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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/5146.txt b/5146.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5d64307 --- /dev/null +++ b/5146.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4194 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fighting Governor, by Charles W. Colby +#7 in our series Chronicles of Canada +#2 in our series by Charles W. Colby + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Fighting Governor + A Chronicle of Frontenac + +Author: Charles W. Colby + Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton + +Release Date: February, 2004 [EBook #5146] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on May 13, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR *** + + + + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan. + + + + + + +CHRONICLES OF CANADA +Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton +In thirty-two volumes + +Volume 7 + +THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR +A Chronicle of Frontenac + +By CHARLES W. COLBY +TORONTO, 1915 + + + + +CHAPTER I + +CANADA IN 1672 + +The Canada to which Frontenac came in 1672 was no longer +the infant colony it had been when Richelieu founded the +Company of One Hundred Associates. Through the efforts +of Louis XIV and Colbert it had assumed the form of an +organized province. [Footnote: See The Great Intendant +in this Series.] Though its inhabitants numbered less +than seven thousand, the institutions under which they +lived could not have been more elaborate or precise. In +short, the divine right of the king to rule over his +people was proclaimed as loudly in the colony as in the +motherland. + +It was inevitable that this should be so, for the whole +course of French history since the thirteenth century +had led up to the absolutism of Louis XIV. During the +early ages of feudalism France had been distracted by +the wars of her kings against rebellious nobles. The +virtues and firmness of Louis IX (1226-70) had turned +the scale in favour of the crown. There were still to be +many rebellions--the strife of Burgundians and Armagnacs +in the fifteenth century, the Wars of the League in the +sixteenth century, the cabal of the Fronde in the +seventeenth century--but the great issue had been settled +in the days of the good St Louis. When Raymond VII of +Toulouse accepted the Peace of Lorris (1243) the government +of Canada by Louis XIV already existed in the germ. That +is to say, behind the policy of France in the New World +may be seen an ancient process which had ended in +untrammelled autocracy at Paris. + +This process as it affected Canada was not confined to +the spirit of government. It is equally visible in the +forms of colonial administration. During the Middle Ages +the dukes and counts of France had been great territorial +lords--levying their own armies, coining their own money, +holding power of life and death over their vassals. In +that period Normandy, Brittany, Maine, Anjou, Toulouse, +and many other districts, were subject to the king in +name only. But, with the growth of royal power, the dukes +and counts steadily lost their territorial independence +and fell at last to the condition of courtiers. +Simultaneously the duchies or counties were changed into +provinces, each with a noble for its governor--but a +noble who was a courtier, holding his commission from +the king and dependent upon the favour of the king. Side +by side with the governor stood the intendant, even more +a king's man than the governor himself. So jealously did +the Bourbons guard their despotism that the crown +would not place wide authority in the hands of any one +representative. The governor, as a noble and a soldier, +knew little or nothing of civil business. To watch over +the finances and the prosperity of the province, an +intendant was appointed. This official was always +chosen from the middle class and owed his position, his +advancement, his whole future, to the king. The governor +might possess wealth, or family connections. The intendant +had little save what came to him from his sovereign's +favour. Gratitude and interest alike tended to make him +a faithful servant. + +But, though the crown had destroyed the political power +of the nobles, it left intact their social pre-eminence. +The king was as supreme as a Christian ruler could be. +Yet by its very nature the monarchy could not exist +without the nobles, from whose ranks the sovereign drew +his attendants, friends, and lieutenants. Versailles +without its courtiers would have been a desert. Even the +Church was a stronghold of the aristocracy, for few became +bishops or abbots who were not of gentle birth. + +The great aim of government, whether at home or in the +colonies, was to maintain the supremacy of the crown. +Hence all public action flowed from a royal command. The +Bourbon theory required that kings should speak and that +subjects should obey. One direct consequence of a system +so uncompromisingly despotic was the loss of all local +initiative. Nothing in the faintest degree resembling +the New England town-meeting ever existed in New France. +Louis XIV objected to public gatherings of his people, +even for the most innocent purposes. The sole limitation +to the power of the king was the line of cleavage between +Church and State. Religion required that the king should +refrain from invading the sphere of the clergy, though +controversy often waxed fierce as to where the secular +ended and the spiritual began. + +When it became necessary to provide institutions for +Canada, the organization of the province in France at +once suggested itself as a fit pattern. Canada, like +Normandy, had the governor and the intendant for her +chief officials, the seigneury for the groundwork of her +society, and mediaeval coutumes for her laws. + +The governor represented the king's dignity and the force +of his arms. He was a noble, titled or untitled. It was +the business of the governor to wage war and of the +intendant to levy taxes. But as an expedition could not +be equipped without money, the governor looked to the +intendant for funds, and the intendant might object that +the plans of the governor were unduly extravagant. Worse +still, the commissions under which both held office were +often contradictory. More than three thousand miles +separated Quebec from Versailles, and for many months +governor and intendant quarrelled over issues which could +only be settled by an appeal to the king. Meanwhile each +was a spy as well as a check upon the other. In Canada +this arrangement worked even more harmfully than in +France, where the king could make himself felt without +great loss of time. + +Yet an able intendant could do much good. There are few +finer episodes in the history of local government than +the work of Turgot as intendant of the Limousin. +[Footnote: Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-81), a +statesman, thinker, and philanthropist of the first order. +It was as intendant of Limoges that Turgot disclosed his +great powers. He held his post for thirteen years (1761- +74), and effected improvements which led Louis XVI to +appoint him comptroller-general of the Kingdom.] Canada +also had her Talon, whose efforts had transformed the +colony during the seven years which preceded Frontenac's +arrival. The fatal weakness was scanty population. This +Talon saw with perfect clearness, and he clamoured for +immigrants till Colbert declared that he would not +depopulate France to people Canada. Talon and Frontenac +came into personal contact only during a few weeks, but +the colony over which Frontenac ruled as governor had +been created largely by the intelligence and toil of +Talon as intendant. [Footnote: See The Great Intendant.] + +While the provincial system of France gave Canada two +chief personages, a third came from the Church. In the +annals of New France there is no more prominent figure +than the bishop. Francois de Laval de Montmorency had +been in the colony since 1659. His place in history is +due in large part to his strong, intense personality, +but this must not be permitted to obscure the importance +of his office. His duties were to create educational +institutions, to shape ecclesiastical policy, and to +represent the Church in all its dealings with the +government. + +Many of the problems which confronted Laval had their +origin in special and rather singular circumstances. Few, +if any, priests had as yet been established in fixed +parishes--each with its church and presbytere. Under +ordinary conditions parishes would have been established +at once, but in Canada the conditions were far from +ordinary. The Canadian Church sprang from a mission. Its +first ministers were members of religious orders who had +taken the conversion of the heathen for their chosen +task. They had headquarters at Quebec or Montreal, but +their true field of action was the wilderness. Having +the red man rather than the settler as their charge, they +became immersed, and perhaps preoccupied, in their heroic +work. Thus the erection of parishes was delayed. More +than one historian has upbraided Laval for thinking so +much of the mission that he neglected the spiritual needs +of the colonists. However this may be, the colony owed +much to the missionaries--particularly to the Jesuits. +It is no exaggeration to say that the Society of Jesus +had been among the strongest forces which stood between +New France and destruction. Other supports failed. The +fur trade had been the corner-stone upon which Champlain +built up Quebec, but the profits proved disappointing. +At the best it was a very uncertain business. Sometimes +the prices in Paris dwindled to nothing because the market +was glutted. At other times the Indians brought no furs +at all to the trading-posts. With its export trade +dependent upon the caprice of the savages, the colony +often seemed not worth the keeping. In these years of +worst discouragement the existence of the mission was a +great prop. + +On his arrival in 1672 Frontenac found the Jesuits, the +Sulpicians, and the Recollets all actively engaged in +converting the heathen. He desired that more attention +should be paid to the creation of parishes for the benefit +of the colonists. Over this issue there arose, as we +shall see by and by, acute differences between the bishop +and the governor. + +Owing to the large part which religion had in the life +of New France the bishop took his place beside the governor +and the intendant. This was the triumvirate of dignitaries. +Primarily each represented a different interest--war, +business, religion. But they were brought into official +contact through membership in the Conseil Souverain, +which controlled all details of governmental action. + +The Sovereign Council underwent changes of name and +composition, but its functions were at all times plainly +defined. In 1672 the members numbered seven. Of these +the governor, the bishop, and the intendant formed the +nucleus, the other four being appointed by them. In 1675 +the king raised the number of councillors to ten, thus +diluting the authority which each possessed, and thenceforth +made the appointments himself. Thus during the greater +part of Frontenac's regime the governor, the bishop, and +the intendant had seven associates at the council-board. +Still, as time went on, the king felt that his control +over this body was not quite perfect. So in 1703 he +changed the name from Sovereign Council to Superior +Council, and increased its members to a total of fifteen. + +The Council met at the Chateau St Louis on Monday morning +of each week, at a round table where the governor had +the bishop on his right hand and the intendant on his +left. Nevertheless the intendant presided, for the matters +under discussion fell chiefly in his domain. Of the other +councillors the attorney-general was the most conspicuous. +To him fell the task of sifting the petitions and +determining which should be presented. Although there +were local judges at Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal, +the Council had jurisdiction over all important cases, +whether criminal or civil. In the sphere of commerce its +powers were equally complete and minute. It told merchants +what profits they could take on their goods, and how +their goods should be classified with respect to the +percentage of profit allowed. Nothing was too petty for +its attention. Its records depict with photographic +accuracy the nature of French government in Canada. From +this source we can see how the principle of paternalism +was carried out to the last detail. + +But Canada was a long way from France and the St Lawrence +was larger than the Seine. It is hard to fight against +nature, and in Canada there were natural obstacles which +withstood to some extent the forces of despotism. It is +easy to see how distance from the court gave both governor +and intendant a range of action which would have been +impossible in France. With the coming of winter Quebec +was isolated for more than six months. During this long +interval the two officials could do a great many things +of which the king might not have approved, but which he +was powerless to prevent. His theoretical supremacy was +thus limited by the unyielding facts of geography. And +a better illustration is found in the operation of the +seigneurial system upon which Canadian society was based. +In France a belated feudalism still held the common man +in its grip, and in Canada the forms of feudalism were +at least partially established. Yet the Canadian habitant +lived in a very different atmosphere from that breathed +by the Norman peasant. The Canadian seigneur had an +abundance of acreage and little cash. His grant was in +the form of uncleared land, which he could only make +valuable through the labours of his tenants or censitaires. +The difficulty of finding good colonists made it important +to give them favourable terms. The habitant had a hard +life, but his obligations towards his seigneur were not +onerous. The man who lived in a log-hut among the stumps +and could hunt at will through the forest was not a serf. +Though the conditions of life kept him close to his home, +Canada meant for him a new freedom. + +Freest of all were the coureurs de bois, those dare-devils +of the wilderness who fill such a large place in the +history of the fur trade and of exploration. The Frenchman +in all ages has proved abundantly his love of danger and +adventure. Along the St Lawrence from Tadoussac to the +Sault St Louis seigneuries fringed the great river, as +they fringed the banks of its tributary, the Richelieu. +This was the zone of cultivation, in which log-houses +yielded, after a time, to white-washed cottages. But +above the Sault St Louis all was wilderness, whether one +ascended the St Lawrence or turned at Ile Perrot into +the Lake of Two Mountains and the Ottawa. For young and +daring souls the forest meant the excitement of discovery, +the licence of life among the Indians, and the hope of +making more than could be gained by the habitant from +his farm. Large profits meant large risks, and the coureur +de bois took his life in his hand. Even if he escaped +the rapid and the tomahawk, there was an even chance that +he would become a reprobate. + +But if his character were of tough fibre, there was also +a chance that he might render service to his king. At +times of danger the government was glad to call on him +for aid. When Tracy or Denonville or Frontenac led an +expedition against the Iroquois, it was fortunate that +Canada could muster a cohort of men who knew woodcraft +as well as the Indians. In days of peace the coureur de +bois was looked on with less favour. The king liked to +know where his subjects were at every hour of the day +and night. A Frenchman at Michilimackinac, [Footnote: +The most important of the French posts in the western +portion of the Great Lakes, situated on the strait which +unites Lake Huron to Lake Michigan. It was here that +Saint-Lusson and Perrot took possession of the West in +the name of France (June 1671). See The Great Intendant, +pp. 115-16.] unless he were a missionary or a government +agent, incurred severe displeasure, and many were the +edicts which sought to prevent the colonists from taking +to the woods. But, whatever the laws might say, the +coureur de bois could not be put down. From time to time +he was placed under restraint, but only for a moment. +The intendant might threaten and the priest might plead. +It recked not to the coureur de bois when once his knees +felt the bottom of the canoe. + +But of the seven thousand French who peopled Canada in +1672 it is probable that not more than four hundred were +scattered through the forest. The greater part of the +inhabitants occupied the seigneuries along the St Lawrence +and the Richelieu. Tadoussac was hardly more than a +trading-post. Quebec, Three Rivers, and Montreal were +but villages. In the main the life of the people was the +life of the seigneuries--an existence well calculated to +bring out in relief the ancestral heroism of the French +race. The grant of seigneurial rights did not imply that +the recipient had been a noble in France. The earliest +seigneur, Louis Hebert, was a Parisian apothecary, and +many of the Canadian gentry were sprung from the middle +class. There was nothing to induce the dukes, the counts, +or even the barons of France to settle on the soil of +Canada. The governor was a noble, but he lived at the +Chateau St Louis. The seigneur who desired to achieve +success must reside on the land he had received and see +that his tenants cleared it of the virgin forest. He +could afford little luxury, for in almost all cases his +private means were small. But a seigneur who fulfilled +the conditions of his grant could look forward to occupying +a relatively greater position in Canada than he could +have occupied in France, and to making better provision +for his children. + +Both the seigneur and his tenant, the habitant, had a +stake in Canada and helped to maintain the colony in the +face of grievous hardships. The courage and tenacity of +the French Canadian are attested by what he endured +throughout the years when he was fighting for his foothold. +And if he suffered, his wife suffered still more. The +mother who brought up a large family in the midst of +stumps, bears, and Iroquois knew what it was to be +resourceful. + +Obviously the Canada of 1672 lacked many things--among +them the stern resolve which animated the Puritans of +New England that their sons should have the rudiments of +an education. [Footnote: For example, Harvard College +was founded in 1636, and there was a printing-press at +Cambridge, Mass., in 1638.] At this point the contrast +between New France and New England discloses conflicting +ideals of faith and duty. In later years the problem of +knowledge assumed larger proportions, but during the +period of Frontenac the chief need of Canada was heroism. +Possessing this virtue abundantly, Canadians lost no time +in lamentations over the lack of books or the lack of +wealth. The duty of the hour was such as to exclude all +remoter vistas. When called on to defend his hearth and +to battle for his race, the Canadian was ready. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +LOUIS DE BUADE, COMTE DE FRONTENAC + +Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac et de Palluau, was +born in 1620. He was the son of Henri de Buade, a noble +at the court of Louis XIII. His mother, Anne de Phelippeaux, +came from a stock which in the early Bourbon period +furnished France with many officials of high rank, notably +Louis de Phelippeaux, Comte de Pontchartrain. His father +belonged to a family of southern France whose estates +lay originally in Guienne. It was a fortunate incident +in the annals of this family that when Antoine de Bourbon +became governor of Guienne (1555) Geoffroy de Buade +entered his service. Thenceforth the Buades were attached +by close ties to the kings of Navarre. Frontenac's +grandfather, Antoine de Buade, figures frequently in the +Memoirs of Agrippa d'Aubigne as aide-de-camp to Henry +IV; Henri de Buade, Frontenac's father, was a playmate +and close friend of Louis XIII; [Footnote: As an +illustration of their intimacy, there is a story that +one day when Henry IV was indisposed he had these two +boys on his bed, and amused himself by making them fight +with each other.] and Frontenac himself was a godson and +a namesake of the king. + +While fortune thus smiled upon the cradle of Louis de +Buade, some important favours were denied. Though nobly +born, Frontenac did not spring from a line which had been +of national importance for centuries, like that of +Montmorency or Chatillon. Nor did he inherit large estates. +The chief advantage which the Buades possessed came from +their personal relations with the royal family. Their +property in Guienne was not great, and neither Geoffroy, +Antoine, nor Henri had possessed commanding abilities. +Nor was Frontenac the boyhood friend of his king as his +father had been, for Louis XIV was not born till 1638. +Frontenac's rank was good enough to give him a chance at +the French court. For the rest, his worldly prosperity +would depend on his own efforts. + +Inevitably he became a soldier. He entered the army at +fifteen. It was one of the greatest moments in French +history. Richelieu was prime minister, and the long strife +between France and the House of Hapsburg had just begun +to turn definitely in favour of France. Against the +Hapsburgs, with their two thrones of Spain and Austria, +[Footnote: Charles V held all his Spanish, Burgundian, +and Austrian inheritance in his own hand from 1519 to +1521. In 1521 he granted the Austrian possessions to his +brother Ferdinand. Thenceforth Spain and Austria were +never reunited, but their association in politics continued +to be intimate until the close of the seventeenth century.] +stood the Great Cardinal, ready to use the crisis of the +Thirty Years' War for the benefit of his nation--even +though this meant a league with heretics. At the moment +when Frontenac first drew the sword France (in nominal +support of her German allies) was striving to conquer +Alsace. The victory which brought the French to the Rhine +was won through the capture of Breisach, at the close of +1638. Then in swift succession followed those astounding +victories of Conde and Turenne which destroyed the military +pre-eminence of Spain, took the French to the gates of +Munich, and wrung from the emperor the Peace of Westphalia +(1648). + +During the thirteen years which followed Frontenac's +first glimpse of war it was a glorious thing to be a +French soldier. The events of such an era could not fail +to leave their mark upon a high-spirited and valorous +youth. Frontenac was predestined by family tradition to +a career of arms; but it was his own impetuosity that +drove him into war before the normal age. He first served +under Prince Frederick Henry of Orange, who was then at +the height of his reputation. After several campaigns in +the Low Countries his regiment was transferred to the +confines of Spain and France. There, in the year of +Richelieu's death (1642), he fought at the siege of +Perpignan. That he distinguished himself may be seen from +his promotion, at twenty-three, to the rank of colonel. +In the same year (1643) Louis XIV came to the throne; +and Conde, by smiting the Spaniards at Rocroi, won for +France the fame of having the best troops in Europe. + +It was not the good fortune of Frontenac to serve under +either Conde or Turenne during those campaigns, so +triumphant for France, which marked the close of the +Thirty Years' War. From Perpignan he was ordered to +northern Italy, where in the course of three years he +performed the exploits which made him a brigadier-general +at twenty-six. Though repeatedly wounded, he survived +twelve years of constant fighting with no more serious +casualty than a broken arm which he carried away from +the siege of Orbitello. By the time peace was signed at +Munster he had become a soldier well proved in the most +desperate war which had been fought since Europe accepted +Christianity. + +To the great action of the Thirty Years' War there soon +succeeded the domestic commotion of the Fronde. Richelieu, +despite his high qualities as a statesman, had been a +poor financier; and Cardinal Mazarin, his successor, was +forced to cope with a discontent which sprang in part +from the misery of the masses and in part from the ambition +of the nobles. As Louis XIV was still an infant when his +father died, the burden of government fell in name upon +the queen-mother, Anne of Austria, but in reality upon +Mazarin. Not even the most disaffected dared to rebel +against the young king in the sense of disputing his +right to reign. But in 1648 the extreme youth of Louis +XIV made it easy for discontented nobles, supported by +the Parlement of Paris, to rebel against an unpopular +minister. + +The year 1648, which witnessed the Peace of Westphalia +and the outbreak of the Fronde, was rendered memorable +to Frontenac by his marriage. It was a runaway match, +which began an extraordinary alliance between two very +extraordinary people. The bride, Anne de la Grange-Trianon, +was a daughter of the Sieur de Neuville, a gentleman +whose house in Paris was not far from that of Frontenac's +parents. At the time of the elopement she was only sixteen, +while Frontenac had reached the ripe age of twenty-eight. +Both were high-spirited and impetuous. We know also that +Frontenac was hot-tempered. For a short time they lived +together and there was a son. But before the wars of the +Fronde had closed they drifted apart, from motives which +were personal rather than political. + +Madame de Frontenac then became a maid of honour to the +Duchesse de Montpensier, daughter of Gaston d'Orleans +[Footnote: Gaston d'Orleans was the younger brother of +Louis XIII, and heir-presumptive until the birth of Louis +XIV in 1638. His vanity and his complicity in plots to +overthrow Richelieu are equally famous.] and first cousin +to Louis XIV. This princess, known as La Grande +Mademoiselle, plunged into the politics of the Fronde +with a vigour which involved her whole household--Madame +de Frontenac included--and wrote Memoirs in which her +adventures are recorded at full length, to the pungent +criticism of her foes and the enthusiastic glorification +of herself. Madame de Frontenac was in attendance upon +La Grande Mademoiselle during the period of her most +spectacular exploits and shared all the excitement which +culminated with the famous entry of Orleans in 1652. + +Madame de Frontenac was beautiful, and to beauty she +added the charm of wit. With these endowments she made +her way despite her slender means--and to be well-born +but poor was a severe hardship in the reign of Louis XIV. +Her portrait at Versailles reflects the striking personality +and the intelligence which won for her the title La +Divine. Throughout an active life she never lacked powerful +friends, and Saint-Simon bears witness to the place she +held in the highest and most exclusive circle of court +society. + +Frontenac and his wife lived together only during the +short period 1648-52. But intercourse was not wholly +severed by the fact of domestic separation. It is clear +from the Memoirs of the Duchesse de Montpensier that +Frontenac visited his wife at Saint-Fargeau, the country +seat to which the duchess had been exiled for her part +in the wars of the Fronde. Such evidence as there is +seems to show that Madame de Frontenac considered herself +deeply wronged by her husband and was unwilling to accept +his overtures. From Mademoiselle de Montpensier we hear +little after 1657, the year of her quarrel with Madame +de Frontenac. The maid of honour was accused of disloyalty, +tears flowed, the duchess remained obdurate, and, in +short, Madame de Frontenac was dismissed. + +The most sprightly stories of the Frontenacs occur in +these Memoirs of La Grande Mademoiselle. Unfortunately +the Duchesse de Montpensier was so self-centred that her +witness is not dispassionate. She disliked Frontenac, +without concealment. As seen by her, he was vain and +boastful, even in matters which concerned his kitchen +and his plate. His delight in new clothes was childish. +He compelled guests to speak admiringly of his horses, +in contradiction of their manifest appearance. Worst of +all, he tried to stir up trouble between the duchess and +her own people. + +Though Frontenac and his wife were unable to live together, +they did not become completely estranged. It may be that +the death of their son--who seems to have been killed in +battle--drew them together once more, at least in spirit. +It may be that with the Atlantic between them they +appreciated each other's virtues more justly. It may have +been loyalty to the family tradition. Whatever the cause, +they maintained an active correspondence during Frontenac's +years in Canada, and at court Madame de Frontenac was +her husband's chief defence against numerous enemies. +When he died it was found that he had left her his +property. But she never set foot in Canada. + +Frontenac was forty-one when Louis XIV dismissed Fouquet +and took Colbert for his chief adviser. At Versailles +everything depended on royal favour, and forty-one is an +important age. What would the young king do for Frontenac? +What were his gifts and qualifications? + +It is plain that Frontenac's career, so vigorously begun +during the Thirty Years' War, had not developed in a like +degree during the period (1648-61) from the outbreak of +the Fronde to the death of Mazarin. There was no doubt +as to his capacity. Saint-Simon calls him 'a man of +excellent parts, living much in society.' And again, when +speaking of Madame de Frontenac, he says: 'Like her +husband she had little property and abundant wit.' The +bane of Frontenac's life at this time was his extravagance. +He lived like a millionaire till his money was gone. Not +far from Blois he had the estate of Isle Savary--a, +property quite suited to his station had he been prudent. +But his plans for developing it, with gardens, fountains, +and ponds, were wholly beyond his resources. At Versailles, +also, he sought to keep pace with men whose ancestral +wealth enabled them to do the things which he longed to +do, but which fortune had placed beyond his reach. Hence, +notwithstanding his buoyancy and talent, Frontenac had +gained a reputation for wastefulness which did not +recommend him, in 1661, to the prudent Colbert. Nor was +he fitted by character or training for administrative +duty. His qualifications were such as are of use at a +post of danger. + +His time came in 1669. At the beginning of that year he +was singled out by Turenne for a feat of daring which +placed him before the eyes of all Europe. A contest was +about to close which for twenty-five years had been waged +with a stubbornness rarely equalled. This was the struggle +of the Venetians with the Turks for the possession of +Crete. [Footnote: This was not the first time that +Frontenac had fought against the Turks. Under La Feuillade +and Coligny he had taken part in Montecuculli's campaign +in 1664 against the Turks in Hungary, and was present at +the great victory of St Gothard on the Raab. The regiment +of Carignan-Salieres was also engaged on this occasion. +In the next year it came to Canada, and Lorin thinks that +the association of Frontenac with the Carignan regiment +in this campaign may have been among the causes of his +nomination to the post of governor.] To Venice defeat +meant the end of her glory as an imperial power. The +Republic had lavished treasure upon this war as never +before--a sum equivalent in modern money to fifteen +hundred million dollars. Even when compelled to borrow +at seven per cent, Venice kept up the fight and opened +the ranks of her nobility to all who would pay sixty +thousand ducats. Nor was the valour of the Venetians who +defended Crete less noble than the determination of their +government. Every man who loved the city of St Mark felt +that her fate was at stake before the walls of Candia. + +Year by year the resources of the Venetians had grown +less and their plight more desperate. In 1668 they had +received some assistance from French volunteers under +the Duc de la Feuillade. This was followed by an application +to Turenne for a general who would command their own +troops in conjunction with Morosini. It was a forlorn +hope if ever there was one; and Turenne selected Frontenac. +Co-operating with him were six thousand French troops +under the Duc de Navailles, who nominally served the +Pope, for Louis XIV wished to avoid direct war against +the Sultan. All that can be said of Frontenac's part in +the adventure is that he valiantly attempted the impossible. +Crete was doomed long before he saw its shores. The best +that the Venetians and the French could do was to fight +for favourable terms of surrender. These they gained. In +September 1669 the Venetians evacuated the city of Candia, +taking with them their cannon, all their munitions of +war, and all their movable property. + +The Cretan expedition not only confirmed but enhanced +the standing which Frontenac had won in his youth. And +within three years from the date of his return he received +the king's command to succeed the governor Courcelles at +Quebec. + +Gossip busied itself a good deal over the immediate causes +of Frontenac's appointment to the government of Canada. +The post was hardly a proconsular prize. At first sight +one would not think that a small colony destitute of +social gaiety could have possessed attractions to a man +of Frontenac's rank and training. The salary amounted to +but eight thousand livres a year. The climate was rigorous, +and little glory could come from fighting the Iroquois. +The question arose, did Frontenac desire the appointment +or was he sent into polite exile? + +There was a story that he had once been a lover of Madame +de Montespan, who in 1672 found his presence near the +court an inconvenience. Others said that Madame de +Frontenac had eagerly sought for him the appointment on +the other side of the world. A third theory was that, +owing to his financial straits, the government gave him +something to keep body and soul together in a land where +there were no great temptations to spend money. + +Motives are often mixed; and behind the nomination there +may have been various reasons. But whatever weight we +allow to gossip, it is not necessary to fall back on any +of these hypotheses to account for Frontenac's appointment +or for his willingness to accept. While there was no +immediate likelihood of a war involving France and England, +[Footnote: By the Treaty of Dover (May 20, 1670) Charles +II received a pension from France and promised to aid +Louis XIV in war with Holland.] and consequent trouble +from the English colonies in America, New France required +protection from the Iroquois. And, as a soldier, Frontenac +had acquitted himself with honour. Nor was the post +thought to be insignificant. Madame de Sevigne's son-in-law, +the Comte de Grignan, was an unsuccessful candidate for +it in competition with Frontenac. For some years both +the king and Colbert had been giving real attention to +the affairs of Canada. The Far West was opening up; and +since 1665 the population of the colony had more than +doubled. To Frontenac the governorship of Canada meant +promotion. It was an office of trust and responsibility, +with the opportunity to extend the king's power throughout +the region beyond the Great Lakes. And if the salary was +small, the governor could enlarge it by private trading. +Whatever his motives, or the motives of those who sent +him, it was a good day for Frontenac when he was sent to +Canada. In France the future held out the prospect of +little but a humiliating scramble for sinecures. In Canada +he could do constructive work for his king and country. + +Those who cross the sea change their skies but not their +character. Frontenac bore with him to Quebec the sentiments +and the habits which befitted a French noble of the sword. +[Footnote: Frontenac's enemies never wearied of dwelling +upon his uncontrollable rage. A most interesting discussion +of this subject will be found in Frontenac et Ses Amis +by M. Ernest Myrand (p. 172). For the bellicose qualities +of the French aristocracy see also La Noblesse Francaise +sous Richelieu by the Vicomte G. d'Avenel.] The more we +know about the life of his class in France, the better +we shall understand his actions as governor of Canada. +His irascibility, for example, seems almost mild when +compared with the outbreaks of many who shared with him +the traditions and breeding of a privileged order. +Frontenac had grown to manhood in the age of Richelieu, +a period when fierceness was a special badge of the +aristocracy. Thus duelling became so great a menace to +the public welfare that it was made punishable with death; +despite which it flourished to such an extent that one +nobleman, the Chevalier d'Andrieux, enjoyed the reputation +of having slain seventy-two antagonists. + +Where duelling is a habitual and honourable exercise, +men do not take the trouble to restrain primitive passions. +Even in dealings with ladies of their own rank, French +nobles often stepped over the line where rudeness ends +and insult begins. When Malherbe boxed the ears of a +viscountess he did nothing which he was unwilling to talk +about. Ladies not less than lords treated their servants +like dirt, and justified such conduct by the statement +that the base-born deserve no consideration. There was, +indeed, no class--not even the clergy--which was exempt +from assault by wrathful nobles. In the course of an +altercation the Duc d'Epernon, after striking the Archbishop +of Bordeaux in the stomach several times with his fists +and his baton, exclaimed: 'If it were not for the respect +I bear your office, I would stretch you out on the +pavement!' + +In such an atmosphere was Frontenac reared. He had the +manners and the instincts of a belligerent. But he also +possessed a soul which could rise above pettiness. And +the foes he loved best to smite were the enemies of the +king. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FRONTENAC'S FIRST YEARS IN CANADA + +Frontenac received his commission on April 6, 1672, and +reached Quebec at the beginning of September. The king, +sympathetic towards his needs, had authorized two special +grants of money: six thousand livres for equipment, and +nine thousand to provide a bodyguard of twenty horsemen. +Gratified by these marks of royal favour and conscious +that he had been assigned to an important post, Frontenac +was in hopeful mood when he first saw the banks of the +St Lawrence. His letters show that he found the country +much less barbarous than he had expected; and he threw +himself into his new duties with the courage which is +born of optimism. A natural fortress like Quebec could +not fail to awaken the enthusiasm of a soldier. The +settlement itself was small, but Frontenac reported that +its situation could not be more favourable, even if this +spot were to become the capital of a great empire. It +was, indeed, a scene to kindle the imagination. Sloping +down to the river-bank, the farms of Beauport and Beaupre +filled the foreground. Behind them swept the forest, then +in its full autumnal glory. + +Awaiting Frontenac at Quebec were Courcelles, the late +governor, and Talon the intendant. Both were to return +to France by the last ships of that year; but in the +meantime Frontenac was enabled to confer with them on +the state of the colony and to acquaint himself with +their views on many important subjects. Courcelles had +proved a stalwart warrior against the Iroquois, while +Talon possessed an unrivalled knowledge of Canada's wants +and possibilities. Laval, the bishop, was in France, not +to return to the colony till 1675. + +The new governor's first acts went to show that with the +king's dignity he associated his own. The governor and +lieutenant-general of a vast oversea dominion could not +degrade his office by living like a shopkeeper. The +Chateau St Louis was far below his idea of what a viceregal +residence ought to be. One of his early resolves was to +enlarge and improve it. Meanwhile, his entertainments +surpassed in splendour anything Canada had yet seen. Pomp +on a large scale was impossible; but the governor made +the best use of his means to display the grace and majesty +of his office. + +On the 17th of September Frontenac presided for the first +time at a meeting of the Sovereign Council; [Footnote: +In the minutes of this first meeting of the Sovereign +Council at which Frontenac presided the high-sounding +words 'haut et puissant' stand prefixed to his name and +titles.] and the formal inauguration of his regime was +staged for the 23rd of October. It was to be an impressive +ceremony, a pageant at which all eyes should be turned +upon him, the great noble who embodied the authority of +a puissant monarch. For this ceremony the governor summoned +an assembly that was designed to represent the Three +Estates of Canada. + +The Three Estates of clergy, nobles, and commons had +existed in France from time immemorial. But in taking +this step and in expecting the king to approve it Frontenac +displayed his ignorance of French history; for the ancient +meetings of the Three Estates in France had left a memory +not dear to the crown. [Footnote: The power of the +States-General reached its height after the disastrous +battle of Poitiers (1356). For a short period, under the +leadership of Etienne Marcel, it virtually supplanted +the power of the crown.] They had, in truth, given the +kings moments of grave concern; and their representatives +had not been summoned since 1614. Moreover, Louis XIV +was not a ruler to tolerate such rival pretensions as +the States-General had once put forth. + +Parkman thinks that, 'like many of his station, Frontenac +was not in full sympathy with the centralizing movement +of his time, which tended to level ancient rights, +privileges and prescriptions under the ponderous roller +of the monarchical administration.' This, it may be +submitted, is only a conjecture. The family history of +the Buades shows that they were 'king's men,' who would +be the last to imperil royal power. The gathering of the +Three Estates at Quebec was meant to be the fitting +background of a ceremony. If Frontenac had any thought +beyond this, it was a desire to unite all classes in an +expression of loyalty to their sovereign. + +At Quebec it was not difficult to secure representatives +of clergy and commons. But, as nobles seldom emigrated +to Canada, some talent was needed to discover gentlemen +of sufficient standing to represent the aristocracy. The +situation was met by drawing upon the officers and the +seigneurs. The Estates thus duly convened, Frontenac +addressed them on the glory of the king and the duty of +all classes to serve him with zeal. To the clergy he +hinted that their task was not finished when they had +baptized the Indians. After that came the duty of +converting them into good citizens. + +Frontenac's next step was to reorganize the municipal +government of Quebec by permitting the inhabitants to +choose two aldermen and a mayor. Since these officials +could not serve until they had been approved by the +governor, the change does not appear to have been wildly +radical. But change of any kind was distasteful to the +Bourbon monarchy, especially if it seemed to point toward +freedom. So when in due course Frontenac's report of +these activities arrived at Versailles, it was decided +that such innovations must be stopped at once. The king +wished to discourage all memory of the Three Estates, +and Frontenac was told that no part of the Canadian people +should be given a corporate or collective status. The +reprimand, however, did not reach Canada till the summer +of 1673, so that for some months Frontenac was permitted +to view his work with satisfaction. + +His next move likewise involved a new departure. Hitherto +the king had discouraged the establishment of forts or +trading-posts at points remote from the zone of settlement. +This policy was based on the belief that the colonists +ought to live close together for mutual defence against +the Iroquois. But Frontenac resolved to build a fort at +the outlet of Lake Ontario. His enemies stated that this +arose out of his desire to make personal profit from the +fur trade; but on public grounds also there were valid +reasons for the fort. A thrust is often the best parry; +and it could well be argued that the French had much to +gain from a stronghold lying within striking distance of +the Iroquois villages. + +At any rate, Frontenac decided to act first and make +explanations afterwards. On June 3, 1673, he left Quebec +for Montreal and beyond. He accommodated himself with +cheerfulness to the bark canoe--which he described in +one of his early letters as a rather undignified conveyance +for the king's lieutenant--and, indeed, to all the +hardships which the discharge of his duties entailed. +His plan for the summer comprised a thorough inspection +of the waterway from Quebec to Lake Ontario and official +visits to the settlements lying along the route. Three +Rivers did not detain him long, for he was already familiar +with the place, having visited it in the previous autumn. +On the 15th of the month his canoe came to shore beneath +Mount Royal. + +Montreal was the colony's farthest outpost towards the +Iroquois. Though it had been founded as a mission and +nothing else, its situation was such that its inhabitants +could not avoid being drawn into the fur trade. To a +large extent it still retained its religious character, +but beneath the surface could be detected a cleavage of +interest between the missionary zeal of the Sulpicians +and the commercial activity of the local governor, Francois +Perrot. And since this Perrot is soon to find place in +the present narrative as a bitter enemy of Frontenac, a +word concerning him may fitly be written here. He was an +officer of the king's army who had come to Canada with +Talon. The fact that his wife was Talon's niece had put +him in the pathway of promotion. The order of St Sulpice, +holding in fief the whole island of Montreal, had power +to name the local governor. In June 1669 the Sulpicians +had nominated Perrot, and two years later his appointment +had been confirmed by the king. Later, as we shall see, +arose the thorny question of how far the governor of +Canada enjoyed superiority over the governor of Montreal. + +The governor of Montreal, attended by his troops and the +leading citizens, stood at the landing-place to offer +full military honours to the governor of Canada. Frontenac's +arrival was then signalized by a civic reception and a +Te Deum. The round of civilities ended, the governor lost +no time in unfolding the real purpose of his visit, which +was less to confer with the priests of St Sulpice than +to recruit forces for his expedition, in order that he +might make a profound impression on the Iroquois. The +proposal to hold a conference with the Iroquois at +Cataraqui (where Kingston now stands) met with some +opposition; but Frontenac's energy and determination were +not to be denied, and by the close of June four hundred +French and Indians were mustered at Lachine in readiness +to launch their canoes and barges upon Lake St Louis. + +If Montreal was the outpost of the colony, Lachine was +the outpost of Montreal. Between these two points lay +the great rapid, the Sault St Louis, which from the days +of Jacques Cartier had blocked the ascent of the St +Lawrence to seafaring boats. At Lachine La Salle had +formed his seigneury in 1667, the year after his arrival +in Canada; and it had been the starting-point for the +expedition which resulted in the discovery of the Ohio +in 1671. La Salle, however, was not with Frontenac's +party, for the governor had sent him to the Iroquois +early in May, to tell them that Onontio would meet his +children and to make arrangements for the great assembly +at Cataraqui. + +The Five Nations, remembering the chastisement they had +received