their part of Newfoundland, the Island of St. Peter, Acadia or Nova Scotia, which borders on the British Province of New Hampshire, whose boundary to the eastward is the little river St. Croy (as the French allege)."* Such were the commonly claimed and recognized limits of the French possessions in North America before the war of the Spanish succession began. The French Government all along denied the right of England or her colonies, to any territory west of the Alleghany mountains. They contended "that the watershed should serve as a boundary to both nations along the frontiers between New England and the other colonies which lie along the same line, as far as including Georgia on the one side, and Canada and Louisiana on the other."+1 The French Governors of Canada undertook to extend their possessions south of the St. Lawrence, by force of arms. In this they failed. They subsequently resorted to every rational means to secure the friendship of the Iroquois Confederacy. The French colonists of North America gave but little attention to agriculture; they were mostly engaged in the fur trade. Many of them resided among the various tribes of Indians between the Ohio river and Hudson's Bay. They joined the Indians in their hunts, adopted their usages, and assisted them in bringing their furs to the Canadian markets. At an early date Indians came from the plains of Illinois, from the west of Lake Superior, and from the shores of Hudson's Bay, to sell their peltries at Montreal.‡ The Government of Canada, in order to prevent mischief, and to preserve some semblance of authority over those who engaged in the Indian trade, forbade the Canadians to reside in the Indian countries. § They recalled the Coureurs des bois on account of the riot and disorder which they occasioned. They threatened them with severe punishment if they failed to obey. These threats proved abortive. The only effect they had was to cause these daring adventurers to carry their peltries to the border towns in the English colonies, especially to Albany, instead of to Montreal and the other trading posts in Canada. The Canadian Government adopted the licensing system, which was generally adhered to. No Canadian was suffered to trade with the Indians in their country without a license from the Governor, and subject to such regulations as the license ordained. The whole country was divided into hunts, and no license authorized the holder to trade in furs beyond the limits of a single hunt. The license forbade the holder under severe penalties to hunt or to trade beyond his assigned limits.|| When the Governor had issued for any hunt as many licenses as its commerce would well bear, it became necessary, as the number of hunters and fur traders increased, to extend the dominion of France over the possessions of more distant nations. In time these licenses * Captain Vetch to Lords of Trade and Plantations, 1708, Pownall MSS. Vols. I. and IV. Entick's History, Vol. 1. Bancroft, Vol. 3, ch. 8, Eng. ed. Secret Journals of Congress, Vol. 4. 1 In the first volume of Entick's History will be found much of the correspondence relating to the disputed boundaries. See the Letters of Frontenac and the Letters of Duchesneau to the Marquis de Signeloy. Paris Archives, 1st, Vol. I. pp. 153-155; Vol. II. p. 64, p. 128; 2nd, sr. Vol. II. p. 1, p. 57. § 2 Sr. Vol. VI. p. 85; Orders du Roi au sujet de la traite du Canada. N. Y. Col. Doc. Vol. IX. p. 131. Pownall on the Colonies, Vol. 2: Parkman's Old Régime, p. 305: Archives de Paris, 2ème série, Vol. 6, p. 85; Vol. 7, p. 338; 3ème, Vol. 6, pp. 13, 22, 57, 274; Vol. 8, p. 943: Bougainville's Memoirs; also numerous papers in N. Y. Hist. Documents. were issued to a particular class-" Military officers and the descendants of a decayed nobility." They were generally well educated, polished in their manners, and fond of exercising authority. In their employment they had a few clerks, chiefly natives of the Province. These possessed a sufficient amount of instruction to enable them to exchange with the In dians articles of European merchandise for their furs. They carried these goods into the remotest districts of the Indian countries. They wintered with the savages and returned the next season, after the opening of navigation, with the peltries which powder and lead, rum and tobacco had purchased. Each clerk was accompanied by a number of voyageurs or engagés, who were hardy, poor, and ignorant, and who, from boyhood, had led a vagabond life. For a long time but twenty-five