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IN
planning his attacks on the English colonies it does not appear that
Frontenac took specially into account the political disorganization
existing amongst them at the time, or built his hopes of success to
any extent on that circumstance. It is nevertheless true that, if
his object had been to strike at a moment of unpreparedness and
weakness, he could not have timed his operations better. The rule of
James II and his agents had been borne with no little reluctance by
his subjects in North America, and particularly by those of New
England, and when news came of his expulsion from the throne, his
flight from England-, and the arrival and coronation of the Prince
of Orange and his wife (daughter of James II) as king and queen,
there was at once a popular movement both at Boston and at New York
to seize the government, and hold it subject to the orders of the
new sovereigns. Sir Edmund Andros was governor of New England at the
time, with authority over the province of New York, Boston being the
chief seat of government, and the governor being represented at New
York by a lieutenant-governor, one Francis Nicholson. Andros had
been appointed governor of New York, by James, then Duke of York, to
whom the province had been patented in
1674, and had held the office till 1681, when lie was replaced by
Colonel Dongan of epistolary fame. His recall was consequent upon
complaints that had been made by the colonists of various arbitrary
acts on his part; but on his arrival in England he managed to defend
himself successfully, and in 1686, James being now on the throne, he
was sent out again with the larger jurisdiction we have mentioned.
Religious passions in those days ran high; and
Andros, who was a strong churchman, soon found himself on worse
terms with the puritanical population of Boston than he had been
with the more heterogeneous and less rigid inhabitants of New York.
The circumstances of the time, it must be confessed, were such as to
excuse a somewhat sensitive condition of public feeling. Two years
before the arrival of Andros, the Court of Chancery of England had
declared null and void the charter granted to the colony of
Massachusetts in the year 1629, which, from that date onwards, had
been the basis, not only of all government, but of all land grants,
transfers of property, and popular liberties generally. A
provisional government, under one Joseph Dudley had succeeded. Then
had come Andros, commissioned by a king who was far from commanding
the unlimited confidence of his subjects at home, and who was looked
upon with at least equal distrust by the ultra-Protestants of his
American dominions. How long they were going to be deprived of
legally guaranteed liberties there was no knowing, nor what the
intentions of James II might be in regard to their beloved
commonwealth. They did not think it impossible he might wish to hand
them over to his close ally the King of France ; and in Andros they
feared they saw only too meet an instrument for stratagems and
spoils. The instructions given to him as governor contained a
special injunction to favour by all means in his power the rites and
doctrines of the Church of England ; and the colonists, with the
exception of a small minority, were maddened to see public taxes
applied to this hateful object. As the Indians were giving trouble,
the governor made a campaign against them in the summer of 1688,
which was not- very successful; hence more odium gathered on his
head. Having failed in his measures of offence he thought he would
at least provide for defence, and garrisoned the forts on the
frontier with six hundred men, chiefly militia. More discontent: the
garrisons served unwillingly, and the people at home professed to
believe that such measures were unnecessary. A small detachment of
soldiers had come out with Andros. Their conduct, according to
contemporary accounts, was most unedifying and in shocking contrast
to the unrelenting rigour and formality of colonial piety. It is not
surprising therefore that, when, in April 1689, news was brought
that James II, whose commission Andros bore, was no longer king, but
that the leader of European Protestantism
reigned in his stead, there should have been an instant uprising of
the populace against his representative. Andros was seized and
imprisoned with fifty of his followers. "For seven weeks," says a
contemporary writer, " there was not so much as the face of any
government." A vessel having arrived towards the end of May with
instructions to proclaim William and Mary, certain of the members of
the former General Council assumed to act, and one of their number,
the aged Simon Bradstreet, was named as governor.
It did not take long for the news to travel from
Boston to New York. The condition of things there was different;
public opinion was not in the same state of exasperation as at
Boston ; still Andros was of old unpopular, and after a little
hesitation, a movement was organized, headed by one Jacob Leisler,
to take the government out of the hands of the lieutenant-governor,
Nicholson. Like his superior officer at Boston, the latter was
obliged to submit; and Leisler, most unhappily for himself and his
family, assumed, with the support of a committee of citizens, the
control of affairs. Thus, both in New England and in New York, there
supervened a period of divided councils and enfeebled
administration, and this at the precise moment when the colonies
were about to encounter new perils. The provisional government of
New England, in blind opposition to the policy of Sir Edmund Andros,
withdrew or greatly reduced the garrisons he had wisely established
along the frontier. If Leisler could have got his authority
recognized at Albany he would have sent forces for the defence of
the northern part of the province. There was a party there in his
favour; but the magistrates, though quite ready to pay allegiance to
William and Mary, thought Leisler's credentials of too dubious a
character to justify their negotiating with him. Between divided
responsibility and irresponsibility, the difference is not great.
News had been received that the French were meditating mischief, but
no proper precautionary measures were taken. To this condition of
unpreparedness the horrible disaster of Schenectady may be
distinctly attributed, and probably those at Salmon Falls and Casco
Bay as well.
Even after the mischief was done, it was
extremely difficult to secure any harmonious or well-directed
action. A strong appeal was sent by the magistrates of Albany to the
governor and council of Massachusetts, representing their own
deplorable condition of weakness, and asking that New England should
undertake the serious enterprise of invading Canada by water. That
was a matter for grave consideration, and one, the authorities of
Massachusetts thought, in which, if they attempted it at all, they
should have the assistance of the Mother Country. They despatched a
vessel in April to England with a request for help; but meantime,
spurred by their own wrongs and sufferings, they determined to
take an easier revenge on the French by
invading Acadia. Early in the month of May 1690 the different New
England colonies sent delegates to a congress held at New York for
the purpose of deciding on a military policy. The conclusion come to
was that there should be both a land and a sea expedition, the first
directed against Montreal, the second against Quebec. To the former
New York was to contribute four hundred men and the New England
colonies jointly three hundred and fifty-five. The Iroquois, it was
expected, would add a powerful contingent. The naval expedition, it
was proposed, should be provided entirely by the New England
colonies. The Massachusetts delegates hesitated to commit themselves
to so extensive and costly a scheme, but finally agreed to undertake
it, relying on assistance from the Mother Country, which, in
existing circumstances, they hardly thought could be refused.
