|
FROM
the moment that Prince William of Orange, the one unconquerable foe
of Louis XIV, was called to the throne of England, war between
England and France was a foregone conclusion. It was not declared,
however, in France till the 25th
June 1689.
Frontenac sailed from Rochelle on the 5th
August following, the very day of the Lachine massacre. The king in
an interview with him is reported to have said: "I am sending you
back to Canada, where I am sure that you will serve me as well as
you did before; I ask nothing more of you." His Majesty also
intimated, we are told, that he believed the charges made against
him were without foundation. During the intervals between his two
terms of office, Frontenac had been living for the most part at
court, in rather reduced circumstances. The king once at least came
to his relief with a gratuity of three thousand five hundred francs,
and possibly other liberalities may have flowed to him from the same
royal source, though .Mr. Ernest Myrand, after careful research, has
not been able to discover trace of any.
The mission which was tendered to the aged
count—he was now in his seventieth year—was one which a younger man
might have felt some hesitation in accepting. The last accounts from
Canada showed the country to be in a deplorable condition, equally
unable to make an enduring peace or to wage a successful war ; and
the worst was yet to be told on the governor's arrival. The
situation was rendered decidedly more critical by the fact of the
war with England. True, a treaty had been made by Louis XIV with
James II, providing that, should war break out between France and
England, it should not extend to their American possessions; but
Louis, who did not recognize William III as a legitimate sovereign,
probably felt under no obligation to observe a treaty made with his
predecessor. We know, at least, that a scheme for the conquest of
the English colonies was arranged before Frontenac's departure.
Callieres, Governor of Montreal, had been sent to France by
Denonville in the fall of 1688 to represent the perilous situation
of the colony, and to urge the king to adopt a system of reprisals
against the English for the misdeeds of the Iroquois. Callieres and
Frontenac had some friends in common, and were thus brought together
at court, and the plan that was adopted was probably one that they
had jointly suggested to the court. It was, briefly, that two or
three war vessels should accompany Frontenac to Canada; that the
count should disembark at some point on 230
the coast of Acadia, and proceed by the first
private vessel he could secure to Quebec; that on arrival there he
should organize a force of sixteen hundred men, one thousand
regulars, and six hundred militia, to march on New York by way of
Albany; and that when he was ready to move, he should notify the
commander of the squadron, so that the latter might advance to New
York, and be prepared to co-operate in the capture and occupation of
the place. Meantime, the naval force was to employ itself in picking
up any English trading vessels that might fall in its way.
Not only were plans thus formed for invading and
seizing the English colonies, but the French king made complete
arrangements as to the treatment of the inhabitants when conquered.
Those who either were Catholics, or were prepared to embrace the
Catholic faith, might be allowed to remain in possession of their
property and civil rights ; the citizens of means were to be
imprisoned and held for ransom, the rest of the population,
numbering about eighteen thousand, were to forfeit everything and be
driven penniless out of the country. It was proposed to deport them,
in the first place, to New England, pending the ulterior conquest of
that region. M. Lorin truly observes that Louis XIY, having just
deprived his own subjects of religious liberty by the revocation of
the Edict of Nantes, could not possibly be expected to tolerate it
in any country of which he might acquire
control. A more ruthless policy could scarcely have been devised,
nor, it may be added, a more senseless one. The deportation of so
large a body of inhabitants, mainly of Dutch origin, and all
accustomed to the use of arms, was a task ridiculously beyond the
ability of the forces he was proposing to employ for the purpose.
The plan was followed, so far as the sending out
of a small squadron with the new governor-general was concerned.
Sailing, as already mentioned, on the 5th August, Frontenac arrived
at Chedabucto (Guysborough), near the Straits of Canso, on the 12th
September, and there embarked in a small vessel, the
Franpois J'avier, for Quebec. On the way
he stopped at Percé, where the Rdcollet missionaries informed him of
the massacre of Lachine. His vessel must have been detained by
contrary winds, for it was the 12th October before he arrived at
Quebec. Here he was received by the citizens with the liveliest
manifestations of joy. The ecclesiastics associated themselves,
bon gre mal gre, with the popular
feeling. The town was illuminated by night and hung with banners by
day; a Te
JDeuvi was sung; and a Jesuit father
delivered what is recorded to have been a most pathetic discourse.
On all hands the count was acclaimed as the man the country needed
to restore its fallen fortunes and stay the hand of the destroyer.
Denonville and Champigny did not grace the rejoicings ; they were at
Montreal.
