleared bush land. Six miles farther down the river, -where the waters join Lake Ontario, is the English post, Fort George, -near the old capital, Newark, and just opposite the American fort of -Niagara. With the exception of the Grand Island region on the river, -it may be said that both armies are in full view of each other. -Sometimes, when to the tramp--tramp--tramp of the sentry's {343} tread -a loud "All's well" echoes across the river from Lewiston to the -Canadian side, some wag at Queenston will take up the cry through the -dark and bawl back, "All's well here too"; and all night long the two -sentries bawl back and forward to each other through the dark. -Sometimes, too, though strictest orders are issued against such ruffian -warfare by both Van Rensselaer and Brock, the sentries chance shots at -each other through the dark. Drums beat reveille at four in the -morning, and the rub-a-dub-dub of Queenston Heights is echoed by -rat-tat-too of Lewiston, though river mist hides the armies from each -other in the morning. Iron baskets filled with oiled bark are used as -telegraph signals, and one may guess how, when the light flared up of a -night on the Canadian heights, scouts carried word to the officers on -the American side. One may guess, too, the effect on Van Rensselaer's -big untrained army, when, with the sun aglint on scarlet uniform, they -saw their fellow-countrymen of Detroit marched prisoners between -British lines along the heights of Queenston opposite Lewiston. Rage, -depression, shame, knew no bounds; and the army was unable to vent -anger in heroic attack, for England had repealed her embargo laws, and -when Brock came back from Detroit he found that an armistice had been -arranged, and both sides had been ordered to suspend hostilities till -instructions came from the governments. The truce, it may be added, -was only an excuse to enable both sides to complete preparations for -the war. In a few weeks ball and bomb were again singing their shrill -songs in mid-air. - -[Illustration: MAP SHOWING THE LOCATION OF THE MILITARY OPERATIONS ON -THE NIAGARA FRONTIER] - -Brock's victory demoralized the rabble under the American Van -Rensselaer. Desertions increased daily, and discipline was so -notoriously bad Van Rensselaer and his staff dared not punish desertion -for fear of the army--as one of them put it--"falling to pieces." Van -Rensselaer saw that he must strike, and strike at once, and strike -successfully, or he would not have any army left at all. Two thousand -Pennsylvanians had joined him; and on October 9, at one in the morning, -Lieutenant Elliott led one hundred men with muffled paddles from the -American side to two Canadian ships lying anchored off Fort Erie. One -was the {344} brig captured from Hull at Detroit, the other a sloop -belonging to the Northwest Fur Company, loaded with peltries. Before -the British were well awake, Elliott had boarded decks, captured the -fur ship with forty prisoners, and was turning her guns on the other -ship when Port Erie suddenly awakened with a belch of cannon shot. The -Americans cut the cables and drifted on the captured ship downstream. -The fur ship was worked safely over to the American side, where it was -welcomed with wild cheers. The brig was set on fire and abandoned. - -Van Rensselaer decided to take advantage of the elated spirit among the -troops and invade Canada at once. - -Over on the Canadian side, Brock, at Fort George, wanted to offer an -exchange of Detroit prisoners for the voyageurs on the captured fur -ship, and Evans was ordered to paddle across to Lewiston with the -offer, white handkerchief fluttering as a flag of truce. Evans could -not mistake the signs as he landed on the American shore. Sentries -dashed down to stop his advance at bayonet point. He was denied speech -with Van Rensselaer and refused admittance to the American camp; and -the reason was plain. A score of boats, capable of holding thirty men -each, lay moored at the Lewiston shore. Along the rain-soaked road -behind the shore floundered and marched troops, fresh troops joining -Van Rensselaer's camp. It was dark before Evans returned to Queenston -Heights and close on midnight when he reached Major General Brock at -Fort George. Brock thought Evans over anxious, and both went to bed, -or at least threw themselves down on a mattress to sleep. At two -o'clock they were awakened by a sound which could not be mistaken,--the -thunderous booming of a furious cannonade from Queenston Heights. -Brock realized that the two hundred Canadians on the cliff must be -repelling an invasion, but he was suspicious that the attack from -Lewiston was a feint to draw off attention from Fort Niagara opposite -Fort George, and he did not at once order troops to the aid of -Queenston Heights. - -[Illustration: GENERAL BROCK] - -Evans' predictions of invasion were only too true. After one attempt -to cross the gorge, which was balked by storm, Van {345} Rensselaer -finally got his troops down to the water's edge about midnight of -October 12-13. The night was dark, moonless, rainy,--a wind which -mingled with the roar of the river drowning all sound of marching -troops. Three hundred men embarked on the first passage of the boats -across the swift river, the poor old pilot literally groaning aloud in -terror. Three of the boats were carried beyond the landing on the -Canadian side, and had to come back through the dark to get their -bearings; but the rest, led by Van Rensselaer, had safely landed on the -Canadian side, when the batteries of Queenston Heights flashed to life -in sheets of fire, lighting up the dark tide of the river gorge and -sinking half a dozen boat loads of men now coming on a second traverse. -Instantly Lewiston's cannon pealed furious answer to the Canadian fire, -and in the sheet-lightning flame of the flaring batteries thousands -could be seen on the American shore watching the conflict. As the -Americans landed they hugged the rock cliff for shelter, but the -mortality on the crossing boats was terrible; and each passage carried -back quota of wounded. Van Rensselaer was shot in the thigh almost as -he landed, but still he held his men in hand. A second shot pierced -the same side. A third struck his knee. Six wounds he received in as -many seconds; and he was carried back in the boats to the Lewiston -side. Then began a mad scramble through the darkness {346} up a -fisherman's path steep as trail of mountain goat, sheer against the -face of the cliff. When day dawned misty and gray over the black tide -of the rolling river, the Canadian batterymen of Queenston Heights were -astounded to see American sharp-shooters mustered on the cliff behind -and above them. A quick rush, and the Canadian batterymen were driven -from their ground, the Canadian cannon silenced, and while wild -shoutings of triumph rose from the spectators at Lewiston, the American -boats continued to pour soldiers across the river. - -It was at this stage Brock came riding from Fort George so spattered -with mud from head to heel he was not recognized by the soldiers. One -glance was enough. The Canadians had lost the day. Sending messengers -to bid General Sheaffe hurry the troops from Fort George, and other -runners to bring up the troops from Chippewa behind the Americans on -Queenston Heights, Brock charged up the hill amid shriek of bombs and -clatter of sharpshooters. He had dismounted and was scrambling over a -stone wall. "Follow me, boys!" he shouted to the British grenadiers; -then at the foot of the hill, waving his sword: "Now take a breath; you -will need it! Come on! come on!" and he led the rush of two hundred -men in scarlet coats to dislodge the Americans. A shot pierced his -wrist. "Push on, York volunteers," he shouted. His portly figure in -scarlet uniform was easy mark for the sharpshooters hidden in the brush -of Queenston Heights. One stepped deliberately out and took aim. -Though a dozen Canadian muskets flashed answer, Brock fell, shot -through the breast, dying with the words on his lips, "My fall must not -be noticed to stop the victory." Major Macdonnell led in the charge up -the hill, but the next moment his horse plunged frantically, and he -reeled from the saddle fatally wounded. For a second time the British -were repulsed, and the Americans had won the Heights, if not the day. - -[Illustration: BROCK MONUMENT, QUEENSTON HEIGHTS] - -The invaders were resting on their arms, snatching a breakfast of -biscuit and cheese about midday, when General Sheaffe arrived from Fort -George with troops breathless from running. A heart-shattering huzza -from the village warned the Americans {347} that help had come, and -they were to arms in a second; but Sheaffe had swept round the Heights, -Indians on one side of the hill, soldiers on the other, and came on the -surprised Americans as from the rear. There was a wild whoop, a dash -up the hill, a pause to fire, when the air was splinted by nine hundred -instantaneous shots. Then through the smoke the British rushed the -Heights at bayonet point. For three hours the contest raged in full -sight of Lewiston, a hand-to-hand butchery between Sheaffe's fresh -fighters and the Americans, who had been on their feet since midnight. -Indian tomahawk played its part, but it is a question if the scalping -knife did as deadly work as the grenadier's long bayonets. Cooped up -between the enemy and the precipice, the American sharpshooters waited -for the help that never came. In vain Van Rensselaer's officers prayed -and swore and pleaded with the volunteer troops on the Lewiston side. -The men flatly refused to cross; for boat loads of mangled bodies were -brought back at each passage. Discipline fell to pieces. It was the -old story of volunteers, brave enough at a spurt, going to pieces in -panic under hard and continued strain. Driven from Queenston Heights, -the invaders fought their way down the cliff path by inches to the -water side, and there . . . there were no boats! Pulling off his white -necktie, an officer held it up on the point of his sword as signal of -surrender. It was one of the most {348} gallant fights on both sides -in Canadian history, though officers over on the Lewiston shore were -crying like boys at the sight of nine hundred Americans surrendering. - -Truce was then arranged for the burial of the dead. The bodies of -Brock and Macdonnell were laid on a gun wagon and conveyed between -lines of sorrowing soldiers, with arms reversed, to the burial place -outside Fort George. As the regimental music rang out the last march -of the two dead officers, minute guns were fired in sympathy all along -the American shore. "He would have done as much for us," said the -American officers of the gallant Brock. - -Van Rensselaer at once resigns. "Proclamation" Smyth, whose addresses -resemble Fourth of July backwoods orations, succeeds as commander of -the American army; but "Proclamation" Smyth makes such a mess of a raid -on Fort Erie, retreating with a haste suggestive of Hull at Detroit, -that he is mobbed when he returns to the United States shore. But what -the United States lose by land, they retrieve by sea. England's best -ships are engaged in the great European war. From June to December, -United States vessels sweep the sea; but this is more a story of the -English navy than of Canada. The year of 1812 closes with the cruisers -of Lake Ontario chasing each other through many a wild snowstorm. - - -As the year 1812 proved one of jubilant victory for Canada, so 1813 was -to be one of black despair. With the exception of four brilliant -victories wrested in the very teeth of defeat, the year passes down to -history as one of the darkest in the annals of the country. The -population of the United States at this time was something over seven -millions, and it was not to be thought for one moment that a nation of -this strength would remain beaten off the field by the little province -of Ontario (Upper Canada), whose population numbered barely ninety -thousand. General Harrison hurries north from the Wabash with from six -to eight thousand men to retrieve the defeat of Detroit. At Presqu' -Isle, on Lake Erie, hammer and mallet and {349} forging iron are heard -all winter preparing the fleet for Commodore Perry that is to command -Lake Erie and the Upper Lakes for the Americans. At Sackett's Harbor -similar preparations are under way on a fleet for Chauncey to sweep the -English from Lake Ontario; and all along both sides of the St. -Lawrence, as winter hedged the waters with ice, lurk scouts,--the -Americans, for the most part, uniformed in blue, the Canadians in -Lincoln green with gold braid,--watching chance for raid and counter -raid during the winter nights. The story of these thrilling raids will -probably pass into the shadowy realm of legend handed down from father -to son, for few of them have been embodied in the official reports. - -From being hard pressed on the defensive, Canada has suddenly sprung -into the position of jubilant victor, and if Brock had lived, she would -probably have followed up her victories by aggressive invasion of the -enemy's territory; but all effort was literally paralyzed by the -timidity and vacillation of the governor general, Sir George Prevost. -Prevost's one idea seems to have been that as soon as the obnoxious -embargo laws were revoked by England, the war would stop. When the -embargo was revoked and the armistice of midsummer simply terminated in -a resumption of war, this idea seems to have been succeeded by the -single aim to hold off conclusions with the United States till England -could beat Napoleon and come to the rescue. All winter long scouts and -bold spirits among the volunteers craved the chance to raid the -anchored fleets of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, but Prevost not only -forbade the invasion of the enemy's territory, but before the year was -out actually advocated the abandonment of Ontario. If his advice had -been followed, it is no idle supposition to infer that the fate of -Ontario would have been the same as the destiny of the Ohio and -Michigan. - - -One night in February the sentry at the village of Brockville, named -after the dead hero, was surprised by two hundred American raiders -dashing up from the frozen river bed. Before bugles could sound to -arms, jails had been opened, stores looted, houses {350} plundered, and -the raiders were off and well away with fifty-two prisoners and a dozen -sleigh loads of provisions. Gathering some five hundred men together -from the Kingston region, M'Donnell and Jenkins of the Glengarrys -prepared to be revenged. Cannon were hauled out on the river from the -little village of Prescott to cross the ice to Ogdensburg. The river -here is almost two miles wide, and as it was the 23d of February, the -ice had become rotten from the sun glare of the coming spring. As the -cannon were drawn to mid-river, though it was seven in the morning, the -ice began to heave and crack with dire warning. To hesitate was death; -to go back as dangerous as to go forward. With a whoop the men broke -from quick march to a run, unsheathing musket and fixing bayonet blades -as they dashed ahead to be met with a withering cross fire as they came -within range of the American batteries. In places, the suck of the -water told where the ice had given behind. Then bullets were peppering -the river bed in a rain of fire, Jenkins and M'Donnell to the fore, -waving their swords. Then bombs began to ricochet over the ice. If -the range of the Ogdensburg cannon had been longer, the whole Canadian -force might have been sunk in mid-river; but the men were already -dashing up the American shore whooping like fiends incarnate. First a -grapeshot caught Jenkins' left arm, and it hung in bloody splinters. -Then a second shot took off his right arm. Still he dashed forward, -cheering his men, till he dropped in his tracks, faint from loss of -blood. No answer came back to the summons to surrender, and, taking -possession of an outer battery, the Canadians turned its cannon full on -the village. Under cover of the battery fire, and their own cannon now -in position, the whole force of Canadians immediately rushed the town -at bayonet point. Now the bayonet in a solid phalanx of five hundred -men is not a pleasant weapon to stand up against. As the drill -sergeants order, you not only stick the bayonet _into_ your enemy, but -you turn it round "to let the air in" so he will die; and before the -furious onslaught of bayonets, the defenders of Ogdensburg broke, and -fled for the woods. Within an hour the {351} Canadians had burnt the -barracks, set fire to two schooners iced up, and come off with loot of -a dozen cannon, stores of all sorts, and with prisoners to the number -of seventy-four. - - -[Illustration: YORK (TORONTO) HARBOR] - -The ice had left Lake Ontario early this year, and by mid-April -Commander Chauncey slipped out of Sackett's Harbor with sixteen -vessels, having on board seventeen hundred troops, besides the crews. -It will be remembered that the capital of Ontario had been moved from -Niagara (Newark) to York (Toronto) on the north side of Lake Ontario, -then a thriving village of one thousand souls on the inner shore of -Humber Bay. On the sand reef known as the Island, in front of the -harbor, had been constructed a battery with cannon. The main village -lay east of the present city hall. Westward less than a mile was -Government House, on the site of the present residence. Between -Government House and the village was not a house of any sort, only a -wood road flanking the lake, and badly cut up by ravines. Just west of -Government House, and close to the water, was a blockhouse or tower -used as powder magazine, mounted with cannon to command the landing -from the lake. Some accounts speak of yet another little outer battery -or earthwork farther {352} westward. North of the Government House -road, or what is now King Street, were dense woods. General Sheaffe, -who had succeeded Brock at Queenston Heights, chanced to be in Toronto -in April with some six hundred men. Just where the snug quarters of -the Toronto Hunt Club now stand you may look out through the green -foliage of the woods fringing the high cliffs of Lake Ontario, and -there lies before your view the pure sky-blue surface of an inland sea -washing in waves like a tide to the watery edge of the far sky line. -Early in the morning of April 27 a forest ranger, dressed in the -customary Lincoln green, was patrolling the forested edge of -Scarborough Heights above the lake. The trees had not yet leafed out, -but were in that vernal state when the branches between earth and sky -take on the appearance of an aerial network just budding to light and -color; and in the ravines still lay patches of the winter snow. The -morning was hazy, warm, odoriferous of coming summer, with not a breath -of wind stirring the water. As the sun came up over the lake long -lines of fire shot through the water haze. Suddenly the scout paused -on his parade. Something was advancing shoreward through the mist, -advancing in a circling line like the ranks of wild birds flying north, -with a lap--lap--lap of water drip and a rap--rap--rap of rowlocks from -a multitude of sweeps. The next instant the forest rang to a musket -shot, for the scout had discovered Commodore Chauncey's fleet of -sixteen vessels being towed forward by rowers through a dead calm. The -musket shot was heard by another scout nearer the fort. The signal was -repeated by another shot, and another for the whole twelve miles, till -General Sheaffe, sitting smoking a cigar in Government House, sprang to -his feet and rushed out, followed by his officers, to scan the harbor -of Humber Bay from the tops of the fort bastions. Sure enough! there -was the fleet, led by Chauncey's frigate with twenty-four cannon poking -from its sides, a string of rowboats in tow behind to land the army, -coming straight across the harbor over water calm as silk. It has been -told how the fleet made the mistake of passing beyond the landing, but -the chances are the mistake was intentional {353} for the purpose of -avoiding the cannon of the fort bastions. At all events the report may -be believed that the most of Toronto people forgot to go back to -breakfast that morning. A moment later officers were on top of the -bastion towers, directing battery-men to take range for their cannon. -A battalion variously given as from fifty to one hundred, along with -some Indians, was at once dispatched westward to ambush the Americans -landing. Another division was posted at the battery beyond Government -House. Sheaffe saw plainly from the number of men on deck that he was -outnumbered four to one, and the flag on the commodore's boat probably -told him that General Dearborn, the commander in chief, was himself on -board to direct the land forces. Sheaffe has been bitterly blamed for -two things,--for not invading Niagara after the victory on Queenston -Heights, and for his conduct at Toronto. He now withdrew the main -forces to a ravine east of the fort, plainly preparatory for retreat. -Not thus would Brock have acted. - -Meanwhile time has worn on to nine o'clock. The American ships have -anchored. The Canadian cannon are sending the bombs skipping across -the water. The rowboats are transferring the army from the schooners, -and the ambushed sharpshooters are picking the bluecoats off as they -step from ships to boats. - -"By the powers!" yells Forsyth, an American officer, "I can't stand -seeing this any longer. Come on, boys! jump into our boats!" and he -bids the bugles blow till the echoes are dancing over Humber waters. -Dearborn and Chauncey stay on board. Pike leads the landing, and -Chauncey's cannon set such grape and canister flying through the woods -as clear out those ambushed shooters, the Indians flying like scared -partridges, and the advance is made along Government House road at -quick march. Just west of the Government House battery the marchers -halt to send forward demand for surrender. Firing on both sides -ceases. The smoke clears from the churned-up waters of the bay, and -Commander Pike has seated himself on an old cannon, when, before answer -can come back to the demand, a frightful accident occurs that upsets -all plans. Waiting for the signal {354} to begin firing again, a -batteryman in the near bastion was holding the lighted fuse in his -right hand, ready for the cannon, when something distracted his -attention, and he wheeled with the lighted match behind him. It -touched a box of explosives. If any proof were needed that the tragedy -was _not_ designed, it is to be found in the fact that English officers -were still on the roof of the blockhouse, and the apartment below -crowded with Canadians. A roar shook the earth. A cloud of black -flame shot into mid-air, and the next minute the ground for half a mile -about was strewn with the remains, mangled to a pulp, of more than -three hundred men, ninety of whom were Canadians, two hundred and sixty -Americans, including Brigadier Pike fatally wounded by a rock striking -his head. In the horror of the next few moments, defense was -forgotten. Wheelbarrows, trucks, gun wagons, were hurried forward to -carry wounded and dead to the hospital. Leaving his officers to -arrange the terms of surrender, at 2 P.M. Sheaffe retreated at quick -march for Kingston, pausing only to set fire to a half-built ship and -some naval stores. Lying on a stretcher on Chauncey's ship, Pike is -roused from unconsciousness by loud huzzas. - -"What is it?" he asks. - -"They are running up the stars and stripes, sir." - -A smile passed over Pike's face. When the surgeon looked again, the -commander was dead. For twenty-four hours the haggle went on as to -terms of capitulation. Within that time, two or three things occurred -to inflame the invading troops. They learned that Sheaffe had slipped -away; as the American general's report put it, "They got the shell, but -the kernel of the nut got away." They learned that stores had been -destroyed after the surrender had been granted. Without more -restraint, and in defiance of orders, the American troops gave -themselves up to plunder all that night. In their rummaging through -the Parliament buildings they found hanging above the Speaker's chair -what Canadian records declare was a _wig_, what American reports say -was a _human scalp_ sent in by some ranger from the west. From what I -have read in the private papers of fur traders {355} in that period -regarding international scalping, I am inclined to think that wig may -have been an American scalp. Certainly, the fur traders of -Michilimackinac wrapped no excuses round their savagery when the canoes -all over the coasts of Lake Superior, in lieu of flags, had American -scalps flaunting from their prows. At all events, word went out that -an American scalp had been found above the Speaker's chair. It was -night. The troops were drunk with success and perhaps with the plunder -of the wine shops. All that night and all the next day and night the -skies were alight with the flames of Toronto's public buildings on -fire. Also, the army chest with ten thousand dollars in gold, which -Sheaffe had forgotten, was dug up on pain of the whole town