Meantime the expedition against Acadia could be pushed forward.
French Acadia had at all times been much exposed
to attacks from the English colonies. The settlers were few in
number—at this time not much over a thousand all told—and their
defences were but feeble. In 1654,
in accordance with secret orders sent by Cromwell, the territory had
been seized by an English force from Boston under the command of
Major Robert Sedgwick and Captain John Leverett. Two years later it
was made a province, Sir Thomas Temple being
appointed governor. After remaining in the
possession of the English for a period of thirteen years, it was
ceded back to France by the Treaty of Breda in
1667. Five years later Frontenac arrived
in Canada for the first time, and in the following year,
1673, M. de Chambly, a very capable
soldier, whose services had been highly appreciated by the previous
governor, M. de Courcelles, was sent to command in Acadia, and
established himself at Pentagouet, a fortified post at the mouth of
the river Penobscot. This was the extreme western limit of his
jurisdiction even according to the French view of the matter. The
New Englanders held that the true limit was the river St. Croix, the
present boundary between the province of New Brunswick and the state
of Maine. To the east Acadia embraced, by common consent, the
southern part of what is now New Brunswick and all Nova Scotia west
of the Straits of Can so M. de Chambly had not been more than a year
in his new government when an attack was made on Pentagouet by a
Flemish corsair conducted by a Boston pilot or ship captain. After a
brief defence he was obliged to surrender, his force being very
inferior, and he himself having been wounded. The attacking party
then proceeded to the only other Acadian fort, Jemseg, on the river
St. John, and captured it. M. de Chambly was taken as a prisoner to
Boston, but was soon set at liberty and permitted to return to
France. The attack gave rise to a strong
protest on the part of Frontenac, and was wholly disavowed by the
Massachusetts authorities. In the year 1676, M. de Chambly was sent
out again from France with a royal commission as
lieutenant-governor. He did not attempt to establish himself at
Pentagouet, but for a time made his headquarters at Jemseg, and not
long afterwards removed to Port Royal, now Annapolis, on the
northern coast of Nova Scotia, which thus became the capital of
Acadia. Here he remained till about the year 1679 or 1680, when he
was transferred to the governorship of Grenada in the West Indies.
It was not till the autumn of 1684 that a duly
appointed successor was provided in the person of M. Francis Perrot,
who had finally been dismissed from the governorship of Montreal. In
the interval there had been one or two descents on the Acadian
coast, calling forth further protests on Frontenac's part, and
further disclaimers of responsibility on that of the constituted
authorities of New England. To fish in French waters or to trade
with the inhabitants was considered an infraction of international
law; and yet there is clear evidence that the French settlers rather
longed than otherwise for the flesh-pots of Boston in the shape of
English goods and English money, very much after the manner of the
Iroquois and the Indian tribes of the West. When Perrot came to Port
Royal he was pleased to find that the conditions there were nearly
as favourable as at Montreal for the trading in which his soul
delighted. The chief difference was the substitution of Boston for
New York as his commercial centre. In the fall of the year 1685, a
few weeks after the arrival of the Marquis of Denonville, Meulles,
the intendant, accompanied by a member of the Sovereign Council,
Peyras, paid a visit of inspection to the country, remaining till
the following summer. A carefully-made census showed that the total
population amounted at that time to 885 souls, mustering 222 guns.
Of cultivated land there were 896 acres. Horned cattle numbered
t$86, sheep 759, and pigs 608. Just as Meulles was leaving the
country, the bishop designate, Saint Vallier, arrived on a pastoral
visit. The account he gives of the people in his
Etat present de VEglise is most
laudatory, and strangely at variance with a report made by
Duchesneau, the intendant, a few years earlier. In 1681 that officer
had written that the poverty of the people was not the most serious
evil; " their discords are a much greater one. Among them there is
neither order nor police; and those who are sent hence to command
them pillage them." The future bishop, in 1689, saw things very
differently. Although, he said, they had been deprived of spiritual
instruction for many years, they did not seem to have suffered in
the least thereby. Their morals were excellent; they were kindly and
well-disposed, and were greatly rejoiced to learn that their
spiritual interests were going to be better looked after in future.
Of course they may have improved in the eight years that had elapsed
since M. Duchesneau made his report; or that not very genial
individual may have needlessly darkened the picture; or, again, the
worthy prelate may have thrown a little too much sunshine into it.
It is satisfactory to learn that the result of Meulles's visit was
the dismissal of Perrot, who, doubtless, was plundering the people.
This time no other office was provided for him. He remained in the
country, however, to do a little more trading, and was finally
killed, it was reported, in a fight with some pirates. His successor
was M. de Menneval, a good soldier and a man of character.
Such was the country on which Massachusetts had
determined to make a descent. Seven vessels, carrying two hundred
and eighty-five sailors, and four or five hundred militiamen, were
commissioned for the expedition, which was put under the command of
Sir William Phipps, " a rugged son of New England," as Parkman calls
him. Phipps was, in truth, an early American example of a self-made
man. His knighthood, as well as a comfortable fortune, had been won
by adventurous and successful service at sea. One of his biographers
tells us that he was born "at a despicable plantation on the river
Kennebec." His early years were passed in sheep-tending. The attacks
of the Indians drove him, in the year 1676, to Boston, where he
applied himself to learning the trade of ship-building, and where he
also married Mary Hull, widow of one John Hull, a woman several
years his senior and of much better education and social position
than he. A year later we find him in command of a sailing vessel. A
Spanish treasure vessel had been wrecked somewhere off the Bahamas
some forty years before, and Phipps felt confident that if he were
furnished with a suitable ship he co\ild find the wreck and recover
the treasure. He made an application to the English government, and
was granted the use of a vessel called the
Algier Rose. His first expedition was not
successful; but on a second attempt he located the wreck, and by the
aid of a diving-bell—a comparatively recent invention at the
time—recovered treasure to the value of £300,000. He had next to
face a mutiny on his vessel, which he only quelled by dint of
personal courage and address. On reaching England he received as his
own share of the booty £16,000; but James II further recognized his
services by creating him a knight. This was in the summer of 1687.