Quebec, however, was not the point of danger,
nor that at which the governor's services were most required. Still
he remained there eight days before proceeding to Montreal, where he
arrived on the 27th October. At that place he learnt from Denonville
of the instructions he had given for the abandonment and destruction
of Fort Frontenac. The indignation of the old warrior, to whom the
fort called after his name was a spot of peculiar predilection, can
better be imagined than described. He could hardly believe that a
French governor could perform so craven an act. If we may trust the
Baron La Hontan, who does not in this case tax very seriously our
powers of belief, the interview between the two dignitaries was a
decidedly stormy one.1 There was no time to waste,
however, in useless debate. Something possibly had happened to delay
or prevent the carrying out of the orders, and the fort might
perhaps yet be saved. An expedition was hastily organized to proceed
to the spot and ascertain the facts, but scarcely had it well
started before it encountered the entire garrison of the fort, minus
six men, whom they had lost in the rapids on the way down, returning
to Montreal. The deed had therefore been done. Valrennes, the
commandant, told how he had destroyed the
stores, thrown such arms and ammunition as he could not remove into
the river, undermined the walls and fired the train, and how, as
they retreated, they had heard a dull explosion. Yes, the deed had
been done; but, as it turned out later, not with the full result
intended. The mines had exploded, but probably they had been hastily
and not over skilfully placed, and the injury to the walls was but
slight. Not long afterwards Frontenac was able to repair the damage
and put the fort once more in a condition of defence.
The season was now so far advanced that the
project which had been formed of raising a large force with which to
invade English territory, in conjunction with a naval attack on New
York, had to be abandoned. La Caffini&re, commander of the squadron,
waited for two months for some sign of the arrival of the Canadians,
and then sailed back to France, making a few prizes on the way. But,
if the governor was unable to organize an expedition on a large
scale, he did not forego his intention of attacking the English
colonies. If he could not march with an army he could make raids
after the Indian fashion. His plan was to stand simply on the
defensive as regards the Iroquois, and to impress their minds by the
suddenness and vigour of his attacks on the English. Three raiding
parties were accordingly-organized, one having its base at Montreal,
the second at Three Rivers, and the third at Quebec.
The Montreal party consisted of a little over
two hundred men, of whom somewhat less than half were mission
Indians from Sault St. Louis—the present Caughnawaga settlement—and
the Montreal Mountain. The remainder of the party consisted for the
most part of
coureurs de bois, formidable men for
border warfare, far steadier than the Indians, and just as wary.
Their destination was Albany and the neighbouring English
settlements. The leaders were men of skill and courage, Daillebout
de Mantet, and Le Moyne de Ste. Hdlene; the latter, a man greatly
admired and beloved for his brilliant soldierly qualities and gay,
amiable disposition, but nevertheless a keen and relentless fighter.
With these were two of Ste. Hélene's brothers, formidable men all,
Le Moyne d'lberville, who had already made fame for himself in
Hudson's Bay, where still greater glory yet awaited him, and Le
Moyne de Bienville, together with several other members of the
Canadian
noblesse. The Three Rivers party was
under the charge of Francois Hertel, a man of much experience in
Indian warfare. When quite a lad he had been carried off by the
Iroquois, and had endured some cruel treatment at their hands before
making his escape, and since then he had been in constant contact
with them either in peace or in war. With him went three of his
sons, twenty-four Frenchmen, and twenty-five Indians, fifty-two men
in all. The third party, recruited at Quebec, consisted of fifty
Frenchmen and sixty Abenaquis Indians from the settlement at the
falls of the Chaudi&re, under the command of M. de Portneuf, who had
as lieutenant his cousin, Repentigny, Sieur de Courtemanche. The
Montreal expedition set out in the beginning of February, those from
Three Rivers and Quebec a few days earlier; but before recounting
their exploits, it may be well to glance at the negotiations, which
the governor was at this time carrying on with a view to putting the
relations of the colony with the Iroquois tribes on a better basis.
The king, it has been mentioned, had consented
to send back the Indians who had been so treacherously captured and
sent to France as galley slaves. It would be doing his Majesty
injustice to suppose that he ever intended his representative in
Canada to procure men for his galleys in so disreputable a fashion.
The Marquis of Denonville from the moment of his arrival in Canada
had breathed nothing but war ; and the king doubtless counted on a
large number of prisoners as the result of his martial prowess. It
is significant that, even before encountering the Senecas,
Denonville should have written to the king explaining how very
difficult it was to capture Iroquois in battle. He did not say so,
but he doubtless thought that to trap them would be much easier. Out
of nearly forty Indians sent to France, thirteen only were alive
when the order for their restoration to their country was given; the
rest had died of hardship and homesickness. The survivors were sent
out in the same vessel with Frontenac, who did all in his power to
make them forget the wrongs they had suffered. The most important
man in the band was a Cayuga chief named Orehaou£, between whom and
the count a sincere friendship seems to have sprung up. During the
whole voyage the count treated him with the highest consideration,
invited him to eat at his table, and furnished him with a handsome
uniform; so that, by the time they landed at Quebec, the savage
chief was completely won over to the French side. The same treatment
was continued after they landed. Orehaou^ was lodged in the Chateau
St. Louis and went everywhere with the governor. There was policy in
this of course on Frontenac's part, but there is no reason to doubt
that on both sides there was a genuine feeling of attachment.