being fired -unless the money were delivered. Private houses were untouched. -Looted provisions which the fleet cannot carry away, Chauncey orders -distributed among the poor. Then, leaving some four hundred prisoners -on parole not to serve again during the war, Chauncey sails away for -Niagara. - - -It is a month later. Down at Fort George on the Canadian side General -Vincent knows well what has happened at Toronto and is on the lookout -for the enemy's fleet. On the American side of the Niagara River, from -Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, are seven thousand troops eager to wipe out -the stain of last year's defeat. On the Canadian side, from Fort -George to Chippewa and Erie, are twenty-three hundred men, mostly -volunteers from surrounding farms, and powder is scarce and provisions -are scarce, for Chauncey's fleet has cut off help from St. Lawrence and -Kingston way. All the last two weeks of May, heavy hot fog lay on the -lake and on the river between the hostile lines, but there was no -mistaking what Chauncey's fleet was about. Red-hot shot showers on -Fort George in a perfect rain. Standing on the other side of the river -are thousands of spectators, among them one grand old swashbuckler -fellow in a cocked hat, whose fighting days are past, taking snuff -after the fashion of a former generation and wearing an air of grand -patronage to the American troops because _he_ has seen service in -Europe. - -{356} "No, sir," says the grand old fighting cock pompously to his -auditors, "can't be done! Have seen it tried on the Continent, and you -can't do it! Lay a wager you can't do it! Can't possibly set fire to -a fort by red-hot shot!" - -Then at night time, when the lurid glare of flame lights up the foggy -darkness, the old gentleman is put to his trumps. "See!" they say; -"Fort George _is_ on fire"; and over at Fort George the bucket brigade -works hard as the cannoneers. But the fog is too good a chance to be -missed by Chauncey; rowing out with muffled oars all the nights of May -24 and 25, he has his men sounding . . . sounding . . . sounding in -silence the channel, right within pistol shot of Fort George. The -night of the 26th troops and marines are bidden breakfast at two in the -morning, and be ready for action with a single blanket and rations for -one day. That is all they are told. They embark at four. The waters -are dead calm, the morning of the 27th gray as wool with fog. Sweeps -out Chauncey's fleet, circles up to Fort George with one hundred scows -in tow, carrying fifty soldiers each. Vincent takes his courage in his -teeth and gathers his one thousand men inside the walls. Then the -cannon of the frigates split fog and air and earth, and, under cover of -the fire, the scows gain the land by 9 A.M. First, Vincent's -sharpshooters sally from the fort and fire; then they fire from the -walls; then they overturn guns, retreat from the walls, throw what -powder they cannot carry into the water, and retreat, fighting, behind -stone walls and ditches. The contest of one thousand against six -thousand is hopeless. Vincent sends coureurs riding like the wind to -Chippewa and Queenston and Erie, ordering the Canadians to retire to -the Back Country. By four o'clock in the afternoon Americans are in -possession of the Canadian side from Fort George to Erie. Vincent -retreats at quick march along the lake shore towards what is now -Hamilton. June 1 General Dearborn sends his officers, Chandler and -Winder, in hot pursuit with thirty-five hundred men. - - -Vincent's soldiers have less than ninety rounds of powder to a man. He -has only one thousand men, for the garrisons of {357} Chippewa and -Queenston Heights and Erie have fallen back in a circle to the region -of St. David's. June 5, Vincent's Canadians are in camp at Burlington -Bay. Only seven miles away, at Stony Creek, lies the American army, -out sentries posted at a church, artillery on a height commanding a -field, officers and men asleep in the long grass. Humanly speaking, -nothing could prevent a decisive battle the next day. The two American -officers, Chandler and Winder, sit late into the night, candles alight -over camp stools, mapping out what they think should be the campaign. -It is a hot night,--muggy, with June showers lighted up by an -occasional flash of sheet lightning. Then all candles out, and pitch -darkness, and silence as of a desert! The American army is asleep,--in -the dead sleep of men exhausted from long, hard, swift marching. The -artillerymen on the hillocks, the sentries, the outposts at the -church,--they, too, are sound asleep! - -[Illustration: FITZGIBBONS] - -But the Canadians, too, know that, humanly speaking, nothing can -prevent a decisive battle on the morrow. The stories run--I do not -vouch for their truth, though facts seem to point to some such -explanation--that Harvey, a Canadian officer, had come back to the -American army that night disguised as a Quaker peddling potatoes, and -noted the unguarded condition of the exhausted troops; also that -Fitzgibbons, the famous scout, came through the American lines dressed -as a rustic selling butter. Whether these stories are true or not, or -whether, indeed, the Canadians knew anything about the American camp, -they plucked resolution from desperation. If they waited for the -morrow's battle, they would be beaten. Harvey proposed to Vincent that -seven {358} hundred picked men go back through the dark and raid the -American camp. Vincent left the entire matter to Harvey. Setting out -at 11.30 along what is now Main Street, Hamilton, the Canadians marched -in perfect silence. Harvey had given orders that not a shot should be -fired, not a word spoken, the bayonet alone to be used. By two in the -morning of June 6 the marchers came to the church where the sentries -were posted. Two were stabbed to death before they awakened. The -third was compelled to give the password, then bayoneted in turn. The -Canadian raiders might have come to the very midst of the American army -if it had not been for the jubilant hilarity of some young officers, -who, capturing a cannon, uttered a wild huzza. On the instant, bugles -sounded alarm; drums beat a crazy tattoo, and every man leaped from his -place in the grass, hand on pistol. The next second the blackness of -the night was ablaze with musketry; the soldiers were firing blindly; -officers were shouting orders that nobody heard; troops were dashing -here, there, everywhere, lost in the darkness, the heavy artillery -horses breaking tether ropes and stampeding over the field. Major -Plenderleath with a company of young Canadians suddenly found himself -in the midst of the American camp. One of the young raiders stabbed -seven Americans to death; a brother bayoneted four, and before daylight -betrayed the smallness of their forces the raiders came safely off with -three guns and one hundred prisoners, including the two American -officers, Winder and Chandler. The loss to the British was one hundred -and fifteen killed and wounded; but there would be no battle the next -day. The battle of Stony Creek sent the Americans retreating back down -the lake front to Fort George, harried by the English fleet under Sir -James Yeo from Kingston. A hundred episodes might be related of the -Stony Creek raid. For years it was to be the theme of camp-fire yarns. -For instance, in the flare of musketry fire a Canadian found himself -gazing straight along the blade of an American's bayonet. "Sir, the -password," demanded the American sentry. Luckily the scout, instead of -wearing an English red coat, had on a blue jacket resembling {359} that -of the American marines, and he instantly took his cue. "Rascal," he -thundered back, "what do you mean, off your line? Go back to your -post!" The sentry's bayonet dropped; there was momentary darkness, and -the Canadian literally bolted. Then ludicrous ill luck befell all the -generals. Vincent had accompanied the raiders on horseback. When the -bugles sounded "retire," he gave his horse the bit, and in the pitch -darkness the brute carried him pellmell along the wrong road, over -fences and hayfields, some fifteen miles into the Back Country. Next -day, when Vincent was missing, under flag of truce messengers went to -the retreating American army to find if he were among the dead. At -four in the afternoon his horse came limping into the Canadian camp. -Chandler, the American officer, on awakening had sprung on horseback -and spurred over the field shouting commands. In the darkness his -horse fell and threw him. When Chandler came to himself he was -prisoner among the Canadians. Winder's ill luck was equally bad. By -the flare of the firing he saw what he thought was a group of -artillerymen deserting a gun. Dashing up, he laid about him with his -pistol, shouting, "Come on! come on!" Another flare of fire, and he -found himself surrounded by a circle of Canadian bayonets. "Drop your -pistol, sir, or you are a dead man," ordered a young Canadian, and -Winder surrendered. - - -It will be recalled that the garrisons of Queenston below the Falls, -and Chippewa above, and Erie at the head of the river, had retreated -from the invading Americans to the Back Country now traversed by -Welland Canal. From different posts beyond what was known as the Black -Swamp, these bands of the dispersed Canadian army swooped down on the -American outposts, harrying the whole American line from Lake Ontario -to Lake Erie. Of all the raiders none was more daring than Lieutenant -Fitzgibbons, posted beyond the Beaver Dams, at a stone house near De -Ceu's Falls. Space forbids more than one episode of his raids. Once, -while riding along Lundy's Lane alone, he was recognized by the wife of -a Canadian captain, who dashed from {360} the cottage, warning him to -retreat, as a hundred and fifty Americans had just passed that way. -Standing in front of the roadside inn was the cavalry horse of an -American. Fitzgibbons could n't resist the temptation for a bout with -the foe, and dismounting, was entering the door when a soldier in blue -dashed at him with leveled musket. Naturally not keen to create alarm, -Fitzgibbons knocked the weapon from the man's hand, and without a sound -had thrown him on the ground, when another American rifleman dashed -from behind. Strong as a lion, Fitzgibbons threw the first man -violently against the second, and was holding both at bay beneath his -leveled rifle when one of the downed men snatched the Irishman's sword -from the scabbard. He was in the very act of thrusting the sword point -into Fitzgibbons, when the innkeeper's wife, with a dexterous kick, -sent the weapon whirling out of his hand. Fitzgibbons disarmed the -men, tied them, threw them across his horse, and himself mounting, -galloped to the woods with a laugh, though one hundred and fifty -Americans were within a quarter of a mile. - -The American commanders at Niagara determined to clean out this nest of -raiders from the Back Country, and Lieutenant Boerstler was ordered to -march from Fort George with some six hundred men. Leaving Fort George -secretly at night, Boerstler came to Queenston at eleven on the night -of June 23. Here all Canadian soldiers free on parole were seized, to -prevent word of the attack reaching the Back Country. The troops were -not even permitted to light camp fire or candles. The great secrecy of -the American marchers at once roused suspicion among the Canadians -between Queenston and the village of St. David's that the expedition -was directed against Fitzgibbons' scouts. At his home, between -Queenston and St. David's, dwelt a United Empire Loyalist, James -Secord, recovering from dangerous wounds received in the battle of -Queenston Heights. He was too weak himself to go by night and forewarn -Fitzgibbons, but his wife, Laura Ingersoll, a woman of some thirty -years, was also of the old United Empire Loyalist stock. She -immediately set out alone for the Back Country to warn Fitzgibbons. -{361} Many and contradictory stories are told of her march. Whether -she tramped two nights and two days, or only one night and one day, -whether her march led her twenty or only twelve miles, matters little. -She succeeded in passing the first sentry on the excuse she was going -out to milk a cow, and she eluded a second by telling him she wished to -visit a wounded brother, which was true. Then she struck away from the -beaten path through what was known as the Black Swamp. It had rained -heavily. The cedar woods were soggy with moisture, the swamp swollen, -and the streams running a mill race. Through the summer heat, through -the windfall, over the quaking forest bog, tramped Laura Secord. It -may be supposed that the most of wild animals had been frightened from -the woods by the heavy cannonading for almost a year; but the hoot of -screech owl, the eldritch scream of wild cat, the far howl of the wolf -pack hanging on the trail of the armies for carrion, were not sounds -quieting to the nerves of a frightened woman flitting through the -forest by moonlight. It was clear moonlight when she came within range -of Beaver Dam and De Ceu's house. She had just emerged in an open -field when she was assailed with unearthly yells, and a thousand -ambushed Indians rose from the grass. - -[Illustration: LAURA SECORD] - -"Woman! A woman! What does a white woman here?" demanded the chief, -seizing her arm. She answered that she was a friend and it was matter -of life and death for her to see {362} Fitzgibbons at once. So Laura -Secord delivered her warning and saved the Canadian army. The episode -has gone down to history one of the national legends, like the story of -Madeline Vercheres on the St. Lawrence. Fitzgibbons posts his forty -men in place, and Ducharme, commander of the Indians, scatters his one -thousand redskins in ambush along the trail. Also, word is sent for -two other detachments to come with all speed. - -June 24, at seven in the morning, Boerstler is moving along a narrow -forest trail through the beech woods of Beaver Dams. The men are -advancing single file, mounted infantrymen first with muskets slouched -across saddle pommels, then the heavy wagons, then cavalry to rear. -The timber is heavy, the trail winding. Here the long line deploys out -from the trail to avoid jumping windfall; there halt is made to cut a -way for the wagons; then the long line moves sleepily forward, yellow -sunlight shafted through the green foliage across the riders' blue -uniforms. Suddenly a shot rings out, and another, and another! The -forest is full of unseen foes, before, behind, on all sides, the -cavalry forces breaking rank and dashing forward among the wagons. -Boerstler sees it will be as unsafe to retreat as to go on. Sending -messengers back to Fort George for aid, he pushes forward into an open -wheat field. Fifty-six men have fallen, and the bullets are still -raining from an invisible foe. Looking back he sees mounted men in -green coats passing and repassing across his trail, filing and -refiling. It is a trick of Fitzgibbons to give an impression he has -ten times forty men, but the Americans do not know. There is no -retreat, and Indians are to the fore. In the midst of confusion -Fitzgibbons comes forward with a white handkerchief on his sword point -and begs Boerstler to prevent bloodshed by instant surrender. -Boerstler demands to see the number of his enemies. Fitzgibbons says -he will repeat the request to his commanding officer. Luck is with -Fitzgibbons, for just as he goes back a small party of reenforcements -arrives, and one of its captains acts the part of commanding officer, -telling Boerstler's messenger haughtily that the demand to see the -enemy is an insult, and answer must be given in five minutes {363} or -the Canadians will not be responsible for the Indians. The fight has -lasted three hours. Boerstler surrenders with his entire force. Such -was the battle of Beaver Dams. - -Ever since Brock had captured Detroit in 1812, General Procter, with -twenty-five hundred Canadians, had been holding the western part of -Ontario; and the defeat of the English at Fort George had placed him in -a desperate position. His men had been without pay for months; their -clothes were in tatters, and now, with the Americans in possession of -Niagara region, there was danger of Procter's food supply being cut -off. Procter himself had not been idle these six months. In fact, he -had been too active for the good of his supplies. Space forbids a -detailed account of the raids directed by him and carried out with the -aid of Tecumseh, the great Shawnee chief. January of 1813 saw a -detachment of Procter's men up Raisin River, west of Detroit, where -they defeated General Winchester and captured nearly five hundred -prisoners, to be set free on parole. Harrison, the American general, -is on his way to Lake Erie to rescue Detroit. Procter hastens in May -to meet him with one thousand Canadians and fifteen hundred Indians. -The clash takes place at a barricade known as Fort Meigs on Maumee -River, south of Lake Erie, when again, by the aid of Tecumseh, Procter -captures four hundred and fifty prisoners. It was on this occasion -that the Indians broke from control and tomahawked forty defenseless -American prisoners. August sees Procter raiding Sandusky; but the -Americans refuse to come out and battle, and the axes of the Canadians -are too dull to cut down the ironwood pickets, and when at night -Procter's bugles sound retreat, he has lost nearly one hundred men. At -last, in September, the fleets being built for the Canadians at -Amherstburg and for the Americans at Presqu' Isle are completed. -Whichever side commands Lake Erie will control supplies; and though -Captain Barclay, the Canadian, is short of men, Procter cannot afford -to delay the contest for supremacy any longer. He orders Barclay to -sail out and seek Commodore Perry, the American, for decisive battle. - -{364} On Barclay's boats are only such old land guns as had been -captured from Detroit. His crews consist of lake sailors and a few -soldiers, in all some three hundred and eighty-four men on six vessels. -September 10, at midday, at Put-in-Bay, Barclay finds Perry's fleet of -seven vessels with six hundred and fifty men. For two hours the -furious cannonading could be heard all the way up to Amherstburg. -Space forbids details of the fight so celebrated in the annals of the -American navy. After broadsides that tore hulls clean of masts and -decks, setting sails in flame and the waters seething in mountainous -waves, the two fleets got within pistol shot of each other, and Perry's -superior numbers won. One third of Barclay's officers were killed and -one third of his men. The Canadian fleet on Lake Erie was literally -exterminated before three in the afternoon. - -[Illustration: TWO VIEWS OF THE BATTLE ON LAKE ERIE (From prints -published in 1815)] - -Procter's position was now doubly desperate. He was cut off from -supplies. At a council with the Indians, though Tecumseh, the chief, -was for fighting to the bitter death, it was decided to retreat up the -Thames to Vincent's army near modern {365} Hamilton. All the world -knows the bitter end of that retreat. Procter seems to have been so -sure that General Harrison would not follow, that the Canadian forces -did not even pause to destroy bridges behind them; and behind came -Harrison, hot foot, with four thousand fighters from the Kentucky -backwoods. October first the Canadians had retreated far as Chatham, -provisions and baggage coming in boats or sent ahead on wagons. -Procter's first intimation of the foe's nearness was a breathless -messenger with word the Americans just a few miles behind had captured -the provision boats. Sending on his family and the women with a convoy -of two hundred and fifty soldiers, Procter faced about on the morning -of October the 5th, to give battle. On the left was the river Thames, -on the right a cedar swamp, to rear on the east the Indian mission of -Moraviantown. The troops formed in line across a forest road. Procter -seems to have lost both his heart and his head, for he permitted his -fatigued troops to go into the fight without breakfast. Not a -barricade, not a hurdle, not a log was placed to break the advance of -Harrison's cavalry. The American riders came on like a whirlwind. -Crack went the line of Procter's men in a musketry volley! The horses -plunged, checked up, reared, and were spurred forward. Another volley -from the Canadians! But it was too late. Harrison's fifteen hundred -riders had galloped clean through the Canadian lines, slashing swords -as they dashed past. Now they wheeled and came on the Canadians' rear. -Indians and Canadians scattered to the woods before such fury, like -harried rabbits, poor Tecumseh in the very act of tomahawking an -American colonel when a pistol shot brought him down. The brave Indian -chief was scalped by the white backwoodsmen and skinned and the body -thrown into the woods a prey to wolves. Flushed with victory and -without Harrison's permission, the Kentucky men dashed in and set fire -to Moraviantown, the Indian mission. As for Procter, he had mounted -the fleetest horse to be found, and was riding in mad flight for -Burlington Heights. It is almost a pity he had not fallen in some of -his former heroic raids, for he now became a sorry figure in history, -reprimanded {366} and suspended from the ranks of the army. The only -explanation of Procter's conduct at Moraviantown is that he was anxious -for the safety of his wife and daughters, perhaps needlessly fearing -that the rough backwoodsmen would retaliate on them for the treachery -of the Indians tomahawking American prisoners of war. - -[Illustration: TECUMSEH] - -And it had fared almost as badly with the Canadian fleet on Lake -Ontario. The boats under Sir James Yeo, the young English commander, -were good only for close-range fighting, the boats under Commodore -Chauncey best for long-range firing. All July and August the fleets -maneuvered to catch each other off guard. Between times each raided -the coast of the other for provisions, Chauncey paying a second visit -to Toronto, Yeo swooping down on Sodus Bay. All September the game of -hide and seek went on between the two Ontario squadrons. Sunday night, -the 8th of September, in a gale, two of Chauncey's ships sank, with all -hands but sixteen. Two nights later in a squally wind, by the light of -the moon, two more of his slow sailers, unable to keep up with the rest -of the fleet, were snapped up by the English off Niagara with one -hundred captives. Again, on September 27, at eight in the evening, six -miles off Toronto harbor, Chauncey came up with the English, and the -two fleets poured broadsides into each other. Then Yeo's crippled -brigs limped into Toronto harbor, while Chauncey sailed gayly off to -block all connection with Montreal and help to convoy troops {367} from -Niagara down the St. Lawrence for the master stroke of the year. The -way was now clear for the twofold aim of the American staff,--to starve -out Ontario and concentrate all strength in a signal attack on Montreal. - - -The autumn campaign was without doubt marked by the most comical and -heroic episodes of the war. Wilkinson was to go down the St. Lawrence -from Lake Ontario with eight thousand men to join General Hampton -coming by the way of Lake Champlain with another five thousand men in -united attack against Montreal. November 5 Wilkinson's troops -descended in three hundred flat-boats through the Thousand Islands, now -bleak and leafless and somber in the gray autumn light. It seemed -hardly possible that the few Canadian troops cooped up in Kingston -would dare to pursue such a strong American force, but history is made -up of impossibles. Feeling perfectly secure, Wilkinson's troops -scattered on the river. By November 10, at nine in the morning, half -the Americans had run down the rapids of the Long Sault, and were in -the region of Cornwall, pressing forward to unite with Hampton, where -Chateauguay River came into Lake St. Louis, just above Montreal. The -other half of Wilkinson's army was above the Long Sault, near -Chrysler's Farm. From the outset the rear guard of the advancing -invaders had been harried by Canadian sharpshooters. November 11, -about midday, it was learned that a Canadian battalion of eight hundred -was pressing eagerly on the rear. Chance shots became a rattling -fusillade. Quick as flash the Americans land and wheel face about to -fight, posted behind a stone wall and along a dried gully with -sheltering cliffs at Chrysler's Farm. By 2.30 the foes are shooting at -almost hand-to-hand range. Then, through the powder smoke, the -Canadians break from a march to a run, and charge with all the -dauntless fury of men fighting for hearth and home. Before the line of -flashing bayonets the invaders break and run. Two hundred have fallen -on each side in an action of less than two hours. Then the boats go on -down to the other half of the army at Cornwall, and here is worse -news,--news that sends {368} Wilkinson's army back to the American side -of the St. Lawrence without attempting attack on Montreal. General -Hampton on his way from Lake Champlain has been totally discomfited. - -Finding the way to the St. Lawrence