Phipps then returned to Boston, and was henceforth a man of
substance and influence in the community.
The fleet under his command sailed from Nan-tasket
about the 1st May, and on the 11th reached Port Royal. Menneval, the
governor, had under his command a garrison consisting of not far
short of one hundred men. The fort had also been provided with
twenty cannon ; but these, it appears, had not been mounted.
Menneval musthave judged that the place
was incapable of defence, because, when summoned by Phipps to
surrender, he complied without making any attempt at resistance. He
stipulated that private property as well as the church should be
respected, and that the garrison should be returned to France.
Phipps might have insisted on surrender at discretion, as he clearly
saw when he entered into possession of the fort; but as he had not
done so, honour required that he should observe the terms he had
made. This, unfortunately for his reputation, he did not do.
Availing himself of the pretext afforded by the fact that some goods
belonging to the king had been carried away from the fort and
secreted in the woods, he proceeded to plunder the traders of the
place and desecrate the church. It is one of his own men who writes
: " We cut down the cross, pulled down their high altar, and broke
their images." The inhabitants in general were promised security for
life, liberty, and property, on condition of swearing allegiance to
the English Crown, which they did with great alacrity. The fact was
they had dealt so much with the New Englanders in the way of
business that they had little prejudice against them, while they had
been so much neglected by the French government, both politically
and ecclesiastically, not to speak of being robbed by its agents,
that their national feelings had been but little cultivated. Phipps
had with him such a force as they had never seen before—seven
hundred men; and the probability is that they hoped for greater
quiet and surer protection under English rule than, so far as they
could see, they were likely to enjoy under that of France. Phipps
seemed to have assumed that they would remain true to their new
allegiance, for he did not leave any garrison in the country, but
invited the people to govern themselves by means of a council
consisting of six ordinary members and a president, whom he chose
from amongst themselves. Acadia. was now to rank as a colony of
Massachusetts, which was thus affording the earliest example of
American "imperialism," though in a liberal fashion.
While Phipps was taking possession of Port
Royal, one of his officers, Captain Alden, had captured Saint-Castin's
post at Pentagouet (Penobscot), after which, by orders of his chief,
he sailed to the southern coast of what is now Nova Scotia, and
seized the settlements of La Heve, Cheda-bucto, and one or two
others. No resistance was made anywhere, and consequently no lives
were lost The conquest, such as it was, was a bloodless one. Bitter
complaint, nevertheless, was made of the bad faith shown by the New
England leader after the capture of Port Royal, and with good cause.
A soldier's word in such a case should be absolutely inviolable. At
the same time it is a memorable fact that men who might have sought
to avenge the blood of kindred slain without warning in night
attacks, such as those at Schenectady and Salmon Falls, or in
violation of terms of surrender, as at
Casco Hay, should have absolutely refrained from bloodshed. The
French account of the affair at Port Royal distinctly mentions that
the New Englanders were bitterly resentful of the Salmon Falls
massacre in particular; nevertheless it did not enter into their
mind to follow the example of Hertel and his braves.
On the 30th May Phipps arrived at Boston,
bringing with him as prisoners Menneval, fifty-nine French soldiers,
and two priests. The " rugged son of New England " showed that he
had the over-thrifty qualities which were formerly, more than
to-day, associated with the " down-east" character. Menneval
Had entrusted him with his money, and
Phipps refused to return it. He also appropriated a quantity of the
French governor's clothing and other effects, which he showed the
greatest reluctance to give up, though distinctly ordered to do so
by the General Council of Massachusetts. Upon a repetition of the
order in more emphatic terms, he restored a portion of the property,
but could not be induced to make complete restitution. Successful
generals are not always easy to confine within the bounds of strict
legality. Phipps himself was a member of the General Council, having
been elected thereto while absent in Acadia ; and, as just before
starting on the expedition, he had joined the church of the
celebrated Cotton Mather, he possessed a combination " pull," as it
would be denominated in these days—civil, religious, military, and
doubtless social which it must have been
very difficult to overcome, particularly in the unsettled condition
of things then prevailing. Menneval, after being kept for a
considerable time in confinement, was allowed to sail for France.
Massachusetts had not waited for the return of
Phipps before taking in hand the more serious matter of the
expedition against Quebec. It was hoped, as has already been
mentioned, that some assistance would come from the Mother Country
in time for a union of forces; but, should that hope be
disappointed, New England had determined to proceed with the
enterprise alone. The ease with which Acadia had been reduced to
submission seemed to be a presage of success in the larger
undertaking; and if Phipps could return with a respectable show of
booty from so. small an establishment as that of Port Royal, what
might not be expected if so acquisitive a commander could get a
chance at Quebec. Then there was the religious aspect of the case.