After viewing the scene of desolation at
Lachine, Frontenac reported to the king that nine square leagues of
territory had been laid waste. The question was what to do. The best
course seemed to be to send four of the Indians who had been brought
back from France to their Iroquois kinsmen with a suitable message.
They were despatched accordingly, accompanied by an Indian named
Gagniogoton who, a short time before, had come to Montreal as a kind
of ambassador, but whose tone had been
more insolent than conciliatory. The returned warriors were to
invite their people " to come and welcome their father whom they had
so long missed, and thank him for his goodness to them in restoring
a chief whom they had given up as lost,"1 namely Orehaou£.
The latter did not accompany the mission, Frontenac considering that
he would be more useful for the present at Montreal. It does not
appear exactly when the envoys set out, but, after some delay,
consequent upon prolonged deliberation on the part of the tribes,
they returned to Montreal on the 9th March. It was evident the
mission had' not been a great success. The messengers came laden
with belts of wampum, each of which had its own special
significance, yet for several days they kept silence. Finally at the
urgent request of M. de Calli&res—Frontenac had gone back to Quebec
— they disburdened themselves of the messages with which they were
charged. Belt number' one was to explain that delay, had been caused
by the arrival of an Ottawa delegation among the Senecas with
overtures of peace, as a pledge of which they had brought with them
a number of Iroquois prisoners whom they were prepared to restore.
The second belt was meant to express the joy of the whole Iroquois
confederacy over the return of Orehaou£, whom they spoke of as their
general-in-cliief. The third demanded the return of Orehaoue and the
other prisoners ; and mentioned the fact
that all the surviving French prisoners were at the chief town of
the Onondagas, and that no disposition would be made of them till
they should hear the advice of Orehaoue on his return home. The
fourth congratulated Frontenac on his wish to plant again the tree
of peace; but the fifth was the most expressive of all. Referring to
the desire of Frontenac to bring them again to his fort, it said: "
Know you not that the fire of peace no longer burns in that fort;
that it is extinguished by the blood that has been spilt there; the
place where the council is held is all red; it has been desecrated
by the treachery perpetrated there." Fort Frontenac, it went on to
say, was henceforth an impossible place for peaceful gatherings: if
the tree of peace was again to be planted it must be in some other
spot, nearer or more distant they did not care—only not
there. Then these words were added: "In
fine, Father Onontio, you have whipped your children most severely;
your rods were too cutting and too long; and after having used me
thus you can readily judge that I have some sense now." The sixth
belt mentioned that there were parties now out on the war-path, but
that they were prepared to spare their prisoners should they take
any, if the French would agree to do the same on their side. There
was no lack of frankness in the further . information conveyed by
this belt, which was to the effect that the Onondagas had received
eight prisoners as their share of the prisoners taken at La Chesnaye,
and had eaten four of them, and spared the other four. This was
intended to show their superiority in humanity to the French, who,
having taken three Seneca prisoners, had eaten them all, that is to
say, allowed their Indian allies to kill and eat them, instead of
sparing one or two. To what incident this refers is not clear, as
Denonville did not report any prisoners taken in his fight with the
Senecas.
Callieres sent the deputation down to Quebec to
see the governor-general; but the latter, according to the account
here followed, which was written by his own secretary, Monseignat,
declined to give them an audience, mainly on account of the
objection he had to their spokesman, Gagniogoton. Doubtless
Callieres had informed him sufficiently of the tenor of the
communications they had to make. The governor had much on his mind,
but he was not a man to act in nervous haste. Towards the close of
the month of December, a man named Zachary Jolliet arrived at Quebec
from Michilimackinac, having been despatched by La Durantaye to
represent the perilous nature of the situation there owing to the
very unsatisfactory dispositions of the Lake tribes. The massacre of
Lachine with all its attendant circumstances had convinced them that
French power was at a very low ebb. As the narrative says: "They saw
nothing on our part but universal supineness; our houses burnt; our
people carried off; the finest portion of our country ruined; and
all done without any 240
one being moved; or, at least, if any attempts
were made, the trifling effort recoiled to our shame." Yet what the
French, individually, were capable of may be judged by the fact that
this messenger, with only one companion, had come all the way from
Michilimackinac at a most inclement season of the year, partly in a
canoe and partly on the ice, reaching Quebec at the very end of
December. Surely some benumbing influence must have been at work
upon the colony. Was it the extreme medievalism of the Denonville
regime aided by an excessive use of intoxicating liquors? These at
least were
verce causae, and might well have had 110
small share in creating the situation described.