licenses were granted each year, and when the favoured recipient of the license did not wish to go into the Indian country, he sold his license to some merchant of Quebec or Montreal. The price received was usually six hundred crowns. Each license authorised the possessor to send two canoes into the Indian country. Each canoe was manned by three voyageurs. The goods required were valued at 500 crowns to the canoe, with an addition of 15 per cent. The furs brought back in a successful venture were valued at 8,000 crowns. The merchant received, of this sum, 600 crowns for his license, 1,000 crowns for his goods, and 40 per cent. on the balance of the sales, being 2,560 crowns moree—in all, 4,160 crowns. The remaining 3,840 crowns were divided among the six voyageurs. The tempting prospect of the rapid accumulation of large fortunes which the fur trade afforded, drew Intendants and Governors into silent partnerships with speculative traders, especially at those posts which were farmed out for the King. The borders of the Province were constantly enlarged. This policy was continued up to the hour of its surrender. It was to the corrupt connection of the leading officials with the trade, that Montcalm largely attributes the conquest of Canada.* There cannot be a doubt that many of the French Voyageurs besides M. Perrot and the Duc L'Huts had explored a large part of the country north and west of Lake Superior, at a very early day, but of their adventures we have no account, because they were not sufficiently educated to record them. We have occasionally incidental allusions in public documents, in works on geography, and in memoirs, which prove this to have been the case, and to some of these allusions reference may be made. Paul le Jeune, in a letter to his superior, M. Vincent, written in September, 1640, says: "In the neighbourhood of this nation, (the Winnebagoes) are the Nadonessi (Sioux), and the Assinneperas (Assiniboines) I will say, by the way, that the Sieur Nicolet, interpreter of the Algonquin languages for gentlemen of New France, has given me the names of these nations whom he has visited, for the most part in their own countries.” But it was not wholly through the instrumentality of the fur traders that the French authorities, at a very early period, acquired an accurate knowledge of so vast an extent of country. As early as 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached to the Indians at the outlet of Lake Superior. A few years later, the Iroquois Confederacy waged a war of extermination Letter to Marshall. Belle Isle. N. Y. Col. Doc., vol. IX. Relation, 1641. Vimont. Bancroft's U. States, Vol. II, ch. 20, against the Eries, the Hurons and the Ottawas. The Eries were wholly exterminated. Large numbers of the Hurons and the Ottawas perished. The village of St. Joseph was destroyed. The villages of St. Ignatius and St. Louis shared the same fate. Fathers Jogues, Daniel, Brébeuf, and Gabriel Lallemand were put to death. For a time, the scattered remnants of the Hurons were collected in the Grand Manitoulin Isle. The Iroquois had, in their intercourse with the people of New Amsterdam, learned the use of firearms, and they had no sooner done so, than they asserted their superiority in every direction. They, for a time, overawed the colonists of the St. Lawrence; and the terrified Hurons and Ottawas fled, some to a place called Chagouamigon or La Pointe, at the south-western extremity of Lake Superior, and others beyond the Mississippi. Those who settled at La Pointe were almost immediately followed by missionaries and traders.* While the Indians were disposing of their peltries, the two young Frenchmen who had returned with them, entertained voyageurs with stories of their adventures, their exposure to dangers, and their narrow escapes. The cupidity of merchants and traders was awakened at the sight of their numerous packs of valuable furs, and the zeal of ecclesiastics with their tales of numerous villages of Sioux to the west, and of the Knistenaux and other tribes of the North, who were still strangers to the Christian faith. Thirty young Frenchmen, whose imaginations were excited by these stories, equipped themselves to accompany the Indians to their own country, to bring back the beaver skins taken in the distant wilderness. Fathers Leonard Garreau, and Gabriel Dreuilettes, who were well versed in the Huron and Algonquin languages, were sent as religious instructors. They embarked with the Indians on their returning voyage. But the whole