from Tracy in 1666, [Footnote: See The Great +Intendant, chap. iii.] accepted the invitation, but in +dread and distrust. Their envoys accordingly proceeded +to the mouth of the Cataraqui; and on the 12th of July +the vessels of the French were seen approaching on the +smooth surface of Lake Ontario. Frontenac had omitted +from his equipage nothing which could awe or interest +the savage. He had furnished his troops with the best +possible equipment and had with him all who could be +spared safely from the colony. He had even managed to +drag up the rapids and launch on Lake Ontario two large +barges armed with small cannon and brilliantly painted. +The whole flotilla, including a multitude of canoes +arranged by squadron, was now put in battle array. First +came four squadrons of canoes; then the two barges; next +Frontenac himself, surrounded by his personal attendants +and the regulars; after that the Canadian militia, with +a squadron from Three Rivers on the left flank, and on +the right a great gathering of Hurons and Algonquins. +The rearguard was composed of two more squadrons. Never +before had such a display been seen on the Great Lakes. + +Having disclosed his strength to the Iroquois chiefs, +Frontenac proceeded to hold solemn and stately conference +with them. But he did not do this on the day of the great +naval procession. He wished to let this spectacle take +effect before he approached the business which had brought +him there. It was not until next day that the meeting +opened. At seven o'clock the French troops, accoutred at +their best, were all on parade, drawn up in files before +the governor's tent, where the conference was to take +place. Outside the tent itself large canopies of canvas +had been erected to shelter the Iroquois from the sun, +while Frontenac, in his most brilliant military costume, +assumed all the state he could. In treating with Indians +haste was impossible, nor did Frontenac desire that the +speech-making should begin at once. His fort was hardly +more than begun, and he wished the Iroquois to see how +swiftly and how well the French could build defences. + +When the proceedings opened there were the usual long +harangues, followed by daily negotiations between the +governor and the chiefs. It was a leading feature of +Frontenac's diplomacy to reward the friendly, and to win +over malcontents by presents or personal attention. Each +day some of the chiefs dined with the governor, who gave +them the food they liked, adapted his style of speech to +their ornate and metaphorical language, played with their +children, and regretted, through the interpreter Le Moyne, +that he was as yet unable to speak their tongue. Never +had such pleasant flattery been applied to the vanity of +an Indian. At the same time Frontenac did not fail to +insist upon his power; indeed, upon his supremacy. As a +matter of fact it had involved a great effort to make +all this display at Cataraqui. In his discourses, however, +he laid stress upon the ease with which he had mounted +the rapids and launched barges upon Lake Ontario. The +sum and substance of all his harangues was this: 'I am +your good, kind father, loving peace and shrinking from +war. But you can see my power and I give you fair warning. +If you choose war, you are guilty of self-destruction; +your fate is in your own hands.' + +Apart from his immediate success in building under the +eyes of the Iroquois a fort at the outlet of Lake Ontario, +Frontenac profited greatly by entering the heart of the +Indian world in person. He was able, for a time at least, +to check those tribal wars which had hampered trade and +threatened to involve the colony. He gained much information +at first hand about the pays d'en haut. And throughout +he proved himself to have just the qualities which were +needed in dealing with a North American Indian--firmness, +good-humour, and dramatic talent. + +On returning from Lake Ontario to Quebec Frontenac had +good reason to be pleased with his summer's work. It +still remained to convince Colbert that the construction +of the fort at Cataraqui was not an undue expense and +waste of energy. But as the initial outlay had already +been made, he had ground for hope that he would not +receive a positive order to undo what had been accomplished. +At Quebec he received Colbert's disparaging comments upon +the assembly of the Three Estates and the substitution +of aldermen for the syndic who had formerly represented +the inhabitants. These comments, however, were not so +couched as to make the governor feel that he had lost +the minister's confidence. On the whole, the first year +of office had gone very well. + +A stormier season was now to follow. The battle-royal +between Frontenac and Perrot, the governor of Montreal, +began in the autumn of 1673 and was waged actively +throughout the greater part of 1674. + +Enough has been said of Frontenac's tastes to show that +he was a spendthrift; and there can be no doubt that as +governor of Canada he hoped to supplement his salary by +private trading. Soon after his arrival at Quebec in the +preceding year he had formed an alliance with La Salle. +The decision to erect a fort at Cataraqui was made for +the double reason that while safeguarding the colony +Frontenac and La Salle could both draw profit from the +trade at this point in the interior. + +La Salle was not alone in knowing that those who first +met the Indians in the spring secured the best furs at +the best bargains. This information was shared by many, +including Francois Perrot. Just above the island of +Montreal is another island, which lies between Lake St +Louis and the Lake of Two Mountains. Perrot, appreciating +the advantage of a strategic position, had fixed there +his own trading-post, and to this day the island bears +his name. Now, with Frontenac as a sleeping partner of +La Salle there were all the elements of trouble, for +Perrot and Frontenac were rival traders. Both were wrathful +men and each had a selfish interest to fight for, quite +apart from any dispute as to the jurisdiction of Quebec +over Montreal. + +Under such circumstances the one thing lacking was a +ground of action. This Frontenac found in the existing +edict against the coureurs de bois-those wild spirits +who roamed the woods in the hope of making great profits +through the fur trade, from which by law they were +excluded, and provoked the special disfavour of the +missionary by the scandals of their lives, which gave +the Indians a low idea of French morality. Thus in the +eyes of both Church and State the coureur de bois was a +mauvais sujet, and the offence of taking to the forest +without a licence became punishable by death or the +galleys. + +Though Frontenac was not the author of this severe measure, +duty required him to enforce it. Perrot was a friend and +defender of the coureurs de bois, whom he used as employees +in the collection of peltries. Under his regime Montreal +formed their headquarters. The edict gave them no concern, +since they knew that between them and trouble stood their +patron and confederate. + +Thus Frontenac found an excellent occasion to put Perrot +in the wrong and to hit him through his henchmen. The +only difficulty was that Frontenac did not possess adequate +means to enforce the law. Obviously it was undesirable +that he should invade Perrot's bailiwick in person. He +therefore instructed the judge at Montreal to arrest all +the coureurs de bois who were there. A loyal attempt was +made to execute this command, with the result that Perrot +at once intervened and threatened to imprison the judge +if he repeated his effort. + +Frontenac's counterblast was the dispatch of a lieutenant +and three soldiers to arrest a retainer of Perrot named +Carion, who had shown contempt of court by assisting the +accused woodsmen to escape. Perrot then proclaimed that +this constituted an unlawful attack on his rights as +governor of Montreal, to defend which he promptly imprisoned +Bizard, the lieutenant sent by Frontenac, together with +Jacques Le Ber, the leading merchant of the settlement. +Though Perrot released them shortly afterwards, his tone +toward Frontenac remained impudent and the issue was +squarely joined. + +But a hundred and eighty miles of wilderness separated +the governor of Canada from the governor of Montreal. In +short, before Perrot could be disciplined he must be +seized, and this was a task which if attempted by frontal +attack might provoke bloodshed in the colony, with heavy +censure from the king. Frontenac therefore entered upon +a correspondence, not only with Perrot, but with one of +the leading Sulpicians in Montreal, the Abbe Fenelon. +This procedure yielded quicker results than could have +been expected. Frontenac's letter which summoned Perrot +to Quebec for an explanation was free from threats and +moderate in tone. It found Perrot somewhat alarmed at +what he had done and ready to settle the matter without +further trouble. At the same time Fenelon, acting on +Frontenac's suggestion, urged Perrot to make peace. The +consequence was that in January 1674 Perrot acceded and +set out for Quebec with Fenelon as his companion. + +Whatever Perrot's hopes or expectations of leniency, they +were quickly dispelled. The very first conference between +him and Frontenac became a violent altercation (January +29, 1674). Perrot was forthwith committed to prison, +where he remained ten months. Not content with this +success, Frontenac proceeded vigorously against the +coureurs de bois, one of whom as an example was hanged +in front of Perrot's prison. + +The trouble did not stop here, nor with the imprisonment +of Brucy, who was Perrot's chief agent and the custodian +of the store-house at Ile Perrot. Fenelon, whose temper +was ardent and emotional, felt that he had been made the +innocent victim of a detestable plot to lure Perrot from +Montreal. Having upbraided Frontenac to his face, he +returned to Montreal and preached a sermon against him, +using language which the Sulpicians hastened to repudiate. +But Fenelon, undaunted, continued to espouse Perrot's +cause without concealment and brought down upon himself +a charge of sedition. + +In its final stage this cause celebre runs into still +further intricacies, involving the rights of the clergy +when accused by the civil power. The contest begun by +Perrot and taken up by Fenelon ran an active course +throughout the greater part of a year (1674), and finally +the king himself was called in as judge. This involved +the sending of Perrot and Fenelon to France, along with +a voluminous written statement from Frontenac and a great +number of documents. At court Talon took the side of +Perrot, as did the Abbe d'Urfe, whose cousin, the Marquise +d'Allegre, was about to marry Colbert's son. Nevertheless +the king declined to uphold Frontenac's enemies. Perrot +was given three weeks in the Bastille, not so much for +personal chastisement as to show that the governor's +authority must be respected. On the whole, Frontenac +issued from the affair without suffering loss of prestige +in the eyes of the colony. The king declined to reprimand +him, though in a personal letter from his sovereign +Frontenac was told that henceforth he must avoid invading +a local government without giving the governor preliminary +notice. The hint was also conveyed that he should not +harry the clergy. Frontenac's position, of course, was +that he only interfered with the clergy when they were +encroaching upon the rights of the crown. + +Upon this basis, then, the quarrel with Perrot was settled. +But at that very moment a larger and more serious contest +was about to begin. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +GOVERNOR, BISHOP, AND INTENDANT + +At the beginning of September 1675 Frontenac was confronted +with an event which could have given him little pleasure. +This was the arrival, by the same ship, of the bishop +Laval, who had been absent from Canada four years, and +Jacques Duchesneau, who after a long interval had been +appointed to succeed Talon as intendant. Laval returned +in triumph. He was now bishop of Quebec, directly dependent +upon the Holy See [Footnote: Laval had wished strongly +that the see of Quebec should be directly dependent on +the Papacy, and his insistence on this point delayed the +formal creation of the diocese.] and not upon the king +of France. Duchesneau came to Canada with the reputation +of having proved a capable official at Tours. + +By temper and training Frontenac was ill-disposed to +share authority with any one. In the absence of bishop +and intendant he had filled the centre of the stage. Now +he must become reconciled to the presence at Quebec of +others who held high rank and had claims to be considered +in the conduct of public affairs. Even at the moment of +formal welcome he must have felt that trouble was in +store. For sixteen years Laval had been a great person +in Canada, and Duchesneau had come to occupy the post +which Talon had made almost more important than that of +governor. + +Partly through a clash of dignities and partly through +a clash of ideas, there soon arose at Quebec a conflict +which rendered personal friendship among the leaders +impossible, and caused itself to be felt in every part +of the administration. Since this antagonism lasted for +seven years and had large consequences, it becomes +important to examine its deeper causes as well as the +forms which under varying circumstances it came to assume. + +In the triangular relations of Frontenac, Laval, and +Duchesneau the bishop and the intendant were ranged +against the governor. The simplest form of stating the +case is to say that Frontenac clashed with Laval over +one set of interests and with Duchesneau over another; +over ecclesiastical issues with the bishop and over civil +interests with the intendant. In the Sovereign Council +these three dignitaries sat together, and so close was +the connection of Church with State that not a month +could pass without bringing to light some fresh matter +which concerned them all. Broadly speaking, the differences +between Frontenac and Laval were of more lasting moment +than those between Frontenac and Duchesneau. In the end +governor and intendant quarrelled over everything simply +because they had come to be irreconcilable enemies. At +the outset, however, their theoretical grounds of opposition +were much less grave than the matters in debate between +Frontenac and Laval. To appreciate these duly we must +consider certain things which were none the less important +because they lay in the background. + +When Frontenac came to Canada he found that the +ecclesiastical field was largely occupied by the Jesuits, +the Sulpicians, and the Recollets. Laval had, indeed, +begun his task of organizing a diocese at Quebec and +preparing to educate a local priesthood. Four years after +his arrival in Canada he had founded the Quebec Seminary +(1663) and had added (1668) a preparatory school, called +the Little Seminary. But the three missionary orders were +still the mainstay of the Canadian Church. It is evident +that Colbert not only considered the Jesuits the most +powerful, but also thought them powerful enough to need +a check. Hence, when Frontenac received his commission, +he received also written instructions to balance the +Jesuit power by supporting the Sulpicians and the Recollets. + +Through his dispute with Perrot, Frontenac had strained +the good relations which Colbert wished him to maintain +with the Sulpicians. But the friction thus caused was in +no way due to Frontenac's dislike of the Sulpicians as +an order. Towards the Jesuits, on the other hand, he +cherished a distinct antagonism which led him to carry +out with vigour the command that he should keep their +power within bounds. This can be seen from the earliest +dispatches which he sent to France. Before he had been +in Quebec three months he reported to Colbert that it +was the practice of the Jesuits to stir up strife in +families, to resort to espionage, to abuse the confessional, +to make the Seminary priests their puppets, and to deny +the king's right to license the brandy trade. What seemed +to the Jesuits an unforgivable affront was Frontenac's +charge that they cared more for beaver skins than for +the conversion of the savages. This they interpreted as +an insult to the memory of their martyrs, and their +resentment must have been the greater because the accusation +was not made publicly in Canada, but formed part of a +letter to Colbert in France. The information that such +an attack had been made reached them through Laval, who +was then in France and found means to acquaint himself +with the nature of Frontenac's correspondence. + +Having displeased the Sulpicians and attacked the Jesuits, +Frontenac made amends to the Church by cultivating the +most friendly relations with the Recollets. No one ever +accused him of being a bad Catholic. He was exact in the +performance of his religious duties, and such trouble as +he had with the ecclesiastical authorities proceeded from +political aims rather than from heresy or irreligion. + +Like so much else in the life of Canada, the strife +between Frontenac and Laval may be traced back to France. +During the early years of Louis XIV the French Church +was distracted by the disputes of Gallican and Ultramontane. +The Gallicans were faithful Catholics who nevertheless +held that the king and the national clergy had rights +which the Pope must respect. The Ultramontanes defined +papal power more widely and sought to minimize, disregard, +or deny the privileges of the national Church. + +Between these parties no point of doctrine was involved, +[Footnote: The well-known relation of the Jansenist +movement to Gallican liberties was not such that the +Gallican party accepted Jansenist theology. The Jesuits +upheld papal infallibility and, in general, the Ultramontane +position. The Jansenists were opposed to the Jesuits, +but Gallicanism was one thing and Jansenist theology +another.] but in the sphere of government there exists +a frontier between Church and State along which many wars +of argument can be waged--at times with some display of +force. The Mass, Purgatory, the Saints, Confession, and +the celibacy of the priest, all meant as much to the +Gallican as to the Ultramontane. Nor did the Pope's +headship prove a stumbling-block in so far as it was +limited to things spiritual. The Gallican did, indeed, +assert the subjection of the Pope to a General Council, +quoting in his support the decrees of Constance and Basel. +But in the seventeenth century this was a theoretical +contention. What Louis XIV and Bossuet strove for was +the limitation of papal power in matters affecting property +and political rights. The real questions upon which +Gallican and Ultramontane differed were the appointment +of bishops and abbots, the contribution of the Church to +the needs of the State, and the priest's standing as a +subject of the king. + +Frontenac was no theorist, and probably would have written +a poor treatise on the relations of Church and State. At +the same time, he knew that the king claimed certain +rights over the Church, and he was the king's lieutenant. +Herein lies the deeper cause of his troubles with the +Jesuits and Laval. The Jesuits had been in the colony +for fifty years and felt that they knew the spiritual +requirements of both French and Indians. Their missions +had been illuminated by the supreme heroism of Brebeuf, +Jogues, Lalemant, and many more. Their house at Quebec +stood half-way between Versailles and the wilderness. +They were in close alliance with Laval and supported the +ideal and divine rights of the Church. They had found +strong friends in Champlain and Montmagny. Frontenac, +however, was a layman of another type. However orthodox +his religious ideas may have been, his heart was not +lowly and his temper was not devout. Intensely autocratic +by disposition, he found it easy to identify his own will +to power with a defence of royal prerogative against the +encroachments of the Church. It was an attitude that +could not fail to beget trouble, for the Ultramontanes +had weapons of defence which they well knew how to use. + +Having in view these ulterior motives, the acrimony of +Frontenac's quarrel with Laval is not surprising. Rightly +or wrongly, the governor held that the bishop was +subservient to the Jesuits, while Colbert's plain +instructions required the governor to keep the Jesuits +in check. From such a starting point the further +developments were almost automatic. Laval found on his +return that Frontenac had exacted from the clergy unusual +and excessive honours during church services. This +furnished a subject of heated debate and an appeal by +both parties to the king. After full consideration +Frontenac received orders to rest content with the same +honours which were by custom accorded the governor of +Picardy in the cathedral of Amiens. + +More important by far than this argument over precedence +was the dispute concerning the organization of parishes. +Here the issue hinged on questions of fact rather than +of theory. Beyond question the habitants were entitled +to have priests living permanently in their midst, as +soon as conditions should warrant it. But had the time +come when a parish system could be created? Laval's +opinion may be inferred from the fact that in 1675, +sixteen years after his arrival in Canada, only one priest +lived throughout the year among his own people. This was +the Abbe de Bernieres, cure of Notre Dame at Quebec. In +1678 two more parishes received permanent incumbents--Port +Royal and La Durantaye. Even so, it was a small number +for the whole colony. + +Frontenac maintained that Laval was unwilling to create +a normal system of parishes because thereby his personal +power would be reduced. As long as the cures were not +permanently stationed they remained in complete dependence +on the bishop. All the funds provided for the secular +clergy passed through his hands. If he wished to keep +for the Seminary money which ought to go to the parishes, +the habitants were helpless. It was ridiculous to pamper +the Seminary at the expense of the colonists. It was +worse than ridiculous that the French themselves should +go without religious care because the Jesuits chose to +give prior attention to the souls of the savage. + +Laval's argument in reply was that the time had not yet +come for the creation of parishes on a large scale. +Doubtless it would prove possible in the future to have +churches and a parochial system of the normal type. +Meanwhile, in view of the general poverty it was desirable +that all the resources of the Church should be conserved. +To this end the habitants were being cared for by itinerant +priests at much less expense than would be entailed by +fixing on each parish the support of its cure. + +Here, as in all these contests, a mixture of motives is +evident. There is no reason to doubt Frontenac's sincerity +in stating that the missions and the Seminary absorbed +funds of the Church which would be better employed in +ministration to the settlers. At the same time, it was +for him a not unpleasant exercise to support a policy +which would have the incidental effect of narrowing the +bishop's power. After some three years of controversy +the king, as usual, stepped in to settle the matter. By +an edict of May 1679 he ordained that the priests should +live in their parishes and have the free disposition of +the tithes which had been established under an order of +1667. Thus on the subject of the cures Frontenac's views +were officially accepted; but his victory was rendered +more nominal than real by the unwillingness or inability +of the habitants to supply sufficient funds for the +support of a resident priesthood. + +In Frontenac's dispute with the clergy over the brandy +question no new arguments were brought forward, since +all the main points had been covered already. It was an +old quarrel, and there was nothing further to do than to +set forth again the opposing aspects of a very difficult +subject. Religion clashed with business, but that was +not all. Upon the prosecution