Something had to be done, and that speedily, to
strengthen La Durantaye's position, or the French of the Upper Lakes
would virtually find themselves hostages in the hands of disaffected
tribes; if indeed their lives were not sacrificed to cement the
union which the Ottawas were even then endeavouring to effect with
the Iroquois. Frontenac wanted to send Zachary Jolliet back at once
with instructions ; but it was learnt that the route was infested by
Iroquois; very unwillingly, therefore, he deferred action till the
breaking of the ice in the spring. He then despatched M. de Louvigny,
with a hundred and forty-three Canadians and a small number of
Indians, to strengthen the garrison and relieve La Durantaye. With
this contingent went a man well known to all the region, and probably
second to none in his ability to influence the native mind, Nicolas
Perrot. The count did not, however, entrust Perrot with any merely
verbal message, but placed in his hands a written one, conceived in
the style of which he had acquired so great a mastery. "Children,"
said Onontio, " I am astonished to learn on arriving that you have
forgotten the protection I always afforded you. Remember that I am
your father, who adopted you, and who has loved you so tenderly. I
gave you your country; I drove the horrors of war far from it, and
introduced peace there. You had no home before that. You were
wandering about exposed to the Iroquois tempests. Hark, I speak to
you as a father. My body is big; it is strong and cannot die. Think
you I am going to remain in a state of inactivity such as prevailed
during my absence; and, if eight or ten hairs have been pulled from
my children's heads when I was absent, that I cannot put ten
handfuls of hair in the place of one that has been torn out ? or
that, for one piece of bark that has been stripped from my cabin, I
cannot put double the number in its place? Children, know that I
always am, that nothing but the Great Spirit can destroy me, and
that it is I who destroy all." The message went on to refer to the
Iroquois as a ravenous dog who formerly was snapping and biting at
every one, but whom Frontenac had tamed and tied up, and whom he
would discipline again if he did not mend his ways. The blood shed
at Montreal last summer, it said, was of no account; the houses
destroyed were only two or three rat holes. The English were not
people to have confidence in ; they deceived and devoured their
children. " I am strong enough to kill the English, destroy the
Iroquois, and whip you if you fail in your duty to me." Finally
there was a warning against the use of English rum, which was
killing in its effects, whereas French brandy was health-giving.
What the effect of this allocution would have
been, unsupported by favouring circumstances, it is difficult to
say. The Indian tribes all had a remarkable gift of perspicacity.
They had no need of Dr. Johnson's advice to clear their minds of
cant, for cant was something quite foreign to their mental habits ;
it was not a product of forest life. It happened, however, that
Perrot was able to show them a number of Iroquois scalps, and hand
over to them an Iroquois prisoner that his party had taken on their
journey up the Ottawa. This looked like business, and lent a weight
which might otherwise have been lacking to the somewhat fustian
eloquence of Onontio. The affair of the capture had happened in this
wise. As the expedition neared the place now known as Sand Point, on
the river Ottawa, they discovered two Iroquois canoes drawn up at
the end of the point. Three canoes were detached to attack the
enemy, but were received with a heavy fire from an ambush on the
shore, by which four Frenchmen were killed. Perrot, who thought it
much more important to accomplish his mission among the Ottawas than
to have even a successful fight with the Iroquois, did not at first
wish to push the matter further; but his men were full of fight, and
he finally, allowed a general attack to be made, which resulted most
successfully. More than thirty Iroquois, the narrative says, were
killed, and many more were wounded. Out of thirteen canoes only four
escaped. Two prisoners were taken. One of these was sent to Quebec
and was used by Frontenac to help out his negotiations with their
nation; the other was taken to Michilimackinac. His fate was not a
pleasant one. Perrot gave him to the Hurons, and by so doing made
the Ottawas a little jealous. Both Ottawas and Hurons were at the
time meditating an alliance with the Iroquois, and the Hurons
thought they could make good use of their prisoner as a
peace-offering. The French, however, were not going to have any
nonsense of that kind. The commanders conferred with the
missionaries, and finally a hint was dropped to the Hurons that, if
they did not put their prisoner " into the kettle," he would be
taken from them and given to the Ottawas. That settled the question
; the unhappy prisoner was put to death with the customary tortures,
and all chance of peace between Hurons and Iroquois was thus
destroyed. What the Ottawas might do still remained uncertain.
Frontenac's message had by no means wholly won them over to the
French alliance. They had heard of the warfare Onontio was waging
against the English, and thought they would await developments.
That war had been going merrily on in its own
fashion, and Perrot was able to give an account of the success of
the principal expedition—the one directed against Albany—for it had
returned to Montreal after doing its bloody work nearly two months
before he left for the Upper Lakes.1
The story of the three war parties must now be woven into our
narrative. The one just mentioned started from Montreal on one of
the first days in February (1690).