The Puritan commonwealth would not dishonour God by doubting that
they were the people, or that the Catholics of Canada were
idolaters. With all the sound doctrine and scriptural worship on one
side, and all the deadly error and superstitious practice on the
other, how could Providence hesitate which cause to support? At the
same time prayer was not considered superfluous, nor was it allowed
to flag. "The wheel," as Cotton Mather expressed it, "was kept in
continual motion"; and as they prayed they worked, these sturdy
Roundheads of the New World. Till well past midsummer Boston harbour
was alive with preparation. The chief difficulty was to finance the
enterprise. Previous Indian wars had exhausted the colony, and the
treasury was well-nigh empty. The only thing to do was to pledge the
public credit and raise a loan, which it was hoped might be
liquidated, in great part, if not in whole, by the plunder of the
enemy. Thirty vessels altogether were requisitioned for the
expedition. Most were of small capacity; the largest was a West
India trader named the
Six Friends, carrying forty-four guns,
and the second largest the
John and Thomas, carrying twenty-six
guns. The rest had little or no armament. Three vessels appear to
have been contributed by the province of New York, one of which was
a frigate of twenty-four guns, and the two others vessels of smaller
size carrying eight and four guns respectively. The supply of
ammunition was decidedly short; but it was hoped, almost up to the
last moment, that some contribution in the way of warlike stores, if
not in ships and men, would arrive from England. That hope was
destined to be frustrated. It was the year when William III was
carrying on his campaign in Ireland, while Queen Mary and her Privy
Council were trying to control domestic disaffection. It was the
terrible year of Beachy Head, when the combined English and Dutch
fleets, under Torrington and Evertsen, were defeated by the French
under Tourville, and when the buoys at the mouth of the Thames were
taken up to prevent the ships of the enemy from appearing before
London. It is perhaps not much to be wondered at that, in a time of
so much stress and perplexity, an appeal from a transAtlantic colony
for assistance that could ill be spared should have received scant
attention. No help was sent: the New Englanders were left to fight
their own battles as William was fighting his.
Considering the resources of the colonies, it
was no mean effort they were putting forth. Some hundreds of men
volunteered for the expedition; but, the number being insufficient,
a press was resorted to in order to make up the total required,
namely, twenty-two hundred. Of these about three hundred were
sailors, and the rest soldiers. Provisions for four months were
taken on board, and the expedition, under the command of Phipps,
sailed from Nantasket on the 9th
August 1690.
What progress was being made in the meantime
with the land expedition against Montreal in which New York was to
take the lead? The answer must be, very poor progress indeed. At
Boston there was a considerable measure of unity of action; in New
York there was almost none. It had been agreed that Connecticut
should furnish a contingent of troops, and that the whole expedition
should be placed under the command of one of its officers, Fitz-John
Winthrop, afterwards governor. Winthrop organized a force of two or
three hundred men, and started from Hartford for Albany on the
14th July. A week later he arrived at the
latter town only to find everything in complete disorder. " I
found," he says, " the design against Canada poorly contrived and
little forwarded, all things confused and in no readiness or
position for marching towards Canada; yet every one disorderly
projecting something about it."1 The Dutch displayed the
greatest indifference in the matter, and the English, for want of
any commanding influence or unquestioned authority, were irresolute
and vacillating. There was no definite understanding with the
Indians; and what help they were going to give was quite uncertain.
Organizing his forces as best he could in these most disadvantageous
circumstances, Winthrop set out from Albany on his march northwards.
He had not gone far when he was overtaken by a despatch from the
governor of Massachusetts and Connecticut, telling him that the
fleet was in readiness to sail. Eager to do his part in the combined
operations, Winthrop pressed on and encamped at Wood Creek at the
southern extremity of Lake Champlain. Here smallpox broke out among
the troops; disagreements arose with the Indians; and, to make
matters still worse, the provisions which should have been pushed on
from Albany failed to arrive. After
waiting several days in inactivity, Winthrop became persuaded that
an advance to Montreal with the body of his troops was out of the
question. He allowed the mayor of Albany, Captain John Schuyler, to
go on with a small detachment, while he with the rest of his force,
largely consisting of sick men, returned to Albany. All that
Schuyler succeeded in doing was to perpetrate a rather ignoble raid
upon the hamlet of Laprairie near Montreal, where he killed ten or
twelve of the inhabitants, destroyed the farms and the cattle, and
made a number of prisoners, including some women. As an act of
retaliation for Schenectady it was a feeble performance; as an act
of war it was not a heroic exploit. Winthrop, before the month of
September closed, marched back to Hartford, and thus ended the New
York expedition. Clearly, if anything effective is to be done
against Canada, the Boston men must do it.
The fleet sailed, as already mentioned, on the
9th August. The admiral's pennon floated from the
Six Friends, the vice-admirals from the
John and Thomas. The vice-admiral for the
occasion was Major John Walley; the third in command, apparently,
was a Major Thomas Savage. Had the winds been favourable, the
expedition might easily have reached Quebec within a month. They
were most unfavourable, however ; and it was not till the 3rd
October that it arrived off Tadousac. Here the ships were brought to
anchor, and a council of war was held. Four days later the fleet had
only advanced fifty miles, and it took eight days more to reach a
point off the Island of Orleans near the present village of St.
Jean, where it anchored for a few hours. Here Walley proposed that
the men, who had been for weeks confined on shipboard, should be
allowed to land and "refresh themselves," and that opportunity
should be taken to form the several companies, and get everything
into perfect order before proceeding to an attack. He was overruled
however; and, taking advantage of a rising tide, the fleet slipped
up the river, and at daybreak on Monday the 16th October made its
appearance in the harbour of Quebec.
We have seen that, during the month of August
and part of the month of September Frontenac was engaged at Montreal
with his western Indians. It was during this time that Schuyler made
his attack on Laprairie. After the departure of the Indians,
Frontenac remained in Montreal to complete his measures for the
defence of the country, and hoping also to get news of his embassy
to the Iroquois. His
return to Quebec was fixed for the 10th October, and on the
afternoon of that very day a messenger who had been sent post haste
by Prevost, the major in command of the troops at Quebec, placed in
his hands two. letters. The first, dated the 5th October, told
him that an Abenaquis Indian had arrived
at Quebec from the neighbourhood of Pentagouet deputed by his tribe
to bring important news obtained from a captive
New England woman, namely that, about
six weeks before, a considerable fleet
liad sailed from Boston for the capture of Quebec. The second
letter, written later on the same day, said that one Sieur de
Cannanville had arrived from Tadousac, where he had seen twenty-four
ships, eight of which appeared of considerable size.
It does not say much for Frontenac's
intelligence department, if such an institution existed in that day,
that he should have known nothing of the preparations which had been
going on in Boston during the previous spring and summer. His first
impulse was to disbelieve the news now brought, but none the less he
lost no time in starting for Quebec with the intendant, Champigny.
