USA > Louisiana > Romance of the history of Louisiana. A series of lectures > Part 7
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This excitement had hardly subsided, when it was revived by the appearance of another ship, and it be- came intense, when the inhabitants saw a procession of twenty females, with veiled faces, proceeding arm in arm, and two by two, to the house of the governor, who received them in state, and provided them with suitable lodgings. What did it mean ? Innumerable were the gossipings of the day, and part of the coming night itself was spent in endless commentaries and con- jectures. But the next morning, which was Sunday, the mystery was cleared by the officiating priest read- ing from the pulpit, after mass, and for the general in- formation, the following communication from the minis- ter to Bienville: "His majesty sends twenty girls to be married to the Canadians and to the other inhabitants of Mobile, in order to consolidate the colony. All these girls are industrious, and have received a pious and virtuous education. Beneficial results to the colony are expected from their teaching their useful attainments to the In- dian females. In order that none should be sent except those of known virtue and of unspotted reputation, his majesty did intrust the bishop of Quebec with the mis- sion of taking those girls from such establishments, as,
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FOR THE COLONISTS.
from their very nature and character, would put them at once above all suspicions of corruption. You will take care to settle them in life as well as may be in your power, and to marry them to such men as are capable of providing them with a commodious home."
This was a very considerate recommendation, and very kind it was, indeed, from the great Louis the XIVth, one of the proudest monarchs that ever lived, to de- scend from his Olympian seat of majesty, to the level of such details, and to such minute instructions for ministering to the personal comforts of his remote Louisianian subjects. Many were the gibes and high was the glee on that occasion ; pointed were the jokes aimed at young Bienville, on his being thus transformed into a matrimonial agent and pater familia. The inten- tions of the king, however, were faithfully executed, and more than one rough but honest Canadian boatman of the St. Lawrence and of the Mississippi, closed his adven- turous and erratic career, and became a domestic and useful member of that little commonwealth, under the watchful influence of the dark-eyed maid of the Loire or of the Seine. Infinite are the chords of the lyre which delights the romantic muse ; and these incidents, small and humble as they are, appear to me to be im- bued with an indescribable charm, which appeals to her imagination.
Iberville had gone back to France since 1701, and
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ARRIVAL OF DUCOUDRAY WITH SUPPLIES.
the year 1705 had now begun its onward course, with- out his having returned to the colony, according to his promise, so that the inhabitants had become impatient of further delay. They were in that state of suspense, when a ship of the line, commanded by Ducoudray, ar- rived soon after the opening of the year, but still to dis- appoint the anxious expectations of the colonists. No Iberville had come : yet there was some consolation in the relief which was sent-goods, provisions, ammuni- tions ; flesh-pots of France, rivalling, to a certainty, those of Egypt; sparkling wines to cheer the cup; twenty-three girls to gladden the heart ; five priests to minister to the wants of the soul and to bless holy al- liances; two sisters of charity to attend on the sick and preside over the hospital of the colony, and seventy five soldiers for protection against the inroads of the Indians. That was something to be thankful for, and to occupy the minds of the colonists for a length of time. But life is chequered with many a hue, and the antagonisti- cal agents of good and evil closely tread, in alternate succession, on the heels of each other. Thus, the short- lived rejoicings of the colonists soon gave way to grief and lamentations. A hungry epidemic did not disdain to prey upon the population, small as it was, and thirty- five persons became its victims. Thirty-five ! That number was enormous in those days, and the epidemic of 1705 became as celebrated in the medical annals of the country, as will be the late one of 1847.
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THE PETTICOAT INSURRECTION.
The history of Louisiana, in her early days, pre- sents a Shaksperian mixture of the terrible and of the ludicrous. What can be more harrowing than the massacre of the French settlement on the Wabash in 1705; and in 1706, what more comical than the threatened insurrection of the French girls, who had come to settle in the country, under allurements which proved deceptive, and who were particularly indignant at being fed on corn ? This fact is mentioned in these terms in one of Bienville's dispatches : " The males in the colony begin, through habit, to be reconciled to corn, as an article of nourishment ; but the females, who are mostly Parisians, have for that kind of food a dogged aversion, which has not yet been subdued. Hence, they inveigh bitterly against his grace, the Bishop of Quebec, who, they say, has enticed them away from home, under the pretext of sending them to enjoy the milk and honey of the land of promise." Enraged at having thus been deceived, they swore that they would force their way out of the colony, on the first opportunity. This was called the petticoat insurrection.