party were attacked by a band of the Lower Iroqouis; Father Garreau was killed; and the party were driven back.t But the French at even an earlier date were not wholly ignorant of the northern Indians. Paul Regenneau, the Superior of the Huron missions, observes that, "to the North of the Hurons, there are several Algonquin nations, who never cultivate the earth, but sustain themselves altogether by the chase or by fishing. These nations occupy the country up to the North Sea, which we judge to be distant from us in a straight line more than three hundred leagues; but of this, we have no other knowledge of those nations except that derived from the report made to us by the Hurons and some of the nearer Algonquins who go there to trade for peltries and beavers, which are found there in great abundance."‡ From this statement it will be seen that the northern Indians found a market for their furs at Quebec and at Montreal, and many of them who came directly to Montreal, to dispose of their furs, were subsequently met by the French traders upon the shores of Hudson's Bay. In 1659, several fur traders went to Green Bay. Two of them passed the winter upon the shores of Lake Superior. They explored the country and visited the surrounding tribes. They found, at six days' journey to the south-west of Lake Superior, a remnant of the Huron Nation. These informed the Frenchmen that after having retreated from the Iroquois, across mountains and rocks, through the depths of these vast and * Relation of 1664-1665, 1666-1667, by F. Le Mercier. + Preface to the Relation of 1655-6, by Jean de Quens, Sept. 7, 1656. Relation of 1655-6. Relation of 1647-8. unknown forests, they at length arrived at a beautiful river, large, wide, deep, and resembling the great St. Lawrence; where they found numerous villages of the Sioux. These two Frenchmen also described the Sioux of the plains, whom they claimed to have visited. In the following summer they returned to Quebec, with an escort of sixty canoes and three hundred Indians.* In 1660, the Rev. R. Menard, with eight other Frenchmen, went to the Huron settle ment of Chagouamigon or La Pointe. They left the Three Rivers on the 28th of August, and they reached La Pointe on the 15th of October. They suffered greatly during the winter from extreme hardships. The Rev. R. Menard perished in the forest, on his way from La Pointe to the Moquet Islands, in the mouth of Green Bay. He was succeeded by the Rev. Claude Alouéz, who explored the shores of Lakes Superior and Nepigon. He travelled among the Sioux, far to the west of Fond du Lac, and in describing them, he gives for the first time the name of the great river Mississippi, of which the Indians told many marvellous stories.† 1 1 The French had a military post at the Baye des Puans as early as 1670, for in the Relation of that year it is stated, "that we found affairs there in a pretty bad posture ; that the savages were much soured against the French who were there trading; that they treated them ill, robbed them, and carried away their merchandise. The cause of this disorder was the treatment which the Indians received from the French soldiers. At what time the French first established a military station at Le Baye does not seem certain, but in 1684 Du L'Hut was in command at this post. 2 In 1666, M. Grosellier was roaming among the Assiniboines in the region of Lake Winnipeg, and was conducted by them, during that year or the year following, down the Nelson's River to the shores of Hudson's Bay. +3 In September, 1669, Marquette took the place of Alouéz, at La Pointe. At this * Relation of 1659-60, Rev. Claude Boucher. Relation of 1666-67, By F. Le Mercier. 1 The Mission, which was first established at La Pointe or Chagou amigon by R. Menard in 1660, was reestablished by Claude Alouéz, 1st of October, 1665, and called the Mission du Sainte Esprite. In 1692 Fron. tenac sent Sieur La Seneur to La Pointe to build a fort and garrison it. La Gardeur de Sainte Pierre, who was stationed here, was succeeded in command by Linetot in 1726. The fort, which was situated at the south end of Magdalen Island, was rebuilt, and a garrison of 30 soldiers kept here. The French were then at war with the Foxes, and it was necessary to pass to the country of the Sioux by this route. It was occupied by traders, missionaries, and officials. (Min. Hist. Col., Vol. 1, p. 319. Wis. Hist. Col., Vol. 4, pp. 247-8. Smith's Hist. Wisconsin. Shea's Hist. Am. Missions.) 