barred by the old raiders' trail of -Richelieu River, Hampton had struck across westward from Lake Champlain -to join Wilkinson on the St. Lawrence, west of Montreal, somewhere near -the road of Chateauguay River. With five thousand infantry and one -hundred and eighty cavalry he has advanced to a ford beyond the fork of -Chateauguay. Uncertain where the blow would be struck, Canada's -governor had necessarily scattered his meager forces. - -[Illustration: DE SALABERRY] - -To oppose advance by the Chateauguay he has sent a young Canadian -officer, De Salaberry, with one hundred and fifty French Canadian -sharp-shooters and one hundred Indians. De Salaberry does not court -defeat by neglecting precautions because he is weak. Windfall is -hurriedly thrown up as barricade along the trail. Where the path -narrows between the river and the bleak forest, De Salaberry has tree -trunks laid spike end towards the foe. At the last moment comes -McDonnell of Brockville with six hundred men, but De Salaberry's three -hundred occupy the front line facing the ford. McDonnell is farther -along the river. By the night of October 25 the American army is close -on the dauntless little band hidden in the forest. On the morning of -the 26th three thousand Americans {369} cross the south bank of the -river, with the design of crossing north again farther down and -swinging round on De Salaberry's rear. At the first shot of the -bluecoats poor De Salaberry's forlorn little band broke in panic fright -and fled, but De Salaberry on the river bank had grabbed his bugle boy -by the scruff of the neck with a grip of iron, and in terms more -forcible than polite bade him "sound--sound--sound _the advance_," till -the forest was filled with flying echoes of bugle calls. McDonnell -behind hears the challenge, and mistaking the cheering call for note of -victory, bids his buglers blow, blow advance, blow and cheer like -devils! The Americans pour shot into the forest. The bugle calls -multiply till the woods seem filled with an advancing army and the -yells split the sky. Also McDonnell has ordered his men to fire -kneeling, so that few of the American shots take effect. The advancing -host became demoralized. At 2.30 they sounded retreat, and it may -truly be said that the battle of Chateauguay was won by De Salaberry's -bugle boy, held to the sticking point, not because he was brave, but -because he could not run away. It is said that Hampton simply would -not believe the truth when told of the numbers by whom he had been -defeated. It is also said that immediately after the victory De -Salaberry fell ill from a bad attack of nerves, brought on by lack of -sleep. However that may be, the Canadian governor, Prevost, did not -suffer from an attack of conscience, for in his report to the English -government he ascribed the victory to his own management and presence -on the field. - - -The year of 1813 closes darkly for both sides. Before withdrawing from -Niagara region the invaders ravage the country and set fire to the -village of Newark, driving four hundred women and children roofless to -December snows. Sir Gordon Drummond, who has just come to command in -Ontario, retaliates swiftly and without mercy. He crosses the Niagara -by night; the fort is carried at bayonet point, three hundred men -captured and three thousand arms taken. Next, Lewiston is burned, then -Black Rock, and on the last day of the year, Buffalo. Down {370} on -the Atlantic Coast both fleets win victories, but the English work the -greater hurt, for they blockade the entire coast south of New York. On -the English squadron are European mercenaries who have been given the -name of Canadian battalions, because their work is to harry the -American coast in order to draw off the American army from Canada. -European mercenaries have been the same the world over,--riffraff -blackguards, guilty of infamous outrages the moment they are out from -under the officers' eye. These were the troops misnamed "Canadians," -whose infamous conduct left a heritage of hate long after the war; but -this is a story of the navy rather than of Canada. - - -The contest has now lasted for almost two years, and both sides are as -far from decisive victory as when war was declared in June of 1812. -Long since the embargo laws of France and England against neutral -nations have been rescinded, and the American coast has suffered more -from the blockade of this war than it ever did from the wars between -France and England. The year 1814 opens with Napoleon defeated and -England pouring aid across the Atlantic into Canada. Wilkinson's big -army hovers inactive round Lake Champlain, and Prevost is afraid to -weaken Montreal by forwarding aid to Drummond at Niagara. The British -fleet blockades Sackett's Harbor, and the American fleet blockades -Kingston. The Canadians raid Oswego on Lake Ontario for provisions. -The Americans raid Port Dover on Lake Erie, leaving the country a -blackened waste and Tom Talbot's Castle Malahide of logs a smoking -ruin, with the determined aim of cutting off all supplies in Ontario. -Drummond sends his troops scouring the country inland from Niagara for -provisions. Military law is established for the seizure of cattle and -grain, but for the latter as high a price is paid as $2.50 a bushel, -and many a pioneer farmer back from York (Toronto) and Burlington -(Hamilton) dates the foundation of his fortune from the famine prices -paid for bread during the War of 1812. - -[Illustration: SIR GORDON DRUMMOND] - -Of course the United States did not purpose leaving the frontier of -Niagara because Drummond had burnt the forts. By {371} May, Major -General Brown had taken command of the United States troops at Buffalo. -The next two months pass, drilling and training, and bringing forward -provisions. July 3, at day dawn, during fog thick as wool on the lake, -five thousand American troops cross to the Canadian side. Fort Erie's -English garrison capitulates on the spot, and the English retreat down -Niagara River towards Chippewa by the Falls. At Chippewa, at -Queenston, at Fort George, in all to guard the Canadian frontier are -only some twenty-eight hundred men. Three fourths of these are kept -doing garrison duty, leaving only seven hundred men free afield. Just -beside Chippewa, a creek some twenty feet wide comes into Niagara -River. The Canadians have destroyed the bridge as they retreat, but -the Americans pursue, and at midnight of the 4th the two armies are -facing each other across the brook, ominous dreadful silence through -the darkness but for the sentry's arms or the lumbering advance of -artillery wagons dragged cautiously near the Canadians. The bridge is -repaired under peppering shot from the British. By four on the -afternoon of the 5th, the Americans have crossed the stream. Their -artillery is in place, and another battalion has forded higher up and -swept round to take the Canadians on the flank. The Canadians must -either flee in such blind panic as Procter displayed at Moraviantown, -or turn and fight. Indians in ambush, reenforcements from Fort George -and Queenston formed in three solid columns, the English wheel to face -the foe. First there is the rattling clatter of musketry fire from -shooters behind in the {372} grass. Then the solid columns break from -a march to a run, and charge with their bayonets. The artillery fire -of the Americans meets the runners in a terrible death blast; but as -the front lines drop, the men behind step in their places till the -armies are not one hundred yards apart. Then another blast from the -heavy guns of the Americans literally tears the Canadian columns to -tatters. As the smoke lifts there are no columns left, only scattered -groups of men retreating across a field strewn thick with the mangled -dead. Out of twelve hundred men, the Canadians have lost five hundred. -The charge of the forlorn twelve hundred at Chippewa against the -artillery of four thousand Americans has been likened to the charge of -the Light Brigade in the Russian War. Though the Canadians were -defeated, their heroic defense had for a few days at least checked the -advance of the invaders. And now the position of the beleaguered -became desperate. At Fort George, at Queenston, and at Burlington -Heights, the men were put on half rations. - -Why did the Americans not advance at once against Queenston and Fort -George? For three weeks they awaited Chauncey's fleet to attack from -the water side, so the army could rush the fort from the land side; but -Chauncey was ill and could not come, and the interval gave the -hard-pressed Canadians their chance. Drummond comes from Kingston with -four hundred fresh men; also he calls on the people to leave their -farms and rally as volunteers to the last desperate fight. This -increased his troops by another thousand, though many of the volunteers -were mere boys, who scarcely knew how to hold a gun. Then, from a -dozen signs, Drummond's practiced eye foresaw that a forward movement -was being planned by the enemy without Chauncey's cooeperation. All the -American baggage was being ordered to rear. False attacks to draw off -observation are made on Fort George outposts. American scouts are seen -reconnoitering the Back Country. Drummond rightly guessed that the -attack was being planned in one of two directions,--by rounding through -the Back Country, either to fall in great numbers on Fort George, or to -cut between the {373} Canadian army of Hamilton region and of Niagara -region, taking both battalions in the rear. From Fort George to -Queenston Canadian troops are posted by Drummond, and where the road -called Lundy's Lane runs from the Falls at right angles to the Back -Country more battalions are ordered on guard against the advance of the -invaders. Fitzgibbons, the famous scout, climbing to a tree on top of -a high hill, sees the Americans, five thousand of them, gray coats, -blue coats, white trousers, moving up from Chippewa towards Lundy's -Lane. Quickly sixteen hundred Canadian troops under General Riall take -possession of a hill fronting Lundy's Lane and the Falls. On the hill -is a little brown church and an old-fashioned graveyard. In the midst -of the graves the Canadian cannon are posted. Round the cemetery runs -a stone wall screened by shrubbery, and on both sides of Lundy's Lane -are endless orchards of cherry and peach and apples, the fruit just -beginning to redden in the summer sun. Whether the enemy aim at Fort -George or Hamilton, the Canadian position on Lundy's Lane must be -passed and captured. As soon as Drummond had Fitzgibbons' report, he -sent messengers galloping for Hercules Scott, who had been ordered to -retreat to the lake, to come back to Lundy's Lane with his twelve -hundred men. It may be imagined that the Americans guessed what -message the horseman, in the slather of foam was bearing back to -Hercules Scott; for they at once attacked the Canadians in Lundy's Lane -with fury, to capture the guns on the hill before Hercules Scott's -reenforcements could come. - -It was now six o'clock in the evening of July 25, a sweltering hot -night, and the troops on both sides were parched for water, though the -roar of whole inland oceans of water could be heard pouring over the -Falls of Niagara. As the Canadians had charged against the American -guns at Chippewa, so now the Americans charged uphill against the guns -of the Canadians, hurling their full strength against the enemy's -center. Creeping under shelter of the cemetery stone walls, the -bluecoats would fire a volley of musketry, jump over the fence, dash -through the smoke, {374} bayonet in hand, to capture the Canadian guns. -Time, time again, the rush was dauntlessly made, and time, time again -met by the withering blast. Before nine o'clock the attacking lines -had lost more than five hundred men, and as many Canadians had fallen -on the hill. The dead and mangled lay literally in heaps. As darkness -deepened, lit only by the wan light of a fitful moon and the awesome -flare of volley after volley, the fearful screams of the dying could be -heard above the roar of the Falls and the whistle of cannon ball. -Riall, the commander of the Canadians, had been wounded and captured. -Of his sixteen hundred Canadians, Drummond had now left only one -thousand, and he was himself bleeding from a deep wound in the neck. -Half the American officers had been carried from the field injured, and -still the command was repeated to rush the hill before Scott's -reenforcements came, and each time the advancing line was driven back -shattered and thinned, Canadians dashing in pursuit, cheering and -whooping, till both armies were so inextricably mixed it was impossible -to hear or heed commands. It was in one of these melees that Riall, -the Canadian, found himself among the American lines and was captured -to the wild and jubilant shouting of the boys in blue and gray. Pause -fell at nine o'clock. The Americans were mustering for the final -terrible rush. The moon had gone behind a cloud, and the darkness was -inky. Then a shout from the Canadian side split the very welkin. -Hercules Scott had arrived with his twelve hundred men on a run, -breathless and tired from a march and countermarch of twenty miles. -The Americans took up the yell; for fresh reserves had joined them, -too, and Lundy's Lane became a bedlam of ear-shattering sounds,--heavy -artillery wagons forcing up the hill at a gallop over dead and dying, -bombs from the Canadian guns exploding in the darkness, horses taking -fright and bolting from their riders, carrying American guns clear -across the lines among the Canadians. A wild yell of triumph told that -the Americans had captured the hill. For the next two hours it was a -hand-to-hand fight in pitchy darkness. Drummond, the Englishman, could -be heard right in the midst of the {375} American lines, shouting, -"Stick to them, men! stick to them! Don't give up! Don't turn! Stick -to them! You 'll have it!" And American officers were found amidst -Canadian battalions, shouting stentorian command: "Level low! Fire at -their flashes! Watch the flash, and fire at their flashes!" - -[Illustration: MONUMENT AT LUNDY'S LANE] - -The Americans have captured the Canadian guns, but in the darkness they -cannot carry them off. Each side thinks the other beaten, and neither -will retreat. In the confusion it is impossible to rally the -battalions, and men are attacking their own side by mistake. Both -sides claim victory, and each is afraid to await what daylight may -reveal; for it is no exaggeration to say that at the battle of Lundy's -Lane the blood of one third of each side dyed the field. The Canadians -as defenders of their own homes, fighting in the last ditch, dare not -retire. The Americans, having more to risk in numbers, withdraw their -troops at two in the morning. Of her twenty-eight hundred men Canada -had lost nine hundred; and the American loss is as great. Too -exhausted to retire, Drummond's men flung themselves on the ground and -slept lying among the dead, heedless alike of the drenching rain that -follows artillery fire, of the roaring cataract, of the groans from the -wounded. Men awakened in the gray dawn to find themselves -unrecognizable from blood and powder smoke, to find, {376} in some -cases, that the comrade whose coat they had shared as pillow lay cold -in death by morning. While Drummond's men bury the dead in heaps and -carry the wounded to Toronto, the invaders have retreated with their -wounded to Fort Erie. - - -It now became the dauntless Drummond's aim to expel the enemy from Fort -Erie. Five days after the battle of Lundy's Lane he had moved his camp -halfway between Chippewa and Fort Erie; but in addition to its garrison -of two thousand, Fort Erie is guarded by three armed schooners lying at -anchor on the lake front. Captain Dobbs of Drummond's forces makes the -first move. At the head of seventy-five men, he deploys far to the -rear of the fort through the woods, carrying five flatboats over the -forest trail eight miles, and on the night of the 12th of August slips -out through the water mist towards the American schooners. - -"Who goes?" challenges the ships' watchman. - -"Provision boats from Buffalo," calls back the Canadian oarsman; and -the rowboats pass round within the shadow of the schooner. A moment -later the American ships are boarded. A trampling on deck calls the -sailors aloft; but Dobbs has mastered two vessels before the fort wakes -to life with a rush to the rescue. - -Delay means almost inevitable loss to Drummond; for Prevost will send -no more reenforcements, and the Americans are daily strengthening Fort -Erie. Bastions of stone have been built. Outer batteries command -approach to the walls, and along the narrow margin between the fort and -the lake earthworks have been thrown up, mounted with cannon elbowing -to the water's edge. Taking advantage of the elation over Dobbs' raid -on the schooners, Drummond plans a night assault on the 15th of August. -Rain had been falling in splashes all day. The fort trenches were -swimming like rivers, and it may be mentioned that Drummond's camp was -swimming too, boding ill for his men's health. One of the foreign -regiments was to lead {377} the assault round by the lake side, while -Drummond and his nephew rushed the bastions. It will be remembered -these foreign regiments of Napoleonic wars were composed of the -offscourings of Europe. The fighters were to depend "on bayonet alone, -giving no quarter." Splashing along the rain-soaked road in silence -and darkness, scaling ladders over shoulders, bayonets in hand, the -foreign troops came to the earthwork elbowing out into the lake. This -was passed by the men wading out in the lake to their chins; but the -noise was overheard by the fort sentry, and a perfect blaze of musketry -shattered the darkness and drove the mercenaries back pellmell, -bellowing with terror. A few of the English and Canadian troops -pressed forward, only to find that they could not reach within ladder -distance of the walls at all, for spiked trees had been placed above -the trenches in a perfect crisscross hurdle of sharpened ends. In old -letters of the period one reads how the trenches were literally heaped -with a jumbled mass of the dead. The other attacking columns fared -almost as badly. One of the bastions had been entered by the cannon -embrasures, Drummond, Junior, shouting to "give no quarter--give no -quarter," when, from the cross firing in the courtyards, the powder -magazine below this bastion was set on fire, and exploded with a -terrific crash, killing the assailants almost to a man. In -all,--killed, wounded, missing,--the assault cost Drummond's army nine -hundred men. September proved a rainy month. Drummond's camp became -almost a marsh, and the health of the troops compelled a move to higher -ground. It was then the Americans sallied out in assault. Neither -side could claim victory, but the skirmish cost each army more than -five hundred men. Sir James Yeo now comes sailing up Lake Ontario with -some of the sixteen thousand troops sent from England. The weather -became unfavorable to movement on either side,--rain and sleet -continuously. Drummond foresaw that the season would compel the -abandonment of Fort Erie, and on November 5, a scout came in with word -that the invaders had crossed to the American side and Fort Erie had -been blown up. - -{378} While Drummond is fighting for the very life of Canada along the -Niagara frontier, the war continues in desultory fashion elsewhere. -Kentucky riflemen raid western Ontario from Detroit to Port Dover. Up -on the lakes is a story of the war that reads like a page from border -raiders. American fur traders destroy Sault Ste. Marie. Canadian fur -traders retaliate by swooping on Mississippi fur posts. Out on the -Pacific Coast an English gunboat has captured John Jacob Astor's fur -post on the Columbia; and now in the fall of 1814 the Northwest Fur -Company of Montreal are conveying from Astor's fort the furs, worth -millions of dollars, in canoes across the Upper Lakes to Ottawa River. -Two armed American schooners, hiding on the north shore of Lake Huron, -lie in wait for the gay raiders of the Northwest Company; but at the -Sault the Nor'west voyageurs get wind of the danger. They, in turn, -hide their canoes in some of the blue coves of the north shore. Then, -stealing out at night, in canoes with muffled paddles, the Nor'westers -come on one schooner while the watch is asleep. They board her, -bayonet the crew, "pinion some of the wounded to the decks," and with -the captured vessel sidle up to the other vessel, and, before she is -aware of the new masters on board, have captured her too. Then, scalps -flaunting at the prows of their canoes, the Nor'west fur traders gayly -go their way. Down at Lake Champlain occurs the great fiasco of the -war,--the blot on Canada's escutcheon. Prevost with ten thousand -reenforcements has been ordered by the English Governor to proceed from -Montreal against the Americans by both water and land. While an -English fleet attacks the Americans, Prevost is to lead the troops -against Plattsburg. But the Canadian fleet meets terrible disaster. -The commander is killed by a rebounding cannon ball just as the action -begins; and twelve of the gunboats manned by the hired foreigners -desert _en masse_. The rest of the fleet is literally destroyed. -Instead of seconding attack by a battle on land, Prevost sits behind -his trenches waiting for the little fleet to win the battle for him; -and when the fleet is defeated, Prevost's courage sinks with the {379} -sinking ships. He gathers up his troops and retreats in a scare of -haste,--such a fright of unseemly, unsoldierly haste that nearly one -thousand of his soldiers desert in sheer disgust. Down at Nova Scotia -are raid and counter-raid too. The British and American fleets wage -fierce war that is not part of Canada's story; but in the contest the -public buildings of Washington are burned in retaliation for the -burning of Newark; and down at New Orleans the English suffer a -crushing defeat. - -Meanwhile the peace commissioners have been at work; and the war that -ought never to have taken place, that settled not one jot of the -dispute which caused it, was closed by the Treaty of Ghent, Christmas -Eve of 1814. All captured forts, all plunder, all prisoners, are to be -restored. Michilimackinac and Fort Niagara and Astoria on the Columbia -go back to the United States; but of "impressment" and "right of -search" and "embargo of neutrals" not a word. The waste of life and -happiness accomplished not a feather's weight unless it were the lesson -of the criminal folly of a war between nations akin in aim and speech -and blood. - - - - -{380} - -CHAPTER XV - -FROM 1812 TO 1846 - -Selkirk's colony--Troubles on passage--Winter on the bay--First winter on -Red River--First conflict--Nor'westers rally to defense--The storm -gathers--The Nor'westers victorious--Selkirk to the rescue--Banditti -warfare in Athabasca--In Athabasca--Robertson escapes--Frobisher's -death--The Pacific empire--Secede from Oregon - - -When Sir Alexander MacKenzie, the discoverer, went home to retire on an -estate in Scotland, he found the young nobleman and philanthropist, Lord -Selkirk, keenly interested in accounts of vast, new, unpeopled lands, -which lay beyond the Great Lakes. A change in the system of farming, -which dispossessed small farmers to turn the tenantries into sheep runs, -had caused terrible poverty in Scotland at this period. Here in Scotland -were people starving for want of land. There in America were lands idle -for lack of people. Selkirk had already sent out some colonists to the -Lake St. Clair region of Ontario and to Prince Edward Island, but what he -heard from MacKenzie turned his attention to the new empire of the -prairie. Then in Montreal, where he had been dined and wined by the -Northwest Company's "Beaver Club," he had heard still more of this vast -new land, of its wealth of furs, of its untimbered fields, where man had -but to put in the plowshare to sow his crop. The one great obstruction -to settlement there would be the claims of the Hudson's Bay Company to -exclusive monopoly of the country; but as Selkirk listened to the -descriptions of the Red River Valley given by Colin Robertson, who had -been dismissed by the Nor'westers, he thought he saw a way of overcoming -all difficulties which the fur traders could put in the way of settlement. - -Owing to competition Hudson's Bay stock had fallen from two hundred and -fifty to fifty pounds sterling a share. On returning to Scotland Lord -Selkirk had begun buying up Hudson's Bay stock in the market, along with -Sir Alexander MacKenzie; but when MacKenzie learned that Selkirk's object -was colonization first, profits second, he broke in violent anger from -the partnership in speculation, and besought William MacGillivray to go -on {381} the open market and buy against Selkirk to defeat the plans for -settlement. What with shares owned by his wife's family of -Colville-Wedderburns, and those he had himself purchased, Selkirk now -owned a controlling interest in the Hudson's Bay Company. - -Early in 1811 the Company deeds to Lord Selkirk the country of