The Indians of the party had not been in-* formed what their
destination was. When they learned that the intention was to attack
Albany, they inquired with surprise how long it was since the French
had become so bold. Like the Indians of the West, they had drawn
their own conclusions from the events of the previous year. They
were not disposed to join in so hazardous an undertaking ; and it is
allowable, perhaps, to doubt whether it was at any time seriously
contemplated to make Albany the point of attack. If it was, the
leaders changed their minds, for on coming to a point where the
roads to that place and to Corlaer or Schenectady diverged, they
took the latter. The difficulties of the march were extreme. Though
it was yet midwinter, more or less thaw prevailed, and during much
of the journey the men had to walk knee-deep in water. Then on the
last day or two came a blast of excessive cold. A few miles from
Corlaer the expedition was halted, and the chief man of the
Christian Mohawks harangued his people. The opportunity had now
come, he said, for taking ample revenge for all the injuries they
had received from the heathen Iroquois at the instigation of the
English, and to wash them out in blood. This Indian known as the
Great Mohawk, or in French as the
Grand Agnid, is described in the official
narrative as "the most considerable of his tribe, an honest man,
full of spirit, prudence, and generosity, and capable of the
greatest undertakings." The little army was in wretched plight, and
probably, had they been attacked at this point by even a small force
of men in good condition, they would have been completely routed. No
such attack, however, was made. Marching a little further, they
found a wigwam occupied only by four squaws. There was a fire in it,
and, benumbed with cold, they crowded round it in turns. At eleven
o'clock at night they were in sight of the town, but in order that
they might take the inhabitants in their deepest sleep, they
deferred the attack for three hours; then they burst in through an
open gate in the palisade. The official account says, in very simple
words, that" the massacre lasted two hours." This, be it remembered,
was supposed to be regular warfare, not between savage Indians, or
between French and Indians, but between French and English. War, as
already stated, had been declared between France and England, and
this was Frontenac's method of carrying on his part of it. When New
England retaliated later in the year by the attack on Quebec, we can
hardly wonder that some of the inhabitants of that city anticipated
a general massacre should the English obtain possession of the town.
The special enormities alleged to have been committed by the heathen
Iroquois in the massacre at Lachine are, by witnesses who made their
statements within a few days after the event, affirmed to have been
perpetrated by the Christian Indians at Schenectady. Sixty persons
in all were killed, thirty-eight being men and boys, ten women, and
twelve children of tender age.1 Many were wounded, thirty
were carried away captive. The chief magistrate of the place, John
Sanders Glen by name, lived outside the town in a palisaded and
fortified dwelling, which he was prepared to defend. He was known,
however, to the French commanders as a man who had always been
favourable to their people, having on several occasions rescued
French prisoners from the Mohawks, over whom he had great influence.
On being assured that his life and property would be spared, he
surrendered. It was also agreed to extend the same immunity to any
of his relatives who might have survived the massacre; and the
number of persons claiming the privilege was so great as to cause
the Indians to express some surprise and ill-humour at the wide
range of his family connection.
The homeward march was begun a day or two later.
It was by no means a prosperous one. Early in the attack a man on
horseback had escaped through the eastern gate of the town, and,
though shot at and wounded, was able to make his way to Albany and
give the alarm. Thence word was sent on to the Mohawk towns, and the
warriors, accompanied by a detachment of fifty young men from
Albany, started on the track of the retreating foe. Two only on the
French side had been killed in the attack on Schenectady, but before
the party reached Montreal, their losses amounted to twenty-one,
seventeen French, and four Indians. The opinion of the Mohawk
Indians on the character of the expedition was expressed in a
message of sympathy which they sent to the authorities at Albany.
"The French," they said, "did not act on this occasion like brave
men, but like thieves and robbers. Be not discouraged, we give this
belt to wipe away your tears. We do not think what the French have
done can be called a victory. It is only
a further proof of their cruel deceit."
The expedition organized at Three Rivers left
that place on the
28th January ;
but it was not till after two months' wanderings in the inhospitable
wilderness that they were able to strike their first blow. The New
England frontier had for a year past been in a very disturbed and
precarious condition owing to a renewed outbreak of hostilities on
the part of the Abenaquis Indians. A long period of previous warfare
with these tribes had been closed by the Treaty of Casco in 1678,
but now the frontier was again aflame. The English settlers
attributed the trouble to the machinations of the French with whom
the Abenaquis were in close alliance; and certain it is that the
Marquis of Denonville, in a memorandum written after his return to
France, takes credit to himself for the mischief done. He speaks of
the progress made in christianizing the Abenaquis, and of the
establishment near Quebec of two colonies of them which he thought
would prove useful. He then proceeds: " To the close relations which
I maintained with these savages through the Jesuits, and
particularly the two brothers Bigot, may be attributed the success
of the attacks which they made upon the English last summer when
they captured sixteen forts besides that of Pemquid, where there
were twenty cannon, and killed two hundred
men." The ex-governor exaggerates the number of
cannon in the fort at Pemquid, as there were only seven or eight,
and omits to mention the fact that, after that place had surrendered
on the promise that the lives of all in it should be spared, a
number were murdered by his Indians. That they were not also
tortured, Father Thury, who was with the attacking party, attributes
to the influence of his exhortations. M. Lorin, in giving an account
of the occurrence, says there is no doubt that the Abenaquis were
impelled by their missionary, the Abbé Thury. He quotes the
statement of Charlevoix that, before setting out, their first care
had been to make sure of the divine assistance, by partaking of the
sacrament. " Certainly," he says, " the part taken by the
missionaries in expeditions of this character, was a preponderating
one." He also ventures the theory that, as the heathen Iroquois
never penetrated into New England, the only enemies of the faith
upon whom the missionaries could exercise the zeal of their
Abenaquis converts were the English.