2 In 1684 the Governor of Canada ordered Du L'Hut, who was commandant at Green Bay, to return to Fort Niagara, to punish the Senecas and Cayugas, and to state how many allies he could bring. These Indians had plundered seven canoes, owned by 14 Frenchmen, who, with 15,000 pounds of goods, were going to trade with the Sioux. N. Perrot, who was trading with the Foxes, rendered him great assistance in collecting allies. In 1686, the Governor of Canada ordered Du L'Hut to proceed to the Detroit river and watch whether the English passed into Lake St. Clair. In obedience to this order Du L'Hut left Green Bay (Baye des Puants) and, with fifty armed men, established a fort, called Fort St. Joseph's, on the River St. Clair, near to where Fort Gratiot now stands. (See Memoir of Tonty, and N. Y. H. Col., Vol. IX. pp. 255, 261, 327, 362-364, 402.) N. Y. H.Col. Vol. IX. p. 797. 3 On some of the old French maps the Pigeon river was called Rivière Grosellier. He seems to have been the first Frenchman of note who went into the A siniboine country. See Jeffery's map. time there were about 1,500 Ottawa and Huron Indians residing there. The Sioux were then in the possession of the shores of Lake Superior. Marquette sent them presents; he bespoke their friendship for the French and the Indians who might be found in their company. He asked from them leave for the French and their Indian guides to pass freely to the country of the Assiniboines and the Knistineaux. The emigration of the Ottawas and Hurons to La Pointe had greatly facilitated the explorations of the French in the region of Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi. But in the spring of 1671, the Indians at La Pointe had treacherously murdered and eaten some of the Sioux, within whose dominions for nearly twenty years they had found a peaceful retreat. After these deeds of treachery and cruelty, they were obliged to fly from the vengeance of the Sioux warriors to the banks of the Saut Ste. Marie and the shores and islands of Lake Huron.* 1 In 1670 La Salle in traversing the country south of Lake Erie discovered the River Ohio, which he traced as far as the rapids at Louisville, or, as some say, to the Mississippi.+ In 1670, The Intendant Talon sent M. de Saint Lusson, as his sub-delegate to the Saut Ste. Marie, to take possession of all the surrounding country which had been explored on behalf of the Crown of France.‡ Nicholas Perrot, who had explored a great portion of the country as far west as the Mississippi River, was asked by the Intendant to lead M. Lusson to that country. They reached Montreal in October. They wintered among the Amikonets, a tribe of Ottawas, on the Great Manitoulin Island. They also saw the Sauteux. M. Perrot was well acquainted with the Indian languages, and explained to them the purpose of their mission. He dispatched messengers to the various tribes in the vicinity of the Falls, inviting them to assemble at the Saut. They visited various Indian tribes on the shores of Lake Michigan, whom they urged to be present at the Falls of St. Mary's, when formal possession of the country was taken. They sailed thither. They were accompanied as far as Green Bay by Chiefs of the Sacs, the Foxes, the Pottawattamies, Kickapoos, the Miamis and the Winnebagoes. Upon their arrival at the Saut, they found that the Chiefs of the Knistineaux, the Monsonis, as well as those of various other northern tribes, had already assembled. A cross was set up in their presence. The arms of France were fastened to a cedar tree hard by. The numerous tribes there represented put themselves under the protection of the King of France. Here Saint Lusson with his sword in one hand, and a sod of earth in the other proclaimed that he took possession, "in the name of Louis XIV. King of France and Navarre, of Sainte Marie du Saut, Lakes Huron and Superior, the Island of Manitoulin, and all the countries, rivers, lakes, and streams, contiguous and adjacent thereto, discovered or not, and extending to the sea upon the north, the west, and the south." The French had, at that time, a square fort of cedar pickets at the Falls of * Neil's Hist. of Minnesota, pp. 111, 112. Also, Relation of 1570-71. 1 Marquette returned with the Hurons to Pointe St. Ignace, on the north shore of the straits of Machillimackinac, and the Ottawas fled to Great Manitoulin Island, whither they were accompanied by Louis Andre, who established the Mission of St. Simon at their new abode. These two missions were, therefore, established in 1671. See Parkman's Discoveries of the Great West. pp. 22, 23. |