Red River -Valley, exceeding in area the British Isles and extending, through the -ignorance of its donors, far south into American territory. Colin -Robertson, the former Nor'wester, who first interested Selkirk in Red -River, has meanwhile been gathering together a party of colonists. Miles -MacDonell, retired from the Glengarry Regiment, has been appointed by -Selkirk governor of the new colony. - -[Illustration: SELKIRK] - -What of the Nor'westers while these projects went forward? Writes -MacGillivray from London, where he has been stirring up enmity to -Selkirk's project, "_Selkirk must be driven to abandon his project at any -cost, for his colony would prove utterly destructive of our fur trade_." -How he purposed doing this will be seen. Writes Selkirk to the governor -of his colony, Miles MacDonell: "_The Northwest Company must be compelled -to quit my lands. If they refuse, they must be treated as poachers_." -Selkirk believed that the Hudson's Bay Company charter to the Great -Northwest was legal and valid. He believed that the vast territory -granted to him was legally his own as much as his parks in Scotland. He -believed that he possessed the same right to expel intruders on this -territory as to drive poachers from his own Scotch parks. It was the -spirit of feudalism. As for the Nor'westers, let us look at their -rights. They disputed that the charter of the Hudson's Bay Company -applied beyond the bounds {382} of Hudson Bay. Even if it did so apply, -they pointed out that by the terms of the charter it applied only to -lands not possessed by any other Christian power; and who would dispute -that French fur traders and Nor'westers, as their successors, had -ascended the streams of the interior long before the Hudson's Bay men? -It was the spirit of democracy. It needed no prophet to foresee when -these two sets of claims came together there would be a violent clash. - -It is evening in the little harbor of Stornoway, off the Hebrides, north -of Scotland, July 25, 1811. Waning midsummer has begun to shorten the -long days; and lying at anchor in the twilight a few yards offshore are -the three Hudson's Bay Company boats, outward bound. For a week the -quiet little fishing hamlet has been in a turmoil, for Governor Miles -MacDonell and Colin Robertson have ordered the Selkirk settlers here--129 -of them, 70 farmers, 59 clerks--to join the Hudson's Bay boats as they -swing out westward on their far cruise to the north, and the atmosphere -has literally been on fire with vexations created by spies of the -Northwest Company. In the first place, as the settlers wait for the -ships coming up from London, trouble makers pass from group to group -scattering a miserable little sheet called "The Highlander," warning "the -deluded people" against going to "a polar land of Indian hostiles." -Besides, dark hints are uttered that the settlers are not wanted for -colonists at all, but for armed battalions to fight the Nor'westers for -the Hudson's Bay Company, in proof whereof the prophets of evil point -ominously to the cannon and munitions of war on board the three old fur -boats. Then there is too much whisky afloat in Stornoway that week. -Settlers are taken ashore and farewelled and farewelled and farewelled -till unable to find their way down to the rowboats, and then they are -easily frightened into abandoning the risky venture altogether. On the -settlers who have come as clerks to the Company Governor MacDonell can -keep a strong hand, for they have been paid their wages in advance and -are seized if they attempt to desert. Then the excise officer here is a -friend of the Nor'westers, and he creates {383} endless trouble rowing -round and round the boats, bawling . . . bawling out . . . to know "if -all who are embarking are going of their own free will," till the ship's -hands, looking over decks, become so exasperated they heave a cannon ball -over rails, which goes splash through the bottom of the harbor officer's -rowboat and sends him cursing ashore to dispatch a challenge for a duel -to Governor MacDonell. MacDonell sees plainly that if he is to have any -colonists left, he must sail at once. Anchors up and sails out at eleven -that night, the ships glide from shore so unexpectedly that one -faint-heart, desperately resolved on flight, has to jump overboard and -swim ashore, while two other settlers, who have been lingering over -farewells, must be rowed across harbor by Colin Robertson to catch the -departing ships. Then Robertson is back on the wharf trumpeting a last -cheer through his funneled hands. The Highlanders on decks lean over the -vessel railings waving their bonnets. The Glasgow and Dublin lads -indentured as clerks give a last huzza, and the Selkirk settlers are off -for their Promised Land. - -As long ago Cartier's first colonists to the St. Lawrence had their -mettle tested by tempestuous weather and pioneer hardships, so now the -first colonists to the Great Northwest must meet the challenge that fate -throws down to all who leave the beaten path. Though the season was -late, the weather was extraordinarily stormy. Sixty-one days the passage -lasted, the tubby old fur ships lying water-logged, rolling to the angry -sea. MacDonell was furious that colonists had been risked on such -unseaworthy craft, but those old fur-ship captains, with fifty years ice -battling to their credit, probably knew their business better than -MacDonell. The fur ships had not been built for speed and comfort, but -for cargoes and safety, and when storms came they simply lowered sails, -turned tails to the wind, and rolled till the gale had passed, to the -prolonged woe of the Highland landsmen, who for the first time suffered -seasick pangs. Then, when Governor MacDonell attempted drills to pass -the time, he made the discovery that seditious talk had gone the rounds -of the deck. "The Hudson's Bay had no right to this {384} country." -"The Nor'westers owned that country." "The Hudson's Bay could n't compel -any man to drill and fight." Selkirk could not give clear deed to their -"lands," and much more to the same effect, all of which proved that some -Nor'wester agent in disguise had been busy on board. - -September 24, amid falling snow and biting frost, the ships anchored at -Five Fathom Hole off York Factory, Port Nelson. - -[Illustration: NELSON AND HAYES RIVERS (From Robson)] - -The Selkirk settlers had been sixty-one days on board, and they were -still a year away from their Promised Land. Champlain's colonists of -Acadia and Quebec had come to anchorage on a land set like a jewel amid -silver waters and green hills, but the Selkirk settlers have as yet seen -only rocks barren of verdure as a billiard ball, vales amidst the domed -hills of Hudson Straits, dank with muskeg, and silent as the very realms -of death itself, but for the flacker of wild fowl, the roaring of the -floundering {385} walrus herds, or the lonely tinkling of mountain -streams running from the ice fields to the mossy valleys bordering the -northern sea. It needed a robust hope, or the blind faith of an almost -religious zeal, to penetrate the future and see beyond these sterile -shores the Promised Land, where homes were to be built, and plenty to -abound. If pioneer struggles leave a something in the blood of the race -that makes for national strength and permanency, the difference between -the home finding of the West and the home finding of the East is worth -noting. - -There were, of course, no preparations for the colonists at York Fort, -for the factor could not know they were coming, or anything of Selkirk's -plans, till the annual ships arrived. On the chance of finding better -hunting farther from the fort, MacDonell withdrew his people from Hayes -River, north across the marsh to a sheltered bank of the River Nelson. -Winter had set in early. A whooping blizzard met the pilgrims as they -marched along an Indian trail through the brushwood. There is a legend -of Miles MacDonell, the governor, becoming benighted between York Fort -and Nelson River, and losing his way in the storm. According to the -story, he beat about the brushwood for twenty-four hours before he -regained his bearings. Rude huts of rough timber and thatch roof with -logs extemporized for berths and benches were knocked up for wintering -quarters on Nelson River, and the next nine months were passed hunting -deer for store of provisions, and building flatboats to ascend the -interior. All winter a mutinous spirit was at work among the young -clerks, which MacDonell, no doubt, ascribed to the machinations of -Nor'westers; but the chief factor quickly quelled mutiny by cutting off -supplies, and all hands were ready to proceed when the fur brigades set -out for the interior on the 21st of June, 1812. - -Up Hayes River, up the whole length of Winnipeg Lake, then in August the -flatboats are ascending the muddy current of Red River, through what is -now Manitoba, and for the first time the people see their Promised Land. -High banks fringed with maple and oak line the river at what is now -Selkirk. Then the cliffs lower, and through the woods are broken gleams -{386} of the rolling prairie intersected by ravines, stretching far as -eye can see, where sky and earth meet. From the lateness of the season -one can guess that the river was low at the bowlder reach known as St. -Andrew's Rapids, and that while the boats were tracked upstream the -people would disembark and walk along the Indian trails of the west bank. -There was no Fort Garry near the rapids, as a few years later. -Buffalo-skin tepees alone broke the endless sweep of russet prairie and -sky, clear swimming blue as the purest lake. Then the people are back -aboard, laboring hard at the oar now, for they know they are nearing the -end of their long pilgrimage. The river banks rise higher. Then they -drop gradually to the flats now known as Point Douglas. Another bend in -the sinuous red current, looping and curving and circling fantastically -through the prairie, and the Selkirk settlers are in full view of the old -Cree graveyard,--bodies swathed in skins on scaffolding,--down at the -junction of the Assiniboine. Hard by they see the towered bastions of -the Northwest Company's post, Fort Gibraltar. Somewhere between what are -known to-day as Broadway Bridge and Point Douglas, the Selkirk settlers -land on the west side. Chief Peguis and his Cree warriors ride -wonderingly among the white-faced newcomers, marveling at men who have -crossed the Great Waters "to dig gardens and work land." The barracks -knocked up hastily is known after Selkirk's family name as Fort Douglas; -but the store of deer meat has been exhausted, and the colonists are on -the verge of a second winter. They at once join the Plain Rangers, or -Bois Brules (Burnt Wood Runners), half-breed descendants of French and -Nor'west fur traders, who have become retainers of the Montreal Company. -With them the Selkirk settlers proceed south to Pembina and the Boundary -to hunt buffalo. No instructions had yet come to Red River of the -Northwest Company's hostility to the colony, and the lonely Scotch clerks -of Fort Gibraltar were glad to welcome men who spoke their own Highland -tongue. Volumes might be written of this, the colonists' first year in -their Promised Land: how the rude Plain Rangers conveyed them to the -buffalo hunt in their {387} creaking Red River carts,--carts made -entirely of wood, hub, tire, axle, and all, or else on loaned ponies; how -when storm came the white settlers were welcomed to the huts and skin -tents of the French half-breeds, given food and buffalo blankets; how -many a young Highlander came to grief in the wild stampede of his first -buffalo hunt; how when the hunters returned to Fort Gibraltar (Winnipeg), -on Red River, with store enough of pemmican for all the fur posts of the -Nor'westers, many a wild happy winter night was passed dancing mad Indian -jigs to the piping of the Highland piper and the crazy scraping of some -Frenchman's fiddle; how when morning came, in a gray dawn of smoking -frost mist, a long line of the colonists could be seen winding along the -ice of Red River home to Fort Douglas, Piper Green or Hector McLean -leading the way, still prancing and blowing a proud national air; how -when spring opened, ten-acre plots were assigned to each settler, close -to the fort at what were known as the Colony Buildings, and one -hundred-acre farms farther down the river. All this and more are part of -the story of the coming of the first colonists to the Great Northwest. -The very autumn that the first settlers had reached Red River in 1812 -more colonists had arrived on the boats at {388} Hudson Bay. These did -not reach Red River till October of 1812 and the spring of 1813. By -1813, and on till 1817, more colonists yearly came. The story of each -year, with its plot and counterplot, I have told elsewhere. Spite of -Nor'westers' threats, spite of the fact there would be no market for the -colonists when they had succeeded in transforming wilderness prairie into -farms, Selkirk's mad dream of empire seemed to be succeeding. - -[Illustration: FORT GARRY, RED RIVER SETTLEMENT] - - -The cardinal mistake in the contest between Hudson's Bay Company and -Nor'westers, between feudalism and democracy, was now committed by the -governor of the colony, Miles MacDonell. The year 1813 had proved poor -for the buffalo hunters. Large numbers of colonists were coming, and -provisions were likely to be scarce. Also, note it well, while the War -of 1812 did not cut off supplies through Hudson Bay to the English -Company, it did threaten access to the West by the Great Lakes, and cut -off all supplies by way of Detroit and Lake Huron for the Nor'westers. -Was MacDonell scoring a point against the Nor'westers, when they were at -a disadvantage? Who can answer? Selkirk had ordered him to expel the -{389} Nor'westers from his lands, and if the violent contest had not -begun in this way, it was bound to come in another. What MacDonell did -was issue a proclamation in January of 1814, forbidding taking provisions -from Selkirk's territory of Assiniboia. It practically meant that the -Plain Rangers must not hunt buffalo in the limits of modern Manitoba, and -must not sell supplies to the Nor'westers. It also meant that all the -upper posts of the Nor'westers--the fur posts of Athabasca and British -Columbia, which depended on pemmican for food--would be without adequate -provisions. The Plain Rangers were enraged beyond words, and doubly -outraged when some Hudson's Bay men began seizing buffalo meat at Pembina -River, which was beyond the limits of Selkirk's territory. Writes Peter -Fidler, one of the Hudson's Bay factors, "_If MacDonell only perseveres, -he will starve the Nor westers out_." - -[Illustration: FORT DOUGLAS] - -One can guess the anger in the annual meeting of the Nor'westers at Fort -William in July of 1814. Like generals on field of war they laid out -their campaign. Duncan Cameron, a United Empire Loyalist officer of the -1812 War, is to don his red regimentals and proceed to Red River, where -his knowledge of the Gaelic tongue may be trusted to win over Selkirk -settlers. "_Nothing but the complete downfall of the colony will satisfy -some_," wrote one of the fiery Nor'westers to a brother officer. Such -was the mood of the Nor'westers when they came back from their annual -meeting on Lake Superior to Red River, and MacDonell fanned this mood to -dangerous fury by threatening to burn the Nor'westers' forts to the -ground unless they moved from Selkirk's territory. For the present -Duncan Cameron contents himself with striking up a warm friendship with -the Highlanders of the settlement and offering to transport two hundred -of them free of cost to Eastern Canada. MacDonell seizes still more -provisions from northwest forts. Cameron, the Nor'wester, comes back -from the annual meeting of 1815 still more bellicose. He carries the -warrant to arrest Governor Miles MacDonell for the seizure of those -provisions. MacDonell, safe behind the palisades of Fort Douglas, laughs -{390} the warrant to scorn; but it is another matter when the Plain -Rangers ride across the prairie from Fort Gibraltar armed, and pour such -hot shot into Fort Douglas that the colonists, frenzied with fear, huddle -to the fort for shelter. To insure the safety of his colonists, -MacDonell surrenders to the Nor'westers and is sent to Eastern Canada for -a trial which never takes place. No sooner has Governor MacDonell been -expelled than Cuthbert Grant, warden of the Plain Rangers, rides over to -the colony and warns the colonists to flee for their lives, from Indians -enraged at "these land workers spoiling the hunting fields." What the -Indians thought of this defense of their rights is not stated. They were -silent and unacting witnesses of the unedifying spectacle of white men -ready to fly at each other's throats. It was too late for the colonists -to reach Hudson Bay in time for the annual ships of 1815, so the -houseless people dispersed amid the forests of Lake Winnipeg, where they -could be certain of at least fish for food. - -Word of the two hundred settlers having been moved from Red River by the -Nor'westers, of MacDonell's forcible expulsion, and of the dispersion of -the rest of the colony had, of course, been sent to Selkirk and his -agents in both Montreal and London. Swift retaliation is prepared. -Colin Robertson, who speaks French like a Canadian and knows all the -Nor'west voyageurs of the St. Lawrence, is sent to gather up two hundred -French boatmen under the very noses of the Nor'westers at Montreal. With -these Robertson is to invade the far-famed Athabasca, whence come the -best furs, the very heart of the Nor'westers' stamping ground. Robert -Semple is appointed governor of the colony on Red River, with -instructions to resist the aggressions of the Nor'westers even to the -point of "_a shock that may be felt from Montreal to Athabasca_." -Selkirk himself comes to Canada to interview the Governor General about -military forces to protect his colony. - -Robertson, with his two hundred voyageurs for Athabasca, follows the old -Ottawa trail of the French explorers, from the St. Lawrence to the Great -Lakes, and from the Great Lakes to {391} Red River by way of Winnipeg -Lake. Whom does he find on the shores of the lake but Selkirk's -dispersed colonists! Ordering John Clarke, an old campaigner of Astor's -company on the Columbia, to lead the two hundred French voyageurs on up -to Athabasca, Colin Robertson rallies the colonists together and leads -them back to Red River for the winter of 1815-1816. Feeling sure that he -had destroyed Selkirk's scheme root and branch, Cameron has remained at -Fort Gibraltar with only a few men, when back to the field comes -Robertson, stormy, capable, robust, red-blooded, fearless, breathing -vengeance on Selkirk's foes. - -[Illustration: SKETCH OF THE CITY OF WINNIPEG, SHOWING THE SITES OF THE -EARLY FORTS] - -By the spring of 1816 the tables have been turned with a vengeance. -Cameron, the Nor'wester, has been seized and sent to Hudson Bay to be -expelled from the country. Fort Gibraltar has been pulled down and the -timbers used to strengthen Fort Douglas, whose pointed cannon command all -passage up and down Red River. It was hardly to be supposed that the -haughty Nor'westers would submit to expulsion without a blow. From -Athabasca, from New Caledonia, from Qu'Appelle . . . they rally their -doughtiest fighters under Cuthbert Grant, the {392} half-breed Plain -Ranger. From Montreal and Fort William come spurring the leading -partners, with one hundred and seventy French-Canadian bullies, and a -brass cannon concealed under oilcloth in a long boat. The object of the -Plain Rangers is to meet the up-coming partners with supplies for the -year; but is that any reason for the riders who are striking eastward -from Assiniboine to Red River, decking themselves out in war paint and -stripping like savages before battle? The object of the partners is to -meet the Plain Rangers on Red River; but is that any reason for bringing -a cannon concealed under oilcloth all the way from Lake Superior? Or do -men fighting a life-and-death struggle for the thing the world calls -success ever acknowledge plain motives within themselves at all? Is it -not rather the blind brute instinct of self-protection, forfend what may? - -[Illustration: RED RIVER SETTLEMENT, 1816-1820] - -"Listen, white men! Beware! Beware!" the Cree chief Peguis warns -Governor Semple. What means the spectacle of white brothers, who preach -peace, preparing for war over a few beaver pelts? Chief Peguis cannot -understand, except this is the way of white men. - -{393} And now, unluckily for Governor Semple, he quarrels with his -adviser, Colin Robertson. Robertson, from his early training in -Northwest ranks, reads the signs, and is for striking a blow before the -enemy can strike him. Semple is still talking peace. Robertson leaves -Red River in disgust, and departs for Hudson Bay to take ship for -England. The Plain Rangers, it may be explained, have uttered the wild -threat that if they "can catch Robertson," they will avenge the -destruction of Fort Gibraltar "by skinning him alive and feeding him to -the dogs." Also it is well known, Nor'westers of Qu'Appelle have -muttered angry prophecies about "the ground being drenched with the blood -of the colonists." - -Still Semple talks peace, which is a good thing in its place; but this is -n't the place. - -"My Governor! My Governor!" pleads an old hunter of the Hudson's Bay -with Semple; "are you not afraid? The half-breeds are gathering to kill -you!" - -Semple laughs. Pshaw! _He_ has law on _his_ side. Law! What is law? -The old hunter of the lawless wilds does n't know that word. That word -does n't come as far west as the _Pays d'en Haut_. - -It is sunset of June 18, 1816. Old chief Peguis comes again to the -Hudson's Bay fort on Red River. - -"Governor of the gard'ners!" he solemnly warns; "governor of the land -workers and gard'ners, listen! . . ." Not much does he add, after the -fashion of his race. Only this, "_Let me bring my warriors to protect -you_!" - -Semple laughs at such fears. - -It is sunset of June 19. A soft west wind has set the prairie grass -rippling like a green sea between the fort and the sun hanging low at the -western sky line. A boy on the lookout above one of the bastion towers -of Fort Douglas suddenly shouts, "The half-breeds are coming!" - -Semple ascends the tower and looks through a field glass. There is a -line of sixty or seventy horsemen, all armed, not coming to the fort, but -moving diagonally across from the Assiniboine to the Red towards the -colony. And then, north {394} towards the colony, is wildest -clamor,--people in ox carts, people on horseback, people on foot, -stampeding for the shelter of the fort. And up to this moment absolutely -nothing has occurred to create this terror. - -"Let twenty men follow me," orders Semple; and he marches out, followed -by twenty-seven armed men. - -As they wade through the waist-high hay fields they meet the fleeing -colonists. - -"Keep your back to the river!" shouts one colonist, convoying his family. -"They are painted, Governor! Don't let them surround you." - -Semple sends back to the fort for a cannon to be trundled out. - -Young Lieutenant Holte's gun goes off by mistake. Semple turns on him -with fury and bids him have a care: there is to be no firing. - -The half-breeds have turned from their trail and are coming forward at a -gallop. - -"There 's Grant, the Plain Ranger, Governor! Let me shoot him," pleads -one Hudson's Bay man. - -"God have mercy on our souls!" mutters one of the colonists, counting the -foe; "but we are all dead men." - -All the world knows the rest. At a knoll where grew some trees, a spot -now known in Winnipeg on North Main Street as Seven Oaks, Grant, the -Ranger, sent a half-breed, Boucher, forward to parley. - -"What do you want?" demands Semple. - -"We want our fort!" - -"Go to your fort, then!" - -"Rascal! You have destroyed our fort!" - -"Dare you to speak so to me? Arrest him!" - -Boucher slips from his saddle. The Plain Rangers think he has been shot. -Instantaneously from both sides crashes musketry fire. Semple falls with -a broken thigh. Before Grant can control his murderous crew or obtain -aid for the wounded governor, a scamp of a half-breed has slashed the -fallen man to death. Two or three Hudson's Bay men escape through the -long grass {395} and swim across Red River. Two or three more save -themselves by instant surrender. For the rest of the twenty-seven, they -lie where they have fallen. They are stripped, mutilated, cut to pieces. -Only one Nor'wester is killed, only one wounded. - -Later, in order to save the lives of the settlers, Fort Douglas is -surrendered. For a second time the colonists are dispersed. Before -going down Red River in flatboats two of the Hudson's Bay people go out -with Chief Peguis by night and bury the dead; but they have no time to -dig deep graves, and a few days later the wolves have ripped up the -bodies. - -Near Lake Winnipeg the fleeing colonists meet the Northwest partners with -their one hundred and seventy men. No need to announce what the -spectacle