There were, at that particular time, three impor- tant personages, who were the hinges upon which every thing turned in the commonwealth of Louisiana. These magnates were, Bienville, the governor, who wielded the sword, and who was the great executive
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DISSENSIONS IN THE COLONY.
mover of all; La Salle. the intendant commissary of the crown, who had the command of the purse, and who therefore might be called the controlling power ; and the Curate de la Vente, who was not satisfied with mere spiritual influence. Unfortunately, in this Lilli- putian administration, the powers of the state and church were sadly at variance, in imitation of their betters in larger communities. The commissary, La Salle, in a letter of the 7th of December, 1706, accused Iberville, Bienville, and Chateaugué, the three brothers, of being guilty of every sort of malfeasances and dilapi- dations. " They are rogues," said he, " who pilfer away his Majesty's goods and effects." The Curate de la Vente, whose pretensions to temporal power Bien- ville had checked, backed La Salle, and undertook to discredit the governor's authority with the colonists, by boasting of his having sufficient influence at court to cause him to be soon dismissed from office.
On Bienville's side stood, of course, Chateaugué, his brother, and Major Boisbriant, his cousin. But Chateaugué was a new man (novus homo) in the colony, and consequently, had, as yet, acquired very little weight. Boisbriant, although a zealous friend, had found means to increase the governor's vexations, by falling deeply in love. He had been smitten, per- haps, for the want of something better, with the charms of a lady, to whose charge had been committed
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DISSENSIONS IN THE COLONY.
the twenty girls selected by the Bishop of Quebec, and who had been appointed, as a sort of lay abbess, to superintend their conduct on the way and in Louis- iana, until they got provided with those suitable moni- tors, who are called husbands. That lady had recip- rocated the affections of Boisbriant, and so far, the course of love ran smooth. But, as usual, it was doomed to meet with one of those obstacles which have given rise to so many beautiful literary composi- tions. Bienville stoutly objected to the match, as being an unfit one for his relation and subordinate, and peremptorily refused his approbation. Well may
the indignation of the lady be conceived ! Boisbriant seems to have meekly submitted to the superior wis- dom of his chief, but she, scorning such forbearance, addressed herself to the minister, and complained, in no measured terms, of what she called an act of op- pression. After having painted her case with as strong colors as she could, she very naturally concluded her observations with this sweeping declaration concern- ing Bienville : " It is therefore evident that he has not the necessary qualifications to be governor of this colony." Such is the logic of Love, and although it may provoke a smile, thereby hangs a tale not desti- tute of romance.
These intestine dissensions were not the only dif- firulties that Bienville had to cope with. The very
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DISSENSIONS IN THE COLONY.
existence of the colony was daily threatened by the Indians ; a furious war, in which the French were fre- quently implicated, raged between the Chickasaws and the Choctaws; and the smaller nations, principally the Alibamous, that prowled about the settlements of the colonists, committed numerous thefts and murders. It seemed that all the elements of disorder were at work to destroy the social organization which civilization had begun, and that the wild chaos of barbarian sway claimed his own again. Uneasy lay the head of Bien- ville in his midnight sleep, for fearfully alive was he to the responsibility which rested on his shoulders. In that disturbed state of his mind, with what anxiety did he not interrogate the horizon, and strain to peep into the vacancy of space, in the fond hope that some signs of his brother's return would greet his eyes! But, alas! the year 1707 had run one half of its career, and yet Iberville came not. To what remote parts of heaven had the eagle flown, not to hear and not to mind the shrieks of the inmates of his royal nest ? Not oblivious the eagle had been, but engaged in car- rying Jove's thunderbolts, he had steadily pursued the accomplishment of his task.