The fighting along the frontier lasted all
through the summer and autumn of 1689. The winter brought respite
from attack, and the settlers were beginning to indulge a sense of
security when Hertel and his fifty men crept up to the little
settlement of Salmon Falls, on the borders of New Hampshire and
Maine. The attack was made in very similar fashion to that at
Schenectady. The assailants burst in at night and at once began to
apply tomahawk and torch. Thirty persons, men, women, and children
indiscriminately, were slaughtered, and fifty-four were made
prisoners. Hearing that a force of English from Piscataqua, now
Portsmouth, was hastening to the scene, Hertel ordered a retreat. At
Wooster River the pursuers caught up with him, but, taking up an
advantageous position on the far side of that stream, he held them
in check, killing several as they tried to cross the narrow bridge.
At night he resumed his retreat. Some of the prisoners were given to
his Indians to torture and kill. It was unfortunate that Father
Thury was not present to inspire milder sentiments in these
converts.
Hertel was a born fighter, and when, upon
reaching one of the Abenaquis villages on the Kennebec, he learnt
that the Quebec party under M. de Portneuf had just passed south, he
determined to follow them with thirty-six of his men, though he was
obliged to leave behind him his eldest son who had been badly
wounded in the fight at Wooster River. A number of Indian warriors
joined the party at a point on the Kennebec ; and on the 25th May,
the united force, numbering between four and five hundred men,
encamped in the forest not far from the English
forts on Casco Bay. The principal of these was
Fort Loyal, a palisaded place mounting eight cannon. The others were
simple blockhouses. The several garrisons consisted of about one
hundred men under the command of Captain Sylvanus Davis, whose
narrative in the original—and most original—spelling has come down
to us. The garrison first knew that an enemy was at hand by hearing
the war-whoop of the Indians, who had just scalped an unfortunate
Scotsman found wandering about in the neighbourhood, all unconscious
of danger. Thirty volunteers at once sallied forth from the fort to
meet the foe. They had not gone far when they received a volley at
close range which killed half of them. Of the remaining half only
four reached the fort, all wounded. During the night the men in the
blockhouses crept into the fort, together with the inhabitants of
some neighbouring houses. The place could not be carried by assault,
so Portneuf determined to besiege it in due form by opening trenches
and working his way in. The work was well and rapidly done, and
Davis saw that surrender was inevitable. He inquired if there were
any French in the attacking force, and, if so, whether they would
give quarter. The answer was affirmative on both points. Davis
inquired whether the quarter would include men, women, and children,
wounded and unwounded, and whether they would all be allowed to
retire to the nearest English town. This was agreed to and sworn to;
but, no sooner had the occupants of the fort filed out, than the
Indians fell upon them, killed a number, and made prisoners of the
rest. Davis protested, but he was told that he arid his people were
rebels against their lawful king, and therefore without any claim to
consideration. The captives, Davis among them, were carried off to
Quebec, where they arrived about the middle of June. The fort was
burned, the guns were spiked, the neighbouring settlements
destroyed, and the dead left unburied.
Thus had Frontenac's expeditions fared. They had
spread grief and alarm amongst the English settlements, but had
inflicted no serious blow on English power. They had shown how
expert the colonial French had become in the methods of Indian
warfare, and also to how large an extent they had themselves inbibed
the Indian spirit. We may doubt whether Frontenac philosophized much
on the subject; his immediate object was to produce an effect on the
minds of his wavering Indian allies and his sullen Indian enemies;
and the raids into English territory, with the slaughterings and
burnings, were doubtless well adapted to that purpose. If Onontio
was strong enough and bold enough to make war in this fashion on
Corlaer and Kishon1 at once, there was something for
allies, and enemies as well, to reflect on. This view of the matter
finally prevailed with the Lake tribes. For some two or three years
trade had been almost at a standstill, and furs had accumulated
which the savages were now anxious to turn into European goods. With
one accord they determined to try the Montreal market once more, and
see Onontio face to face.