of business hung the hope +of building up for France a vast empire. The Jesuits +urged that the Indians were killing themselves with +brandy, which destroyed their souls and reduced them to +the level of beasts. The traders retorted that the savages +would not go without drink. If they were denied it by +the French they would take their furs to Albany, and +there imbibe not only bad rum but soul destroying heresy. +Why be visionary and suffer one's rivals to secure an +advantage which would open up to them the heart of the +continent? + +Laval, on the other hand, had chosen his side in this +controversy long before Frontenac came to Canada, and he +was not one to change his convictions lightly. As he saw +it, the sale of brandy to the Indians was a sin, punishable +by excommunication; and so determined was he that the +penalty should be enforced that he would allow the right +of absolution to no one but himself. In the end the king +decided it otherwise. He declared the regulation of the +brandy trade to fall within the domain of the civil power. +He warned Frontenac to avoid an open denial of the bishop's +authority in this matter, but directed him to prevent +the Church from interfering in a case belonging to the +sphere of public order. This decision was not reached +without deep thought. In favour of prohibition stood +Laval, the Jesuits, the Sorbonne, the Archbishop of Paris, +and the king's confessor, Pere La Chaise. Against it were +Frontenac, the chief laymen of Canada, [Footnote: On +October 26, 1678, a meeting of the leading inhabitants +of Canada was held by royal order at Quebec to consider +the rights and wrongs of the brandy question. A large +majority of those present were opposed to prohibition.] +the University of Toulouse, and Colbert. In extricating +himself from this labyrinth of conflicting opinion Louis +XIV was guided by reasons of general policy. He had never +seen the Mohawks raving drunk, and, like Frontenac, he +felt that without brandy the work of France in the +wilderness could not go on. + +Such were the issues over which Frontenac and Laval faced +each other in mutual antagonism. + +Between Frontenac and his other opponent, the intendant +Duchesneau, the strife revolved about a different set of +questions without losing any of its bitterness. Frontenac +and Laval disputed over ecclesiastical affairs. Frontenac +and Duchesneau disputed over civil affairs. But as Laval +and Duchesneau were both at war with Frontenac they +naturally drew together. The alliance was rendered more +easy by Duchesneau's devoutness. Even had he wished to +hold aloof from the quarrel of governor and bishop, it +would have been difficult to do so. But as an active +friend of Laval and the Jesuits he had no desire to be +a neutral spectator of the feud which ran parallel with +his own. The two feuds soon became intermingled, and +Frontenac, instead of confronting separate adversaries, +found himself engaged with allied forces which were ready +to attack or defend at every point. It could not have +been otherwise. Quebec was a small place, and the three +belligerents were brought into the closest official +contact by their duties as members of the Sovereign +Council. + +It is worthy of remark that each of the contestants, +Frontenac, Laval, and Duchesneau, has his partisans among +the historians of the present day. All modern writers +agree that Canada suffered grievously from these disputes, +but a difference of opinion at once arises when an attempt +is made to distribute the blame. The fact is that characters +separately strong and useful often make an unfortunate +combination. Compared with Laval and Frontenac, Duchesneau +was not a strong character, but he possessed qualifications +which might have enabled him in less stormy times to fill +the office of intendant with tolerable credit. It was +his misfortune that circumstances forced him into the +thankless position of being a henchman to the bishop and +a drag upon the governor. + +Everything which Duchesneau did gave Frontenac annoyance-- +the more so as the intendant came armed with very +considerable powers. During the first three years of +Frontenac's administration the governor, in the absence +of an intendant, had lorded it over the colony with a +larger freedom from restraint than was normal under the +French colonial system. Apparently Colbert was not +satisfied with the result. It may be that he feared the +vigour which Frontenac displayed in taking the initiative; +or the quarrel with Perrot may have created a bad impression +at Versailles; or it may have been considered that the +less Frontenac had to do with the routine of business, +the more the colony would thrive. Possibly Colbert only +sought to define anew the relations which ought to exist +between governor and intendant. Whatever the motive, +Duchesneau's instructions gave him a degree of authority +which proved galling to the governor. + +Within three weeks from the date of Duchesneau's arrival +the fight had begun (September 23, 1675). In its earliest +phase it concerned the right to preside at meetings of +the Sovereign Council. For three years Frontenac, 'high +and puissant seigneur,' had conducted proceedings as a +matter of course. Duchesneau now asked him to retire from +this position, producing as warrant his commission which +stated that he should preside over the Council, 'in the +absence of the said Sieur de Frontenac.' Why this last +clause should have been inserted one finds it hard to +understand, for Colbert's subsequent letters place his +intention beyond doubt. He meant that Duchesneau should +preside, though without detracting from Frontenac's +superior dignity. The order of precedence at the Council +is fixed with perfect clearness. First comes the governor, +then the bishop, and then the intendant. Yet the intendant +is given the chair. Colbert may have thought that Duchesneau +as a man of business possessed a better training for this +special work. Clearly the step was not taken with a view +to placing an affront upon Frontenac. When he complained, +Colbert replied that there was no other man in France +who, being already a governor and lieutenant-general, +would consider it an increase of honour to preside over +the Council. In Colbert's eyes this was a clerk's work, +not a soldier's. + +Frontenac saw the matter differently and was unwilling +to be deposed. Royal letters, which he produced, had +styled him 'President of the Council,' and on the face +of it Duchesneau's commission only indicated that he +should preside in Frontenac's absence. With these arguments +the governor stood his ground. Then followed the +representations of both parties to the king, each taxing +the other with misdemeanours both political and personal. +During the long period which must elapse before a reply +could be received, the Sovereign Council was turned into +an academy of invective. Besides governor, bishop, and +intendant, there were seven members who were called upon +to take sides in the contest. No one could remain neutral +even if he had the desire. In voting power Laval and +Duchesneau had rather the best of it, but Frontenac when +pressed could fall back on physical force; as he once +did by banishing three of the councillors--Villeray, +Tilly, and Auteuil--from Quebec (July 4, 1679). + +Incredible as it may seem, this issue regarding the right +to preside was not settled until the work of the Council +had been disturbed by it for five years. What is still +more incredible, it was settled by compromise. The king's +final ruling was that the minutes of each meeting should +register the presence of governor and intendant without +saying which had presided. Throughout the controversy +Colbert remonstrated with both Frontenac and Duchesneau +for their turbulence and unwillingness to work together. +Duchesneau is told that he must not presume to think +himself the equal of the governor. Frontenac is told that +the intendant has very important functions and must not +be prevented from discharging them. The whole episode +shows how completely the French colonial system broke +down in its attempt to act through two officials, each +of whom was designed to be a check upon the other. + +Wholly alienated by this dispute, Frontenac and Duchesneau +soon found that they could quarrel over anything and +everything. Thus Duchesneau became a consistent supporter +of Laval and the Jesuits, while Frontenac retaliated by +calling him their tool. The brandy question, which was +partly ecclesiastical and partly civil, proved an excellent +battle-ground for the three great men of Canada; and, as +finance was concerned, the intendant had something to +say about the establishment of parishes. But of the +manifold contests between Frontenac and Duchesneau the +most distinctive is that relating to the fur trade. At +first sight this matter would appear to lie in the province +of the intendant, whose functions embraced the supervision +of commerce. But it was the governor's duty to defend +the colony from attack, and the fur trade was a large +factor in all relations with the Indians. A personal +element was also added, for in almost every letter to +the minister Frontenac and Duchesneau accused each other +of taking an illicit profit from beaver skins. + +In support of these accusations the most minute details +are given. Duchesneau even charged Frontenac with spreading +a report among the Indians of the Great Lakes that a +pestilence had broken out in Montreal. Thereby the +governor's agents were enabled to buy up beaver skins +cheaply, afterwards selling them on his account to the +English. Frontenac rejoined by accusing the intendant of +having his own warehouses at Montreal and along the lower +St Lawrence, of being truculent, a slave to the bishop, +and incompetent. Behind Duchesneau, Frontenac keeps +saying, are the Jesuits and the bishop, from whom the +spirit of faction really springs. Among many of these +tirades the most elaborate is the long memorial sent to +Colbert in 1677 on the general state of Canada. Here are +some of the items. The Jesuits keep spies in Frontenac's +own house. The bishop declares that he has the power to +excommunicate the governor if necessary. The Jesuit +missionaries tell the Iroquois that they are equal to +Onontio. Other charges are that the Jesuits meddle in +all civil affairs, that their revenues are enormous in +proportion to the poverty of the country, and that they +are bound to domineer at whatever cost. + +When we consider how Canada from end to end was affected +by these disputes, we may well feel surprise that Colbert +and the king should have suffered them to rage so long. +By 1682 the state of things had become unbearable. +Partisans of Frontenac and Duchesneau attacked each other +in the streets. Duchesneau accused Frontenac of having +struck the young Duchesneau, aged sixteen, and torn the +sleeve of his jacket. He also declared that it was +necessary to barricade his house. Frontenac retorted by +saying that these were gross libels. A year earlier +Colbert had placed his son, Seignelay, in charge of the +Colonial Office. With matters at such a pass Seignelay +rightly thought the time had come to take decisive action. +Three courses were open to him. The bishop and the Jesuits +he could not recall. But both the governor and the +intendant came within his power. One alternative was to +dismiss Frontenac; another, to dismiss Duchesneau. +Seignelay chose the third course and dismissed them both. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +FRONTENAC'S PUBLIC POLICY + +As was said long ago, every one has the defects ef his +qualities. Yet, in justice to a man of strong character +and patriotic aim, the chronicler should take care that +constructive work is given its due place, for only those +who do nothing make no mistakes. + +During his first term of office Frontenac had many enemies +in the higher circles of society. His quarrel with Laval +was a cause of scandal to the devout. His deadlock with +Duchesneau dislocated the routine of government. There +was no one who did not feel the force of his will. Yet +to friends and foes alike his recall at sixty-two must +have seemed the definite, humiliating close of a career. +It was not the moment to view in due perspective what he +had accomplished. His shortcomings were on the lips of +every one. His strength had been revealed, but was for +the time forgotten. When he left Quebec in 1682 he must +have thought that he would never see it again. Yet when +need came he was remembered. This fact is a useful comment +on his first term, extenuating much that had seemed ground +for censure in less troubled days. + +Let us now regard Frontenac's policy from his own point +of view, and attempt to estimate what he had accomplished +down to the date of his recall. + +However closely Laval and Duchesneau might seek to narrow +Frontenac's sphere of action, there was one power they +could not deny him. As commander of the king's troops in +Canada he controlled all matters relating to colonial +defence. If his domestic administration was full of +trouble, it must also be remembered that during his first +term of office there was no war. This happy result was +due less to accident than to his own gifts and character. +It is true that the friendship of Louis XIV and Charles +II assured peace between New France and New England. But +Canada could thank Frontenac for keeping the Iroquois at +arm's length. + +We have seen how he built the stronghold at Cataraqui, +which was named Fort Frontenac. The vigour and the tact +that he displayed on this occasion give the keynote to +all his relations with the Indians. Towards them he +displayed the three qualities which a governor of Canada +most needed--firmness, sympathy, and fair dealing. His +arrogance, so conspicuous in his intercourse with equals +or with refractory subordinates, disappears wholly when +he comes into contact with the savages. Theatrical he +may be, but in the forest he is never intolerant or +narrow-minded. And behind his pageants there is always +power. + +Thus Frontenac should receive personal credit for the +great success of his Indian policy. He kept the peace by +moral ascendancy, and to see that this was no light task +one need only compare the events of his regime with those +which marked the period of his successors, La Barre and +Denonville. This we shall do in the next chapter. For +the present it is enough to say that throughout the full +ten years 1672-82 Canada was free from fear of the +Iroquois. Just at the close of Frontenac's first term +(1680-82) the Senecas were showing signs of restlessness +by attacking tribes allied to the French, but there is +abundant reason to suppose that had Frontenac remained +in office he could have kept these inter-tribal wars +under control. + +Bound up with the success of Frontenac's Indian policy +is the exploration of the West--an achievement which adds +to this period its chief lustre. Here La Salle is the +outstanding figure and the laurels are chiefly his. None +the less, Frontenac deserves the credit of having encouraged +all endeavours to solve the problem of the Mississippi. +Like La Salle he had large ideas and was not afraid. They +co-operated in perfect harmony, sharing profits, perhaps, +but sincerely bent on gaining for France a new, vast +realm. The whole history of colonial enterprise shows +how fortunate the French have been in the co-operation +of their explorers with their provincial governors. The +relations of La Salle with La Barre form a striking +exception, but the statement holds true in the main, and +with reference to Algiers as well as to Canada. + +La Salle was a frank partisan of Frontenac throughout +the quarrel with Perrot and Fenelon. On one occasion he +made a scene in church at Montreal. It was during the +Easter service of 1674. When Fenelon decried magistrates +who show no respect to the clergy and who use their +deputed power for their own advantage, La Salle stood up +and called the attention of the leading citizens to these +words. Frontenac, who was always a loyal ally, showed +that he appreciated La Salle's efforts on his behalf by +giving him a letter of recommendation to the court in +which La Salle is styled 'a man of intelligence and +ability, more capable than any one else I know here to +accomplish every kind of enterprise and discovery which +may be entrusted to him.' + +The result of La Salle's visit to Versailles (1674) was +that he gained privileges which made him one of the most +important men in Canada, and a degree of power which +brought down on him many enemies. He received the seigneury +of Fort Frontenac, he was made local governor at that +post, and, in recognition of services already performed, +he gained a grant of nobility. It is clear that La Salle's +forceful personality made a strong impression at court, +and the favours which he received enabled him, in turn, +to secure financial aid from his wealthy relatives at +Rouen. + +What followed was the most brilliant, the most exciting, +and the most tragic chapter in the French exploration of +America. La Salle fulfilled all the conditions upon which +he had received the seigneury at Fort Frontenac, and +found financial profit in maintaining the post. The +original wooden structure was replaced by stone, good +barracks were built for the troops, there were bastions +upon which nine cannon announced a warning to the Iroquois, +a settlement with well-tilled land sprang up around the +fort, schooners were built with a draught of forty tons. +But for La Salle this was not enough. He was a pathfinder, +not a trader. Returning to France after two years of +labour and success at Fort Frontenac, he secured a royal +patent authorizing him to explore the whole continent +from the Great Lakes to Mexico, with the right to build +forts therein and to enjoy a monopoly of the trade in +buffalo skins. The expenses of the undertaking were, of +course, to be borne by La Salle and his associates, for +the king never invested money in these enterprises. +However, the persuasiveness which enabled La Salle to +secure his patent enabled him to borrow the necessary +funds. At the close of 1678 he was once more at Fort +Frontenac and ready for the great adventure. + +How La Salle explored the country of the Illinois in +company with his valiant friend, Henri de Tonty 'of the +iron hand,' and how these two heroic leaders traversed +the continent to the very mouth of the Mississippi, is +not to be told here. But with its risks, its hardships, +its tragedies, and its triumphs, this episode, which +belongs to the period of Frontenac's administration, will +always remain a classic in the records of discovery. The +Jesuits, who did not love La Salle, were no less brave +than he, and the lustre of his achievements must not be +made to dim theirs. Yet they had all the force of a mighty +organization at their back, while La Salle, standing +alone, braved ruin, obloquy, and death in order to win +an empire for France. Sometimes he may have thought of +fame, but he possessed that driving power which goes +straight for the object, even if it means sacrifice of +self. His haughtiness, his daring, his self-centred +determination, well fitted him to be the friend and +trusted agent of Frontenac. + +Another leading figure of the period in western discovery +was Daniel Greysolon du Lhut. Duchesneau calls him the +leader of the coureurs de bois. There can be no doubt +that he had reached this eminence among the French of +the forest. He was a gentleman by birth and a soldier by +early training. In many ways he resembled La Salle, for +both stood high above the common coureurs de bois in +station, as in talent. Du Lhut has to his credit no single +exploit which equals La Salle's descent of the Mississippi, +but in native sagacity he was the superior. With a +temperament less intense and experiences less tragic, he +will never hold the place which La Salle securely occupies +in the annals of adventure. But few Frenchmen equalled +him in knowledge of the wilderness, and none displayed +greater force of character in dealing with the Indians. + +What the mouth of the Mississippi was to La Salle the +country of the Sioux became to Du Lhut--a goal to be +reached at all hazards. Not only did he reach it, but +the story of how he rescued Father Hennepin from the +Sioux (1680) is among the liveliest tales to be found in +the literature of the wilderness. The only regrettable +circumstance is that the story should have been told by +Hennepin instead of by Du Lhut--or rather, that we should +not have also Du Lhut's detailed version instead of the +brief account which he has left. Above all, Du Lhut made +himself the guardian of French interests at Michilimackinac, +the chief French post of the Far West--the rendezvous of +more tribes than came together at any other point. The +finest tale of his courage and good judgment belongs to +the period of La Barre's government--when, in 1684, at +the head of forty-two French, he executed sentence of +death on an Indian convicted of murder. Four hundred +savages, who had assembled in mutinous mood, witnessed +this act of summary justice. But they respected Du Lhut +for the manner in which he had conducted the trial, and +admired the firmness with which he executed a fair +sentence. + +Du Lhut's exploits and character make him the outstanding +figure of the war which Duchesneau waged against the +coureurs de bois. The intendant certainly had the letter +of the law on his side in seeking to clear the woods of +those rovers who at the risk of their own lives and +without expense to the government were gaining for France +an unequalled knowledge of the interior. Not only had +the king decreed that no one should be permitted to enter +the forest without express permission, but an edict of +1676 denied even the governor the right to issue a trading +pass at his unrestrained discretion. Frontenac, who +believed that the colony would draw great profit from +exploration, softened the effect of this measure by +issuing licences to hunt. It was also within his power +to dispatch messengers to the tribes of the Great Lakes. +Duchesneau reported that Frontenac evaded the edict in +order to favour his own partners or agents among the +coureurs de bois, and that when he went to Montreal on +the pretext of negotiating with the Iroquois, his real +purpose was to take up merchandise and bring back furs. +These charges Frontenac denied with his usual vigour, +but without silencing Duchesneau. In 1679 the altercation +on this point was brought to an issue by the arrest, at +the intendant's instance, of La Toupine, a retainer of +Du Lhut. An accusation of disobeying the edict was no +trifle, for the penalty might mean a sentence to the +galleys. After a bitter contest over La Toupine the matter +was settled on a basis not unfavourable to Frontenac. In +1681 a fresh edict declared that all coureurs de bois +who came back to the colony should receive the benefit +of an amnesty. At the same time the governor was empowered +to grant twenty-five trading licences in each year, the +period to be limited to one year. + +The splendid services of Du Lhut, covering a period of +thirty years, are the best vindication of Frontenac's +policy towards him and his associates. Had Duchesneau +succeeded in his efforts, Du Lhut would have been severely +punished, and probably excluded from the West for the +remainder of his life. Thanks to Frontenac's support, he +became the mainstay of French interests from Lake Ontario +to the Mississippi. Setting out as an adventurer with a +strong taste f or exploration, he ended as commandant of +the most important posts--Lachine, Cataraqui, and +Michilimackinac. He served the colony nobly in the war +against the Iroquois. He has left reports of his discoveries +which disclose marked literary talent. From the early +years of Frontenac's regime he made himself useful, not +only to Frontenac but to each succeeding governor, until, +crippled by gout and age, he died, still in harness. The +letter in which the governor Vaudreuil announces Du Lhut's +death (1710) to the Colonial Office at Paris is a useful +comment upon the accusations of Duchesneau. 