Dropping the metaphorical style, it will be suffi- cient to state, that during the five years he had been absent from Louisiana, Iberville had been, with his usual success, nobly occupied in supporting the honor
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EARLY LIFE OF IBERVILLE.
of his country's flag, and in increasing the reputation which he had already gained, as one of the brightest gems of the French navy. If the duration of a man's existence is to be measured by the merit of his deeds, then Iberville had lived long, before reaching the me- ridian of life, and he was old in fame, if not in years, when he undertook to establish a colony in Louisiana. From his early youth, all his days had been well spent, because dedicated to some useful or generous purpose. The soft down of adolescence had hardly shaded his face, when he had become the idol of his countrymen. The foaming brine of the ocean, the dashing waters of the rivers, the hills and valleys of his native country and of the neighboring British possessions, had wit- nessed his numerous exploits. Such were the confi- dence and love with which he had inspired the Cana- dians and Acadians for his person, by the irresistible seduction of his manners, by the nobleness of his de- portment, by the dauntless energy of his soul, and by the many qualifications of his head and heart, that they would, said Father Charlevoix, have followed him to the confines of the universe. It would be too long to recite his wonderful achievements, and the injuries which he inflicted upon the fleets of England, particu- larly in the Bay of Hudson, either by open force, or by stealth and surprise. When vessels were icebound, they were more than once stormed by Iberville and
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EXPLOITS OF IBERVILLE.
his intrepid associates. Two of his brothers, Ste. Hélène and Mericourt, both destined to an early death, used to be his willing companions in those adventur- ous expeditions. At other times, when the war of the elements seemed to preclude any other contest, Iberville, in a light buoyant craft, which sported mer- rily on the angry waves, would scour far and wide the Bay of Hudson, and the adjacent sea, to prey upon the commerce of the great rival of France, and many were the prizes which he brought into port. These were the sports of his youth.
The exploits of Iberville on land and at sea, ac- quired for him a sort of amphibious celebrity. Among other doings of great daring, may be mentioned the taking of Corlar, near Orange, in the province of New- York. In November, 1691, he also took, in the Bay of Hudson, the fort of Port Nelson, defended by forty-two pieces of artillery, and he gave it the name of Fort Bourbon. In 1696 he added to his other conquests, the Fort of Pemknit, in Acadia. When Chubb, the En- glish commander, was summoned to surrender, he re- turned this proud answer : " If the sea were white with French sails, and the land dark with Indians, I would not give up the fort, unless when reduced to the very last extremities." In spite of this vaunt, he was soon obliged to capitulate. The same year, Iberville pos- sessed himself of the Fort of St. John, in Newfound-
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ARRIVAL OF IBERVILLE AT SAN DOMINGO.
land, and in a short time forced the rest of that province to yield to his arms. The French, however, did not retain it long. But his having revived La Salle's pro- ject of establishing a colony in Louisiana, constitutes, on account of the magnitude of its results, his best claim to the notice of posterity. We have seen how he exe- cuted that important undertaking.
After a long absence from that province, the colo- nization of which was his favorite achievement, he was now preparing to return to its shores, and arrived at San Domingo, having under his command a consider- able fleet, with which he meditated to attack Charles- ton, in South Carolina ; from whence he cherished the hope of sailing for Louisiana, with all the pomp, pride, and circumstance of glorious victory. He had stopped at San Domingo, because he had been authorized to reinforce himself with a thousand men, whom he was to take out of the garrison of that island. The ships had been revictualled, the troops were embarked, and Iber- ville was ready to put to sea, when a great feast was tendered to him and to his officers, by the friends from whom he was soon to part. Loud the sound of revelry was still heard in hall and bower, when Iberville, whose thoughts dwelt on the responsibilities of the expedition which had been trusted to his care, withdrew from the assembly, where he had been the observed of all. leav- ing and even encouraging his subordinates to enjoy the
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IBERVILLE IN SAN DOMINGO.
rest of that fairy night, which he knew was soon to be succeeded for them by the perils and hardships of war. He was approaching that part of the shore where his boat lay, waiting to carry him to his ship, when, as he trod along, in musing loneliness, his attention was attracted by the beauties of the tropical sky, which gleamed over his head. From that spangled canopy, so lovely that it seemed worthy of Eden; there appeared to descend an ambrosial atmosphere, which glided through the inmost recesses of the body, gladdening the whole frame with voluptuous sensations.
" All was so still, so soft, in carth and air, You scarce would start to incet a spirit there ; Secure that nought of evil could delight To walk in such a scene, on such a night !"
Iberville's pace slackened as he admired, and at last he stopped, rooted to the ground, as it were, by a sort of magnetic influence, exercised upon him by the fascina- tions of the scene. Folding his arms, and wrapt up in ecstasy, he gazed long and steadily at the stars which studded the celestial vault.