During the winter, while his guerrilla forces
were in the field, Frontenac had not been idle. Having arranged for
offensive measures, he next took thought for defensive ones ; and,
as if with a prevision that Quebec itself might not be exempt from
attack, he devoted special attention to strengthening the
fortifications of that place. He caused a vast amount of timber to
be cut for palisades, with which he protected the city at the rear,
its only weak point. In the spring he began the erection of a strong
stone redoubt; and the work was pushed with so much vigour that by
midsummer it was well advanced towards completion. These pressing
occupations did not, however, absorb all his thoughts. The fact of
his having been chosen a second time by the king for the
governorship of Canada, notwithstanding all the criticism of which
he had formerly been the object, gave him a position of manifest
strength, which even his bitterest opponents of former days could
not ignore. The Sovereign Council as a. whole recognized the fact,
and was anxious to arrange matters so as, if possible, to avoid
friction for the future.
The governor on his part was determined to
preserve an attitude of dignified, not to say haughty, reserve, and
throw upon the council the task of making such advances as might be
necessary. In pursuance of this policy, he refrained from attending
the meetings, though his presence was much required. The council
having deputed Auteuil, the attorney-general, to wait upon him and
invite his attendance, he replied that the council should be able to
manage its own business and that he would come when he thought the
king's service required it. It is hard to understand why Auteuil
should have been chosen for this negotiation ; for Frontenac must
have had a vivid recollection of the insolence with which he had
been treated during his first administration by this individual,
then a raw youth of not much over twenty. The next move of the
council was to send four of their number to repeat the invitation,
and to ask the governor at the same time with what ceremonies he
would wish to be received. His answer was that if they would propose
the form he would tell them whether it was satisfactory. The council
felt that the governor was pushing his advantage a little too far ;
but nevertheless they applied themselves to the question, and,
having devised a form which they thought could not fail to be
acceptable, sent Villeray, the first councillor, to the chateau to
explain what was proposed. Villeray was as deferential and
complimentary as he knew how; but the end was not yet. " See the
bishop, and any other parties who have knowledge of such matters,
and get their opinion," said the governor. The bishop was consulted
accordingly, but very properly declined to give any opinion. Thrown
back on their own resources the councillors devised the following
scheme: that, when his Lordship, the count, should decide to make
his first visit to the council, four of its members should present
themselves at the chateau in order to accompany him to the place of
meeting, which was the intendant's palace on the bank of the St.
Charles ; and that, on all subsequent occasions, he should be met by
two councillors at the head of the stairs and respectfully conducted
to his seat. This was duly explained by the first councillor,
Villeray, who said he was authorized to add that any modification of
the plan which the governor might suggest would be gladly adopted by
the council. This was submission indeed, yet still the count
hesitated. He asked to see the minutes of the council in which the
resolution bearing on the matter was recorded. Villeray struggled up
Palace Hill with the official register, and presented himself again
before the potentate, who found the entry in good shape, but
reserved his final answer. A few days later, having been again
waited on, he graciously informed the deputation that the
arrangement proposed was quite satisfactory. With what must really
be called a fatuous self-complacency, he added that, had the council
wished to go too far in the way of obsequiousness, he
could not have consented to it, as, being
himself its head, he was jealous of its dignity and honour. If for
some men there is, as the poet hints, " a far-off touch of greatness
" in knowing they are not great, it is to be feared Frontenac did
not possess that particular touch.
Not only were the fortifications of Quebec
strengthened, but steps were also taken to form a local militia
guard under the command of the town-major, Prevost. Leaving to that
officer the supervision of whatever work was still required on the
defences, Frontenac, accompanied by the intendant and Madame
Champigny, left the capital on the 22nd July for Montreal, where his
presence was much required. He probably did some inspection of posts
on the way, for he did not reach the end of his journey till the
31st. Trade at this time was pretty much at a standstill. Bands of
mission Indians were on the war-path against the English ; and every
now and again the Iroquois would swoop down on the settlements,
notwithstanding the fact that scouts were kept continually employed
along the routes by which they were accustomed to make their
approaches. Under the new administration the lesson of Lachine, the
lesson of eternal watchfulness, was being taken to heart. The
governor had much to occupy his thoughts. At Montreal, as at Quebec,
he was anxious to perfect the organization of the military forces,
and to place the city, from every point of view, in the best
possible condition of defence. He had not as yet received news as to
how Louvigny and Perrot had succeeded among the Lake tribes; yet
upon the success of their mission hung the most momentous issues.
Was Canada to secure allies in the West who would hold at least in
partial check the Iroquois power, or were Hurons, Ottawas, Iroquois,
and English to combine their forces for her destruction? Meantime
bad news had come from Acadia. Port Royal and other fortified posts
had been captured ; the English were in possession of the entire
country; the governor had been carried captive to Boston. It was
known that the English of Albany and New York were moving: what the
next news would be, who could tell?