of the terrified colonists means. A wild whoop rends the air. -"Thank Providence it was all over before we came," writes one devout -Nor'wester; "for we intended to storm the fort." Both crews pause. The -Nor'westers interrogate the settlers. Semple's private papers are -seized. Also, two Hudson's Bay men who took part in the Seven Oaks fight -are arrested, to be carried on down to Northwest headquarters on Lake -Superior. Then the settlers go on to Lake Winnipeg. - -At the various camping places on the way down to Fort William, those two -Hudson's Bay prisoners overhear strange threats. It is night on the Lake -of the Woods. Voices of Northwest partners sound through the dark. They -are talking of Selkirk coming to the rescue of his people with an armed -force. Says the wild voice of a Nor'wester whose brother had been killed -by a Hudson's Bay man some years before, "There are fine quiet places -along Winnipeg River if he comes this way." . . . Then scraps of -conversation. . . . Then, "The half-breeds could capture him when he is -asleep." . . . Then words too low to be heard. . . . Then, "They could -have the Indians shoot him." . . . Then in voice of authority -restraining the wild folly of a bloodthirst for vengeance, "Things have -gone too far, but we can throw the blame on the Indians." - -The wild words of a man gone mad for revenge must not be taken as the -policy of a great commercial company. - -{396} Meantime, where was Selkirk? He had arrived in Montreal. Secret -coureur, whose adventures I have told elsewhere, had carried him word of -the dangers impending over his colony. He at once appealed to the -Governor General for a military force to protect the settlers, but it -must be recalled how Upper and Lower Canada were to be governed under the -Act of 1791. There were to be the governor, the legislative council -appointed by the crown, and the representative assembly. The legislative -council was entirely dominated by the Northwest Company. Of the -different Quebec courts, there was scarcely a judge who was not -interested directly or indirectly in the Northwest Company. Lord Selkirk -could obtain no aid which would conflict with that company's policy. -Then Selkirk petitioned the Governor that, in view of the threats against -himself, he might be granted the commission of a justice of the peace and -permission to take a personal bodyguard at his own cost to the west. -These requests the Governor granted. - -Thereupon, Selkirk gathers up some two hundred of the De Meuron and De -Watteville regiments, mercenaries disbanded after the War of 1812, and -sets out for the west. Not aware that Robertson has left Red River, he -sends him word to keep the colonists together and to expect help by way -of the states from the Sault in order to avoid touching at the -Nor'westers' post at Fort William. The coureur with this message is -waylaid by the Nor'westers, but Selkirk himself, preceded by his former -governor, Miles MacDonell, has gone only as far as the Sault when word -comes back of the Seven Oaks massacre. What to do now? He can obtain no -justice in Eastern Canada. Two justices of the peace at the Sault refuse -to be involved in the quarrel by accompanying him. Selkirk goes on -without them, accompanied by the two hundred hired soldiers; but instead -of proceeding to Red River by Minnesota, as he had first planned, he -strikes straight for Fort William, the headquarters of the Nor'westers. - -He arrives at the fort August 12, only a few days after the Northwest -partners had come down from the scene of the {397} massacre at Red River. -Cannon are planted opposite Fort William. Things have "gone too far." -The Nor'westers capitulate without a stroke. Then as justice of the -peace, my Lord Selkirk arrests all the partners but one and sends them -east to stand trial for the massacre of Seven Oaks. The one partner not -sent east was a fuddled old drunkard long since retired from active work. -This man now executes a deed of sale to my Lord Selkirk for Fort William -and its furs. The man was so intoxicated that he could not write, so the -afore-time governor, Miles MacDonell, writes out the bargain, which one -could wish so great a philanthropist as Selkirk had not touched with -tongs. Before midwinter of 1817 has passed, the De Meuron soldiers have -crossed Minnesota and gone down Red River to Fort Douglas. One stormy -night they scale the wall and bundle the Northwest usurpers out, bag and -baggage. - -[Illustration: MONUMENT TO COMMEMORATE THE MASSACRE OF SEVEN OAKS] - -July of 1817 comes Selkirk himself to the Promised Land. There is no -record that I have been able to find of his thoughts on first nearing the -ground for which so much blood had been shed, and for which he himself -was yet to suffer much; but {398} one can venture to say that his most -daring hope did not grasp the empire that was to grow from the seed he -had planted. He meets the Indians in treaty for their lands. He greets -his colonists in the open one sunny August day, speaking personally to -each and deeding over to them land free of all charge. "This land I give -for your church," he said, standing on the ground which the cathedral now -occupies. "That plot shall be for your school," pointing across the -gully; "and in memory of your native land, let the parish be called -Kildonan." - - -Of the trials and counter trials between the two companies, there is not -space to tell here. Selkirk was forced to pay heavy damages for his -course at Fort William, but the courts of Eastern Canada record not a -single conviction against the Nor'westers for the massacre of Seven Oaks. -Selkirk retired shattered in health to Europe, where he died in 1820. -The same year passed away Alexander MacKenzie, his old-time rival. - -The truth is, each company had gone too far and was on the verge of ruin. -From Athabasca came the furs that prevented bankruptcy, and whichever -company could drive the other from Athabasca could practically force its -rival to ruin or union. When Colin Robertson had rallied the dispersed -colonists from Lake Winnipeg, he had left John Clarke to conduct the two -hundred Canadian voyageurs to Athabasca for the Hudson's Bay Company. -Clarke had been a Nor'wester before he joined Astor, and was a born -fighter, idolized by the Indians. So confident was he of success now -that he galloped his canoes up the Saskatchewan without pause to gather -provisions. Once on the ground on Athabasca Lake, he divided his party -into two or three bands and sent them foraging to the Nor'westers' forts -and hunting grounds up Peace River, down Slave Lake, at Athabasca itself. -Weakened by division and without food to keep together, his men fell easy -prey to the wily Nor'westers. Of those on Slave Lake eighteen died from -starvation. Those on Peace River were captured and literally whipped out -of the country, signing oaths never to return. Those at {399} Athabasca -being leading officers were held prisoners. Meanwhile the Hudson's Bay -Company is defeated at Seven Oaks and victorious at Fort William. The -Nor'westers at Athabasca were keen to keep the frightened Indians of the -north ignorant that Selkirk had triumphed at Fort William, but the news -traveled over the two thousand miles of prairie in that strange hunter -fashion known as "moccasin telegram," and the story is told how the -captured Hudson's Bay officers let the secret out for the benefit of the -Indians now afraid to carry their hunt to a Hudson's Bay man. - -Revels and all-night carousals marked the winter with the triumphant -Nor'westers of Athabasca Lake. Often, when wild drinking songs were -ringing in the Nor'westers' dining hall, the Hudson's Bay men would be -brought in to furnish a butt for their merciless victors. One night, -when the hall was full of Indians, one of the Northwest bullies began to -brawl out a song in celebration of the Seven Oaks affair. - - "The H.B.C. came up a hill, and _up_ a hill they came, - The H.B.C. came up the hill, but _down_ they went again." - - -Tired of their rude horseplay, one of the Hudson's Bay officers spoke up: -"Y' hae niver asked me for a song. I hae a varse o' me ain compaesin." - -Then to the utter amaze of the drunken listeners and astonishment of the -Indians, the game old officer trolled off this stave: - - "But Selkirk brave went _up_ a hill, and to Fort William came! - When in he popped and out from thence could not be driven again." - - -The thunderstruck Nor'wester leaped to his feet with a yell: "A hundred -guineas for the name of the men who brought that news here." - -"A hundred guineas for twa lines of me ain compaesin! Extravagant, sir," -returns the canny Scot. - - -From accounts held by the Hudson's Bay Company's Montreal lawyers it is -seen that Clarke's expedition cost the Company 20,000 pounds. - -{400} Before the massacre of Seven Oaks Colin Robertson had gone down to -Hudson Bay in high dudgeon with Semple, intending to take ship for -England; but that fall the ice drive prevented one ship from leaving the -bay, and Robertson was stranded at Moose Factory for the winter, whither -coureurs brought him word of the Seven Oaks tragedy and Selkirk's victory -at Fort William. Taking an Indian for guide, Robertson set out on -snowshoes for Montreal, following the old Ottawa trail traversed by -Radisson and Iberville long ago. Montreal he found in a state of turmoil -almost verging on riot over the imprisonment of the Northwest partners, -whom Selkirk had sent east. Nightly the goals [Transcriber's note: -gaols?] were illuminated as for festivals. Nightly sound of wandering -musicians came from the cell windows, where loyal friends were serenading -the imprisoned partners. They were released, of course, and acquitted -from the charge of responsibility for the massacre of Seven Oaks. - -Presently Robertson finds himself behind the bars for his part in -destroying Fort Gibraltar and arresting Duncan Cameron. He too is -acquitted, and he tells us frankly that a private arrangement had been -made beforehand with the presiding judge. Probably if the Nor'westers -had been as frank, the same influence would explain their acquittal. - -Robertson found himself free just about the time Lord Selkirk came back -from Red River by way of the Mississippi in order to avoid those careful -plans for his welfare on the part of the Nor'westers at "the quiet places -along Winnipeg River." The Governor of Canada had notified members of -both companies unofficially that the English government advised the -rivals to find some basis of union, which practically meant that if the -investigations under way were pushed to extremes, both sides might find -themselves in awkward plight; but the fight had gone beyond the period of -pure commercialism. It was now a matter of deadly personal hate between -man and man, which, I am sorry to say, has been carried down by the -descendants of the old fighters almost to the present day. Each side -hoped to drive the other to bankruptcy; and the last throes of the {401} -deadly struggle were to be in Athabasca, the richest fur field. While -Selkirk is fighting his cause in the courts, he gives Robertson carte -blanche to gather two hundred more French voyageurs and proceed to the -Athabasca. - -[Illustration: TRACKING ON ATHABASCA RIVER] - -Midsummer of 1819 finds the stalwart Robertson crossing Lake Winnipeg to -ascend the Saskatchewan. At the mouth of the Saskatchewan a miserable -remnant of terrified men from the last Athabasca expedition is added to -Robertson's party; and John Clarke, breathing death and destruction -against the Nor'westers, goes along as lieutenant to Robertson. -Everywhere are signs of the lawless conditions of the fur trade. Not an -Indian dare speak to a Hudson's Bay man on pain of horsewhipping. -Instead of canoes gliding up and down the Saskatchewan like birds of -passage, reign a silence and solitude as of the dead. Though Robertson -bids his voyageurs sing and fire off muskets as signals for trade, not a -soul comes down to the river banks till the fleet of advancing traders is -well away from the Saskatchewan and halfway across the height of land -towards the Athabasca. - -{402} The amazement of the Nor'westers at Fort Chippewyan in Athabasca -when Robertson pulled ashore at the conglomeration of huts known as Fort -Wedderburn, may be guessed. Two or three of the partners ran down to the -shore and called out that they would like to parley; but John Clarke, -filled with memory of former outrages and rocking the canoe in his fury -so that it almost upset, met the overtures with a volley of stentorian -abuse that sent the Nor'westers scampering and set Robertson laughing -till the tears ran down his cheeks. - -The change of spirit on the part of the Nor'westers was easily explained. -The most of their men were absent on the hunting field. In a few weeks -Robertson had his huts in order and had dispatched his trappers down to -Slave Lake and westward up Peace River. Then, in October, came more -Nor'west partners from Montreal. The Nor'westers were stronger now and -not so peacefully inclined. Nightly the French bullies, well plied with -whisky, would come across to the Hudson's Bay fort, bawling out challenge -to fight; but Robertson held his men in hand and kept his powder dry. - -Early on the morning of October the 11th, Robertson's valet roused him -from bed with word that a man had been accidentally shot. Slipping a -pistol in his pocket and all unsuspicious of trickery, Robertson dashed -out. It happened that the most of his men were at a slight distance from -his fort. Before they could rally to his rescue he was knocked down, -disarmed, surrounded by the Nor'westers, thrown into a boat, and carried -back to their fort a captive. In vain he stormed almost apoplectic with -rage, and tried to send back Indian messengers to his men. The -Nor'westers laughed at him good-naturedly and relegated him to quarters -in one room of a log hut, where sole furnishings were a berth bed and a -fireplace without a floor. Robertson's only possessions in captivity -were the clothes on his back, a jackknife, a small pencil, and a -notebook; but he probably consoled himself that his men were now on -guard, and, outnumbering the Nor'westers two to one, could hold the -ground for the Hudson's Bay that winter. As {403} time passed the -captive Robertson began to wrack his brains how to communicate with his -men. It was a drinking age; and the fur traders had the reputation of -capacity to drink any other class of men off their legs. Robertson -feigned an unholy thirst. Rapping for his guard, he requested that -messengers might be sent across to the Hudson's Bay fort for a keg of -liquor. It can be guessed how readily the Nor'westers complied; but -Robertson took good care, when the guard was absent and the door locked, -to pour out most of the whisky on the earth floor. Then taking slips of -paper from his notebook, he cut them in strips the width of a spool. On -these he wrote cipher and mysterious instructions, which only his men -could understand, giving full information of the Nor'westers' movements, -bidding his people hold their own, and ordering them to send messages -down to the new Hudson's Bay governor at Red River,--William -Williams,--to place his De Meuron soldiers in ambush along the Grand -Rapids of the Saskatchewan to catch the Northwest partners on their way -to Montreal the next spring. These slips of paper he rolled up tight as -a spool and hammered into the bunghole of the barrel. Then he plastered -clay over all to hide the paper, and bade the guard carry this keg of -whisky back to the H.B.C. fort; it was musty, Robertson complained; let -the men rinse out the keg and put in a fresh supply! - -All that winter Robertson, the Hudson's Bay man, captive in the -Nor'westers' fort, sent weekly commands to his men by means of the whisky -kegs; but in the spring his trick was discovered, and the angry -Nor'westers decided he was too clever a man to be kept on the field. -They would ship him out of the country when their furs were sent east. - -On the way east he succeeded in escaping at Cumberland House. Waiting -only a few hours, he launched out in his canoe and followed on the trail -of the Northwest partners, on down to see what would happen at Grand -Rapids, where the Saskatchewan flows into Lake Winnipeg. A jubilant -shout from a canoe turning a bend in the river presently announced the -news: "All the Northwest partners captured!" When Robertson {404} came -to Grand Rapids he found Governor Williams and the De Meurons in -possession. Cannon pointed across the river below the rapids. The -Northwest partners were prisoners in a hut. The voyageurs were allowed -to go on down to Montreal with the furs. This last act in the great -struggle ended tragically enough. What was to be done with the captured -partners? They could not be sent to Eastern Canada. Pending -investigations for the union of the companies, Governor Williams sent -them to York Factory, Hudson Bay, whence some took ship to England, -others set out overland on snowshoes for Canada; but in the scuffle at -Grand Rapids, Frobisher, one of the oldest partners, with a reputation of -great cruelty in his treatment of Hudson's Bay men, had been violently -clubbed on the head with a gun. From that moment he became a raving -maniac, and the Hudson's Bay people did not know what to do with such a -captive. He must not be permitted to go home to England. His condition -was too terrible evidence against them; so they kept him prisoner in the -outhouses of York Factory, with two faithful Nor'wester half-breeds as -personal attendants. - -One dark cold night towards the first of October Frobisher succeeded in -escaping through the broken bars of his cell window. A leap took him -over the pickets. By chance an old canoe lay on Hayes River. With this -he began to ascend stream for the interior, paddling wildly, laughing -wildly, raving and singing. The two half-breeds knew that a voyage to -the interior at this season without snowshoes, food, or heavy clothing, -meant certain death; but they followed their master faithfully as black -slaves. Wherever night found them they turned the canoe upside down and -slept under it. Fish lines supplied food, and the deserted hut of some -hunter occasionally gave them shelter for the night. Winter set in -early. The ice edging of the river cut the birch canoe. Abandoning it, -they went forward on foot. From York Fort, Hudson Bay, the nearest -Northwest post was seven hundred miles. By the end of October they had -not gone half the distance. Then came one of those changes so frequent -in northern climes,--a sunburst of warm {405} weather following the first -early winter, turning all the frozen fields to swimming marshes, and the -travelers had no canoe. By this time Frobisher was too weak to walk. As -his body failed his mind rallied, and he begged the two half-breeds to go -on without him, as delay meant the death of all three; but the faithful -fellows carried him by turns on their backs. They themselves were now so -emaciated they were making but a few miles a day. Their moccasins had -been worn to tatters, and all three looked more like skeletons than -living men. Then, the third week of November, Frobisher could go no -farther, and the servants' strength failed. Building a fire in a -sheltered place for their master, the two faithful fellows left Frobisher -somewhere west of Lake Winnipeg. Two days later they crept into a -Northwest post too weak to speak, and handed the Northwesters a note -scrawled by Frobisher, asking them to send a rescue party. Frobisher was -found lying across the ashes of the fire. Life was extinct. - -[Illustration: PLANS OF YORK AND PRINCE OF WALES FORTS] - - -In 1820 the union of the companies put an end to the ruinous and criminal -struggle. George Simpson, afterwards knighted, {406} who has been sent -to look over matters in Athabasca, is appointed governor, and Nicholas -Garry, one of the London directors, comes out to appoint the officers of -the united companies to their new districts. The scene is one for artist -brush,--the last meeting of the partners at Fort William, Hudson's Bay -men and Nor'westers, such deadly enemies they would not speak, sitting in -the great dining hall, glowering at each other across tables: George -Simpson at one end of the tables, pompously dressed in ruffles and satin -coat and silk breeches, vainly endeavoring to keep up suave conversation; -Nicholas Garry at the other end of the table, also very pompous and -smooth, but with a look on his face as if he were sitting above a powder -mine, the Highland pipers dressed in tartans, standing at each end of the -hall, filling the room with the drone and the skurl of the bagpipes. - -[Illustration: SIR GEORGE SIMPSON, GOVERNOR OF HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY, 1820] - -By the union of the companies both sides avoided proving their rights in -the law courts. Most important of all, the Hudson's Bay Company escaped -proving its charter valid; for the charter applied only to Hudson Bay and -adjacent lands "not occupied by other Christian powers"; but on the union -taking place, the British government granted to the new Hudson's Bay -Company license of exclusive monopoly to _all_ the Indian territory, -meaning (1) Hudson Bay Country, (2) the interior, (3) New Caledonia as -well as Oregon. In fact, the union left the fur traders ten times more -strongly intrenched than before. {407} By the new arrangement Dr. John -McLoughlin was appointed chief factor of the western territories known as -Oregon and New Caledonia. When the War of 1812 closed, treaty provided -that Oregon should be open to the joint occupancy of English and American -traders till the matter of the western boundary could be finally settled. -Oregon roughly included all territory between the Columbia and the -Spanish fort at San Francisco, namely, Washington, Oregon, Northern -California, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, parts of Montana and Wyoming. It was -cheaper to send provisions round by sea to the fur posts of New -Caledonia, in modern British Columbia, than across the continent by way -of the Saskatchewan; so McLoughlin's district also included all the -territory far as the Russian possessions in Alaska. - -This part of the Hudson's Bay Company's history belongs to the United -States rather than Canada, but it is interesting to remember that just as -the French fur traders explored the Mississippi far south as the Gulf of -Mexico, so English fur traders first explored the western states far -south as New Spain. This western field was perhaps the most picturesque -of all the Hudson's Bay Company's possessions. - -Fort Vancouver, ninety miles inland from the sea on the Columbia, was the -capital of this transmontane kingdom, and yearly till 1846 the fur -brigades set out from Fort Vancouver two or three hundred strong by pack -horse and canoe. Well-known officers became regular leaders of the -different brigades. There was Ross, who led the Rocky Mountain Brigade -inland across the Divide to the buffalo ranges of Montana. There was -Ogden, son of the Chief Justice in Montreal, who led the Southern Brigade -up Snake River to Salt Lake and the Nevada desert and Humboldt River and -Mt. Shasta, all of which regions except Salt Lake he was first to -discover. There was Tom McKay, son of the McKay who had crossed to the -Pacific with MacKenzie, who, dressed as a Spanish cavalier, led the -pack-horse brigades down the coast past the Rogue River Indians and the -Klamath Lakes to San Francisco, where Dr. Glen Rae had opened a fort for -the Hudson's Bay Company. {408} Then there was the New Caledonia -Brigade, two hundred strong, which set out from Fort Vancouver up the -Columbia in canoes to the scream of the bagpipes through the rocky -canyons of the river. Close to the boundary, shift was made from canoe -to pack horse, and, leaving the Columbia, the brigade struck up the -Okanogan Valley to Kamloops, bound for the bridle trail up Fraser River. -This brigade, in later days, was under Douglas, who became the knighted -governor of British Columbia. Tricked out in gay ribbons, the long file -of pack ponies, two hundred with riders, two hundred more with packs, -moved slowly along the forest trail with a drone as of bees humming in -midsummer. So well did ponies know the way that riders often fell -asleep, to be suddenly jarred awake by the horses jamming against a tree, -or running under a low branch to brush riders off, or hurdle-jumping over -windfall. Each of these brigades has its own story, and each story would -fill a book. For instance, Glen Rae at San Francisco has a difficult -mission. The company has a plan to take over the debts of Mexico to -British capitalists and exchange them for California. Glen Rae is sent -to watch matters, but he commits the blunder of furnishing arms to the -losing side of a revolution. The debt for the arms remains unpaid. Glen -Rae suicides, and the company withdraws from California. - -[Illustration: JOHN MCLOUGHLIN] - -{409} Presently come American settlers and missionaries over the -mountains. The American government delays settling that treaty of joint -occupancy, for the more American settlers that