The first boat he embarked in proved leaky, and came near
foundering. He transhipped into a canoe, and went as far as was
possible before dark. On the afternoon of the next day a further
message was received from Prevost confirming his first, and saying
that the enemy had captured, about thirty leagues below Quebec, a
vessel in which were two ladies. This looked serious, and the count
sent back Captain de Ramesay to Montreal with orders to Callieres,
the governor, to march to Quebec at once with all the troops he
could gather at Montreal or pick up on the way. He himself made all
possible haste, and arrived at Quebec at ten o'clock in the morning
of Saturday, the 14th
October.
Work on the fortifications of Quebec had been
more or less in progress all summer; but from the moment that the
first news of the intended attack had been received, Prevost had
been particularly-active in planting batteries, digging trenches,
and doing other work of immediate necessity. He had also despatched
a long-boat and a canoe, both well armed, under the charge of his
brother-in-law, Grandville, to make a reconnaissance in the
direction of Tadousac, and had sent orders to the militia captains
of the neighbouring parishes of Beauport and Beaupr£, and also to
those on the Island of Orleans, to hold their men in readiness to
march into the city, and meantime to watch the enemy, that they
might offer all possible opposition to his landing. Frontenac
employed his time on the 14th
and 15th in
examining and perfecting the general system of defence ; and he was
much pleased as well as surprised to find how much Prevost had
accomplished in a few days. Two principal batteries had been
established in the Upper Town, one, consisting of eight guns, to the
right of the chateau, and one of three guns on the rock overlooking
Mountain Hill known as Sault au Matelot. Two batteries of three guns
each were placed on the river bank, one near the present
market-place, and the other near where the Custom House now stands.
Most of the pieces were eighteen pounders. The non-combatant
inhabitants of the surrounding country had come into the city in
considerable numbers, bringing with them what they could in the way
of provisions. On Sunday, two canoes were sent down the river to
warn the vessels that were expected to arrive from France to keep
out of harm's way. On their safe arrival the life almost of the
colony might be said to depend. At seven o'clock on Sunday evening
news came that the hostile fleet had passed the eastern end of the
Island of Orleans. There was not much sleeping that night. At three
o'clock on Monday morning their distant lights could be seen down
the river. At daybreak there could be counted in the harbour, some
authorities say thirty-two, and some thirty-four, English sails.
A few hours of tense expectation elapsed, and
then a boat carrying a flag of truce was seen putting out from the
admiral's ship. It bore an envoy from Phipps, who was to demand of
the governor the surrender of the place. A boat put out from the
shore to meet it, and the envoy, having been taken on board, was
blindfolded, and brought ashore. Here, according to one^ account, he
was crowded and hustled, and made to clamber over unnecessary
obstacles, the object being to persuade him that the place was more
numerously defended and more difficult of entrance than it really
was. In reading the contemporary narratives it is often difficult to
know what to believe. Nearly all are vitiated by extreme generality
of statement and inaccuracy in detail. That of La Hontan betrays the
enormous mendacity of the writer, who, so long as he could be
amusing and sensational, was absolutely indifferent as to facts.
Checking one by another, however, it is not impossible to arrive at
a fairly coherent and credible narrative. It was about ten in the
forenoon when the messenger was introduced into the reception-room
of the Chateau St. Louis. The
mise en scene had been carefully arranged
for the moment when the bandage should be removed from his eyes.
Frontenac was there in a gorgeous uniform and looking the soldier
and seigneur from head to foot. Around him, also in uniform, stood
the members of his staff and the principal military and civil
officers of the colony. It was such an array of military and
official pomp as simple New England eyes had probably never gazed
on. History does not seem to have preserved the name or rank of the
messenger, and we have no certain information as to the effect
produced upon him by the gallant and brilliant company that met his
gaze. All we know is that he handed a letter from Phipps to the
haughty governor, and awaited his answer. The letter read as
follows:—
"Sir William Phipps, Knight, General and
Commander-in-Chief, in and over their Majesties' forces of New
England, by sea and land, to Count Frontenac, Lieutenant-General and
Governourfor the French King at Canada; or in his absence to his
deputy, or him or them in chief command at Quebeck.
France doth not only sufficiently warrant, but
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, hath put
them under the necessity of this expedition for their own security
and satisfaction. And although the cruelties and barbarities used
against them by the French and Indians might, upon the present
opportunity, prompt unto a severe revenge, yet, being desirous of
avoiding all inhuman and unchristian-like actions, and to prevent
shedding of blood as much as may be,
"I, the aforesaid William Phipps, Knight, do
hereby in the name and on behalf of their most excellent Majesties,
William and Mary, King and Queen of England, Scotland, France, and
Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, and by order of their said
Majesties' government of Massachusetts colony in New England, demand
a present surrender of your forts and castles, undemolished, and the
king's and other stores, unembezzled, with a reasonable 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 to be 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."
Frontenac was not versed in the English
language, so the letter was given to an interpreter to translate.
When the latter had finished the reading, the envoy presented his
watch to the governor, observing that it was then ten o'clock, and
that he would have to have an answer by eleven. The dignity of the
assembled officers was much hurt by the brusque terms of Phipps's
summons ; and, before Frontenac had had time to frame his reply, one
of them cried out that Phipps was nothing but a pirate, and that the
man before them should be hanged. Frontenac was not disposed to go
so far. "Tell your general," he said, " that I do not recognize King
William, and that the Prince of Orange is a usurper, who has
violated the most sacred ties of blood in attempting to dethrone his
father-in-law. I recognize no other sovereign in England than King
James. Your general ought not to be surprised at the hostilities he
says are carried on by the French against the Massachusetts colony;
since he might expect that the king, my master, having received the
King of England under his protection, and being ready to replace him
on tiie throne by force of arms, as I am informed, would order me to
wage war in this country on a people in rebellion against their
lawful sovereign. Does your general imagine," he continued, pointing
to the officers who filled the room, " that, even if he offered me
better conditions, and I were of a temper to accept them— does he
think that so many gallant gentlemen would consent to it, or advise
me to place any confidence in the word of a man who violated the
capitulation he made with the governor of Port Royal, one who has
been wanting in loyalty to his rightful sovereign, and who,
unmindful of the personal benefits received by him from that
sovereign, adheres to the fortunes of a prince who, while trying to
persuade the world to accept him as the liberator of England and
defender of the faith, tramples on the laws and privileges of the
kingdom, and overturns the English Church? This is what the divine
justice invoked by your general in his letter will not fail some day
to punish severely."