'He was,' +says Vaudreuil, 'a very honest man.' In these words will +be found an indirect commendation of Frontenac, who +discovered Du Lhut, supported him through bitter opposition, +and placed him where his talents and energy could be used +for the good of his country. + +It will be remembered that Frontenac received orders from +Colbert (April 7, 1672) to prevent the Jesuits from +becoming too powerful. In carrying out these instructions +he soon found himself embroiled at Quebec, and the same +discord made itself felt throughout the wilderness. + +Frontenac favoured the establishment of trading-posts +and government forts along the great waterways, from +Cataraqui to Crevecoeur. [Footnote: Fort Crevecoeur was +La Salle's post in the heart of the Illinois country.] +He sincerely believed that these were the best guarantees +of the king's power on the Great Lakes and in the valley +of the Mississippi. The Jesuits saw in each post a centre +of debauchery and feared that their religious work would +be undone by the scandalous example of the coureurs de +bois. What for Frontenac was a question of political +expediency loomed large to the Jesuits as a vital issue +of morals. It was a delicate question at best, though +probably a peaceable solution could have been arranged, +but for the mutual agreement of Frontenac and the Jesuits +that they must be antagonists. War having once been +declared, Frontenac proved a poor controversialist. He +could have defended his forest policy without alleging +that the Jesuits maintained their missions as a source +of profit, which was a slander upon heroes and upon +martyrs. Moreover, he exposed himself to a flank attack, +for it could be pointed out with much force that he had +private motives in advocating the erection of forts. +Frontenac was intelligent and would have recommended the +establishment of posts whether he expected profit from +them or not, but he weakened his case by attacking the +Jesuits on wrong grounds. + +During Frontenac's first term the settled part of Canada +was limited to the shores of the St Lawrence from Lachine +downward, with a cluster of seigneuries along the lower +Richelieu. In this region the governor was hampered by +the rights of the intendant and the influence of the +bishop. Westward of Lachine stretched the wilderness, +against whose dusky denizens the governor must guard the +colony. The problems of the forest embraced both trade +and war; and where trade was concerned the intendant held +sway. But the safety of the flock came first, and as +Frontenac had the power of the sword he could execute +his plans most freely in the region which lay beyond the +fringe of settlement. It was here that he achieved his +greatest success and by his acts won a strong place in +the confidence of the settlers. This was much, and to +this extent his first term of office was not a failure. + +As Canada was then so sparsely settled, the growth of +population filled a large place in the shaping of public +policy. With this matter, however, Duchesneau had more +to do than Frontenac, for it was the intendant's duty to +create prosperity. During the decade 1673-83 the population +of Canada increased from 6705 to 10,251. In percentage +the advance shows to better advantage than in totals, +but the king had hardened his heart to the demand for +colonists. Thenceforth the population of Canada was to +be recruited almost altogether from births. + +On the whole, the growth of the population during this +period compares favourably with the growth of trade. In +1664 a general monopoly of Canadian trade had been conceded +to the West India Company, on terms which gave every +promise of success. But the trading companies of France +proved a series of melancholy failures, and at this point +Colbert fared no better than Richelieu. When Frontenac +reached Canada the West India Company was hopelessly +bankrupt, and in 1674 the king acquired its rights. This +change produced little or no improvement. Like France, +Canada suffered greatly through the war with Holland, +and not till after the Peace of Nimwegen (1678) did the +commercial horizon begin to clear. Even then it was +impossible to note any real progress in Canadian trade, +except in a slight enlargement of relations with the West +Indies. During his last year at Quebec Duchesneau gives +a very gloomy report on commercial conditions. + +For this want of prosperity Frontenac was in no way +responsible, unless his troubles with Laval and Duchesneau +may be thought to have damped the colonizing ardour of +Louis XIV. It is much more probable that the king withheld +his bounty from Canada because his attention was +concentrated on the costly war against Holland. Campaigns +at home meant economy in Canada, and the colony was far +from having reached the stage where it could flourish +without constant financial support from the motherland. + +In general, Frontenac's policy was as vigorous as he +could make it. Over commerce, taxes, and religion he had +no control. By training and temper he was a war governor, +who during his first administration fell upon a time of +peace. So long as peace prevailed he lacked the powers +and the opportunity to enable him to reveal his true +strength; and his energy, without sufficient vent, broke +forth in quarrels at the council board. + +With wider authority, Frontenac might have proved a +successful governor even in time of peace, for he was +very intelligent and had at heart the welfare of the +colony. As it was, his restrictions chafed and goaded +him until wrathfulness took the place of reason. But we +shall err if we conclude that when he left Canada in +discomfiture he had not earned her thanks. Through pride +and faults of temper he had impaired his usefulness and +marred his record. Even so there was that which rescued +his work from the stigma of failure. He had guarded his +people from the tomahawk and the scalping-knife. With +prescient eye he had foreseen the imperial greatness of +the West. Whatever his shortcomings, they had not been +those of meanness or timidity. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE LURID INTERVAL + +We have seen that during Frontenac's first term of office +no urgent danger menaced the colony on the frontier. The +missionary and the explorer were steadily pressing forward +to the head of the Great Lakes and into the valley of +the Mississippi, enlarging the sphere of French influence +and rendering the interior tributary to the commerce of +Quebec. But this peaceful and silent expansion had not +passed unnoticed by those in whose minds it aroused both +rivalry and dread. Untroubled from without as New France +had been under Frontenac, there were always two lurking +perils--the Iroquois and the English. + +The Five Nations owed their leadership among the Indian +tribes not only to superior discipline and method but +also to their geographical situation. The valley of the +St Lawrence lay within easy reach, either through Lake +Champlain or Lake Ontario. On the east at their very door +lay the valley of the Mohawk and the Hudson. From the +western fringe of their territory they could advance +quickly to Lake Erie, or descend the Ohio into the valley +of the Mississippi. It was doubtless due to their prowess +rather than to accident that they originally came into +possession of this central and favoured position; however, +they could now make their force felt throughout the whole +north-eastern portion of the continent. + +Over seventy years had now passed since Champlain's attack +upon the Iroquois in 1609; but lapse of time had not +altered the nature of the savage, nor were the causes of +mutual hostility less real than at first. A ferocious +lust for war remained the deepest passion of the Iroquois, +to be satisfied at convenient intervals. It was unfortunate, +in their view, that they could not always be at war; but +they recognized that there must be breathing times and +that it was important to choose the right moment for +massacre and pillage. Daring but sagacious, they followed +an opportunist policy. At times their warriors delighted +to lurk in the outskirts of Montreal with tomahawk and +scalping-knife and to organize great war-parties, such +as that which was arrested by Dollard and his heroic +companions at the Long Sault in 1660. At other times they +held fair speech with the governor and permitted the +Jesuits to live in their villages, for the French had +weapons and means of fighting which inspired respect. + +The appearance of the Dutch on the Hudson in 1614 was an +event of great importance to the Five Nations. The Dutch +were quite as ready as the French to trade in furs, and +it was thus that the Iroquois first procured the firearms +which they used in their raids on the French settlements. +That the Iroquois rejoiced at having a European colony +on the Hudson may be doubted, but as they were unable to +prevent it, they drew what profit they could by putting +the French and Dutch in competition, both for their +alliance and their neutrality. + +But, though the Dutch were heretics and rivals, it was +a bad day for New France when the English seized New +Amsterdam (1669) and began to establish themselves from +Manhattan to Albany. The inevitable conflict was first +foreshadowed in the activities of Sir Edmund Andros, +which followed his appointment as governor of New York +in 1674. He visited the Mohawks in their own villages, +organized a board of Indian commissioners at Albany, and +sought to cement an alliance with the whole confederacy +of the Five Nations. In opposition to this France made +the formal claim (1677) that by actual residence in the +Iroquois country the Jesuits had brought the Iroquois +under French sovereignty. + +Iroquois, French, and English thus formed the points of +a political triangle. Home politics, however--the friendship +of Stuart and Bourbon--tended to postpone the day of +reckoning between the English and French in America. +England and France were not only at peace but in alliance. +The Treaty of Dover had been signed in 1670, and two +years later, just as Frontenac had set out for Quebec, +Charles II had sent a force of six thousand English to +aid Louis XIV against the Dutch. It was in this war that +John Churchill, afterwards Duke of Marlborough, won his +spurs--fighting on the French side! + +None the less, there were premonitions of trouble in +America, especially after Thomas Dongan became governor +of New York in 1683. Andros had shown good judgment in +his dealings with the Iroquois, and his successor, +inheriting a sound policy, went even further on the same +course. Dongan, an Irishman of high birth and a Catholic, +strenuously opposed the pretensions of the French to +sovereignty over the Iroquois. When it was urged that +religion required the presence of the Jesuits among them, +he denied the allegation, stating that he would provide +English priests to take their place. A New England +Calvinist could not have shown more firmness in upholding +the English position. Indeed, no governor of Puritan New +England had ever equalled Dongan in hostility to Catholic +New France. + +Frontenac's successor, Lefebvre de la Barre, who had +served with distinction in the West Indies, arrived at +Quebec in September 1682. By the same ship came the new +intendant, Meulles. They found the Lower Town of Quebec +in ruins, for a devastating fire had just swept through +it. Hardly anything remained standing save the buildings +on the cliff. + +La Barre and Meulles were soon at loggerheads. It appears +that, instead of striving to repair the effects of the +fire, the new governor busied himself to accumulate +fortune. He had indeed promised the king that, unlike +his predecessors, he would seek no profit from private +trading, and had on this ground requested an increase of +salary. Meulles presently reported that, far from keeping +this promise, La Barre and his agents had shared ten or +twelve thousand crowns of profit, and that unless checked +the governor's revenues would soon exceed those of the +king. Meulles also accuses La Barre of sending home +deceitful reports regarding the success of his Indian +policy. We need not dwell longer on these reports. They +disclose with great clearness the opinion of the intendant +as to the governor's fitness for his office. + +La Barre stands condemned not by the innuendoes of Meulles, +but by his own failure to cope with the Iroquois. + +The presence of the Dutch and English had stimulated the +Five Nations to enlarge their operations in the fur trade +and multiply their profits. The French, from being earliest +in the field, had established friendly relations with +all the tribes to the north of the Great Lakes, including +those who dwelt in the valley of the Ottawa; and La Salle +and Tonty had recently penetrated to the Mississippi and +extended French trade to the country of the Illinois +Indians. The furs from this region were being carried up +the Mississippi and forwarded to Quebec by the Lakes and +the St Lawrence. This brought the Illinois within the +circle of tribes commercially dependent on Quebec. At +the same time the Iroquois, through the English on the +Hudson, now possessed facilities greater than ever for +disposing of all the furs they could acquire; and they +wanted this trade for themselves. + +The wholesome respect which the Iroquois entertained for +Frontenac kept them from attacking the tribes under the +protection of the French on the Great Lakes; but the +remote Illinois were thought to be a safe prey. During +the autumn of 1680 a war-party of more than six hundred +Iroquois invaded the country of the Illinois. La Salle +was then in Montreal, but Tonty met the invaders and did +all he could to save the Illinois from their clutches. +His efforts were in vain. The Illinois suffered all that +had befallen the Hurons in 1649. [Footnote: See The +Jesuit Missions in this Series, chap. vi.] The Iroquois, +however, were careful not to harm the French, and to +demand from Tonty a letter to show Frontenac as proof +that he and his companions had been respected. + +Obviously this raid was a symptom of danger, and in 1681 +Frontenac asked the king to send him five or six hundred +troops. A further disturbing incident occurred at the +Jesuit mission of Sault Ste Marie, where an Illinois +Indian murdered a Seneca chieftain. That Frontenac intended +to act with firmness towards the Iroquois, while giving +them satisfaction for the murder of their chief, is clear +from his acts in 1681 no less than from his general +record. But his forces were small and he had received +particular instructions to reduce expenditure. And, with +Duchesneau at hand to place a sinister interpretation +upon his every act, the conditions were not favourable +for immediate action. Then in 1682 he was recalled. + +Such, in general, were the conditions which confronted +La Barre, and in fairness it must be admitted that they +were the most serious thus far in the history of Canada. +From the first the Iroquois had been a pest and a menace, +but now, with the English to flatter and encourage them, +they became a grave peril. The total population of the +colony was now about ten thousand, of whom many were +women and children. The regular troops were very few; +and, though the disbanded Carignan soldiers furnished +the groundwork of a valiant militia, the habitants and +their seigneurs alone could not be expected to defend +such a territory against such a foe. + +Above all else the situation demanded strong leadership; +and this was precisely what La Barre failed to supply. +He was preoccupied with the profits of the fur trade, +ignorant of Indian character, and past his physical prime; +and his policy towards the Iroquois was a continuous +series of blunders. Through the great personal influence +of Charles Le Moyne the Five Nations were induced, in +1683, to send representatives to Montreal, where La Barre +met them and gave them lavish presents. The Iroquois, +always good judges of character, did not take long to +discover in the new governor a very different Onontio +from the imposing personage who had held conference with +them at Fort Frontenac ten years earlier. + +The feebleness of La Barre's effort to maintain French +sovereignty over the Iroquois is reflected in his request +that they should ask his permission before attacking +tribes friendly to the French. When he asked them why +they had attacked the Illinois, they gave this ominous +answer: 'Because they deserved to die.' La Barre could +effect nothing by a display of authority, and even with +the help of gifts he could only postpone war against the +tribes of the Great Lakes. The Iroquois intimated that +for the present they would be content to finish the +destruction of the Illinois--a work which would involve +the destruction of the French posts in the valley of the +Mississippi. La Barre's chief purpose was to protect his +own interests as a trader, and, so far from wishing to +strengthen La Salle's position on the Mississippi, he +looked upon that illustrious explorer as a competitor +whom it was legitimate to destroy by craft. By an act of +poetic justice the Iroquois a few months later plundered +a convoy of canoes which La Barre himself had sent out +to the Mississippi for trading purposes. + +The season of 1684 proved even less prosperous for the +French. Not only Dongan was doing his best to make the +Iroquois allies of the English; Lord Howard of Effingham, +the governor of Virginia, was busy to the same end. For +some time past certain tribes of the Five Nations, though +not the confederacy as a whole, had been making forays +upon the English settlers in Maryland and even in Virginia. +To adjust this matter Lord Howard came to Albany in +person, held a council which was attended by representatives +of all the tribes, and succeeded in effecting a peace. +Amid the customary ceremonies the Five Nations buried +the hatchet with the English, and stood ready to concentrate +their war-parties upon the French. + +It must not be inferred that by an act of reconciliation +these subtle savages threw themselves into the arms of +the English, exchanging a new suzerainty for an old. They +always did the best they could for their own hand, seeking +to play one white man against the other for their own +advantage. It was a situation where, on the part of French +and English, individual skill and knowledge of Indian +character counted for much. On the one hand, Dongan showed +great intelligence and activity in making the most of +the fact that Albany was nearer to the land of the Five +Nations than Quebec, or even Montreal. On the other, the +French had envoys who stood high in the esteem of the +Iroquois--notably Charles Le Moyne, of Longueuil, and +Lamberville, the Jesuit missionary. + +But for the moment the French were heavily burdened by +the venality of La Barre, who subordinated public policy +to his own gains. We have now to record his most egregious +blunder--an attempt to overawe the Iroquois with an +insufficient force--an attempt which Meulles declared +was a mere piece of acting--not designed for real war on +behalf of the colony, but to assist the governor's private +interests as a trader. From whatever side the incident +is viewed it illustrates a complete incapacity. + +On July 10, 1684, La Barre left Quebec with a body of +two hundred troops. In ascending the river they were +reinforced by recruits from the Canadian militia and +several hundred Indian allies. After much hardship in +the rapids the little army reached Fort Frontenac. Here +the sanitary conditions proved bad and many died from +malarial fever. All thought of attack soon vanished, and +La Barre altered his plans and decided to invite the +Iroquois to a council. The degree of his weakness may be +seen from the fact that he began with a concession +regarding the place of meeting. An embassy from the +Onondagas finally condescended to meet him, but not at +Fort Frontenac. La Barre, with a force such as he could +muster, crossed to the south side of Lake Ontario and +met the delegates from the Iroquois at La Famine, at the +mouth of the Salmon River, not far from the point where +Champlain and the Hurons had left their canoes when they +had invaded the Onondaga country in 1615. + +The council which ensued was a ghastly joke. La Barre +began his speech by enumerating the wrongs which the +French and their dependent tribes had recently suffered +from the Iroquois. Among these he included the raid upon +the Illinois, the machinations with the English, and the +spoliation of French traders. For offences so heinous +satisfaction must be given. Otherwise Onontio would +declare a war in which the English would join him. These +were brave words, but unfortunately the Iroquois had +excellent reason to believe that the statement regarding +the English was untrue, and could see for themselves the +weakness of La Barre's forces. + +This conference has been picturesquely described by Baron +La Hontan, who was present and records the speeches. The +chief orator of the Onondagas was a remarkable person, +who either for his eloquence or aspect is called by La +Hontan, Grangula, or Big Mouth. Having listened to La +Barre's bellicose words and their interpretation, 'he +rose, took five or six turns in the ring that the French +and the savages formed, and returned to his place. Then +standing upright he spoke after the following manner to +the General La Barre, who sat in his chair of state: + +'Onontio, I honour you, and all the warriors that accompany +me do the same. Your interpreter has made an end of his +discourse, and now I come to begin mine. My voice glides +to your ear. Pray listen to my words. + +'Onontio, in setting out from Quebec, you must have fancied +that the scorching beams of the sun had burnt down the +forests which render our country inaccessible to the +French; or else that the inundations of the lake had +surrounded our cottages and confined us as prisoners. +This certainly was your thought; and it could be nothing +else but the curiosity of seeing a burnt or drowned +country that moved you to undertake a journey hither. +But now you have an opportunity of being undeceived, for +I and my warriors come to assure you that the Senecas, +Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks are not yet +destroyed. I return you thanks in their name for bringing +into their country the calumet of peace, which your +predecessor received from their hands. At the same time +I congratulate you on having left under ground the tomahawk +which has so often been dyed with the blood of the French. +I must tell you, Onontio, that I am not asleep. My eyes +are open, and the sun which vouchsafes the light gives +me a clear view of a great captain at the head of a troop +of soldiers, who speaks as if he were asleep. He pretends +that he does not approach this lake with any other view +than to smoke the calumet with the Onondagas. But Grangula +knows better. He sees plainly that Onontio meant to knock +them on the head if the French arms had not been so much +weakened... + +'You must know, Onontio, that we have robbed no Frenchman, +save those who supplied the Illinois and the Miamis (our +enemies) with muskets, powder, and ball... We have +conducted the English to our lakes in order to trade with +the Ottawas and the Hurons; just as the Algonquins. +conducted the French to our five cantons, in order to +carry on a commerce that the English lay claim to as +their right. We are born freemen and have no dependence +either upon the Onontio or the Corlaer [the English +governor]. We have power to go where we please, to conduct +whom we will to the places we resort to, and to buy and +sell where we think fit... We fell upon the Illinois and +the Miamis because they cut down the trees of peace that +served for boundaries and came to hunt beavers upon our +lands. ...We have done less than the English and French, +who without any right have usurped the lands they are +now possessed of. + +'I give you to know, Onontio, that my voice is the voice +of the five Iroquois cantons. This is their answer. Pray +incline your ear and listen to what they represent. + +'The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks +declare that they buried the tomahawk in the presence of +your predecessor, in the very centre of the fort, and +planted the Tree of Peace in the same place. It was then +stipulated that the fort should be used as a place of +retreat for merchants and not a refuge for soldiers. Be +it known to you, Onontio, that so great a number of +soldiers, being shut up in so small a fort, do not stifle +and choke the Tree of Peace. Since it took root so easily +it would be evil to stop its growth and hinder it from +shading both your country and ours with its leaves. I +assure you, in the name of the five nations, that our +warriors will dance the calumet dance under its branches +and will never dig up the axe to cut it down--till such +time as the Onontio and the Corlaer do separately or +together invade the country which the Great Spirit gave +to our ancestors.' + +[Footnote: Grangula's speech is an example in part of +Indian eloquence, and in part of the eloquence of Baron +La Hontan, who contributes many striking passages to our +knowledge of Frontenac's period.] + +When Le Moyne and the Jesuits had interpreted this speech +La Barre 'retired to his tent and stormed and blustered.' +But Grangula favoured the spectators with an Iroquois +dance, after which he entertained several of the Frenchmen +at a banquet. 