come, the stronger will be -the American claim to the territory. McLoughlin helps the settlers who -would have starved without his aid, and McLoughlin receives such sharp -censure from his company for this that he resigns. When the American -settlers set up a provisional government, the foolish cry is raised, "54, -40 or fight," which means the Americans claim all the way up to Alaska, -and for this there is no warrant either through their own occupation or -discovery. The boundary is compromised by the Treaty of Oregon in 1846 -at the 49th parallel. - -When settlers come, fur-bearing animals leave. Long ago the Hudson's Bay -Company had foreseen the end and moved the capital of its Pacific Empire -up to Victoria. A string of fur posts extends up Fraser River to New -Caledonia. - - - - -{410} - -CHAPTER XVI - -FROM 1820 TO 1867 - -How the Family Compact worked--The old order changeth--"Loyalty -cry"--Gourley driven mad--Richmond's tragic death--Patriots of the -plow--Defeat of patriots--Duncombe's escape--Execution of -patriots--Bloodshed in Quebec--Chenier's tragic death--Durham gives -Canada a Magna Charta--Confederation--What of the future - - -It will be recalled that on the coming of the United Empire Loyalists -to Canada, the form of government was changed by the Constitutional Act -of 1791, dividing the country into Upper and Lower Canada, the -government of each province to consist of a governor, the legislative -council, and the assembly. Unfortunately, self-government for the -colonies was not yet a recognized principle of English rule. While the -assemblies of the two provinces were elected by the people, the power -of the assemblies was practically a blank, for the governor and council -were the real rulers, and they were appointed by the Crown, which meant -Downing Street, which meant in turn that the two Canadas were regarded -as the happy hunting ground for incompetent office seekers of the great -English parties. From the governor general to the most insignificant -postal clerk, all were appointed from Downing Street. Influence, not -merit, counted, which perhaps explains why one can count on the fingers -of one hand the number of governors and lieutenants from 1791 to 1841 -who were worthy of their trust and did not disgrace their position by -blunders that were simply notorious. Prevost's disgraceful retreat -from Lake Champlain in the War of 1812 is a typical example of the -mischief a political jobber can work when placed in position of trust; -but the life-and-death struggle of the war prevented the people turning -their attention to questions of misgovernment, and it is hardly an -exaggeration to say that the Act of 1791 reduced Canadian affairs to -the chaos of a second Ireland and retarded the progress of the country -for a century. - -It has become customary for English writers to slur over the disorders -of 1837 as the results of the ignorant rabble following {411} the bad -advice of the hot-heads, MacKenzie and Papineau; but it is worth -remembering that everything the rabble fought for, and hanged for, has -since been incorporated in Canada's constitution as the very woof and -warp of responsible government. - -Let us see how the system worked out in detail. - -After the War of 1812 Prevost dies before court-martial can pronounce -on his misconduct at Plattsburg, and Sir Gorden Drummond, the hero of -Fort Erie's siege, is sworn in. - -Canada is governed from Downing Street, and it is my Lord Bathurst's -brilliant idea that forever after the war there shall be a belt of -twenty miles left waste forest and prairie between Canada and the -United States, presumably to prevent democracy rolling across the -northern boundary. Fortunately the rough horse sense of the -frontiersman is wiser than the wisdom of the British statesman, and -settlement continues along the boundary in spite of Bathurst's -brilliant idea. - -Those who fought in the War of 1812 are to be rewarded by grants of -land,--rewarded, of course, by the Crown, which means the Governor; but -the Governor must listen to the advice of his councilors, who are -appointed for life; and to the heroes of 1812 the councilors grant -fifty acres apiece, while to themselves the said councilors vote grants -of land running from twenty thousand to eighty thousand acres apiece. - -After the war it is agreed that neither Canada nor the United States -shall keep war vessels on the lakes, except such cruisers as shall be -necessary to maintain order among the fisheries; but the credit for -this wise arrangement does not belong to the councils at Toronto or -Quebec, for the suggestions came from Washington. - -As the legislative councilors are appointed for life, they control -enormous patronage, recommending all appointments to government -positions and meeting any applicants for office, who are outside the -"_family_" ring, with the curt refusal that has become famous for its -insolence, "_no one but a gentleman_." - -Judges are appointed by favor. So are local magistrates. So are -collectors at the different ports of entry. Smaller cities like {412} -Kingston are year after year refused incorporation, because -incorporation would confer self-government, and that would oust members -of the "_family compact_" who held positions in these places. - -Officeholders are responsible to the Crown only, not to the people. -Therefore when Receiver General Caldwell of Quebec does away with -96,000 pounds, or two years' revenue of Lower Canada, he accounts for -the defalcation to his friends with the explanation of unlucky -investments, and goes scot free. - -Quebec is a French province, but appointments are made in England; so -that out of 71,000 pounds paid to its civil servants 58,000 pounds go -to the English officeholders, 13,000 pounds to French; out of 36,000 -pounds paid to judges only 8,000 pounds go to the French. - -And in Upper Canada, Ontario, it was even worse. In Quebec there was -always the division of French against English, and Catholic against -Protestant; but in Upper Canada "_the family compact_" of councilors -against commoners was a solid and unbroken ring. When the assembly -raises objections to some items of expense sent down by the council, -writes Lieutenant Governor Simcoe in high dudgeon, "I will send the -rascals," meaning the commoners, "packing about their business," and he -prorogues the House. - -Not all the governors and their lieutenants are as foolishly blind to -the faults of the system as Simcoe of Ontario. Sir John Sherbrooke of -Quebec, who succeeds Drummond in Lower Canada, knows very well he is -surrounded by a pack of thieves; but they are his councilors, appointed -for life, and there he is, bound to abide by their advice. -Nevertheless, he kicks over traces vigorously now and then, like the -old war horse that he is. The commissary general comes to him with -word that 600 pounds is missing from the military chest, and he needs a -warrant for search. - -"Search, indeed!" roars Sir John. "There's not the slightest need! -Whenever there is a robbery in _your_ department, it is among -yourselves! Go and find it!" - -{413} - -[Illustration: SIR JOHN SHERBROOKE, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, -1816-1818] - -Curious it is how good men reared in the old school, where the masses -exist for the benefit of the classes and the governed are to be allowed -to exist only by favor of those who govern--curious how good men fail -to read the sign of the times. Colonel Tom Talbot's settlement in West -Ontario has, by 1832, increased to 50,000 people, and the mad -harum-scarum of court days is becoming an old man. Talbot has been a -legislative councilor for life, but it is not on record that he ever -attended the council in Toronto. Still he views with high disfavor -this universal discontent with "being governed." The secret meetings -held to agitate for responsible government, Tom Talbot regards as "a -pestilence" leading on to the worst disease from which humanity can -suffer, namely, democracy. The old bear stirs uneasily in his lair, as -reports come in of louder and louder demands that the colony shall be -_permitted to govern itself_. What would become of kings and colonels -and land grants by special favor, if colonies governed themselves? -Colonel Tom Talbot doffs his homespun and his coon cap, and he dons the -satin ruffles of twenty-five years ago, and he mounts his steed and he -rides pompously forth to the market place of St. Thomas Town on St. -George's Day of 1832. Bands play; flags wave; the country people from -twenty miles round come riding to town. Banners {414} inscribed with -"Loyalty to the Constitution" are carried at the head of parades. The -venerable old colonel is greeted with burst after burst of shouting as -he comes prancing on horseback up the hill. The band plays "the -British Grenadiers." The Highland bagpipes skurl a welcome. Then the -old man mounts the rostrum and delivers a speech that ought to be -famous as an exposition of good old Tory doctrine: - -Some black sheep have slipped into my flock, and very black they are, -and what is worse, they have got the rot, a distemper not known in this -settlement till some I shall call for short "rebels" began their work -of darkness under cover of organizing Blanked Cold Water Drinking -Societies, where they meet at night to communicate their poisonous -schemes and circulate the infection and delude the unwary! Then they -assumed a more daring aspect under mask of a grievance petition, which, -when it was placed before me, I would not take the trouble to read, -being aware it was trash founded on falsehood, fabricated to create -discontent. - -At the end of a half hour's tirade, of which these lines are a sample, -the good old Tory raised his hands, and in the words of the Church's -benediction blessed his people and prayed Heaven to keep their minds -untainted by sedition. - -Looking back less than a century, it is almost impossible to believe -that the colonel's speech--it cannot be called reasoning--was applauded -to the echo and regarded as a masterly justification of people "being -governed" rather than governing themselves. - -Perhaps, after all, it was not so much the Constitution of Canada that -caused the conflict as the clash between the old-time feudalism and the -spirit of modern, aggressive democracy. The United States _fought_ -this question out in 1776. Canada _wrestled_, it cannot be called a -_fight_, the same question out in 1837. - - -It is necessary to give one or two cases of individual persecution to -understand how the disorders flamed to open rebellion. - -One Matthews, an officer of the 1812 War, living on a pension, had -incurred the distrust of the governing ring by expressing sympathy with -the agitators. Now to be an agitator was bad enough in the eyes of -"_the family compact_," but for one of their {415} own social circle to -sympathize with the outsiders was, to the snobocracy clique of the -little city of ten thousand at Toronto, almost an unpardonable sin. -Such sins were punished by social ostracism, by the grand dames of -Toronto not inviting the officer's wife to social functions, by the -families of the upper clique literally freezing the sinner's children -out of the foremost circles of social life. Many a Canadian family is -proud to trace lineage back to some old lady of this tempestuous -period, whose only claim to recognition is that she waged petty -persecution against the heroes of Canadian progress. Now the annals of -the times do not record that this special sinner's wife and children so -suffered. At all events Matthews' spirits were not cast down by social -snobbery. He continued to sympathize with the agitators. The "_family -compact_" bided their time, and their time came a few months later, -when a company of American actors came to Toronto. A band concert had -been given. When the British national air struck up, all hats were -off. Then some one called for "Yankee Doodle," and in compliment to -the visitors, when the American air struck up, Matthews shouted out for -"hats off." For this sin the legislative council ordered the -lieutenant governor to cut off Matthews' pension, and, to the -everlasting shame of Sir Peregrine Maitland, the advice was taken, -though Matthews had twenty-seven years of service to his credit. -Matthews appealed to England, and his pension was restored, so that in -this case "_the family compact_" for political reasons was pretending -to be more British than Great Britain. It was not to be the last -occasion on which "the loyalty cry" was to be used as a political dodge. - -The persecution of Robert Gourlay was yet more outrageous. - -He had come to Canada soon after the War of 1812, and in the course of -collecting statistics for a book on the colony was quick to realize how -Canada's progress was being literally gagged by the policy of the -ruling clique. Gourlay attacked the local magistrates in the press. -He pointed out that the land grants were notorious. He advocated -bombarding the evils from two sides at once, by appealing to the home -government and by {416} holding local conventions of protest. The pass -to which things had come may be realized by the attitude of the -council. It held that the colony must hold no communications with the -imperial government except through the Governor General; in other -words, individual appeals not passing through the hands of the -legislative council were to be regarded as illegal. It is sad to have -to acknowledge that such a palpably dishonest measure was ever -countenanced by people in their right minds. But "_the family -compact_" went a step farther. It passed an order forbidding meetings -to discuss public grievances. This part of Canada's story reads more -like Russia than America, and shows to what length men will go when -special privileges rather than equal rights prevail in a country. -Gourlay met these infamous measures by penning some witty doggerel, -headed "Gagged, gagged, by Jingo!" The editor in whose paper Gourlay's -writings had appeared, was arrested, and the offending sheet was -compelled to suspend. Gourlay himself is arrested for sedition and -libel at least four times, but each time the jury acquits him. At any -cost the governing clique must get rid of this scribbling fellow, whose -pen voices the rising discontent. An alien act, passed before the War -of 1812, compelling the deportation of seditious persons, is revived. -Under the terms of the act Gourlay is arrested, tried, and sentenced to -be exiled, but Gourlay declares he is not an alien. He is a British -subject, and he refuses to leave the country. He is thrown in jail at -Niagara, and for a year and a half left in a moldy, close cell. One -dislikes to write that this outrage on British justice was perpetrated -under Chief Justice Powell, whose failure to obtain decisions from the -jury in the Red River trials brought down such harsh criticism on the -bench. At the end of twenty months Gourlay is again hauled before the -jury and sentenced to deportation on pain of death if he refuses. He -was calmly asked if he had anything to say, if there were any reason -why sentence should not be pronounced. - -"Anything . . . to . . . say? Any reason . . . why . . . -sentence . . . should not be pronounced?" From 1818 to 1820 {417} -Gourlay had been having things "to say," had been giving good and -sufficient reasons why sentence should not be pronounced! The question -is repeated: "Robert Gourlay stand up! Have you anything to say?" The -court waits, Chief Justice Powell, bewigged and wearing his grandest -manner, all unconscious that the scene is to go down to history with -blot of ignominy against _his_ name, not Gourlay's. - -Gourlay's face twitches, and he breaks into shrieks of maniacal -laughter. The petty persecutions of a provincial tyranny have driven a -man, who is true patriot, out of his mind. As Gourlay drops out of -Canada's story here, it may be added that the English government later -pronounced the whole trial an outrage, and Gourlay was invited back to -Canada. - - -If at this stage a man had come to Canada as governor, big enough and -just enough to realize that colonies had some rights, there might have -been remedy; for the imperial government, eager to right the wrong, was -misled by the legislative councilors, and all at sea as to the source -of the trouble. While men were being actually driven out of Canada by -the governing ring on the charge of disloyalty, the colonial minister -of England was sending secret dispatches to the Governor General, -instructing him plainly that if independence was what Canada wanted, -then the mother country, rather than risk a second war with the United -States, or press conclusions with the Canadas themselves, would -willingly cede independence. It is as well to be emphatic and clear on -this point. _It was not the tyranny of England that caused the -troubles of 1837_. It was the dishonesty of the ruling rings at Quebec -and Toronto, and this dishonesty was possible because of the -Constitutional Act of 1791. - -Unfortunately, just when imperial statesmen of the modern school were -needed, governors of the old school were appointed to Canada. After -Sir John Sherbrooke came the Duke of Richmond to Quebec, and his -son-in-law, Sir Peregrine Maitland, as lieutenant governor to Ontario. -Men of more courtly manners never graced the vice-regal chairs of -Quebec and Toronto. {418} Richmond, who was some fifty years of age, -had won notoriety in his early days by a duel with a prince of the -blood royal, honor on both sides being satisfied by Richmond shooting -away a curl from the royal brow; but presto, an Irish barrister takes -up the quarrel by challenging Richmond to a second duel for having -dared to fight a prince; and here Richmond satisfies claims of honor by -a well-directed ball aimed to wound, not kill. Long years after, when -the duke became viceroy of Ireland, the Irishman appeared at one of -Richmond's state balls. - -"Hah," laughed the barrister, "the last time we met, your Grace gave -_me_ a ball." - -"Best give you a brace of 'em now," retorted the witty Richmond; and he -sent his quondam foe invitation to two more balls. - -Richmond it was who gave the famous ball before the defeat of Napoleon -at Waterloo. The story of his daughter's love match with Sir Peregrine -Maitland is of a piece with the rest of the romance in Richmond's life. -Richmond and Maitland had been friends in the army, but when the duke -began to observe that his daughter, Lady Sarah, and the younger man -were falling in love, he thought to discourage the union with a poor -man by omitting Maitland's name from invitation lists. When Lady Sarah -came downstairs to a ball she surmised that Maitland had not been -invited, and, withdrawing from the assembled guests, drove to her -lover's apartments. She married Maitland without her father's consent, -but a reconciliation had been patched up. Father and son-in-law now -came to Canada as governor and lieutenant governor. - -The military and social life of both unfitted them to appreciate the -conditions in Canada. Socially both were the lions of the hour. As a -man and gentleman Richmond was simply adored, and Quebec's love of all -the pomp of monarchy was glutted to the full. No more distinguished -governor ever played host in the old Chateau St. Louis; but as rulers, -as pacifiers, as guides of the ship of state, Richmond and Maitland -were dismal failures. To them Canada's demand for responsible {419} -government seemed the rallying cry of an impending republic. "We must -overcome democracy or it will overcome us," pronounced Richmond. He -failed to see that resistance to the demand for self-government would -bring about the same results in Canada as resistance had brought about -in the United States, and he could not guess--for the thing was new in -the world's history--that the grant of self-government would but bind -the colony the closer to the mother land. - -[Illustration: THE FOURTH DUKE OF RICHMOND, GOVERNOR GENERAL OF CANADA, -1818-1819] - -It is sad to write of two such high-minded, well-intentioned rulers, -that the worst acts of misgovernment in Canada took place in their -regime. - -Richmond's death was as unusual as his life. Two accounts are given of -the cause. One states that he permitted a pet dog to touch a cut in -his face. The other account has it that he was bitten by a tame fox at -a fair in Sorel, and the date of Richmond's death, late in August of -1819, exactly two months from the time he was bitten at Sorel,--which -is the length of time that hydrophobia takes to develop in a grown -person,--would seem to substantiate the latter story. He was traveling -on horseback from Perth to Richmond, on the Ottawa, and had complained -of feeling poorly. A small stream had to be crossed. The sight of the -stream brought the strange water delirium to Richmond, when he begged -his attendants to take him quickly to Montreal. It need scarcely be -explained here that hydrophobia {420} is not caused by lack of water, -but by contagious transmission. The feeling passed, as the first -terrors of the disease are usually spasmodic, and the Governor was -proceeding through the woods with his attendants, when he suddenly -broke away deliriously, leading them a wild race to a farm shed. There -he died during the night, crying out as the lucid intervals broke the -delirium of his agonies: "For shame! for shame Lenox! Richmond, be a -man! Can you not bear it?" - - -Public affairs are meanwhile passing from bad to worse. William Lyon -MacKenzie has become leader of the agitators in his newspaper, _The -Advocate_, of Toronto. A band of young vandals, sons of the ruling -clique, wreck his newspaper office and throw the type into Toronto Bay, -but MacKenzie recovers $3000 damages and goes on agitating. Four times -he is publicly expelled from the House, and four times he is returned -by the electors. What are they asking, these agitators, branded as -rebels, expelled from the assembly, in some cases cast in prison by the -councilors, in others threatened with death? - - Control of public revenues. - Reform in the land system. - Municipal rights for towns and cities. - The exclusion of judges from Parliament. - That the council be directly responsible to the people - rather than the Crown. - - -Since 1818 the reformers have been agitating to have wrongs righted, -and for nineteen years the clique has prevented official inquiry, -gagged the press, bludgeoned conventions out of existence, and thrown -leaders of opposition in prison. - -MacKenzie now makes the mistake of publishing in his papers a letter -from the English radical Hume, advocating the freedom of Canada "from -the baneful domination of the mother country." At once, with a jingo -whoop, the loyalty cry is emitted by "_the family compact_." Is not -this what they have been telling the Governor from the first,--these -reformers are republicans in {421} disguise? By trickery and -manipulation they swing the next election so that MacKenzie is -defeated. From that moment MacKenzie's tone changed. It may be that, -losing all hope of reform, he became a republican. If this were -treason, then the English ministers, who were advocating the same -remedy, were guilty of the same treason. With MacKenzie, secretly and -openly, are a host of sympathizers,--Dr. Rolph, Tom Talbot's old -friend, come up from the London district to practice medicine in -Toronto, and Van Egmond, who has helped to settle the Huron Tract of -the Canada Company, founded by John Galt, the novelist, and some four -thousand others whose names MacKenzie has on a list in his carpet bag. - -[Illustration: WILLIAM LYON MACKENZIE] - -All the autumn of 1837 Fitzgibbons, now commander of the troops in -Toronto, hears vague rumors of farmers secretly drilling, of workmen -extemporizing swords out of scythes, of old soldiers furbishing up -their arms of the 1812 War. What does it mean? Sir Francis Bond Head, -the new governor of Ontario, refuses to believe his own ears. Neither -does _the family compact_ realize that there is any danger to their -long tenure of power. They affect to sneer at these poor patriots of -the plow, little dreaming that the rights which these poor patriots of -the scythe swords are burning to defend, will, by and by, be the pride -of England's colonial system. The story of plot and counter plot -cannot be told in detail here; it is too {422} long. But on the night -of Monday, December 4, Toronto wakes up to a wild ringing of college -bells. The rebel patriots have collected at Montgomery's Tavern -outside Toronto, and are advancing on the city. - -Poor MacKenzie's plans have gone all awry. Four thousand patriots had -pledged themselves to assemble at the tavern on December 7, but Dr. -Rolph, or some other friend in the city, sends word that the date has -been discovered. The only hope of seizing the city is for them to come -sooner; and MacKenzie arrives at the tavern on December 3, with only a -few hundred followers, who have neither food nor firearms; and I doubt -much if they had even definite plans; of such there are no records. -Before Van Egmond comes from Seaforth, doubt and dissension and -distrust of success depress the insurgents; and it does n't help their -spirits