It is possible that the terms of the governor's
answer may have been somewhat conventionalized by his secretary, to
whose pen we are indebted for a report of it.1 Phipps
speaks of it as " a reviling answer," the drift of which was that he
and those with him were traitors for " having taken up with a
usurper, and seized upon that good Christian Sir Edmund Andros." The
messenger, who doubtless felt his position somewhat uncomfortable,
asked the count whether he would not give him an answer in writing.
" No !" was the reply; " the only answer I will give will be from
the mouth of my cannon and musketry, that he may learn that it is
not in such a style that a person of my rank is summoned." Whatever
he might forget, Frontenac could not forget his personal rank. There
was now no more to be said ; the messenger's eyes were again
bandaged, and he was conducted back to his boat.
So now, Sir William, your work is cut out for
you I There is the fortress; take it. This is not Port Royal, nor is
that hard-featured warrior Menneval. This is a city set on a hill.
Its guns are shotted and skilfully disposed. It has defenders by the
hundred; and before night closes their numbers will be doubled; for
Callieres is on the march with all the troops that can be spared
from Montreal, Three Rivers and other posts— eight hundred fighting
men in all. Behind those ramparts, or awaiting you in the re#r of
the town, are men accustomed to warfare whether in the open field or
in forest ambush. The adventure is one of great pith and moment, if
you can but succeed in it!
The probability is that by this time Phipps had
begun to take a more serious view of his task. He was one of those
men who require to be favoured by luck. He was better at making a
dash than at organizing victory. He had courage and a good deal of
practical skill in navigation, but there is no evidence that he
possessed the talents of a military commander. The readiness with
which the inhabitants of Acadia had renounced their French
allegiance had led him to believe that in Canada he might actually
be welcomed as a liberator.1 Of any such disposition on
the part of the Canadians there had certainly been no sign as yet.
It was reported at Quebec that he had attempted to land some men at
Rivi&re Ouelle, and had been repulsed by the inhabitants under the
leadership of their
cure. The story, however, as given by
Mere Juchereau, had plainly passed through the hands of the
mythmakers before she got hold of it, for she tell us that " the
moment the first boat was within musket shot, the
cure ordered a volley, which killed the
whole crew with the exception of two men who made off in great
haste." Walley's journal makes no mention of any attempt to land,
and the story may be assumed to be an imaginative invention. What at
least may be regarded as certain is that, up to the date of his
arrival before Quebec, Phipps had not received any encouraging
overtures from the inhabitants. Other causes of anxiety were not
wanting. Smallpox had broken out in his fleet, and the weather was
most bitterly cold for the season. On the day of the summons and the
following day he and his force remained inactive. On the afternoon
of the first day Iberville and his brother Maricourt, returning with
a few of their men from Hudson's Bay, landed safely at Beauport in
sight of the ships, having slipped up the North Channel in a couple
of canoes. In the evening about seven o'clock Calli&res, governor of
Montreal, marched into the city at the head of eight hundred men.
Shouts of welcome, mingled with martial music, reached the ears of
the English, and were rightly interpreted as meaning that the city
had received reinforcements.
The plan of the attack was that a body of men
should be landed on the Beauport flats to the north of the city, and
endeavour to obtain access by crossing the river St. Charles; that
the principal war vessels should take up their position in front of
the city ; that others should move further up so as to create the
impression that troops were to be landed above Cape Diamond, in
order to take the city in the rear; and that the bombardment should
only begin when a signal had been received that the troops at the
other side had made their entrance. The scheme was a good one, but
it was not well carried out. On Wednesday forenoon about thirteen
hundred men under Major Walley were landed, apparently without
opposition,though there were troops in abundance—levies from
Beauport and Beaupr£, Indians from Lorette, as well as the forces
within the city—who could have made the landing exceedingly
difficult and costly in lives, had they been led to the spot;
particularly as the enemy had to wade knee-deep, and even
waist-deep, in icy water in order to get to land. The landing having
been effected, Walley drew up his force in companies, selecting four
to act as an advance guard, or, as he calls them, "forlorns," and
then ordered a march for the higher ground. They had not gone a
hundred yards before there was firing from cover on both flanks,
particularly from the right; there, Walley says, "there was a party
galled us considerably." A charge having been ordered the defenders
gave way, but continued to fire from swamp and bush as they
retreated.1 In the pursuit
Walley gained a position not far from the St. Charles River. He was
expecting some vessels to come into the river with supplies, and for
that reason, as well as for others, wished to be near it. One or two
houses and barns gave a little shelter, but many of the men had to
lie out all night. If we may trust his statement his loss in killed
on that day was four, and in wounded sixty. Considering the nature
of the landing, " it was a great mercy," he says, " we had no more
damage done us." He judged that he had killed some twenty of the
Canadians, but that was a vast over-estimate. The Chevalier de
Clermont, an experienced and valuable officer, had been killed, and
Juchereau de St. Denis, who commanded the Beauport militia, had been
wounded; but the total of killed and wounded on the Canadian side
did not probably exceed the figure mentioned.
In the course of the day a Frenchman, who was a
fugitive from his own side, surrendered to Walley's men, and from
him the New England commander learned the somewhat discouraging news
that the defensive forces in the city far outnumbered the whole of
Phipps's expedition. Troops had been pouring in from different
quarters both before and after the governor's arrival, and the last
body of men brought by Calli&res had raised the total to about three
thousand. Walley threatened the man very seriously as to what would
happen if he did not tell the truth, and he seems to have heeded the
warning. The number he mentioned agrees with the figures given by
the contemporary historian Belmont, and also by Captain Sylvanus
Davis, who was a prisoner in Quebec during the siege.