O stars ! who has not experienced your mystical and mysterious power ! Who has ever gazed at ye, without feeling undefinable sensations, something of awe, and a vague consciousness that ye are connected with the fate of mortals! Ye silent orbs, that move
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IBERVILLE IN SAN DOMINGO.
with noiseless splendor through the infiniteness of space, how is it that your voice is so distinctly heard in the soul of man, if his essence and yours were not bound together by some electric link, as are all things, no doubt, in the universe ? How the eyes grow dim with rapturous tears, and the head dizzy with wild fan- cies, when holding communion with you, on the mid- night watch ! Ye stars, that, scattered over the broad expanse of heaven, look to me as if ye were grains of golden dust, which God shook off his feet, as he walked in his might, on the days of creation, I love and worship you ! When there was none in the world to sympa- thize with an aching heart, with a heart that would have disdained, in its lonely pride, to show its pangs to mortal eyes, how often have I felt relief in your pre- sence from the bitter recollection of past woes, and con- solation under the infliction of present sufferings ! How often have I drawn from you such inspirations as pre- pared me to meet, with fitting fortitude, harsher trials still to come ! How often have I gazed upon you, until, flying upon the wings of imagination, I soared among your bright host, and spiritualized myself away, far away, from the miseries of my contemptible existence ! Howsoever that ephemeral worm, cynical man, may sneer, he is no idle dreamer, the lover of you, the star- gazer. The broad sheet of heaven to which ye are atfixed, like letters of fire, is a book prepared by God
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WARNING TO IBERVILLE.
for the learned and the ignorant, where man can read lessons to guide him through the active duties and the struggles of this life, and to conduct him safely to the portals of the eternal one which awaits mortality !
Thus, perhaps, Iberville felt, as he was spying the face of heaven. Suddenly, his reverie was interrupted by a slight tap on the shoulder. He started, and look- ing round, saw a venerable monk, whose person was shrouded up in a brownish gown and hood, which hardly left any thing visible save his sharp, aquiline nose, his long gray beard, and his dark lustrous eyes. " My son!" said he, in a deep tone, "what dost thou see above that thus rivets thy attention ?" "Nothing, father," replied Iberville, bowing reverentially, "nothing! From the contemplation of these luminaries, to which my eyes had been attracted by their unusual radiancy, I had fallen insensibly, I do not know how, into dreamy spec- ulations, from which you have awakened me, father." " Poor stranger !" continued the monk, with a voice shaking with emotion, "thou hast seen nothing! But I have, and will tell thee. Fly hence ! death is around thee-it is in the very air which thou dost breathe. Seest thou that deep, blue transparency of heaven, so transparently brilliant, that the vault which it forms, seems to be melting to let thy sight, as thou gazest, penetrate still farther and without limits,-it portends of death ! This soft, balmy breeze which encompasseth
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WARNING TO IBERVILLE.
thee with its velvet touch, it is pleasing, but fatal as the meretricious embraces of a courtesan, which allure the young to sin, to remorse, and to death ! Above all, look at that sign, stamped on the stars : it is a never- failing one. Dost thou see how they blink and twinkle, like the eyes of warning angels? They no longer ap- pear like fixed incrustations in the vault of heaven, but they seem to oscillate with irregular and tremulous vibrations. Hasten away with all speed. The pesti- lence is abroad ; it stalks onward, the dire queen of the land. It is now amidst yonder revellers, whose music and mundane mirth reach our ears. Incumbent on its hell-black pinions, the shapeless monster hovers over you all, selecting its victims, and crossing their fore- heads with its deadly finger. Mark me! That awful scourge, the yellow fever, has been hatched to-night. Keep out of its path, if yet there be time : if not, mayst thou, my son, be prepared to meet thy God!" So say- ing, the monk made the holy sign of the cross, blessed with his extended index the astonished Iberville, who devoutly uncovered himself, and then slowly departed, vanishing like a bird of ill omen in the gloom of the night.
It was morn. With his brother officers, Iberville sat at a table, covered with maps, charts and scientific instruments. The object of their meeting was to come to a definite understanding as to the plan of the intended
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IBERVILLE'S SICKNESS AND DEATII.