On the 18th August news came. In hot haste the
officer in command at Lachine had despatched a messenger to say that
Lake St. Louis to the west was covered with Iroquois canoes bearing
down on the island. The terror of the inhabitants, in spite of the
presence of the governor amongst them, was extreme. Orders were
given to fire alarm guns to warn the inhabitants of the surrounding
country; and other measures of protection were being hastily
concerted, when a second messenger arrived to say that it was all a
mistake. It was not the dreaded Iroquois who were close at hand, but
a large body of Lake Indians who were coming to trade. Fear was at
once turned into joy. The envoys sent to the upper country in May
had been successful; a great danger had been averted.
Perrot with his scalps and Frontenac with his
vigorous and aggressive, if somewhat primitive and ruthless, war
policy had turned the scale in favour of Canada. Firm alliances
would now be made, and there would be a big market at Montreal.
The next day the canoes, laden with the
accumulated furs of the last two or three years, shot the Lachine
Rapids and landed at Montreal. There were about five hundred Indians
in all, Hurons, Ottawas, Crees, Ojibways, and various other tribes,
all bent on buying, selling, and negotiating. It was not the habit,
however, of these savages to enter precipitately on any kind of
business; and three days were allowed to elapse before they opened
their great council at which, tribe by tribe, they were to lay their
views before the governor. The first to speak were the Ottawas, and
their talk was almost exclusively of trade. Their instinct for
business was keen, and had it been possible they would probably have
steered clear of politics. They had had some experience of the low
prices of English goods, and were very insistent that the French
should deal with them on equally favourable terms. The spokesman of
the Hurons, a much weaker tribe numerically, was not so narrowly
commercial in his views. He said he had come down to see his father,
to listen to his voice, and to do his will. He presented three
belts. By the first he prayed that the war might be prosecuted
against the Iroquois as well as against the English. If not, he
feared he and his father would both die. The second thanked the
count for his former services to their nation. The third prayed him
to take pity on the Ottawas, and give them good bargains. Such a
manifestation of interest in the Ottawas was very touching; but
probably the Huron orator, whose people had a certain reputation for
subtlety, calculated that, if a lower tariff were made for the
Ottawas, all would get the benefit of it. On the • twenty-fifth of
the month, the count entertained them all at a great feast. Two oxen
and six large dogs furnished the meat, which was cooked with prunes.
Two barrels of wine were provided to wash this down, and liberal
rations of tobacco were served out to every man. Before the feasting
began, the count stood up to address his guests. He assured them
that he meant to prosecute the war with the Iroquois until he had
brought it to a successful issue, and forced them to sue for peace.
Then, when peace was made, it should be a general peace: all should
be included in it, and the Iroquois themselves would again be his
children. Meantime, however, they were preparing to invade the
country; and the question was whether to await their arrival or go
to meet them. Then ensued a remarkable performance, which might well
have employed a livelier pen than that of Monseignat who gives us
the account of it. Seizing a hatchet, the aged governor, war-worn
but yet fiery and vigorous, began to sing the war song, walking to
and fro in the most excited manner, and brandishing the hatchet over
his head in true Indian fashion. The effect was electric. The old
Onontio was surpassing himself. Here was a leader whose very
presence banished fear. When he had sufficiently excited their
admiration, and stimulated their warlike ardour, he handed the
hatchet to the different chiefs in turn, and to a number of
Frenchmen, who all imitated Onontio's example, vowing vengeance on
the foe. Then began the feast, a function to which it is needless to
say the savage guests brought ravenous appetites. In diplomacy
dinners have been known to work wonders; and Frontenac was seeking
the hearts of his guests through a well-recognized channel.
We have seen that the mission sent by the
governor to the Iroquois towards the close of the previous year, and
which returned in the following month of March, had not accomplished
any satisfactory result. The count waited till navigation was open
before resuming negotiations. He then determined to restore to their
nation the four returned Iroquois who had formed his first embassy,
and to make them the bearers of belts which he hoped would speak
strongly in favour of peace. With these Indians he sent a French
gentleman, the Chevalier d'Eau. He tendered the mission in the first
place to the gay and dashing Baron La Hontan; but that young man,
who was well versed in the classics, was afraid of the Iroquois even
when carrying gifts to them; and, with marked discretion, declined
the honour. The Chevalier d'Eau had no reason to congratulate
himself on having accepted it. He made his appearance amongst the
Iroquois at a most unfavourable moment. The affair at Schenectady
was fresh in their recollection; and though their own people had,
through motives of policy, been spared on that occasion, they were
under a strong pledge to the English to assist in revenging the
slaughter. A couple of Frenchmen who accompanied the chevalier were
burnt; he himself was soundly thrashed and handed over as a prisoner
to the English ; the messages of the belts were disregarded. No news
of the fate of the envoy had reached Frontenac up to the time of the
gathering of the western Indians at Montreal; but after their
departure the facts concerning them were obtained from some Iroquois
prisoners at Fort Frontenac. The one great gain of the year had been
the winning over of the Lake tribes, a result which at once assured
the safety of the French traders and missionaries in the West, and
prevented that isolation of the colony which would have followed had
an alliance been struck between those tribes and the Iroquois. |