According to the arrangement made between Phipps
and Walley, the former was only to begin the bombardment after the
latter had forced an entrance into the town. Moreover, small armed
vessels were to sail into the St. Charles, to assist his passage of
that river and to furnish his force with necessary supplies of food
and ammunition. Why this arrangement was departed from is not very
clear; but about four o'clock on Wednesday afternoon Phipps moved
his four principal vessels up before the town, and no sooner had he
come within cannon shot than the shore batteries opened fire. Then
ensued a duel in which the defence had all the best of it. Their
guns were much better served than those of the assailants, and they
had excellent marks to shoot at. The fight was maintained till after
dark, by which time Phipps had fired away nearly all his ammunition
and accomplished virtually nothing. One boy in the town had been
killed by a splinter of rock; the buildings in the town had scarcely
been injured at all. Phipps says he dismounted some of the enemy's
best guns, but his story is unconfirmed. Certain it is that his
vessels suffered serious damage in hulls, masts, and rigging, and
that, after a brief renewal of the encounter the next morning, he
drew them all off.
An incident which has given rise to a good deal
of discussion may here be referred to. The flag of the admiral's
vessel was shot away and fell into the river. It was captured by
some men from the shore, but whether under the very heroic
circumstances described by an eminent Canadian poet on the authority
of Pdre Charlevoix, is, to say the least, open to doubt. Charlevoix
has it that, no sooner had the flag fallen into the water and begun
to drift away, than some Canadians swam out and seized it,
notwithstanding the fire directed on them from the ships.
Contemporary writers know nothing of any such feat. The one who
comes nearest to the father's account of the matter is Mfcre
Juchereau, who says that "our Canadians went out rashly in a bark
canoe and brought it to land under the noses of the English." She
does not even say they were fired on. How near they got to the
English we can hardly judge from the expression
"a la barbe des Anglais," which is not a
measure of length. On the other hand we have from a .contemporary
writer, the R^collet, Pére Leclercq, whose book was published in
1691, the year following the attack on
Quebec, a plain, consistent statement as to how the thing happened,
and one the terms of which are in distinct conflict with the popular
version. After describing how the vice-admiral's ship had been the
first to withdraw beyond the reach of the shore batteries, he
continues : "The admiral [Phipps] followed him pretty closely and
with precipitation, paying out the whole length of his anchor-cable,
and then letting it go. His flag, which drifted away in the river,
was left to
our discretion, and our people went and
fished it out." The words used plainly imply that there was neither
difficulty nor danger in recovering the flag; and this be it
remembered was the story Leclercq heard at the time, and published
almost immediately. Frontenac, who would certainly have been pleased
to approve the bravery of his people, simply says that Phipps lost
his flag, " which remained in our possession"; while Monseignat's
statement in what may be regarded as the official narrative, is that
the admiral's flag and another were borne in triumph to the church.
Charlevoix's lack of accuracy in details is evident in the very
paragraph in which he deals with this incident; for he says that no
sooner had Phipps's messenger returned to his ship, than, to the
great surprise of the English, shots were fired from one of the
Lower Town batteries, and that the first one carried away the flag.
This is pure romance. Phipps's vessel was not within range at the
time, and no shots were exchanged till late in the afternoon of
Wednesday, two days later. The loquacious La Hontan, who at least
knows how to adorn a tale, if not point a moral, knows nothing of
this particular occurrence, otherwise he would certainly have
included it in a narrative which, it is evident, he aimed at making
as lively and piquant as possible. It is no disparagement of the
valour of the defenders of Quebec to doubt whether the incident took
place as described either by Charlevoix, who did not visit the
country till thirty years after the event, and did not publish his
book till twenty-four years later, or by M&re Juchereau. Many a
brave deed has passed unnoticed of history; and,
en revanche,
many an insignificant act has been wrapped round by legend with
clouds of glory. If there is reason to doubt whether this particular
deed was done in a specially heroic, or even in a very dramatic
manner, there are incidents in abundance left to attest the heroism
of the French-Canadian race. The legends of a people bear witness to
its ideals, and help to repair the wrongs that history does by
leaving so much that is truly memorable and admirable unrecorded.
While Phipps on Thursday was drawing off his
shattered vessels, Walley and his men were having a very miserable
time ashore. The succour he was expecting did not arrive. Instead he
received what he did not want at all—six field-pieces,
twelve-pounders, weighing about eight hundred pounds each, which the
nature of the ground made it impossible to use, and which thus
proved a simple embarrassment. However, thinking the vessels would
arrive later in the day, Walley moved his men somewhat nearer to the
town, and took up a position rather better both for shelter and for
defence. This movement does not seem to have been opposed by the
Canadian forces, as there is no mention in the narratives of any
fighting on this day. The vessels did not come with the evening tide
as hoped ; and Walley, in his simple narrative, says : " We stood
upon our guard that night, but found it exceeding cold, it freezing
that night so that the next morning the ice would bear a man." The
position was both distressing and precarious, and a council of war
was called during the night to consider what should be done. By this
time the assailing force had some idea of the nature of the task
they had undertaken : to advance in the face of skirmishers having
every advantage of position; to ford a river behind which a thousand
men and several pieces of artillery were posted; and, should they by
any miracle succeed in that, to encounter a couple of thousand more
within the walls of the town. Many of their men were sick, some were
literally freezing, others worn and exhausted. Their provisions were
short, their ammunition very low. The decision of the council was
that Walley should go on board- the admiral's vessel next day and
ask for instructions.