'Two days later,' writes La Hontan, 'he +and his warriors returned to their own country, and our +army set out for Montreal. As soon as the General was on +board, together with the few healthy men that remained, +the canoes were dispersed, for the militia straggled here +and there, and every one made the best of his way home.' + +With this ignominious adventure the career of La Barre +ends. The reports which Meulles sent to France produced +a speedy effect in securing his dismissal from office. +'I have been informed,' politely writes the king, 'that +your years do not permit you to support the fatigues +inseparable from your office of governor and lieutenant- +general in Canada.' + +La Barre's successor, the Marquis de Denonville, arrived +at Quebec in August 1685. Like La Barre, he was a soldier; +like Frontenac, he was an aristocrat as well. From both +these predecessors, however, he differed in being free +from the reproach of using his office to secure personal +profits through the fur trade. No governor in all the +annals of New France was on better terms with the bishop +and the Jesuits. He possessed great bravery. There is +much to show that he was energetic. None the less he +failed, and his failure was more glaring than that of La +Barre. He could not hold his ground against the Iroquois +and the English. + +It has been pointed out already that when La Barre assumed +office the problems arising from these two sources were +more difficult than at any previous date; but the situation +which was serious in 1682 and had become critical by 1685 +grew desperate in the four years of Denonville's sway. +The one overshadowing question of this period was the +Iroquois peril, rendered more and more acute by the policy +of the English. + +The greatest mistake which Denonville made in his dealings +with the Iroquois was to act deceitfully. The savages +could be perfidious themselves, but they were not without +a conception of honour and felt genuine respect for a +white man whose word they could trust. Denonville, who +in his private life displayed many virtues, seemed to +consider that he was justified in acting towards the +savages as the exigency of the moment prompted. Apart +from all considerations of morality this was bad judgment. + +In his dealings with the English Denonville had little +more success than in his dealings with the Indians. Dongan +was a thorn in his side from the first, although their +correspondence opened, on both sides, with the language +of compliment. A few months later its tone changed, +particularly after Dongan heard that Denonville intended +to build a fort at Niagara. Against a project so unfriendly +Dongan protested with emphasis. In reply Denonville +disclaimed the intention, at the same time alleging that +Dongan was giving shelter at Albany to French deserters. +A little later they reach the point of sarcasm. Denonville +taxes Dongan with selling rum to the Indians. Dongan +retorts that at least English rum is less unwholesome +than French brandy. Beneath these epistolary compliments +there lies the broad fact that Dongan stood firm by his +principle that the extension of French rule to the south +of Lake Ontario should not be tolerated: He ridicules +the basis of French pretensions, saying that Denonville +might as well claim China because there are Jesuits at +the Chinese court. The French, he adds, have no more +right to the country because its streams flow into Lake +Ontario than they have to the lands of those who drink +claret or brandy. It is clear that Dongan fretted under +the restrictions which were imposed upon him by the +friendship between England and France. He would have +welcomed an order to support his arguments by force. +Denonville, on his side, with like feelings, could not +give up the claim to suzerainty over the land of the +Iroquois. + +The domain of the Five Nations was not the only part of +America where French and English clashed. The presence +of the English in Hudson Bay excited deep resentment at +Quebec and Montreal. Here Denonville ventured to break +the peace as Dongan had not dared to do. With Denonville's +consent and approval, a band of Canadians left Montreal +in the spring of 1686, fell upon three of the English +posts--Fort Hayes, Fort Rupert, Fort Albany--and with +some bloodshed dispossessed their garrisons. Well satisfied +with this exploit, Denonville in 1687 turned his attention +to the chastisement of the Iroquois. + +The forces which he brought together for this task were +greatly superior to any that had been mustered in Canada +before. Not only were they adequate in numbers, but they +comprised an important band of coureurs de bois, headed +by La Durantaye, Tonty, Du Lhut, and Nicolas Perrot--men +who equalled the Indians in woodcraft and surpassed them +in character. The epitaph of Denonville as a governor is +written in the failure of this great expedition to +accomplish its purpose. + +The first blunder occurred at Fort Frontenac before +mobilization had been completed. There were on the north +shore of Lake Ontario two Iroquois villages, whose +inhabitants had been in part baptized by the Sulpicians +and were on excellent terms with the garrison of the +fort. In a moment of insane stupidity Denonville decided +that the men of these settlements should be captured and +sent to France as galley slaves. Through the ruse of a +banquet they were brought together and easily seized. By +dint of a little further effort two hundred Iroquois of +all ages and both sexes were collected at Fort Frontenac +as prisoners--and some at least perished by torture. But, +when executing this dastardly plot, Denonville did not +succeed in catching all the friendly Iroquois who lived +in the neighbourhood of his fort. Enough escaped to carry +the authentic tale to the Five Nations, and after that +there could be no peace till there had been revenge. +Worst of all, the French stood convicted of treachery +and falseness. + +Having thus blighted his cause at the outset, Denonville +proceeded with his more serious task of smiting the +Iroquois in their own country. Considering the extent +and expense of his preparations, he should have planned +a complete destruction of their power. Instead of this +he attempted no more than an attack upon the Senecas, +whose operations against the Illinois and in other quarters +had made them especially objectionable. The composite +army of French and Indians assembled at Irondequoit Bay +on July 12--a force brought together at infinite pains +and under circumstances which might never occur again. +Marching southwards they fought a trivial battle with +the Senecas, in which half a dozen on the French side +were killed, while the Senecas are said to have lost +about a hundred in killed and wounded. The rest of the +tribe took to the woods. As a result of this easy victory +the triumphant allies destroyed an Iroquois village and +all the corn which it contained, but the political results +of the expedition were worse than nothing. Denonville +made no attempt to destroy the other nations of the +confederacy. Returning to Lake Ontario he built a fort +at Niagara, which he had promised Dongan he would not +do, and then returned to Montreal. The net results of +this portentous effort were a broken promise to the +English, an act of perfidy towards the Iroquois, and an +insignificant success in battle. + +In 1688 Denonville's decision to abandon Fort Niagara +slightly changed the situation. The garrison had suffered +severe losses through illness and the post proved too +remote for successful defence. So this matter settled +itself. The same season saw the recall of Dongan through +the consolidation of New England, New York, and New Jersey +under Sir Edmund Andros. But in essentials there was no +change. Andros continued Dongan's policy, of which, in +fact, he himself had been the author. And, even though +no longer threatened by the French from Niagara, the +savages had reason enough to hate and distrust Denonville. + +Yet despite these untoward circumstances all hope of +peace between the French and the Five Nations had not +been destroyed. The Iroquois loved their revenge and were +willing to wait for it, but caution warned them that it +would not be advantageous to destroy the French for the +benefit of the English. Moreover, in the long course o +their relations with the French they had, as already +mentioned, formed a high opinion of men like Le Moyne +and Lamberville, while they viewed with respect the +exploits of Tonty, La Durantaye, and Du Lhut. + +Moved by these considerations and a love of presents, +Grangula, of the Onondagas, was in the midst of negotiations +for peace with the French, which might have ended happily +but for the stratagem of the Huron chief Kondiaronk, +called 'The Rat.' The remnant of Hurons and the other +tribes centring at Michilimackinac did not desire a peace +of the French and Iroquois which would not include +themselves, for this would mean their own certain +destruction. The Iroquois, freed of the French, would +surely fall on the Hurons. All the Indians distrusted +Denonville, and Kondiaronk suspected, with good reason, +that the Hurons were about to be sacrificed. Denonville, +however, had assured Kondiaronk that there was to be war +to the death against the Iroquois, and on this understanding +he went with a band of warriors to Fort Frontenac. There +he learned that peace would be concluded between Onontio +and the Onondagas--in other words, that the Iroquois +would soon be free to attack the Hurons and their allies. +To avert this threatened destruction of his own people, +he set out with his warriors and lay in ambush for a +party of Onondaga chiefs who were on their way to Montreal. +Having killed one and captured almost all the rest, he +announced to his Iroquois prisoners that he had received +orders from Denonville to destroy them. When they explained +that they were ambassadors, he feigned surprise and said +he could no longer be an accomplice to the wickedness of +the French. Then he released them all save one, in order +that they might carry home this tale of Denonville's +second treachery. The one Iroquois Kondiaronk retained +on the plea that he wished to adopt him. Arrived at +Michilimackinac, he handed over the captive to the French +there, who, having heard nothing of the peace, promptly +shot him. An Iroquois prisoner, whom Kondiaronk secretly +released for the purpose, conveyed to the Five Nations +word of this further atrocity. + +The Iroquois prepared to deliver a hard blow. On August +5, 1689, they fell in overwhelming force upon the French +settlement at Lachine. Those who died by the tomahawk +were the most fortunate. Charlevoix gives the number of +victims at two hundred killed and one hundred and twenty +taken prisoner. Girouard's examination of parish registers +results in a lower estimate--namely, twenty-four killed +at Lachine and forty-two at La Chesnaye, a short time +afterwards. Whatever the number, it was the most dreadful +catastrophe which the colony had yet suffered. + +Such were the events which, in seven years, had brought +New France to the brink of ruin. But she was not to perish +from the Iroquois. In October 1689 Frontenac returned to +take Denonville's place. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +THE GREAT STRUGGLE + +During the period which separates his two terms of office +Frontenac's life is almost a blank. His relations with +his wife seem to have been amicable, but they did not +live together. His great friend was the Marechal de +Bellefonds, from whom he received many favours of +hospitality. In 1685 the king gave him a pension of +thirty-five hundred livres, though without assigning him +any post of dignity. Already a veteran, his record could +hardly be called successful. His merits were known to +the people of Canada; they believed him to be a tower of +strength against the Iroquois. At Versailles the fact +stood out most plainly that through infirmities of temper +he had lost his post. His pension might save him from +penury. It was far too small to give him real independence. + +Had either La Barre or Denonville proved equal to the +government of Canada, it is almost certain that Frontenac +would have ended his days ingloriously at Versailles, +ascending the stairs of others with all the grief which +is the portion of disappointed old age. Their failure +was his opportunity, and from the dreary antechambers of +a court he mounts to sudden glory as the saviour of New +France. + +There is some doubt, as we have seen, concerning the +causes which gave Frontenac his appointment in 1672. At +that time court favour may have operated on his behalf, +or it may have seemed desirable that he should reside +for a season out of France. But in 1689 graver +considerations came into play. At the moment when the +Iroquois were preparing to ravage Canada, the expulsion +of James II from his throne had broken the peace between +France and England. The government of New France was now +no post for a court favourite. Louis XIV had expended +much money and effort on the colony. Through the +mismanagement of La Barre and Denonville everything +appeared to be on the verge of ruin. It is inconceivable +that Frontenac, then in his seventieth year, should have +been renominated for any other cause than merit. Times +and conditions had changed. The task now was not to work +peaceably with bishop and intendant, but to destroy the +foe. Father Goyer, the Recollet who delivered Frontenac's +funeral oration, states that the king said when renewing +his commission: 'I send you back to Canada, where I expect +you will serve me as well as you did before; I ask for +nothing more.' This is a bit of too gorgeous rhetoric, +which none the less conveys the truth. The king was not +reappointing Frontenac because he was, on the whole, +satisfied with what he had done before; he was reappointing +him because during his former term of office and throughout +his career he had displayed the qualities which were +called for at the present crisis. + +Thus Frontenac returned to Quebec in the autumn of 1689, +just after the Iroquois massacred the people of Lachine +and just before they descended upon those of La Chesnaye. +The universal mood was one of terror and despair. If ever +Canada needed a Moses this was the hour. + +It will be seen from the dates that Denonville's recall +was not due to the Lachine massacre and the other raids +of the Iroquois in 1689, for these only occurred after +Frontenac had been appointed. Denonville's dismissal was +justified by the general results of his administration +down to the close of 1688. Before Frontenac left France +a plan of campaign had been agreed upon which it was now +his duty to execute. The outlines of this plan were +suggested by Callieres, the governor of Montreal, +[Footnote: Louis Hector de Callieres-Bonnevue was a +captain of the French army who became governor of Montreal +in 1684, and succeeded Frontenac as governor of Canada +in 1698. He received the Cross of St Louis for distinguished +service against the Iroquois. Frontenac could not have +had a better lieutenant.] who had been sent home by +Denonville to expound the needs of the colony in person +and to ask for fresh aid. The idea was to wage vigorous +offensive warfare against the English from Albany to New +York. Success would depend upon swiftness and audacity, +both of which Frontenac possessed in full measure, despite +his years. Two French warships were to be sent direct to +New York in the autumn of 1689, while a raiding party +from Canada should set out for the Hudson as soon as +Frontenac could organize it. + +In its original form this plan of campaign was never +carried out, for on account of head winds Frontenac +reached Quebec too late in the autumn. However, the +central idea remained in full view and suggested the +three war-parties which were sent out during the winter +of 1690 to attack the English colonies. + +Louis XIV had given Denonville important reinforcements, +and with war clouds gathering in Europe he was unwilling +or unable to detach more troops for the defence of Canada. +Hence, in warring against the Iroquois and the English +Frontenac had no greater resources than those at the +disposal of Denonville when he attacked the Senecas. In +fact, since 1687 there had been some wastage in the number +of the regulars from disease. The result was that Frontenac +could not hope for any solid success unless he received +support from the Canadian militia. + +In this crisis the habitants and their seigneurs accepted +with courage the duties laid upon them. In the narrower +sense they were fighting for their homes, but the spirit +which they displayed under Frontenac's leadership is not +merely that which one associates with a war of defence. +The French soldier, in all ages, loved to strike the +quick, sharp blow, and it was now necessary for the +salvation of Canada that it should be struck. The Iroquois +had come to believe that Onontio was losing his power. +The English colonies were far more populous than New +France. In short, the only hope lay in a swift, spectacular +campaign which would disorganize the English and regain +the respect of the Iroquois. + +The issue depended on the courage and capacity of the +Canadians. It is to their honour and to the credit of +Frontenac that they rose to the demand of the hour. The +Canadians were a robust, prolific race, trained from +infancy to woodcraft and all the hardships of the +wilderness. Many families contained from eight to fourteen +sons who had used the musket and paddle from early boyhood, +and could endure the long tramps of winter like the +Indians themselves. The frontiersman is, and must be, a +fighter, but nowhere in the past can one find a braver +breed of warriors than mustered to the call of Frontenac. +Francois Hertel and Hertel de Rouville, Le Moyne d'Iberville +with his brothers Bienville and Sainte-Helene, D'Aillebout +de Mantet and Repentigny de Montesson, are but a few +representatives of the militiamen who sped forth at the +call of Frontenac to destroy the settlements of the +English. + +What followed was war in its worst form, including the +massacre of women and children. The three bands organized +by Frontenac at the beginning of 1690 set out on snowshoes +from Montreal, Three Rivers, and Quebec. The largest +party contained a hundred and fourteen French and ninety- +six Indians. It marched from Montreal against Schenectady, +commanded by D'Aillebout de Mantet and Le Moyne de +Sainte-Helene. The second party, proceeding from Three +Rivers and numbering twenty-six French and twenty-nine +Indians under the command of Francois Hertel, aimed at +Dover, Pemaquid, and other settlements of Maine and New +Hampshire. The Quebec party, under Portneuf, comprised +fifty French and sixty Indians. Its objective was the +English colony on Casco Bay, where the city of Portland +now stands. All three were successful in accomplishing +what they aimed at, namely the destruction of English +settlements amid fire and carnage. All three employed +Indians, who were suffered, either willingly or unwillingly, +to commit barbarities. + +It is much more the business of history to explain than +to condemn or to extenuate. How could a man like Francois +Hertel lead one of these raids without sinking to the +moral level of his Indian followers? Some such question +may, not unnaturally, rise to the lips of a modern reader +who for the first time comes upon the story of Dover and +Salmon Falls. But fuller knowledge breeds respect for +Francois Hertel. When eighteen years old he was captured +by the Mohawks and put to the torture. One of his fingers +they burned off in the bowl of a pipe. The thumb of the +other hand they cut off. In the letter which he wrote on +birch-bark to his mother after this dreadful experience +there is not a word of his sufferings. He simply sends +her his love and asks for her prayers, signing himself +by his childish nickname, 'Your poor Fanchon.' As he grew +up he won from an admiring community the name of 'The +Hero.' He was not only brave but religious. In his view +it was all legitimate warfare. If he slew others, he ran +a thousand risks and endured terrible privations for his +king and the home he was defending. His stand at the +bridge over the Wooster river, sword in hand, when pressed +on his retreat by an overwhelming force of English, +holding the pass till all his men are over, is worthy of +an epic. He was forty-seven years old at the time. The +three eldest of his nine sons were with him in that little +band of twenty-six Frenchmen, and two of his nephews. +'To the New England of old,' says Parkman 'Francois Hertel +was the abhorred chief of Popish malignants and murdering +savages. The New England of to-day will be more just to +the brave defender of his country and his faith.' + +The atrocities committed by the French and Indians are +enough to make one shudder even at this distance of time. +As Frontenac adopted the plan and sent forth the +war-parties, the moral responsibility in large part rests +with him. There are, however, some facts to consider +before judgment is passed as to the degree of his +culpability. The modern distinction between combatants +and non-combatants had little meaning in the wilds of +America at this period. When France and England were at +open war, every settler was a soldier, and as such each +man's duty was to keep on his guard. If caught napping +he must take the consequences. Thus, to fall upon an +unsuspecting hamlet and slay its men-folk with the +tomahawk, while brutal, was hardly more brutal than under +such circumstances we could fairly expect war to be. + +The massacre of women and children is another matter, +not to be excused on any grounds, even though Schenectady +and Salmon Falls are paralleled by recent acts of the +Germans in Belgium. Still, we should not forget that +European warfare in the age of Frontenac abounded with +just such atrocities as were committed at Schenectady, +Dover, Pemaquid, Salmon Falls, and Casco Bay. The sack +of Magdeburg, the wasting of the Palatinate, and, perhaps, +the storming of Drogheda will match whatever was done by +the Indian allies of Frontenac. These were unspeakable, +but the savage was little worse than his European +contemporary. Those killed were in almost all cases killed +outright, and the slaughter was not indiscriminate. At +Schenectady John Sander Glen, with his whole family and +all his relations, were spared because he and his wife +had shown kindness to French prisoners taken by the +Mohawks. Altogether sixty people were killed at Schenectady +(February 9, 1690), thirty-eight men, ten women, and +twelve children. Nearly ninety were carried captive to +Canada. Sixty old men, women, and children were left +unharmed. It is not