any to have four Toronto scouts break through their lines in -the dark and back again with word of their weakness, though they plant -a fatal bullet neatly in the back of one poor loyalist. If they had -advanced promptly on the 4th, as planned, they might have given Sir -Francis Bond Head and Fitzgibbons a stiff tussle for possession of the -city, for Toronto's defenders at this time numbered scarcely three -hundred; but during the days MacKenzie's followers delayed north of -Yonge Street, Allan McNab came up from Hamilton with more troops. By -Wednesday, the 6th, there were twelve hundred loyalist troops in -Toronto; and noon of the 7th, out marches the loyalist army by way of -Yonge Street, bands playing, flags flying, horses prancing under -Fitzgibbons and McNab. It was a warm, sunny day. From the windows of -Yonge Street women waved handkerchiefs and cheered. At street corners -the rabble shouted itself hoarse, just as it would have cheered -MacKenzie had he come down Yonge Street victorious. - -MacKenzie's sentries had warned the insurgents of the loyalists' -coming. MacKenzie was for immediate advance. Van Egmond thought it -stark madness for five hundred poorly armed men to meet twelve hundred -troopers in pitched battle; but it was too late now for stark madness -to retreat. The loyalist {423} bands could be heard from Rosedale; the -loyalists' bayonets could be seen glittering in the sun. MacKenzie -posted his men a short distance south of the tavern in some woods; one -hundred and fifty on one side of the road west of Yonge Street, one -hundred on the other side. The rest of the insurgents, being without -arms, did not leave the rendezvous. In the confusion and haste the -tragic mistake was made of leaving MacKenzie's carpet bag with the list -of patriots at the tavern. This gave the loyalists a complete roster -of the agitators' names. - -[Illustration: ALLAN McNAB] - -Fifteen minutes later it was all over with MacKenzie. The big guns of -the Toronto troops shelled the woods, killing one patriot rebel and -wounding eleven, four fatally. In answer, only a clattering spatter of -shots came from the rebel side. The patriots were in headlong flight -with the mounted men of Toronto in pursuit. - -It was over with MacKenzie, but, as the sequence of events will show, -it was not all over with the cause. A book of soldiers' yarns might be -told of hairbreadth escapes, the aftermath of the rebellion. Knowing -his side was doomed to defeat, Dr. Rolph tried to escape from Toronto. -He was stopped by a loyalist sentry, but explained he was leaving the -city to visit a patient. Farther on he had been arrested by a loyalist -picket, when luckily a young doctor who had attended Rolph's medical -lectures, all unconscious of MacKenzie's plot, vouched for his {424} -loyalty. Riding like a madman all that night, Rolph reached Niagara -and escaped to the American frontier. A reward of 1000 pounds had been -offered for MacKenzie dead or alive. He had waited only till his -followers fled, when he mounted his big bay horse and galloped for the -woods, pursued by Fitzgibbons' men. The big bay carried him safely to -the country, where he wandered openly for four days. It speaks volumes -for the stanch fidelity of the country people to the cause which -MacKenzie represented, that during these wanderings he was unbetrayed, -spite of the 1000 pounds reward. Finally he too succeeded in crossing -Niagara. Van Egmond was captured north of Yonge Street, but died from -disease contracted in his prison cell before he could be tried. Lount, -another of the leaders, had succeeded in reaching Long Point, Lake -Erie. With a fellow patriot, a French voyageur, and a boy, he started -to cross Lake Erie in an open boat. It was wintry, stormy weather. -For two days and two nights the boat tossed, a plaything of the waves, -the drenching spray freezing as it fell, till the craft was almost -ice-logged. For food they had brought only a small piece of meat, and -this had frozen so hard that their numbed hands could not break it. -Weakening at each oar stroke, they at last saw the south shore of Lake -Erie rise on the sky line; but before the close-muffled refugees had -dared to hope for safety on the American side, a strong south wind had -sprung up that drove the boat back across the lake towards Grand River. -To remain exposed longer meant certain death. They landed, were -mistaken for smugglers, and thrown into jail, where Lount was at once -recognized. - -In West Ontario one Dr. Duncombe had acted as MacKenzie's lieutenant. -Allan McNab had come west with six hundred men to suppress the -rebellion. Realizing the hopelessness of further resistance, Duncombe -had tried to save his men by ordering them to disperse to their homes. -He himself, with his white horse, took to the woods, where he lay in -hiding all day--and it was a Canadian December--and foraged at night -for berries and roots. Judge Ermatinger gives the graphic story of -{425} Duncombe's escape. Starvation drove him to the house of a -friend. The friend was out, and when the wife asked who he was, -Duncombe laid his revolver on the table and made answer, "I am -Duncombe; and I must have food." Here he lay disguised so completely -with nightcap, nightdress, and all, as the visiting grandmother of the -family, that loyalists who saw his white horse and came in to search -the house, looked squarely at the recumbent figure beneath the -bedclothes and did not recognize him. Duncombe at last reached his -sister's home near London. - -"Don't you know me?" he asked, standing in the open door, waiting for -her recognition. In the few weeks of exposure and pursuit his hair had -turned snow-white. - -His friends suggested that he cross to the American frontier dressed as -a woman, and the disguise was so perfect, curls of his sister's hair -bobbing from beneath his bonnet, that two loyalist soldiers gallantly -escorted the lady's sleigh across unsafe places in the ice. Duncombe -waited till he was well on the American side, and his escorts on the -way back to Sarnia. Then he emitted a yell over the back of the -cutter, "Go tell your officers you have just helped Dr. Duncombe -across!" - -Having lost the fight for a cause which events have since justified, it -is not surprising that the patriots on the American frontier now lost -their heads. They formed organizations from Detroit to Vermont for the -invasion of Canada and the establishment of a republic. These bands -were known as "Hunter's Lodges." Rolph and Duncombe repudiated -connection with them, but MacKenzie was head and heart for armed -invasion from Buffalo. Space forbids the story of these raids. They -would fill a book with such thrilling tales as make up the border wars -of Scotland. - -The tumultuous year of 1837 closed with the burning of the _Caroline_. -MacKenzie had taken up quarters on Navy Island in Niagara River. The -_Caroline_, an American ship, was being employed to convey guns and -provisions to the insurgents' camp. On the Canadian side of the river -camped Allan McNab with {426} twenty-five hundred loyalist troops. -Looking across the river with field glasses, McNab sees the boat -landing field guns on Navy Island for MacKenzie. - -"I say," exclaims the future Sir Allan, "this won't do! Can't you cut -that vessel out, Drew?" addressing a young officer. - -"Nothing easier," answers Drew. - -"Do it, then," orders McNab. - -In spite of the fact "nothing was easier," Drew's men came near -disaster on their midnight escapade. The river below Navy Island was -three miles wide, and only a mile and a half from the rapids above the -Falls, with a current like a mill race. Secretly seven boats, with -four men in each, set out at half past eleven, a few friends on the -river bank wishing Drew Godspeed. Out from shore Drew draws his boats -together, and tells the men the perilous task they have to do: if any -one wishes to go back let him do so now. Not a man speaks. Halfway -across, firing from the island drives two of the boats back. The rest -get under shadow from the bright moonlight and go on. The roar of the -Falls now became deafening, and some of the rowers called out they were -being drawn down the center of the river astern. Drew fastens his eyes -on a light against the American shore to judge of their progress. For -a moment, though the men were rowing with all their might, the light -ashore and the boats in mid-river seemed to remain absolutely still. -Finally the boats gained an oar's length. Then a mighty pull, and all -forge ahead. A strip of land hides approach to the _Caroline_. The -Canadian boatmen lie in hiding till the moon goes down, then glide in -on the _Caroline_, when Drew mounts the decks. Three unarmed men are -found on the shore side. Drew orders them to land. One fires -point-blank; Drew slashes him down with a single saber cut. The rest -of the crew are roused from sleep and sent ashore. The _Caroline_ is -set on fire in four places. She is moored to the shore ice; axes chop -her free. She is adrift; Drew the last to jump from her flaming decks -to his place in the small boats. The flames are seen from the Canadian -side, and huge bonfires light up the Canadian shore; by their gleam -{427} Drew steers back for McNab's army, and is welcomed with cheers -that split the welkin. Slowly the flaming vessel drifted down the -channel to the Falls. Suddenly the lights went out; the _Caroline_ had -either sunk on a reef or gone over the Falls. One man had been killed -on the decks. As the vessel was American, and had been raided in -American ports, the episode raised an international dispute that might -in another mood have caused war. - -Lount and Matthews pay for the rebellion on the gallows, upon which the -imperial government expressed regret that the Toronto Executive "found -such severity necessary." Later, when "the Hunters' Lodges" raid -Prescott, and Van Shoultz, the Polish leader, with nine others, is -executed at Kingston, a great revulsion of feeling takes place against -_the family compact_. The execution of the patriots did more for their -cause than all their efforts of twenty years. The Canadian people had -supported the agitators up to the point of armed rebellion. That gave -British blood pause, for the Britisher reveres the law next to God; but -when the governing ring began to glut its vengeance under cloak of -loyalty that was another matter. After the execution of Lount and -Matthews _the family compact_ could scarcely count a friend outside its -own circle in Upper Canada. It is worth remembering that the young -lawyer who defended Van Shoultz in the trial at Kingston was a John A. -Macdonald, who later took foremost part in framing a new constitution -for Canada. - - -Affairs had gone faster in Quebec. There the rebellion almost became -war. Papineau was leader of the agitators,--Papineau, fiery, -impetuous, eloquent, followed by the bold boys in the bonnets blue, -marching the streets of Montreal singing revolutionary songs and -planting liberty trees. In Lower Canada, too, things have come to the -pass where the agitators advocate armed resistance. From the first, in -Quebec, the struggle has waged round two questions,--the exclusion of -the French from the council, and the right of the colony to spend its -own revenues; but boil down the ninety-two resolutions of 1834, and the -demands {428} of the agitators in Lower Canada are the same as in Upper -Canada, for complete self-government. A dozen clashes of authority -lead up to the final outbreak. For instance, the House elects -Papineau, the agitator, speaker. The Governor General refuses to -recognize him, and Parliament is dissolved. - -Failing to obtain redress by constitutional methods, the agitators now -advocate the right of a colony to abolish government unsuited to it. -The constitutional party takes alarm and organizes volunteers. -Papineau's party, early in 1837, begin violently advocating that all -French magistrates resign their commissions from the English -government. On Richelieu River and up in Two Mountains, north of -Montreal, are the strongholds of the agitators, where men have been -drilling, and the boys in the bonnets blue rioting through the villages -to the great scandal of parish priests. - -[Illustration: LOUIS J. PAPINEAU] - -There are riots in Montreal early in November of 1837, and "the Sons of -Liberty" are chased through the town. Then in the third week of -November a troop of Montreal cavalry is sent to St. John's to arrest -three agitators, who have been threatening a magistrate for refusing to -resign his commission. The agitators are arrested and handcuffed, and -at three in the morning the troops are moving along across country -towards Longueuil with the prisoners in a wagon, when suddenly three -hundred armed men rise on either side of the road to the fore. Shots -are exchanged. In the confusion the prisoners jump from the wagon. -This is not resistance to authority. It is open rebellion. Papineau -intrusts the management of affairs in St. Eustache, north of Montreal, -to Girod, a Swiss, and to {429} Dr. Chenier, a local patriot. Papineau -himself and Dr. Nelson and O'Callaghan are down on the Richelieu at St. -Denis. - -Take the Richelieu region first. Colonel Gore is to strike up the -river southward to St. Denis. Colonel Wetherell is to cross country -from Montreal and strike down the river north to St. Charles, thus -hemming in the insurgents between Gore on the north and himself on the -south. There are eight hundred rebels at St. Denis, one hundred and -fifty armed, and twelve hundred at St. Charles. Papineau and -O'Callaghan for safety's sake slip across the line to Swanton in -Vermont. One could wish that, having led their faithful followers up -to the sticking point of stark madness, the agitators had remained -shoulder to shoulder with the brave fellows on the field. - -Colonel Gore came from Montreal by boat to the mouth of the Richelieu. -At seven-thirty on the night of November 22 two hundred and fifty -troopers landed to march up the Richelieu road to St. Denis. Rain -turning to sleet was falling in a deluge. The roads were swimming -knee-deep in slush. Bridges had been cut, and in the darkness the -loyalists had to diverge to fording places, which lengthened out the -march twenty-four miles. At St. Denis was Dr. Nelson with the -agitators in a three-story stone house, windows bristling with muskets. -By dawn Papineau and O'Callaghan had fled, and at nine o'clock came -Colonel Gore's loyalist troopers, exhausted from the march, soaked to -the skin, their water-sagged clothes freezing in the cold wind. The -loyalists went into the fight unfed, and with a whoop; but it is not -surprising that the peppering of bullets from the windows drove the -troopers back, and Gore's bugles sounded retreat. Unaware of Gore's -defeat, one Lieutenant Weir has been sent across country with -dispatches. He is captured and bound, and, in a futile attempt to -escape, shot and stabbed to death. - -Wetherell comes down the river from Chambly with three hundred men. He -finds St. Charles village protected by outworks of felled trees, and -the houses are literally loopholed with muskets; but Wetherell has -brought cannon along, and the cannon begin to sing on November 25. -Then Wetherell's {430} men charge through the village with leveled -bayonets. The poor habitants scatter like frightened sheep; they -surrender; one hundred perish. It is estimated that on both sides -three hundred are wounded, though some English writers give the list of -wounded as low as forty. Messengers galloped with news of the -patriots' defeat at St. Charles to Dr. Nelson at St. Denis. The -habitants fled to their homes. Nelson was left without a follower. He -escaped to the woods, and for two weeks wandered in the forests of the -boundary, exposed to cold and hunger, not daring to kindle a fire that -would betray him, afraid to let himself sleep for fear of freezing to -death. He was captured near the Vermont line and carried prisoner to -Montreal. - -[Illustration: SIR JOHN COLBORNE, GOVERNOR OF CANADA, 1838-1841] - -And still worse fared the fortunes of war with the patriots north of -Montreal. Their defense and defeat were almost pitiable in childish -ignorance of what war might mean. Boys' marbles had been gathered -together for bullets. Scythes were carried as swords, and old -flintlocks that had not seen service for twenty years were taken down -from the chimney places. With their bonnets blue hanging down their -backs, rusty firearms over their shoulders, and the village fiddler -leading the march, one thousand "Sons of Liberty" had paraded the -streets of St. Eustache, singing, rollicking, speechifying, unconscious -as {431} children playing war that they were dancing to ruin above a -volcano. Chenier, the beloved country doctor, is their leader. Girod, -the Swiss, has come up to show them how to drill. They take possession -of a newly built convent. Then on Sunday, the 3d of December, comes -word of the defeat down on the Richelieu. The moderate men plead with -Chenier to stop now before it is too late; but Chenier will not listen. -He knows the cause is right, and with the credulity or faith of a -simple child hopes some mad miracle will win the day. Still he is much -moved; tears stream down his face. Then on December 14 the church -bells ring a crazy alarm. The troops are coming, two thousand of them -from Montreal under Sir John Colborne, the governor. The insurgent -army melts like frost before the sun. Less than one hundred men stand -by poor Chenier. At eleven-thirty the troops sweep in at both ends of -the village at once, Girod, the Swiss commander, suicides in panic -flight. Cooped up in the church steeple with the flames mounting -closer round them and the troopers whooping jubilantly outside, Chenier -and his eighty followers call out: "We are done! We are sold! Let us -jump!" Chenier jumps from the steeple, is hit by the flying bullets, -and perishes as he falls. His men cower back in the flaming steeple -till it falls with a crash into the burning ruins. Amid the ash heap -are afterwards found the corpses of seventy-two patriots. The troopers -take one hundred prisoners in the region, then set fire to all houses -where loyalist flags are not waved from the windows. - - -Matters have now come to such an outrageous pass that the British -government can no longer ignore the fact that the colony has been -goaded to desperation by the misgovernment of the ruling clique. Lord -Durham is appointed special commissioner with extraordinary powers to -proceed to Canada and investigate the whole subject of colonial -government. One may guess that the ruling clique were prepared to take -possession of the new commissioner and prime him with facts favorable -to their side; but Durham was not a man to be monopolized by any -faction. {432} When he arrived, in May of 1838, he quickly gave proof -that he would follow his own counsels and choose his own councilors. -His first official declaration was practically an act of amnesty to the -rebels, eight only of the leading prisoners, among them Dr. Nelson, -being punished by banishment to Bermuda, the rest being simply expelled -from Canada. - -This act was tantamount to a declaration that the rebels possessed some -rights and had suffered real grievances, and the governing rings in -both Toronto and Quebec took furious offense. Complaints against -Durham poured into the English colonial office,--complaints, oddly -enough, that he had violated the spirit of the English Constitution by -sentencing subjects of the Crown without trial. Though every one knew -that in Canada's turbulent condition trial by jury was impossible, -Durham's political foes in England took up the cry. In addition to -political complaints were grudges against Durham for personal slight; -and it must be confessed the haughty earl had ridden roughshod over all -the petty prejudices and little dignities of the colonial magnates. -The upshot was, Durham resigned in high dudgeon and sailed for England -in November of 1838. - -[Illustration: LORD DURHAM, SPECIAL COMMISSIONER TO CANADA, 1838] - -On his way home he dictated to his secretary, Charles Buller, the -famous report which is to Canada what the Magna Charta is to England or -the Declaration of Independence to the United States. Without going -into detail, it may be said that it {433} recommended complete -self-government for the colonies. As disorders had again broken out in -Canada, the English government hastened to embody the main -recommendations of Durham's report in the Union Act of 1840, which came -into force a year later. By it Upper and Lower Canada were united on a -basis of equal representation each, though Quebec's population was six -hundred thousand to Ontario's five hundred thousand. The colonies were -to have the entire management of their revenues and civil lists. The -government was to consist of an Upper Chamber appointed by the Crown -for life, a representative assembly, and the governor with a cabinet of -advisers responsible to the assembly. - -In all, more than seven hundred arrests had been made in Quebec -Province. Of these all were released but some one hundred and thirty, -and the state trials resulted in sentence of banishment against fifty, -death to twelve. In modern days it is almost impossible to realize the -degree of fanatical hatred generated by this half century of -misgovernment. Declared one of the governing clique's official -newspapers in Montreal: "Peace must be maintained, even if we make the -country a solitude. French Canadians must be swept from the face of -the earth. . . . The empire must be respected, even at the cost of the -entire French Canadian people." With such sentiments openly uttered, -one may surely say that the Constitutional Act of 1791 turned back the -pendulum of Canada's progress fifty years, and it certainly took fifty -more years to eradicate the bitterness generated by the era of -misgovernment. - - -With the Upper and Lower Canadas united in a federation of two -provinces, it was a foregone conclusion that all parts of British North -America must sooner or later come into the fold. It would be hard to -say from whom the idea of confederation of all the provinces first -sprang. Purely as a theory the idea may be traced back as early as -1791. The truth is, Destiny, Providence, or whatever we like to call -that great stream of concurrent events which carries men and nations -out to the ocean {434} highway of a larger life, forced British North -America into the Confederation of 1867. - -In the first place, while the Union worked well in theory, it was -exceedingly difficult in practice. Ontario and Quebec had equal -representation. One was Protestant, the other Catholic; one French, -the other English. Deadlocks, or, to use the slang of the street, even -tugs of war, were inevitable and continual. All Ontario had to do to -thwart Quebec, or Quebec had to do to thwart Ontario, was to stand -together and keep the votes solid. Coalition ministries proved a -failure. - -In the second place, Ontario was practically dependent on the customs -duties collected at Quebec ports of entry for a provincial revenue. -The goods might be billed for Ontario; Quebec collected the tax. - -Ontario was also dependent on Quebec for access to the sea. Which -province was to pay for the system of canals being developed, and the -deepening of the St. Lawrence? - -Then the Oregon Treaty of 1846 had actually brought a cloud of war on -the horizon. In case of war, there was the question of defense. - -Then railways had become a very live question. Quebec wanted -connection with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. How was the cost of a -railroad to be apportioned? Red River was agitating for freedom from -fur-trade monopoly. How were railways to be built to Red River? - -Ontario's population in twenty years jumped past the million mark. Was -it fair that her million people should have only the same number of -representatives as Quebec with her half million? Reformers of Ontario, -voiced by George Brown of _The Globe_, called for "Rep. by -Pop.,"--representation by population. - -Civil war was raging in the United States, threatening to tear the -Union to tatters. Why? Because the balance of power had been left -with the states governments, and not enough authority centralized in -the federal government. The lesson was not lost on struggling Canada. - -{435} England's declaration of free trade brought the colonies face to -face with the need of some united action to raise revenue by tariff. - -Then the Hudson's Bay Company's license of monopoly over the fur trade -of the west was nearing expiration. Should the license be renewed for -another twenty years, or should Canada take over Red River as a new -province, which was the wish of the people both east and west? And if -Canada did buy out the Hudson's Bay Company's vested rights, who was to -pay down the cost? - -[Illustration: JOHN A. MACDONALD] - -Lastly, was John A. Macdonald, the young lawyer who had pleaded the -defense of the patriot trials at Kingston in 1838, now a leading -politician of the United Canadas, weary of the hopeless deadlocks -between Ontario and Quebec. With almost a sixth sense of