During Walley's absence on Friday forenoon,
skirmishing was renewed with losses on both sides, but chiefly on
that of the New Englanders. On the French side M. de Ste. Hdlene
received a wound in the thigh, from which he died in hospital some
weeks later. Phipps consented to a retreat; and Walley, on returning
to land in the afternoon, began to prepare for it. The following
morning before daylight boats arrived to take the men off; but
Walley, discovering too great haste on the part of his men to
embark, ordered the boats back. There was further skirmishing during
the day consequent upon Walley's desire to keep the enemy at a
respectful distance, so that the embarkation he hoped to make that
night might not be interfered with. Towards evening he used some
boats that he had to send off his sick and wounded,
but was careful not to afford any indication of
a general retreat. This was finally accomplished, not without haste,
noise, and confusion bordering on insubordination, between dark and
one or two o'clock on the morning of Sunday, the 22nd. Through some
gross mismanagement five of the eight cannon that had been landed
were left behind for the greater glory of the enemy.
A council of war was held on board the admiral's
ship on that lamentable Sunday. Further offensive schemes were
discussed; but, even as they talked, the leaders knew that nothing
of any moment could be accomplished. They had all but exhausted
their ammunition, and their provisions were running low. There was a
great deal of sickness among the men, and the casualties ashore and
in the bombardment had not been inconsiderable. In the end, they
appointed a prayer-meeting for next day "to seek God's direction "
as Walley expresses it, but the weather was unfavourable for a
meeting. Some of the ships, in fact, dragged their anchors, and were
in danger of being driven on the town. The following day the whole
fleet slipped down to the Island of Orleans on the homeward track.
Walley in his
Journalapparently an honest piece of
work, sums up comprehensively the causes of the failure: " The land
army's failing, the enemy's too timely intelligence, lying three
weeks within three days' sail of the place, by reason whereof they
had time to bring in the whole 300
strength of their country, the shortness of our ammunition, our late
setting out, our long passage, and many sick in the army—these," he
says, "may be reckoned as some of the causes of our disappointment."
Reasons enough surely. On both sides the hand of Providence was
seen. " Well may you speak of this country," writes Laval to
Denonville, "as the country of miracles." Had Phipps arrived but one
week sooner he would certainly, in Laval's opinion, have captured
the city, and that he did not arrive sooner was due to unfavourable
winds. Similarly, Sister Anne Bourdon, archivist of the Ursuline
Convent, writes that, when the first news of the approach of the
English was received, nothing was spared in the way of religious
practices "to appease divine justice." The happy result was that "
Heaven, granting our prayers, sent winds so contrary that the enemy
in nine days only made the distance they might otherwise have made
in half a day." So M£re Juchereau of the Hotel Dieu : " God
doubtless stopped them, to give the Montrealers time to arrive."
Bishop Saint Vallier improved the occasion to stimulate the piety of
his people. " Let us," he said, "raise our eyes, my dear children,
and see God holding the thunder in His hand, which He is ready to
let fall on us. He is causing it now to rumble in order to awaken
you from the slumber of your sins."
On the English side no less solemn a view was
taken of the events of the time. Governor Brad-street, of
Massachusetts, writing to the agents of the colony in England,
speaks of "the awful frown of God in the disappointment of that
chargeable [costly] and hazardous enterprise." "Shall our Father,"
he exclaims, " spit in our face, and we not be ashamed ? God grant
that we may be deeply humbled and enquire into the cause, and reform
those sins that have provoked so great anger to smoke against the
prayers of his people, and to answer us by terrible things in
righteousness." Cotton Mather in like manner speaks of "an evident
hand of Heaven, sending one unavoidable disaster after another." He
also reports a saying of Phipps, that, though he had been accustomed
to diving in his time, he " would say that the things which had
befallen him in this expedition were too deep to be dived into." The
total loss of life on the part of the New England forces, taking
shipwreck and disease into account, must have run far into the
hundreds. Phipps estimated his loss in the engagements at Quebec at
thirty, and possibly the number of those actually killed did not
much exceed that figure. On the Canadian side the number of killed
has been placed at nine, and of the wounded at fifty-two.
All that remained now was to make the best of
their melancholy way to Boston. Frontenac had sent a small force
under M. Subercase to the Island of Orleans to watch the departing
fleet, which might, had its commander been so minded, have committed
serious depredations on the parishes along the river. Phipps sent
ashore to ask Subercase if there would be any objection to his
buying supplies from the inhabitants. The reply was that he might
buy what he liked, and a lively trade, very profitable to the
farmers, at once sprang up between them and the squadron.
Negotiations for an exchange of prisoners followed. Phipps, as we
have seen, had captured some on his way up; and he had with him two
ecclesiastics whom he had taken in Acadia. The French on their side
had Sylvanus Davis, the former commandant of Fort Loyal, two
daughters of Captain Clarke who had been killed in the attack on
that fort, and a little girl called Sarah Gerrish. All these had
received good treatment during their detention at Quebec, and the
little girls had particularly endeared themselves to the nuns to
whose charge they had been confided, and who were much grieved at
having to give them up.
If the weather had been bad on the way to Quebec
it was worse on the return. Without the aid of a pilot, Phipps had
succeeded in bringing all his vessels safely to Quebec, but on the
home voyage several were lost. One, Cotton Mather relates, was never
heard of. A second was wrecked, but most
of its crew were saved. A third was cast on the coast, and all on
board, with the exception of one man, perished through drowning,
starvation, or at the hands of the Indians. A fourth was stranded on
the Island of Anticosti. There seemed to be no means of escape from
this dreary shore; and forty-one of the crew had already died of
hardship, when the captain, John "Rainsford by name, and four others
determined that they would try to reach Boston in an open boat, in
order that, if they escaped the perils of the sea, they might send
help to those still alive on the island. It was the 25th March when
they put forth in their most precarious craft. "Through a thousand
dangers from the sea and ice, and almost starved with hunger and
cold," to use the words of Cotton Mather's recital, they arrived at
Boston on the 11th May. As soon as a proper vessel could be
procured, Rainsford started back to rescue the survivors. Four had
died during his absence. Death was staring the remainder in the
face, when the sail they had hardly dared to hope for flickered on
the horizon. It was too good to be true, and yet it was true. Their
heroic captain had come to their relief; and on the 28th June he
landed them, seventeen in number, once more on New England soil. |