campaign, and to regulate their future movements. Suddenly, Iberville, who, calm and self-collected, had been explaining his views, sprung up from his seat with the most intense expression of pain in his haggard fea- tures. It seemed to him as if all the fires and whirl- winds of a volcano had concentrated in his agonized head. His blodshot eyes revolved in their orbits with restless vivacity, and had that peculiar daguerreotype glare, so annoying to the looker-on. Yellowish streaks spread instantaneously over his face, as if there deposited by a coarse painter's brush. Sharp shooting throes racked his spine : cold shudderings shook his stiffened limbs, and his blood pulsated, as if it were bursting from his veins to escape from the tormoil into which it had been heated by some malignant spell .- At such a sight, the officers cried out, with one simultaneous voice, " Poison ! poison !" "No! no!" exclaimed Iberville, gasping for breath, and falling on a couch, "not poison ! but the predicted pestilence ! fly, fly, my friends -ah ! the monk ! the prophetic monk !- he spoke the truth! O God! my prayer at Sauvolle's tomb has been heard !- Well! content ! Thy will be done ! To mother earth I yield my body, ashes to ashes, and to Thee my immortal soul !" These words were fol- lowed by the wildest delirium, and ere five hours had elapsed, Iberville had been gathered to his forefathers' bosom. Thus died this truly great and good man, in
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BIENVILLE'S INTERVIEW WITH INDIAN CHIEFS.
compliment to whose memory the name of Iberville has been given to one of our most important parishes.
Ill was the wind that carried to Louisiana the me- lancholy information of Iberville's death. It blasted the hearts of the poor colonists, and destroyed the hope they had of being speedily relieved. Their situation had become truly deplorable : their numbers were ra- pidly diminishing : and the Indians were daily becom- ing more hostile, and more bold in their demands for goods and merchandise, as a tribute which they exacted for not breaking out into actual warfare. Bienville convened the chiefs of the Chickasaws and of the Choc- taws, in order to conciliate them by some trifling presents of which he could yet dispose, and to gain time by some fair promises as to what he would do for them under more favorable circumstances. With a view of making an imposing show, Bienville collected all the colonists that were within reach : but notwithstanding that dis- play, a question, propounded by one of the Indian chiefs, gave him a humiliating proof of the slight estimation in which the savages held the French nation. Much to his annoyance, he was asked if that part of his people which remained at home was as numerous as that which had come to settle in Louisiana. Bienville, who spoke their language perfectly well, attempted, by words and comparisons, suited to their understanding, to impart to them a correct notion of the extent of the population
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HIS CRITICAL -POSITION.
of France. But the Indians looked incredulous, and one of them even said to Bienville, "If your country- men are, as you affirm, as thick on their native soil as the leaves of our forests, how is it that they do not send more of their warriors here, to avenge the death of such of them as have fallen by our hands ? Not to do so, when having the power, would argue them to be of a very base spirit. And how is it that most of the tall and powerful men that came with you, being dead, are replaced only by boys, or cripples, or women, that do you no credit ? Surely the French would not so be- have, if they could do otherwise, and my white brother tells a story that disparages his own tribe."
Thus Bienville found himself in a very critical situa- tion. He was conscious that his power was despised by the Indians, who knew that he had only forty-five soldiers at his disposal, and he felt that the red men could easily rise upon him and crush the colony at one blow. He was aware that they were restrained from doing the deed by their cupidity only, bridled as they were by their expectation of the arrival of some ship with mer- chandise, which, they knew from experience, would soon have to come to their huts to purchase peace, and in exchange for furs. Bienville felt so weak, so much at the mercy of the surrounding nations, and enter- tained such an apprehension of some treacherous and sudden attack on their part, that he thought it prudent
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INTRIGUES OF LA SALLE.
to concentrate his forces, and to abandon the fort where he kept a small garrison on the Mississippi.
On the other hand, the death of Iberville had en- couraged the hostility of Bienville's enemies. They knew that he was no longer supported by the powerful influence of his brother at court, and they renewed their attacks with a better hope of success. The commissary La Salle pushed on his intrigues with more activity, and reduced them to a sort of systematic warfare. He divided the colony into those that were against and those that were for Bienville. All such persons as sup- ported the governor's administration were branded as felons : and those that pursued another course, who- ever they might be, were angels of purity. At that time, there was in the colony a physician, sent thither and salaried by the government, who was called the king's physician. His name was Barrot : from the cir- cumstance of his being the only member of his profes- sion in the country, and from the nature of his duties, he was in a position to exercise a good deal of influ- ence .. La Salle attempted to win him over to his side, and having failed in his efforts, he immediately wrote to the minister, " that Barrot, although he had the honor of being the king's physician in the colony, was no bet- ter than a fool, a drunkard and a rogue, who sold the king's drugs and appropriated the money to his own purposes."
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