worth while to take up the details +of the other raids. They were of much the same sort--no +better and no worse. Where a garrison surrendered under +promise that it would be spared, the promise was observed +so far as the Indians could be controlled; but English +and French alike when they used Indian allies knew well +that their excesses could not be prevented, though they +might be moderated. The captives as a rule were treated +with kindness and clemency when once the northward march +was at an end. + +Meanwhile, Frontenac had little time to reflect upon the +probable attitude of posterity towards his political +morals. The three war-parties had accomplished their +purpose and in the spring of 1690 the colony was aglow +with fresh hope. But the English were not slow to retaliate. +That summer New York and Massachusetts decided on an +invasion of Canada. It was planned that a fleet from +Boston under Sir William Phips should attack Quebec, +while a force of militia from New York in command of John +Schuyler should advance through Lake Champlain against +Montreal. Thus by sea and land Canada soon found herself +on the defensive. + +Of Schuyler's raid nothing need be said except that he +reached Laprairie, opposite Montreal, where he killed a +few men and destroyed the crops (August 23, 1690). It +was a small achievement and produced no result save the +disappointment of New York that an undertaking upon which +much money and effort had been expended should terminate +so ingloriously. But the siege of Quebec by Phips, though +it likewise ended in failure, is a much more famous event, +and deserves to be described in some detail. + +The colony of Massachusetts mustered its forces for a +great and unusual exploit. Earlier in the same year a +raid upon the coasts of Acadia had yielded gratifying +results. The surrender of Port Royal without resistance +(May 11, 1690) kindled the Puritan hope that a single +summer might see the pestiferous Romanists of New France +driven from all their strongholds. Thus encouraged, Boston +put forth its best energies and did not shrink from +incurring a debt of 50,000 pounds, which in the +circumstances of Massachusetts was an enormous sum. Help +was expected from England, but none came, and the fleet +sailed without it, in full confidence that Quebec would +fall before the assault of the colonists alone. + +The fleet, which sailed in August, numbered thirty-four +ships, carrying twenty-three hundred men and a considerable +equipment. Sir William Phips, the leader of the expedition, +was not an Englishman by birth, but a New Englander of +very humble origin who owed his advancement to a robust +physique and unlimited assurance. He was unfitted for +his command, both because he lacked experience in fighting +such foes as he was about to encounter, and because he +was completely ignorant of the technical difficulties +involved in conducting a large, miscellaneous fleet +through the tortuous channels of the lower St Lawrence. +This ignorance resulted in such loss of time that he +arrived before Quebec amid the tokens of approaching +winter. It was the 16th of October when he rounded the +island of Orleans and brought his ships to anchor under +the citadel. Victory could only be secured by sudden +success. The state of the season forbade siege operations +which contemplated starvation of the garrison. + +Hopeful that the mere sight of his armada would compel +surrender, Phips first sent an envoy to Frontenac under +protection of the white flag. This messenger after being +blindfolded was led to the Chateau and brought before +the governor, who had staged for his reception one of +the impressive spectacles he loved to prepare. Surrounding +Frontenac, as Louis XIV might have been surrounded by +the grandees of France, were grouped the aristocracy of +New France--the officers of the French regulars and the +Canadian militia. Nothing had been omitted which could +create an impression of dignity and strength. Costume, +demeanour, and display were all employed to overwhelm +the envoy with the insulted majesty of the king of France. +Led into this high presence the messenger delivered his +letter, which, when duly interpreted, was found to convey +a summary ultimatum. Phips began by stating that the war +between France and England would have amply warranted +this expedition even 'without the destruction made by +the French and Indians, under your command and +encouragement, upon the persons and estates of their +Majesties' subjects of New England, without provocation +on their part.' Indeed, 'the cruelties and barbarities +used against them by the French and Indians might, upon +the present opportunity, prompt unto a severe revenge.' +But seeking to avoid all inhumane and unchristian-like +actions, Phips announces that he will be content with 'a +present surrender of your forts and castles, undemolished, +and the King's and other stores, unimbezzled, with a +seasonable delivery of all captives; together with a +surrender of all your persons and estates to my dispose; +upon the doing whereof, you may expect mercy from me, as +a Christian, according to what shall be found for their +Majesties' service and the subjects' security. Which, if +you refuse forthwith to do, I am come provided and am +resolved, by the help of God in whom I trust, by force +of arms to revenge all wrongs and injuries offered, and +bring you under subjection to the Crown of England, and, +when too late, make you wish you had accepted of the +favour tendered. Your answer positive in an hour, returned +by your own trumpet, with the return of mine, is required +upon the peril that will ensue.' + +To this challenge Frontenac at once returned the answer +which comported with his character. When Phips's envoy +took out his watch to register the hour permitted by the +ultimatum, Frontenac rejoined that he required no time +for deliberation, but would return his answer by the +mouth of the cannon. The ground which he assigned for +the invasion of New England was that its people had +rebelled against their lawful prince, the ally of France. +Other more personal observations were directed towards +the manner in which Phips had behaved at Port Royal. No +word in writing would Frontenac send. The envoy (who was +only a subaltern) received his conge, was blindfolded +and led back to his boat. + +Compliments having been thus exchanged, it remained for +Phips to make good his challenge. If we compare the four +English and American sieges of Quebec, the attack by +Phips will be seen to have little in common with those +of Kirke and Montgomery, but to resemble rather strikingly +the attack by Wolfe. Without fighting, Kirke swooped down +upon a garrison which was exhausted by starvation. Arnold +and Montgomery operated without a fleet. But while Phips's +attempt is unlike Wolfe's in that it ended in failure, +the presence of the fleet and the attempt to effect a +landing below the mouth of the St Charles present features +of real similarity. It is clear that Phips received +intelligence from prisoners of a possible landing above +the town, at the spot where Wolfe carried out his daring +and desperate coup de main. But, anticipating Wolfe in +another quarter, he chose to make his first attack on +the flats rather than on the heights. + +The troops ordinarily stationed at Quebec were increased +just after Phips's arrival by a force of seven hundred +regulars and militiamen under Callieres, who had come +down from Montreal with all possible haste. So agile were +the French and so proficient in irregular warfare that +Phips found it difficult to land any considerable detachment +in good order. Thirteen hundred of the English did succeed +in forming on the Beauport Flats, after wading through +a long stretch of mud. There followed a preliminary +skirmish in which three hundred French were driven back +with no great loss, after inflicting considerable damage +on the invaders. But though the English reached the east +bank of the St Charles they could do no more. Phips wasted +his ammunition on a fruitless and ill-timed bombardment, +which was answered with much spirit from the cliffs. +Meanwhile the musketeers on the bank of the St Charles +were unable to advance alone and received no proper supply +of stores from the ships. Harassed by the Canadians, wet, +cold, and starving, they took to the boats, leaving behind +them five cannon. After this nothing happened, save +deliberations on the part of Phips and his officers as +to whether there remained anything that could be done +other than to sail for home, beaten and humiliated, with +a heavy burden of debt to hang round the neck of a too +ambitious Massachusetts. Thus ended the second siege of +Quebec (October 23, 1690). + +Frontenac had lost two of his best soldiers--Sainte-Helene, +of the fighting Le Moynes, and the Chevalier de Clermont; +but, this notwithstanding, the victory was felt to be +complete. The most precious trophy was the flag of +Phips's ship, which a shot from the ramparts had knocked +into the river, whence it was rescued and brought ashore +in triumph. Best of all, the siege had been too short to +bring famine in its train. The loss of life was +inconsiderable, and in prestige the soldiery of New France +now stood on a pinnacle which they had never before +attained. When we consider the paucity of the forces +engaged, this repulse of the English from Quebec may not +seem an imposing military achievement. But Canada had +put forth her whole strength and had succeeded where +failure would have been fatal. In the shouts of rejoicing +which followed Phips's withdrawal we hear the cry of a +people reborn. + +The siege of Quebec and Schuyler's raid on Laprairie open +up a subject of large and vital moment--the historical +antagonism of New France and New England. Whoever wishes +to understand the deeper problems of Canada in the age +of Frontenac should read John Fiske's volumes on the +English colonies. In the rise of Virginia, Maryland, +Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts +one sees the certain doom which was impending over New +France. It may be too much to say that Richelieu by +conquering Alsace threw away America. Even had the +population of Canada been increased to the extent called +for by the obligations of Richelieu's company in 1627, +the English might have nevertheless prevailed. But the +preoccupation of France with the war against Austria +prevented her from giving due attention to the colonial +question at the critical moment when colonists should +have been sent out in large numbers. And it is certain +that by nothing short of a great emigration could France +have saved Canada. As it was, the English were bound to +prevail by weight of population. When the conflict reached +its climax in the days of Montcalm and Wolfe, two and a +half million English Americans confronted sixty-five +thousand French Canadians. On such terms the result of +the contest could not be doubtful. Even in Frontenac's +time the French were protected chiefly by the intervening +wilderness and the need of the English colonists to +develop their own immediate resources. The English were +not yet ready for a serious offensive war. In fact they, +too, had their own Indian question. + +It is a matter of some interest to observe how the conquest +of Canada was postponed by the lack of cohesion among +the English colonies. Selfishness and mutual jealousy +prevented them from combining against the common foe. +Save for this disunion and fancied conflict of interest, +New France must have succumbed long before the time of +Montcalm. But the vital significance of the conflict +between New England and New France lies in the contrast +of their spirit and institutions. The English race has +extended itself through the world because it possessed +the genius of emigration. The French colonist did his +work magnificently in the new home. But the conditions +in the old home were unfavourable to emigration. The +Huguenots, the one class of the population with a strong +motive for emigrating, were excluded from Canada in the +interest of orthodoxy. The dangers of the Atlantic and +the hardships of life in a wintry wilderness might well +deter the ordinary French peasant; moreover, it by no +means rested with him to say whether he would go or stay. +But, whatever their nature, the French race lost a +wonderful opportunity through the causes which prevented +a healthy, steady exodus to America. + +England profited by having classes of people sufficiently +well educated to form independent opinions and strong +enough to carry out the programme dictated by these +opinions. While each of the English colonies sprang from +a different motive, all had in common the purpose to form +an effective settlement. The fur trade did France more +harm than good. It deflected her attention from the middle +to the northern latitudes and lured her colonists from +the land in search of quick profits. It was the enemy to +the home. On the other hand, the English came to America +primarily in search of a home. Profits they sought, like +other people, but they sought them chiefly from the soil. + +Thus English ideas took root in America, gained new +vitality, and assumed an importance they had not possessed +in England for many centuries. And, while for the moment +the organization of the English colonies was not well +suited to offensive war, as we may judge from the abortive +efforts of Phips and Schuyler, this defect could be +corrected. Arising, as it did arise, from a lack of unity +among the colonies, it was even indicative of latent +strength. From one angle, localism seems selfishness and +weakness; from another, it shows the vigorous life of +separate communities, each self-centred and jealous of +its authority because the local instinct is so vitally +active. It only needed time to broaden the outlook and +give the English colonies a sense of their common interest. +Virginia, New York, and Massachusetts, by striking their +roots each year more deeply into the soil of America, +became more and more self-supporting states in everything +save name and political allegiance; while New France, +which with its austere climate would have developed more +slowly in any case, remained dependent on the king's +court. + +Thus Frontenac's task was quite hopeless, if we define +it as the effort to overthrow English power in America. +But neither he nor any one of that age defined his duties +so widely. In 1689 Canada was in extremes, with the +Iroquois at Lachine and Dongan threatening an attack from +New York. Frontenac's policy was defensive. If he struck +first, it was because he considered audacity to be his +best safeguard. No one knew better than Frontenac that +a successful raid does not mean conquest. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +FRONTENAC'S LAST DAYS + +Though the English might withdraw from Quebec, New France +always had the Iroquois with her. We must now pursue the +thread of Frontenac's dealings with the savages from the +moment when he replaced Denonville. + +It requires no flight of the imagination to appreciate +the rage Frontenac must have felt when, on returning to +Canada, he saw before his eyes the effects of La Barre's +rapacity and Denonville's perfidy, of which the massacres +of Lachine and La Chesnaye furnished the most ghastly +proofs. But in these two cases the element of tragedy +was so strong as to efface the mood of exasperation. +There remained a third incident which must have provoked +pure rage. This was the destruction of Fort Frontenac, +blown up, at Denonville's order, by the French themselves +(October 1689). The erection and maintenance of this post +had been a cardinal point in Frontenac's Indian policy; +and, more particularly to aggravate the offence, there +was the humiliating fact that Denonville had ordered it +demolished to comply with a demand from the Iroquois. +This shameful concession had been made shortly before +Frontenac reached Canada. It was Denonville's last +important act in the colony. On the chance that something +might have occurred to delay execution of the order, +Frontenac at once countermanded it and sent forward an +expedition of three hundred men. But they were too late. +His beloved fortress was gone. The only comfort which +Frontenac could derive from the incident was that the +work of destruction had been carried out imperfectly. +There remained a portion of the works which could still +be used. + +Thus with regard to the Iroquois the situation was far +worse in 1689 than it had been when Frontenac came to +Canada in 1672. Everything which he had done to conciliate +the Five Nations had been undone; and Dongan's intelligent +activities, coinciding with this long series of French +mistakes, had helped to make matters worse. Nor was it +now merely a question of the Iroquois. The whole Indian +world had been convulsed by the renewal of strife between +Onontio and the Five Nations. Tribes long friendly to +the French and in constant trade with them were being +alienated. The Indian problem as Frontenac saw it in 1690 +resolved itself to this: either peace with the Iroquois +on terms which would prove impressive to the Hurons, the +Ottawas, and even to the savages of the Mississippi; or +else uncompromising war. For under no circumstances could +the French afford to lose their hold upon the tribes from +whom they derived their furs. + +Obviously an honourable peace would be preferable to the +horrors of a forest war, and Frontenac did his best to +secure it. To undo, as far as possible, Denonville's +treachery at Fort Frontenac and elsewhere, he had brought +back with him to Quebec the Iroquois who had been sent +to France--or such of them as were still alive. First +among these was a Cayuga chief of great influence named +Ourehaoue, whose friendship Frontenac assiduously cultivated +and completely won. Towards the close of January 1690 an +embassy of three released Iroquois carried to Onondaga +a message from Ourehaoue that the real Onontio had returned +and peace must be made with him if the Five Nations wished +to live. A great council was then held at which the +English, by invitation, were represented, while the French +interest found its spokesman in a Christian Iroquois +named Cut Nose. Any chance of success was destroyed by +the implacable enmity of the Senecas, who remembered the +attempt of the French to check their raids upon the +Illinois and the invasion of their own country by +Denonville. Cannehoot, a Seneca chieftain, rose and stated +that the tribes of Michilimackinac were ready to join +the English and the Iroquois for the destruction of New +France; and the assembly decided to enter this triple +alliance. Frontenac's envoys returned to Quebec alive, +but with nothing to show for their pains. A later effort +by Frontenac was even less successful. The Iroquois, it +was clear, could not be brought back to friendship by +fair words. + +War to the knife being inevitable, Frontenac promptly +took steps to confirm his position with the hitherto +friendly savages of the Ottawa and the Great Lakes. When +Cannehoot had said that the tribes of Michilimackinac +were ready to turn against the French, he was not drawing +wholly upon his imagination. This statement was confirmed +by the report of Nicolas Perrot, who knew the Indians of +the West as no one else knew them--save perhaps Du Lhut +and Carheil. [Footnote: Etienne de Carheil was the most +active of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada during the +period of Frontenac. After fifteen years among the Iroquois +at Cayuga (1668-83) he returned for three years to Quebec. +He was then sent to Michilimackinac, Where he remained +another fifteen years. Shortly after the founding of +Detroit (1701) he gave up life in the forest. Despite +the great hardships which he endured, he lived to be +ninety-three. None of the missionaries was more strongly +opposed to the brandy trade.] + +The French were now playing a desperate game in the vast +region beyond Lake Erie, which they had been the first +of Europeans to explore. The Ottawas and the Hurons, +while alike the hereditary foes of the Iroquois, were +filled with mutual jealousy which must be composed. The +successes of the Iroquois in their raids on the French +settlements must be explained and minimized. 'The Rat' +Kondiaronk, the cleverest of the western chieftains, must +be conciliated. And to compass all these ends, Perrot +found his reliance in the word that Frontenac had returned +and would lead his children against the common foe. +Meanwhile, the Iroquois had their own advocates among +the more timid and suspicious members of these western +tribes. During the winter of 1689-90 the French and the +Iroquois had about an even chance of winning the Indians +who centred at Michilimackinac. But the odds were against +the French to this extent--they were working against a +time limit. Unless Frontenac could quickly show evidence +of strength, the tribes of the West would range with the +Iroquois. + +In the spring of 1690 Frontenac dispatched a force of a +hundred and fifty men to reinforce the garrison at +Michilimackinac. On their way westward these troops +encountered a band of Iroquois and fortunately killed a +number of them. The scalps were an ocular proof of success; +and Perrot, who was of the party, knew how to turn the +victory to its best use by encouraging the Ottawas to +torture an Iroquois prisoner. The breach thus made between +the Ottawas and the Five Nations distinctly widened as +soon as word came that the French had destroyed Schenectady. +Thus this dreadful raid against the English did not fail +of its psychological effect, as may be gathered from one +of the immediate consequences. Early in August there +appeared on Lake St Louis a vast flotilla of canoes, +which at first caused the afflicted habitants to fear +that the Iroquois were upon them again. Instead of this +it was a great band of friendly savages from the West, +drawn from all the trading tribes and bringing a cargo +of furs of far more than the usual value. Frontenac +himself chanced to be in Montreal at this fortunate +moment. The market was held and concluded to mutual +satisfaction, but the crowning event of the meeting was +a council, at which, after an exchange of harangues, +Frontenac entered into the festivities of the savages as +though he were one of themselves (August 1690). The +governor's example was followed by his leading officers. +Amid the chanting of the war-song and the swinging of +the tomahawk the French renewed their alliance with the +Indians of the West. All were to fight until the Iroquois +were destroyed. Even the Ottawas, who had been coquetting +with the Senecas, now came out squarely and said that +they would stand by Onontio. + +Here, at last, was a real answer to the Lachine massacre. +The challenge had been fairly given, and now it was not +a Denonville who made the reply. There followed three +years of incessant warfare between the Iroquois and the +French, which furnished a fair test of the strength that +each side could muster when fighting at its best. The +Five Nations had made up their minds. The cares of +diplomacy they threw to the winds. They were on the +war-path, united and determined. The French, on their +side, had Frontenac for leader and many outrages to +avenge. It was war of the wilderness in its most unrelenting +form, with no mercy expected or asked. The general result +can be quickly stated. The Iroquois got their fill of +war, and Frontenac destroyed their power as a central, +dominating, terrorizing confederacy. + +The measure of this achievement is to be sought in the +difficulties which were overcome. Despite the eighty +years of its existence the colony was still so poor that +regularity in the arrival of supplies from France was a +matter of vital importance. From the moment war began +English cruisers hovered about the mouth of the St +Lawrence, ready to pounce upon the supply-ships as they +came up the river. Sometimes the French boats escaped; +sometimes they were captured; but from this interruption +of peaceful oversea traffic Canada suffered grievously. +Another source of weakness was the