divination in -reading the signs of the times in the trend of events, John A. -Macdonald saw that Canada's one hope of becoming a national power lay -in union,--confederation. The same thing was seen by other leaders of -the day, by all that grand old guard known as the Fathers of -Confederation, sent from the different provinces to the conference at -Quebec in October of 1864. There the outline of what is known as the -British North America Act was drafted,--in the main but an -amplification of Durham's scheme, made broad enough to receive all -{436} the provinces whenever they might decide to come into -Confederation. The delegates then go back to be indorsed by their -provinces. By some provinces the scheme is rejected. Newfoundland is -not yet part of Canada, but by 1867 Confederation is an accomplished -fact. By 1871 the new Dominion has bought out the rights of the -Hudson's Bay Company in the West and Manitoba joins the Eastern -Provinces. By 1885 a railway links British Columbia with Nova Scotia. -By 1905 the great hunting field of the Saskatchewan prairies has been -divided into two new provinces, Saskatchewan and Alberta, each larger -than France. - - -Such is barest outline of Canada's past. What of the future for this -Empire of the North? That future is now in the making. It lies in the -hands of the men and women who are living to-day. In the past Canada's -makers dreamed greatly, and they dared greatly, and they took no heed -of impossibles, and they spent without stint of blood and happiness for -high aim. When Canada lost ground in the progress of the nations, as -in the corrupt days of Bigot's rule during the French regime, or the -equally corrupt days of _the family compact_ after the Conquest, it was -because the altar fires of her ideals were allowed to burn low. - -It has been said that the past is but a rear light marking the back -trail of the ship's passage. Say rather it is the search light on the -ship's prow, pointing the way over the waters. - -[Illustration: FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION, 1867. (From the painting by -Robert Hariss)] - -To-day Canada is in the very vanguard of the nations. Her wheat fields -fill the granaries of the world; and to her ample borders come the -peoples of earth's ends, bringing tribute not of incense and -frankincense as of old, but of manhood and strength, of push and lift, -of fire and hope and enthusiasm and the daring that conquers all the -difficulties of life; bringing too, all the outworn vices of an Old -World, all the vicious instincts of the powers that prey in the Under -World. Canada's prosperity is literally overflowing from a cornucopia -of super-abundant plenty. Will her constitution, wrested from -political and civil strife; will her moral stamina, bred from the -heroism of an heroic past, stand the strain, the tremendous strain of -the {437} new conditions? Will she assimilate the strange new -peoples--strange in thought and life and morals--coming to her borders? -Will she eradicate their vices like the strong body of a healthy -constitution throwing off disease; or will she be poisoned by the -toxins of vicious traits inherited from centuries of vicious living? -Will she remake the men, regenerate the aliens, coming to her hearth -fire; or will they drag her down to their degeneracy? Above all, will -she stand the strain, the tremendous strain, of prosperity, and the -corruption that is attendant on prosperity? _Quien sabe_? Let him -answer who can; and the question is best answered by watching the -criminal calendar. (Is the percentage of convictions as certain and -relentless as under the old regime? What manner of crimes is growing -up in the land?) And the question may be answered, too, by watching -whether the press and platform and pulpit stand as everlastingly and -relentlessly for sharp demarkation between right and wrong, for the -sharp demarkation between truth, plain truth, and intentional -mendacity, as under the regime of the old hard days. When political -life grows corrupt, is it now cleansed, or condoned? Let each Canadian -answer for himself. If the altar fires of Canada's ideals again burn -low, again she will lag in the progress of the world's great builders. - - - - -{439} - -INDEX - -NOTE. In all names of persons, names have been spelled as signed by -the person; in names of places, as written in early state documents. -In all other cases the rulings of the Canadian Geographic Board have -been followed, with the exception of _Montagnais_, which is given -_Montaignais_, _Tadousac_ as _Tadoussac_, _Saut_ as _Sault_, -_Louisbourg_ as _Louisburg_, _Denys_ as _Denis_. - - -Abenaki Indians, 171, 192, 193 - -Abercrombie, 252, 256, 258, 259 - -Acadia, 40, 41, 61, 64, 65, 69, 70, 192, 196, 197, 204, 214, 216, 220, -231, 233, 235, 236, 241 - -Agona, 19 - -Alaska, 321, 324 - -Albanel, Father, 143, 144 - -Albany, 97, 153, 159, 160, 162 - -Alberta, 297, 436 - -Alexander, 208 - -Alexander, Sir William, 61 - -Algonquin Indians, 52, 103, 104, 105, 106, 108 - -Allen, Ethan, 298 - -Allumette Island, 51, 52 - -Alymer, 50 - -Amherst, 236 - -Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, 252, 253, 256, 261, 268, 274, 277 - -Andre, Mademoiselle, 122 - -Annapolis, 200, 201, 215, 231 - -Annapolis Basin, 35, 37, 44, 61, 65, 67, 69, 177 - -Anticosti Island, 12, 134, 177 - -Appleton, Colonel, 197 - -Argall, Samuel, 43, 44, 61 - -Arnold, Benedict, 300-309 - -Astor, John Jacob, 294, 330, 333 - -Astoria, 333, 379 - -Athabasca, 324, 327, 390, 391, 398, 399, 401, 402 - -Aubert, 7 - -Aubry, 34, 35, 36, 44, 236 - -Aulneau, 208, 209 - - - -Bad River, 329, 330 - -Balboa, 6 - -Barclay, Captain, 363, 364 - -Barre, Charlotte, 78 - -Basin of Mines, 195 - -Basques, 44, 45, 46, 58 - -Basset, 195 - -Bathurst, Lord, 411 - -Bay of Islands, 10 - -Bayly, Governor, 144, 187 - -Beaubassin, 195, 236 - -Beauharnois, Governor, 206 - -Beaujeu, 141 - -Beauport, 269, 275 - -Beaupre, 19 - -Beausejour, 231, 236 - -Beaver Dams, 362 - -Bella Coola, 330 - -Belle Isle, 10, 19, 20 - -Belle Isle Straits, 10, 12 - -Bering, Vitus, 212 - -Berkeley, Admiral, 335, 336 - -Biard, Father, 41, 42, 44 - -Biencourt, 34, 40, 42, 61 - -Bigot, Intendant, 241-247, 274 - -Black Rock, 369 - -Blackwater River, 330 - -Blanc Sablon, 10, 11, 12 - -Bloody Brook, 202 - -Boerstler, Lieutenant, 360, 362 - -Bona Vista, 5, 8 - -Bonaventure, 195 - -Boscawen, 226, 234, 252, 256 - -Boston, 66, 194, 195, 203, 216 - -Boucher, 394 - -Bougainville, 243, 261, 270 - -Bouquet, 287, 288, 289, 290 - -Bourgeoys, Marguerite, 117 - -Bourlamaque, 243, 262 - -Braddock, General, 226-230 - -Bradstreet, General, 260, 287, 288 - -Brant, Joseph, 310, 315 - -Bras d'Or Lakes, 7 - -Brebeuf, Jean de, 71, 80, 82-90 - -Bridgar, 149 - -British Columbia, 323, 436 - -Brock, Isaac, 338-348, 363 - -Brockville, 349 - -Brown, George, 371, 434 - -Brule, Etienne, 48, 50, 52-57, 83, 127 - -Buffalo, 369, 371 - -Buller, Charles, 432 - -Burlington Heights, 365, 372 - -Burton, Colonel, 272 - - - -Cabot, John, 3-7, 26, 61 - -Cabot, Sebastian, 5 - -Cadillac, La Motte, 119, 124, 163, 165, 205 - -Caldwell, General, 412 - -California, 319, 408 - -Cameron, Duncan, 389, 391 - -Campbell, Captain, 285 - -Cape Breton, 5, 6, 7, 38, 43, 61, 62, 65, 124, 204, 214, 215 - -Cape Cod, 30, 37 - -Cape Diamond, 13, 19, 45, 80 - -Cape Rouge, 19, 22 - -Cape Sable, 61, 65 - -Garden, Major, 299 - -Carillon, 50 - -Carleton, 62 - -Carleton, Sir Guy, 279, 280, 281, 298-312 - -Carterett, George, 114 - -Cartier, Jacques, 7-22, 33, 40, 45, 77, 79 - -Casson, Dollier de, 121, 126, 128, 130 - -Castle Island, 10 - -Catalina, 8 - -Chaleur, Bay of, 11, 188 - -Chambly, Fort, 125 - -Champlain, Lake, 47, 203, 237, 242, 298, 299, 378 - -Champlain, Madame, 57 - -Champlain, Samuel, 32, 33, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 44, 45, 46, 48-60, 77, -80, 82, 83, 115 - -Chandler, 356, 357, 359 - -Charity Island, 92 - -Charles II, 114, 115 - -Charlottetown, 314 - -Charlton Island, 156, 160, 161 - -Charnisay, Sieur d'Aulnay de, 65-69 - -Chasteaufort, Marc Antoine de, 115 - -Chateau Bay, 10 - -Chateauguay River, 368, 369 - -Chatham, 279 - -Chats Rapids, 51 - -Chaudiere Falls, 50, 104 - -Chauncey, 349, 351-356, 366 - -Chenier, Dr., 429, 431 - -Chicago Portage, 133 - -Chignecto, 231 - -Chippewa, 371, 372, 373 - -Chippewyan, Fort, 325, 402 - -Chomedey, Paul de, 75 - -Christian Islands, 92, 99 - -Chrysler's Farm, 367 - -Church, Ben, 195 - -Churchill, Fort, 297, 318, 319 - -Clark, Lieutenant, 175 - -Clark, William, 310, 330 - -Clarke, John, 391, 398, 401, 402 - -Cobequid, 236 - -Cocking, Matthew, 297 - -Coffin, John, 306 - -Colborne, Sir John, 431 - -Columbia River, 321-323 - -Columbus, 3, 6 - -Contrecoeur, 230 - -Cook, James, 263, 319-321 - -Coppermine River, 296 - -Cornwallis, Edward, 221, 232 - -Cortereal, Caspar, 6 - -Courcelle, Governor, 125, 126 - -Craig, Governor, 336, 337 - -Cree Indians, 103, 110, 112, 208, 210, 386 - -Crevecoeur, Fort, 138, 139 - -Cumberland, 236 - - - -Dablon, 132 - -D'Ailleboust, Louis, 78, 79, 115, 119, 120, 172 - -Dalzell, 285 - -Daniel, Father, 27, 84, 87 - -D'Anville, Duke, 220 - -D'Argenson, 110, 115 - -Dauversiere, Jerome le Royer de la, 74, 117 - -D'Avaugour, 111, 115 - -Davis, 30 - -Davost, Father, 84 - -Dearborn, General, 353, 356 - -Deerfield, 193, 195 - -De Mezy, 115 - -De Monts, Sieur, 33-37, 40, 44, 45, 48 - -Denis, 7 - -Denonville, Marquis de, 163, 164, 167, 168 - -De Salaberry, 368, 369 - -Detroit, 93, 205, 276, 286, 291, 310, 338, 339, 340, 363 - -De Troyes, Chevalier, 157, 158, 159, 160 - -Dieskau, Baron, 226, 237, 240 - -Digge's Island, 154 - -Dinwiddie, Governor, 224 - -Dobbs, Captain, 376 - -Dochet Island, 35 - -Dog Rib Indians, 326 - -Dollard, Adam, 107, 108, 109, 110 - -Don Quadra, 322 - -Donnacona, 13, 18, 19 - -Douglas, Fort, 386, 387, 390, 391, 393, 395-397 - -Douglas, Governor, 408 - -Drake, Sir Francis, 26, 27 - -Drew, 426 - -Drucourt, 253 - -Drummond, Sir Gordon, 369, 370, 372, 374, 376, 377, 378 - -Du Chene, Lake, 50, 105 - -Duchambon, 219 - -Ducharme, 362 - -Duluth, 112, 146, 163, 165 - -Duluth, Daniel G., 118, 124, 205 - -Duncombe, Dr., 424, 425 - -Dupuis, Major, 98 - -Duquesne, Fort, 224, 226, 227, 228, 252, 260 - -Duquesne, Marquis, 224 - -Durell, 261 - -Durham, Lord, 431, 432 - -Duval, 46 - - - -Egg Islands, 203 - -Elizabeth, Queen, 26 - -Elliott, Lieutenant, 343, 344 - -Eric, Earl, 1 - -Erie, Fort, 344, 376, 377 - -Erie, Lake, 129, 130, 131, 137, 341, 349 - -Ermatinger, Judge, 424 - -Etherington, Major, 286 - -Evans, 344 - - - -Fidler, Peter, 389 - -Findley, 295 - -Fitzgibbons, 357, 359, 360, 362, 373, 421, 422 - -Fleury, 42, 43 - -Fontaine, Marguerite, 170 - -Fontaine, Sieur Pierre, 170 - -Forbes, John, 260 - -Forsyth, 353 - -Franklin, Benjamin, 309 - -Fraser, Simon, 330, 331, 332 - -Fraser River, 330, 331, 332 - -French Bay, 35 - -French River, 53, 54 - -Frenchman's Bay, 42 - -Freneuse, Madame, 195, 196, 202 - -Frobisher, Martin, 25, 30 - -Frontenac, Count, 132, 134, 135, 136, 140, 150, 167, 171, 176-188 - -Frontenac, Fort, 135, 136, 137, 141, 163, 178, 179, 180, 181, 183, 252, -260 - -Fundy, Bay of, 35, 42, 62, 63, 66 - -Funk Island, 9 - - - -Galet, 170 - -Galinee, 129, 130, 131 - -Garry, Nicholas, 406 - -Gaspe, 11, 12, 32, 124, 177, 256 - -Gatineau, 50, 104 - -George, Fort, 342, 344, 348, 355, 356, 360, 372 - -George, Lake, 240, 242 - -Georgian Bay, 54, 83, 84, 92 - -Gibraltar, Fort, 386, 387 - -Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, 25-29 - -Gilbert du Thet, 42, 43 - -Gillam, Ben, 148, 149, 150 - -Gillam, Captain, 144, 145, 149 - -Gillam, Zechariah, 113 - -Gillam's Island, 148 - -Girod, 428, 431 - -Gladwin, 284 - -Glen Rae, Dr., 407, 408 - -Glenn, 174 - -Goat Island, 44 - -Gore, Colonel, 429 - -Gorham, 248 - -Gourlay, Robert, 415, 416, 417 - -Grand Pre, 231, 236, 241 - -Grant, Cuthbert, 390, 391, 394 - -Gray, Robert, 321-323 - -Great Lakes, 53, 71 - -Green, Henry, 31 - -Green, Piper, 387 - -Green Bay, 93, 103, 105, 132 - -Greenland, 1, 2, 5 - -Griguet, 9 - -Grimmington, 154 - -Groseillers, Chouart, 150, 151, 152, 153, 156 - -Groseillers, Medard Chouart de, 85, 98-115, 118, 144-153 - -Gudrid, 1, 2, 3 - -Gulf of Mexico, 140, 141 - -Gulf Stream, 6 - -Gull Island, 9 - - - -Ha-Ha Bay, 9 - -Haldimand, General, 311, 312 - -Halifax, 231, 232, 233, 248, 317 - -Hamilton, 129 - -Hampton, General, 367, 368 - -Harrison, General, 363 - -Harvey, 357, 358 - -Haverhill, 198 - -Hayes River, 148, 385 - -Head, Sir Francis, 421 - -Hearne, Samuel, 296, 297, 318, 319 - -Hebert, Louis, 44, 57 - -Hebert, Madame, 79 - -Hendry, Anthony, 243, 295 - -Hennepin, Louis, 137, 138, 139 - -Henry, Alexander, 286, 287 - -Henry, John, 337 - -Henry VII, 3, 4 - -Hertel, Francois, 174, 175 - -Hill, Jack, 202, 203 - -Hochelaga, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18 - -Holmes, Admiral, 269 - -Horton, 236 - -Hudson, Henry, 30, 31, 32, 49 - -Hudson Bay, 30, 32, 103, 110, 113, 115, 134, 143, 144, 146, 148, 161, -162, 164, 191, 204, 318, 406 - -Hudson River, 30 - -Hudson Straits, 30 - -Hull, 338-340 - -Hume, 420 - -Hume, Captain, 154 - -Huron, Lake, 54 - -Huron Indians, 46, 48, 52-57, 82-93, 98, 108-110, 126 - - - -Iberville, 157-163, 165, 172, 174, 183, 184, 185, 186, 188 - -Iberville, Chateauguay, 183 - -Iceland, 3 - -Ihonateria, 84 - -Illinois Indians, 133, 138, 163, 189 - -Illinois River, 133, 139 - -Iroquois Indians, 46-48, 52-57, 78, 79, 86, 87-102, 103, 105, 106, 108, -110, 125, 128-130, 135, 162-171, 183, 204 - -Island of Orleans, 13 - -Isle of Demons, 10, 20, 21 - - - -Jacqueline, Frances Marie, 67 - -Jalobert, Captain, 12, 19 - -James Bay, 30, 31, 113, 144, 158 - -Jogues, Father, 85, 94, 97 - -Johnson, William, 237, 240 - -Jolliet, Louis, 118, 130, 132-134, 139, 146, 152, 177, 205 - -Jolliet, Madame, 183 - -Joseph, Louis, 243 - -Juett, 30 - -Jumonville, 225 - - - -Kaministiquia, 139, 143, 205, 207 - -Kidd, Captain, 150 - -King's Cove, 5 - -Kingston, 135, 260, 354, 370, 427 - -Kirke, David, 58, 60, 63 - -Kirke, Gervaise, 58, 63 - -Kirke, Louis, 58, 63 - -Kirke, Mary, 114, 115, 145 - -Kirke, Thomas, 58, 63 - - - -La Barre, 140, 150, 163, 168 - -La Bonte, 170 - -Labrador, 1, 6, 7, 10, 30, 46, 121, 143, 147 - -Lachine Rapids, 17 - -La Fleche, Father, 41 - -La Forest, 146 - -Lake of the Woods, 112 - -Lalemant, 88, 89, 90 - -La Martiniere, 153 - -La Monnerie, Lieutenant de, 171 - -Lamont, 19 - -La Motte, Admiral, 226 - -La Naudiere, M. de, 171 - -Langdale, 287 - -La Peltrie, Madame de, 72, 73, 74, 77, 78 - -La Perouse, Admiral, 318, 319 - -La Place, 298 - -La Reine, Fort de, 211 - -La Roche, Marquis de, 23-25, 40 - -La Salle, Robert Cavalier de, 19, 118, 128-142, 146, 205 - -La Saussaye, 42 - -La Tour, Charles de, 61-69 - -La Tour, Claude de, 63, 64 - -La Tour, Madame Charles de, 67-69 - -Laurentian Hills, 50 - -Lauson, 75 - -Lauzon, Jean de, 98, 115 - -Lauzon-Charny, Charles de, 115 - -Laval, Bishop, 122 - -La Verendrye, Jean, 207-209 - -La Verendrye, Jemmeraie, 206-208 - -La Verendrye, Pierre Gauthier, 206-212 - -Lawrence, Colonel, 231, 233, 234, 235, 253 - -Le Bers, 172 - -Le Breton, Captain, 12 - -Le Caron, Joseph, 52, 53 - -Le Chesnaye, 146, 150, 157 - -Leif, 1 - -Le Jeune, Pierre, 79, 80, 81, 82 - -Le Loutre, Louis Joseph, 213-216, 220, 231, 232, 241, 278 - -Le Moyne, Charles, 108, 118, 126, 146, 157 - -Le Moyne, Father, 98 - -Le Moyne, Maricourt, 157-161, 172, 173, 179, 182 - -Le Moyne, Ste. Helene, 157-159, 172, 173, 179, 182 - -Le Moyne, Serigny, 183, 184, 187 - -Lery, Baron de, 7, 24 - -Lescarbot, Marc, 37-40, 63 - -Leslie, Captain, 286 - -Levis, Chevalier de, 243, 245, 246, 249, 250, 267, 274 - -Lewis, 330 - -Lewiston, 342-348, 369 - -Long Sault Rapids, 108 - -Long Saut, 50 - -Lorette mission, 93 - -Loudon, Earl, 243, 248, 252 - -Louisburg, 215, 216, 218, 220, 234, 241, 248, 252 - -Louisiana, 140 - -Lount, 424, 427 - -Lundy's Lane, 373-375 - - - -Macdonald, John A., 427, 435 - -MacDonell, Miles, 381, 385, 388-390, 396, 397 - -McDonnell, 368, 369 - -M'Donnell, 350 - -Macdonnell, Major, 346, 348 - -Macdillivray, William, 380, 381 - -Mackay, Alexander, 327, 328 - -McKay, Tom, 407 - -MacKenzie, Alexander, 324-331, 380, 398 - -Mackenzie, Roderick, 325, 327 - -MacKenzie, William Lyon, 420-426 - -MacKenzie River, 327 - -Mackinac, Straits of, 105 - -McLean, Hector, 300, 387 - -McLoughlin, Dr. John, 407, 409 - -McNab, Allan, 422, 424-426 - -Magellan, 6 - -Maine, 42, 192, 204, 310 - -Maisonneuve, Sieur de, 75-79, 108, 118, 119, 120 - -Maitland, Sir Peregrine, 415, 417, 418 - -Mance, Jeanne, 76, 78, 117 - -Mandanes, 211 - -Manitoba, 436 - -Manitoulin Island, 84, 93 - -Maquinna, 322 - -March, Colonel, 196, 197 - -Marco Polo, 3 - -Marie of the Incarnation, 72-74 - -Marquette, Father, 118, 132, 133, 134, 205 - -Martin, Abraham, 44, 57 - -Mascarene, Paul, 201, 202, 215 - -Mascoutin Indians, 132, 138 - -Massacre Island, 209 - -Masse, Father, 42 - -Matonabbee, 296, 297, 319 - -Mattawa, 52 - -Matthews, 414, 415, 427 - -Meares, 321 - -Meigs, Fort, 363 - -Membertou, Henry, 38, 39, 41, 42 - -Meneval, 177 - -Mercer, Colonel, 247 - -Miami, Fort, 284 - -Michigan, 339 - -Michigan, Lake, 103, 133 - -Michilimackinac, 137, 276, 286, 310, 339, 379 - -Micmac Indians, 220 - -Midland, 54 - -Mingan, 12 - -Minnesota, 205, 208 - -Miquelon, 204, 277 - -Miramichi Indians, 10, 11, 256 - -Mississippi River, 106, 128, 133, 139, 141 - -Missouri River, 133, 139, 211 - -Mohawk River, 127 - -Monckton, 231, 234-235, 261, 265, 270 - -Monro, Lieutenant, 250 - -Montaignais Indians, 6, 10, 46, 81, 82 - -Montana, 212 - -Montcalm, Marquis de, 44, 243-250, 257, 265-269, 271, 273 - -Montgomery, Richard, 300-308 - -Montmagny, Charles de, 71, 72, 74, 76-78, 115 - -Montmorency, 13 - -Montreal, 16, 48-51, 72-78, 94, 107, 108, 117, 120, 165, 191, 267, -274-302, 340, 367, 400, 427, 428 - -Moon, Captain, 162 - -Moose Factory, 153, 157, 158 - -Moraviantown, 365, 366 - -Mount Desert, 42, 44 - -Mount Royal, 49, 78 - -Murray, Lord John, 234, 235, 258, 261, 270, 274, 277-280 - -Muskoka, 84 - - - -Nelson, Dr., 429, 430, 432 - -Nelson, Port, 152, 153, 183, 185, 384 - -Nelson River, 148, 385 - -Nepigon, 206 - -New Brunswick, 10, 62-65, 204, 220, 312, 313, 434 - -New Caledonia, 406, 407 - -New Hampshire, 172 - -New York, 97, 165, 221 - -Newfoundland, 5-7, 9, 10, 12, 19, 23, 30, 183, 184, 204 - -Niagara, 129, 267, 316, 340, 351, 369, 370, 379 - -Nicholson, Francis, 198-203 - -Nicolet, Jean, 71, 103, 127 - -Nipissing Indians, 51, 53 - -Nipissing Lake, 51, 53, 103 - -Noel, 19 - -Nootka, 320-322 - -Norsemen, 2 - -Nova Scotia, 1, 34, 35, 61, 220, 312, 317, 379, 434, 436 - - - -O'Callaghan, 429 - -Ochagach, Chief, 206 - -Ochiltree, Lord, 62 - -Ogden, 407 - -Ogdensburg, 350 - -Ohio River, 128, 130, 133, 224, 226, 241 - -Olier, Jean Jacques, 75, 76 - -Onondaga, Lake,98 - -Onondagas, 55, 98, 99, 100 - -Ontario, 84, 127, 312, 315, 316, 338, 349 - -Ontario, Lake, 54, 57, 127, 129, 134, 349 - -Oregon, 406, 407 - -Orleans Island, 13, 76 - -Oswego, 247, 250 - -Ottawa, 46 - -Ottawa Indians, 51 - -Ottawa River, 17, 49, 51, 52, 57, 86 - - - -Papineau, 427-429 - -Parliament Hill, 50, 104 - -Parry Sound, 54 - -Parsnip River, 328 - -Passamaquoddy, 195 - -Pays d'en Haut, 182 - -Peace River, 326, 327 - -Pean, Madame, 245 - -Peguis, Chief, 392, 393, 395 - -Penetang, 54, 83, 85 - -Pepperrell, William, 216, 219 - -Pepys, Samuel, 153 - -Pere, Jan, 130, 132, 152-159 - -Perrot, Nicholas, 132, 163 - -Perry, 349 - -Phips, Sir William, 176-178, 182 - -Pierre, 80, 81, 82 - -Pierre, Fort, 208 - -Pike, 353, 354 - -Pitt, Fort, 290 - -Pittsburg, 224, 228, 260 - -Place d'Armes, 79 - -Place Royale, 48 - -Placentia, 183 - -Plenderleath, Major, 358 - -Poncet, Pere, 94, 97 - -Pontgrave, 32-38, 42, 45, 71 - -Pontiac, 276, 281, 286, 291, 292 - -Port Dover, 131 - -Port Royal, 35-44, 57, 61, 64-70, 114, 191, 194, 202 - -Port Royal Basin, 198 - -Port Stanley, 130 - -Portland, Me., 171, 175 - -Portneuf, 175 - -Poutrincourt, Baron de, 34-42 - -Powell, 416, 417 - -Presqu' Isle, 276, 284, 348, 363 - -Preston, Major, 300 - -Prevost, Sir George, 349, 370, 376, 378, 410, 411 - -Primeau, Louis, 297 - -Prince Edward Island, 214, 215, 232, 256, 312, 314 - -Procter, 363, 365, 366 - -Puget Sound, 322 - - - -Quebec, 13, 17, 44, 45, 52, 57, 59, 60, 63, 71-82, 94, 107, 117, 156, -168, 171, 178-188, 202, 232, 252, 260-275, 276-309, 316, 317, 412, 432, -434, 435 - -Queenston Heights, 342-347, 352, 360, 372 - -Quesnel, 331 - -Quinte, Bay of, 127 - -Quirpon, 9 - - - -Radisson, Pierre Esprit, 95, 96, 98-115, 118, 144-154, 205 - -Ragueneau, Father, 91-93, 99, 100 - -Raleigh, Sir Walter, 25, 26, 30 - -Ramezay, 271 - -Rasle, Pere, 213 - -Rat, 164, 165 - -Razilli, Isaac, 65 - -Red River, 381, 388-392 - -Riall, 374 - -Richelieu, Cardinal, 57, 58, 65 - -Richelieu River, 46, 48, 125, 429 - -Richmond, Duke of, 417, 418, 419 - -Richmond Gulf, 30 - -Rideau River, 50, 104 - -Robertson, Colin, 380-383, 390, 391, 393, 396, 400-403 - -Roberval, Marguerite, 20, 21 - -Roberval, Sieur de, 18-23, 40 - -Rogers, Robert, 242, 276, 281, 285 - -Rolph, Dr., 421-425 - -Ross, 407 - -Rouville, Hertel de, 193, 194, 198 - -Rupert, 32, 153 - -Rupert River, 113, 115, 161 - -Rupert's Fort, 158, 161 - - - -Sable Island, 7, 23, 65, 114, 220 - -Sackett's Harbor, 370 - -Saguenay, 12, 22, 32, 73, 113 - -St. Anne de Beaupre, 120 - -St. Anthony, Falls of, 139 - -St. Charles, Fort, 208 - -St. Charles River, 13, 14, 15, 17, 429, 430 - -St. Denys, 65, 71 - -St. Eustache, 430 - -St. Francis, Lake, 129 - -St. Helen's Island, 49, 77 - -St. Ignace, 85, 88, 89, 91 - -St. Jean Ba'tiste, 85 - -St. John, Fort, 65, 67, 70 - -St. John River, 35, 62, 63, 64, 65, 67 - -St. John's, 19, 26, 28, 300 - -St. Joseph, 85, 87, 88, 284 - -St. Joseph Island, 92 - -St. Lawrence River, 12, 13, 15, 17, 19, 46, 71, 73, 126 - -St. Louis, 61, 85, 88, 89, 91, 292 - -St. Louis, Lake, 129 - -St. Lusson, 132 - -St. Malo, 43 - -St. Mary's Bay, 34, 36, 236 - -St. Peter, Lake, 15, 71 - -St. Pierre, 204, 224, 277, 279, 280, 281 - -St. Thomas Town, 413 - -St. Valliere, Bishop, 122 - -Ste. Anne's, 49 - -Ste. Croix River, 35, 37, 44, 310 - -Ste. Marie Mission, 85-92 - -Saint-Castin, Baron de, 175, 195, 197, 200, 201, 202 - -Salmon Falls, 174, 175 - -San Francisco, 407, 408 - -Sandusky, 276, 313 - -Sandwich Islands, 321 - -Sargeant, Governor, 155, 156, 159, 160 - -Saskatchewan, 212, 243, 297, 401, 403, 436 - -Sault Ste. Marie, 106, 132, 378 - -Saunders, 261, 269 - -Schenectady, 173, 174 - -Schuyler, Captain, 176 - -Scott, Hercules, 373, 374 - -Secord, James, 360 - -Secord, Laura, 360-362 - -Sedgwick, Major, 70 - -Selkirk, 385 - -Selkirk, Lord, 317, 380, 381, 384, 388, 390, 396, 397, 398, 400 - -Semple, Robert, 390, 392, 393, 394 - -Seven Oaks, 394, 399 - -Sheaffe, General, 346, 347, 354 - -Sherbrooke, Sir John, 412, 417 - -Simcoe, Lake, 54, 84, 85 - -Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor, 316, 412 - -Simpson, Sir George, 406 - -Sioux Indians, 103 - -Skraelings, 1 - -Smithsend, 154 - -Smyth, 348 - -Sorcerer Indians, 51 - -Sorel, Dame, 146 - -Sorel, Fort, 125 - -Stadacona, 13 - -Staring Hairs, 53 - -Stobo, Robert, 268 - -Stony Creek, 357, 358 - -Stopford, Major, 300 - -Stuart, 331 - -Subercase, 197-200 - -Superior, Lake, 85, 112 - -Susquehanna Indians, 54 - -Swanton, Vt., 429 - -Sylvie, 157 - - - -Tadoussac, 32, 34, 44, 58, 63, 73, 74, 94, 134, 177 - -Talbot, Tom, 413 - -Talon, Jean, 123-125, 128, 132, 136, 143 - -Tecumseh, 339, 363 - -Tessouat, Chief, 51 - -Texas, 141 - -Thomas, General, 309 - -Thompson, David, 332, 333 - -Thornstein, 1, 2 - -Thorwald, 1 - -Three Rivers, 71, 82, 83, 94, 95, 98, 107, 113, 124, 206, 277 - -Ticonderoga, Fort, 242, 249, 252, 256, 260, 298 - -Tobacco Indians, 85, 93 - -Tonty, Henry, 137-141 - -Toronto, 351, 353, 355, 415, 420, 422, 423, 432 - -Townshend, 261, 265, 270 - -Tracy, Marquis de, 125, 126 - -Trent River, 54 - -Trinity River, 141 - -Truro, 236 - -Twin Cities, 139 - -Twin Mountains Lake, 49 - -Ungava Bay, 30 - - - -Van Egmond, 421, 422, 424 - -Van Rensselaer, 342-348 - -Van Shoultz, 427 - -Vancouver, George, 319, 321-323 - -Vancouver Island, 320-322 - -Vaudreuil, Governor de, 193, 197, 243, 262, 274 - -Vaughan, 216 - -Vercheres, Jared of, 198 - -Vercheres, M. de, 169 - -Vercheres, Madame de, 169 - -Vergor, 231 - -Vermont, 429, 430 - -Verrazano, 7 - -Vetch, Colonel, 198, 201 - -Victoria, 409 - -Vignau, Nicholas, 49-51, 127 - -Vikings, 1 - -Ville Marie, 78 - -Vimont, Father, 73, 77, 78 - -Vincent, General, 355, 356, 358, 359 - -Vinland, 1, 2, 3 - - - -Walker, Sir Hovender, 202, 203 - -Warren, 219 - -Washington, George, 224, 229, 260, 310 - -Webb, General, 250 - -Weir, Lieutenant, 429 - -Wetherell, Colonel, 429 - -Wilkinson, 367, 368 - -William, Fort, 112, 397, 398, 399 - -William of Orange, 165, 166 - -Williams, William, 403 - -Winchester, General, 363 - -Winder, 356, 357, 358 - -Winnipeg, 210, 387, 394 - -Winnipeg Lake, 208 - -Winthrop, 176 - -Wisconsin, 106 - -Wisconsin River, 132 - -Wolfe, James, 44, 252-257 - -Wye River, 85, 88, 89, 92 - - - -Yeo, Sir James, 358, 366, 377 - -York Fort, 384, 385 - - - -***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CANADA: THE EMPIRE OF THE NORTH*** - - -******* This file should be named 20110.txt or 20110.zip ******* - - -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: -https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/0/1/1/20110 - - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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