interruption of +agriculture which followed in the train of war. As a rule +the Iroquois spent the winter in hunting deer, but just +as the ground was ready for its crop they began to show +themselves in the parishes near Montreal, picking off +the habitants in their farms on the edge of the forest, +or driving them to the shelter of the stockade. These +forays made it difficult and dangerous to till the soil, +with a corresponding shrinkage in the volume of the crop. +Almost every winter famine was imminent in some part of +the colony, and though spring was welcome for its own +sake, it invariably brought the Iroquois. A third calamity +was the interruption of the fur trade. Ordinarily the +great cargoes descended the Ottawa in fleets of from one +hundred to two hundred canoes. But the savages of the +West well knew that when they embarked with their precious +bales upon a route which was infested by the Iroquois, +they gave hostages to fortune. In case of a battle the +cargo was a handicap, since they must protect it as well +as themselves. In case they were forced to flee for their +lives, they lost the goods which it had cost so much +effort to collect. In these circumstances the tribes of +Michilimackinac would not bring down their furs unless +they felt certain that the whole course of the Ottawa +was free from danger. In seasons when they failed to +come, the colony had nothing to export and penury became +extreme. At best the returns from the fur trade were +precarious. In 1690 and 1693 there were good markets; in +1691 and 1692 there were none at all. + +From time to time Frontenac received from France both +money and troops, but neither in sufficient quantity to +place him where he could deal the Iroquois one final +blow. Thus one year after another saw a war of skirmishes +and minor raids, sufficiently harassing and weakening to +both sides, but with results which were disappointing +because inconclusive. The hero of this border warfare is +the Canadian habitant, whose farm becomes a fort and +whose gun is never out of reach. Nor did the men of the +colony display more courage than their wives and daughters. +The heroine of New France is the woman who rears from +twelve to twenty children, works in the fields and cooks +by day, and makes garments and teaches the catechism in +the evening. It was a community which approved of early +marriage--a community where boys and girls assumed their +responsibilities very young. Youths of sixteen shouldered +the musket. Madeleine de Vercheres was only fourteen when +she defended her father's fort against the Iroquois with +a garrison of five, which included two boys and a man of +eighty (October 1692). + +A detailed chronicle of these raids and counter-raids +would be both long and complicated, but in addition to +the incidents which have been mentioned there remain +three which deserve separate comment--Peter Schuyler's +invasion of Canada in 1691, the activities of the Abnakis +against New England, and Frontenac's invasion of the +Onondaga country in 1696. + +We have already seen that in 1690 an attempt was made by +John Schuyler to avenge the massacre at Schenectady. The +results of this effort were insignificant, but its purpose +was not forgotten; and in 1691 the Anglo-Dutch of the +Hudson attempted once more to make their strength felt +on the banks of the St Lawrence. This time the leader +was Peter Schuyler, whose force included a hundred and +twenty English and Dutch, as against the forty who had +attacked Canada in the previous summer. The number of +Indian allies was also larger than on the former occasion, +including both Mohawks and Mohegans. Apart from its +superior numbers and much harder fighting, the second +expedition of the English was similar to the first. Both +followed Lake Champlain and the Richelieu; both reached +Laprairie, opposite Montreal; both were forced to retreat +without doing any great damage to their enemies. There +is this notable difference, however, that the French were +in a much better state of preparation than they had been +during the previous summer. The garrison at Laprairie +now numbered above seven hundred, while a flying squadron +of more than three hundred stood ready to attack the +English on their retreat to the Richelieu. On the whole, +Schuyler was fortunate to escape as lightly as he did. +Forty of his party were killed in a hot battle, but he +made his retreat in good order after inflicting some +losses on the French (August 1, 1691). Although Schuyler's +retreat was skilfully conducted, his original object had +been far more ambitious than to save his men from +extermination. The French missed a chance to injure their +foe more seriously than they had done at Schenectady. At +the same time, this second English invasion was so far +from successful that the New France of Frontenac suffered +no further attack from the side of Albany. + +While Callieres and Valrennes were repulsing Peter Schuyler +from Laprairie, the French in another part of Frontenac's +jurisdiction were preparing for the offensive. The centre +of this activity was the western part of Acadia--that +is, the large and rugged region which is watered by the +Penobscot and the Kennebec. Here dwelt the Abnakis, a +tribe of Algonquin origin, among whom the Jesuits had +established a mission and made many converts. Throughout +Acadia the French had established friendly relations with +the Indians, and as the English settlements began to +creep from New Hampshire to the mouth of the Kennebec, +the interval between the rival zones of occupation became +so narrow as to admit of raiding. Phips's capture of Port +Royal had alarmed some of the Abnakis, but most of them +held fast to the French connection and were amenable to +presents. It soon proved that all they needed was +leadership, which was amply furnished by the Baron de +Saint-Castin and Father Thury. + +Saint-Castin was a very energetic French trader, of noble +birth, who had established himself at Pentegoet on +Penobscot Bay--a point which, after him, is now called +Castine. Father Thury was the chief of the mission priests +in the western part of Acadia, but though an ecclesiastic +he seems to have exalted patriotism above religion. That +he did his best to incite his converts against the English +is beyond question. Urged on by him and Saint-Castin, +the savages of the Penobscot and the Kennebec proceeded +with enthusiasm to destroy the English settlements which +lay within their reach. In the course of successive raids +which extended from 1692 to 1694 they descended upon +York, Wells, and Oyster Bay, always with the stealth and +swiftness which marked joint operations of the French +and Indians. The settlements of the English were sacked, +the inhabitants were either massacred or carried into +captivity, and all those scenes were re-enacted which +had marked the success of Frontenac's three war-parties +in 1690. Thus New England was exposed to attack from the +side of Acadia no less than from that of Canada. +Incidentally Canada and Acadia were drawn into closer +connection by the vigour which Frontenac communicated to +the war throughout all parts of his government. + +But the most vivid event of Frontenac's life after the +defence of Quebec against Phips was the great expedition +which he led in person against the Onondagas. It was an +exploit which resembles Denonville's attack upon the +Senecas, with the added interest that Frontenac was in +his seventy-seventh year when he thus carried the war +into the heart of the enemy's country. As a physical tour +de force this campaign was splendid, and it enables us, +better than any other event, to appreciate the magnificent +energy which Frontenac threw into the fulfilment of his +task. With over two thousand men, and an equipment that +included cannon and mortars, he advanced from the south +shore of Lake Ontario against the chief stronghold of +the Iroquois. At the portage the Indians would not permit +their aged, indomitable Onontio to walk, but insisted +that he should remain seated in his canoe, while they +carried it from the pool below the fall to the dead water +above. All the French saw of the stronghold they had come +to attack was the flame which consumed it. Following the +example of the Senecas, the Onondagas, when they saw that +the invader was at hand, set fire to their palisade and +wigwams, gathered up what property was portable, and took +to the woods. Pursuit was impossible. All that could be +done was to destroy the corn and proceed against the +settlement of the Oneidas. After this, with its maize, +had been consumed, Frontenac considered whether he should +attack the Cayugas, but he decided against this extension +of the campaign. Unlike Denonville, he was at war with +the English as well as with the Iroquois, and may have +thought it imprudent to risk surprise at a point so far +from his base. While it was disappointing that the +Onondagas did not wait to be destroyed by the cannon +which with so much effort had been brought against them, +this expedition was a useful proof of strength and produced +a good moral effect throughout the colony as well as +among the western tribes. + +The events of 'William and Mary's War,' as it was known +in New England, show how wide the French zone in North +America had come to be. Frontenac's province extended +from Newfoundland to the Mississippi, from Onondaga to +Hudson Bay. The rarest quality of a ruler is the power +to select good subordinates and fill them with his own +high spirit. Judged by this standard Frontenac deserves +great praise, for he never lacked capable and loyal +lieutenants. With Callieres at Montreal, Tonty on the +Mississippi, Perrot and Du Lhut at Michilimackinac, +Villebon and Saint-Castin in Acadia, Sainte-Helene at +the siege of Quebec, and Iberville at Hudson Bay, he was +well supported by his staff. At this critical moment the +shortcomings of the French in America were certainly not +due to lack of purpose or driving power. The system under +which they worked was faulty, and in their extremity they +resorted to harsh expedients. But there were heroes in +New France, if courage and self-sacrifice are the essence +of heroism. + +The Peace of Ryswick, which was signed in the year after +Frontenac's campaign against the Onondagas, came as a +happy release to Canada (1697). For nine years the colony +had been hard pressed, and a breathing space was needed. +The Iroquois still remained a peril, but proportionately +their losses since 1689 had been far heavier than those +of the French and English. Left to carry on the war by +themselves, they soon saw the hopelessness of their +project to drive the French from the St Lawrence. The +English were ready to give them defensive assistance, +even after word came from Europe that peace had been +signed. In 1698 the Earl of Bellomont, then governor of +New York, wrote Frontenac that he would arm every man in +his province to aid the Iroquois if the French made good +their threat to invade once more the land of the Five +Nations. Frontenac, then almost on his death-bed, sent +back the characteristic reply that this kind of language +would only encourage him to attack the Iroquois with the +more vigour. The sequel shows that the English at Albany +overplayed their part. The reward of their protection +was to be suzerainty, and at this price protection proved +unacceptable to the Iroquois, whose safety lay in the +equipoise of power between the rival whites. Three years +later the Five Nations renewed peace with Onontio; and, +though Frontenac did not live to see the day, he it was +who had brought it to pass. His daring and energy had +broken the spirit of the red man. In 1701 Callieres, then +governor of New France, held a great council at Montreal, +which was attended by representatives from all the Indian +tribes of the West as well as from the Iroquois. There, +amid all the ceremonies of the wilderness, the calumet +was smoked and the hatchet was interred. + +But the old warrior was then no more. On returning to +Quebec from his war against the Onondagas he had thrown +himself into an active quarrel with Champigny, the +intendant, as to the establishment and maintenance of +French posts throughout the West. To the last Frontenac +remained an advocate of the policy which sought to place +France in control of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. +Champigny complained of the expense and the Jesuits +lamented the immorality which life in the forest encouraged +among young men. It was an old quarrel renewed under +conditions which Made the issue more important than ever, +for with open war between French and English it became +of vital moment to control points which were, or might +be, strategic. + +This dispute with Champigny was the last incident in +Frontenac's stormy life. It remains to the credit of both +governor and intendant that their differences on matters +of policy did not make them irreconcilable enemies. On +the 28th of November 1698 Frontenac died at the Chateau +St Louis after an illness of less than a month. He had +long been a hero of the people, and his friendship with +the Recollets shows that he had some true allies among +the clergy. No one in Canada could deny the value of his +services at the time of crisis--which was not a matter +of months but of years. Father Goyer, of the Recollets, +delivered a eulogy which in fervour recalls Bossuet's +funeral orations over members of the royal family. But +the most touching valedictory was that from Champigny, +who after many differences had become Frontenac's friend. +In communicating to the Colonial Office tidings of the +governor's death, Champigny says: 'On the 28th of last +month Monsieur le Comte de Frontenac died, with the +sentiments of a true Christian. After all our disputes, +you will hardly believe, Monseigneur, how truly and deeply +I am touched by his death. He treated me during his +illness in a manner so obliging that I should be utterly +devoid of gratitude if I did not feel thankful to him.' + +There is a well-known portrait of Madame de Frontenac, +which may still be seen at Versailles. Of Frontenac +himself no portrait whatever exists. Failing his likeness +from brush or pencil, we must image to ourselves as best +we may the choleric old warrior who rescued New France +in her hour of need. In seeking to portray his character +the historian has abundant materials for the period of +his life in Canada, though we must regret the dearth of +information for the years which separate his two terms +of office. There is also a bad gap in our sources for +the period which precedes his first appointment as +governor. What we have from Madame de Montpensier and +Saint-Simon is useful, but their statements are far from +complete and provoke many questions which must remain +unanswered. His letters and reports as governor of Canada +exist in considerable numbers, but it must remain a source +of lasting regret that his private correspondence has +perished. + +Some one has said that talent should be judged at its +best and character at its worst; but this is a phrase +which does not help us to form a true estimate of Frontenac. +He touched no heights of genius and he sank to no depths +of crime. In essential respects his qualities lie upon +the surface, depicted by his acts and illustrated by his +own words or those of men who knew him well. Were we +seeking to set his good traits against his bad, we should +style him, in one column, brave, steadfast, daring, +ambitious of greatness, far-sighted in policy; and in +the other, prodigal, boastful, haughty, unfair in argument, +ruthless in war. This method of portraiture, however, is +not very helpful. We can form a much better idea of +Frontenac's nature by discussing his acts than by throwing +adjectives at him. + +As an administrator he appears to least advantage during +his first term of office, when, in the absence of war, +his energies were directed against adversaries within +the colony. Had he not been sent to Canada a second +time, his feud with Laval, Duchesneau, and the Jesuits +would fill a much larger space in the canvas than it +occupies at present. For in the absence of great deeds +to his credit obstinacy and truculence might have been +thought the essentials rather than the accidents of his +character. M. Lorin, who writes in great detail, finds +much to say on behalf of Frontenac's motives, if not of +his conduct, in these controversies. But viewing his +career broadly it must be held that, at best, he lost a +chance for useful co-operation by hugging prejudices and +prepossessions which sprang in part from his own love of +power and in part from antipathy towards the Jesuits in +France. He might not like the Jesuits, but they were a +great force in Canada and had done things which should +have provoked his admiration. In any case, it was his +duty to work with them on some basis and not dislocate +the whole administration by brawling. As to Duchesneau, +Frontenac was the broader man of the two, and may be +excused some of the petulance which the intendant's +pin-pricks called forth. + +Frontenac's enemies were fond of saying that he used his +position to make illicit profits from the fur trade. +Beyond question he traded to some extent, but it would +be harsh to accuse him of venality or peculation on the +strength of such evidence as exists. There is a strong +probability that the king appointed him in the expectation +that he would augment his income from sources which lay +outside his salary. Public opinion varies from age to +age regarding the latitude which may be allowed a public +servant in such matters. Under a democratic regime the +standard is very different from that which has existed, +for the most part, under autocracies in past ages. +Frontenac was a man of distinction who accepted an +important post at a small salary. We may infer that the +king was willing to allow him something from perquisites. +If so, his profits from the fur trade become a matter of +degree. So long as he kept within the bounds of reason +and decency, the government raised no objection. Frontenac +certainly was not a governor who pillaged the colony to +feather his own nest. If he took profits, they were not +thought excessive by any one except Duchesneau. The king +recalled him not because he was venal, but because he +was quarrelsome. + +Assuming the standards of his own age, a reasonable plea +can also be made on Frontenac's behalf respecting the +conduct of his wars. 'Man's inhumanity to man makes +countless thousands mourn' in our own day no less than +in the seventeenth century; while certain facts of recent +memory are quite lurid enough to be placed in comparison +with the border raids which, under Frontenac, were made +by the French and their Indian allies. It is dreadful to +know that captured Iroquois were burned alive by the +French, but after the Lachine massacre and the tortures +which French captives endured, this was an almost inevitable +retaliation. The concluding scenes of King Philip's War +prove, at any rate, that the men of New England exercised +little more clemency towards their Indian foes than was +displayed by the French. The Puritans justified their +acts of carnage by citations from the Old Testament +regarding the Canaanites and the Philistines. The most +bitter chronicler of King Philip's War is William Hubbard, +a Calvinist pastor of Ipswich. On December 19, 1675, the +English of Massachusetts and Connecticut stormed the +great stronghold of the Narragansetts. To quote John +Fiske: 'In the slaughter which filled the rest of that +Sunday afternoon till the sun went down behind a dull +gray cloud, the grim and wrathful Puritan, as he swung +his heavy cutlass, thought of Saul and Agag, and spared +not. The Lord had delivered up to him the heathen as +stubble to his sword. As usual the number of the slain +is variously estimated. Of the Indians probably not less +than a thousand perished.' + +For the slaughter of English women and children by French +raiders there was no precedent or just provocation. Here +Frontenac must be deemed more culpable than the Puritans. +The only extenuating circumstance is that those who +survived the first moments of attack were in almost all +cases spared, taken to Canada, and there treated with +kindness. + +Writers of the lighter drama have long found a subject +in the old man whose irascibility is but a cloak for +goodness of heart. It would be an exaggeration to describe +Frontenac as a character of this type, for his wrath +could be vehement, and benevolence was not the essential +strain in his disposition. At the same time, he had many +warm impulses to his credit. His loyalty to friends stands +above reproach, and there are little incidents which show +his sense of humour. For instance, he once fined a woman +for lampooning him, but caused the money to be given to +her children. Though often unfair in argument, he was by +nature neither mean nor petty. In ordinary circumstances +he remembered noblesse oblige, and though boastfulness +may have been among his failings, he had a love of +greatness which preserved him from sordid misdemeanours. +Even if we agree with Parkman that greatness must be +denied him, it yet remains to be pointed out that absolute +greatness is a high standard attained by few. Frontenac +was a greater man than most by virtue of robustness, +fire, and a sincere aspiration to discharge his duty as +a lieutenant of the king. + +He doubtless thought himself ill-used in that he lacked +the wealth which was needed to accomplish his ambitions +at court. But if fortune frowned upon him at Versailles, +she made full compensation by granting him the opportunity +to govern Canada a second time. As he advanced in years +his higher qualities became more conspicuous. His vision +cleared. His vanities fell away. There remained traces +of the old petulance; but with graver duties his stature +increased and the strong fibre of his nature was disclosed. +For his foibles he had suffered much throughout his whole +life. But beneath the foibles lay courage and resolve. +It was his reward that in the hour of trial, when upon +his shoulders rested the fate of France in America, he +was not found wanting. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Of the literature on Frontenac and his period the greater +part is in French. The books in English to which attention +may be specially called are: + + Parkman, Francis: 'Count Frontenac and New France + under Louis XIV.' + + Le Sueur, William Dawson: 'Count Frontenac' in the + 'Makers of Canada' series. + + Winsor, Justin: 'Cartier to Frontenac.' + + Stewart, George: 'Frontenac and his Times' in the + 'Narrative and Critical History of America,' edited + by Justin Winsor, vol. iv. + +In French the most important works are: + + Lorin, Henri: 'Le Comte de Frontenac.' + + Myrand, Ernest: 'Frontenac et ses Amis; Phips devant + Quebec.' + + Rochemonteix, Le Pere Camille de: 'Les Jesuites et la + Nouvelle France,' vol. iii. + + Gosselin, L'Abbe: 'La Vie de Mgr Laval.' + + Sulte, B.: 'Histoire des Canadiens-Francais.' + + Ferland, L'Abbe: 'Cours d'Histoire du Canada.' + + Faillon, L'Abbe: 'Histoire de la Colonie Francaise en + Canada,' vol. iii. + + Gagnon, Ernest: 'Le Fort et le Chateau Saint-Louis.' + + Garneau, F.-X.: 'Histoire du Canada,' edited by Hector + Garneau. + +Among the original sources for this period the following +are likely to be found in any large library: + + 'Jugements et Deliberations du Conseil Souverain.' + + 'Edits et Ordonnances.' + + 'Relations des Jesuites.' Ed. Thwaites. + + 'Memoires et Documents pour servir a l'histoire des + origines francaises des pays d'outre-mer,' + ed. P. Margry. + + 'Les Lettres de La Hontan.' + + 'Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec, par la mere + Juchereau de Saint-Denis.' + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Fighting Governor, by Charles W. Colby + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR *** + +This file should be named 5146.txt or 5146.zip + +This etext was produced by Gardner Buchanan. + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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