USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 10
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
.
Famine was not the only calamity that afflicted
-
-
-
-
THE SECOND.
55
1628]
Canada. The Indians had grown turbulent and in- tractable, on the approach of the English. The ill will, which a difference of religious opinions often creates, was greatly excited, and the Huguenots, whom the de Caens had introduced, refused obe- dience to the constituted authorities. Champlain had need of all his firmness and energy to suppress the disorder. In this state of affairs, he thought the best measure he could adopt was to march against the Iroquois, who of late had given him great cause of complaint, attack them and seek subsistence for his men in their country. But he was without am- munition, and could not reasonably expect any for many months. Brule, his brother-in-law, whom he had sent to France, to lay the distressed situation of the colony before the king, had sailed but a few weeks before.
Towards the middle of July, he was informed that a number of English vessels were behind Pointe Levy. This intelligence, which at any other time would have been very unpleasant, received a diffe- rent character, from circumstances. He viewed the English less as enemies than as liberators, who came to put an end to the horrors of famine. A few hours after, a boat, with a white flag advanced and stopped in the middle of the port, as if waiting for leave to approach. A similar flag was hoisted in town, in order to intimate a wish that it might come to shore. An officer landed, and brought to Champlain a letter from Louis and Thomas Kertz, brothers to David, the Commodore. One of them was destined to the command of Quebec, the other had that of the fleet. which was at Tadoussac. The vessel that carried Brule, had fallen into their hands, and the distressed situation of the colony had become known to them, - from the report of some of her sailors. Champlain
56
CHAPTER [1628
was offered to dictate the terms of the capitulation ; the place was yielded.
On the twentieth, the English cast anchor before it. They had but three ships; the largest was of one hundred tons, and had ten guns; the other two were of fifty tons, and had six guns each.
The conquest of Canada added but little to the wealth or power of England. Quebec, the only part of it, which could be said to be settled, was a rock on which one hundred individuals were starving. It contained but a few miserable huts. All the wealth of the place consisted in a few hides, and some pel- tries of inconsiderable value.
Thus, one hundred and twenty years after the French first visited the northern continent of Ame- rica, notwithstanding a great waste of men and money, they were without one foot of territory on it.
The English colonies, were in a more prosperous condition. The sturdy pilgrims, who had landed but a few years before, in the north, had already wrested from the metropolis the government of their colony; and spreading their population along the sea shore, had laid the foundation of the towns of . Plymouth, Salem and Boston.
The settlements in Virginia were extended to a . considerable distance along the banks of James and York rivers, to the Rapahanoc, and even the Poto- mac. They had subdued the neighbouring tribes of Indians, who had attempted a general massacre of the whites. They enjoyed already, the privilege of making their own laws: Regular courts of justice were established among them, and they had victo- riously stood a contest, which terminated in the dis- solution of the company. at whose costs the country had been settled; too spirited to submit to the arbi- . trary sway of Sir John Harvey, whom the king had
.
57
THE SECOND.
1630]
-
sent to govern them, they had seized and shipped him to England.
On the thirtieth of October, Charles the first granted to Sir Robert Heath, his attorney-general, all the territory between the thirty-first and thirty- sixth degrees of northern latitude, not yet cultiva- ted or planted, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, with the islands of Viaries and Bahama. This immense tract, including all the country now covered by the states of North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee and Mississippi, with parts of that of Louisiana, the territory of Arkansas, with a considerable portion of New Mexico-was erected into an English province, by the name of Carolana. This is the largest grant of a king of England, to an individual. Sir Robert does not appear to have made an attempt to occupy any part of it. In 1637, he transferred his title to Lord Maltravers, who some time after, on the death of his father, became Earl of Arundel and Surry, and Earl Marshal of England. This nobleman is said to have been at considerable expense in an attempt to transplant a colony there, but the civil war which began to rage soon after, prevented his success. The province afterwards became the property of Dr. Coxe of New Jersey, whose right, as late as the 21st of November 1699, was recognised by the attorney-general of king William, and reported by the lords commissioners of trade and plantations as a valid one. The Virginia company loudly complained of the grant to Sir Ro- bert, as an encroachment on their charter.
While a new government was thus sought to be established in the south, by the king's authority, new establishments were formed by the northern com- pany, in the neighbourhood of the French: Sir Fer- dinando Gorges and John Mason, two members of LOU. I. 8
-
58
CHAPTER
[1632
that corporation, built a house at the mouth of Pis- .cataqua river, and afterwards others erected cabins along the coast, from Merrimack eastwardly to Sa- gadehoc, for the purpose of fishing. In 1631, Sir Ferdinando and Mason sent a party, under one Wil- liams, who laid the foundation of the town of Ports- mouth, in the present state of New Hampshire.
By the treaty of St. Germain, which put an end to the war, between France and England, on the twenty- ninth of March 1632, the latter restored to the former, Canada and Acadie, without any description of limits; Quebec, Port Royal and the island of Cape Breton were so by name.
Robertson .- Charlevoix .- Marshall.
1
59
THE THIRD.
1632]
CHAPTER III.
Emery de Caen .- Maryland .- Acadie .- Commandeur de Razilly .- New Hampshire .- Maine .- Rhode Island and Providence plantations .- Connecticut .- College of Quebec .- Montmagny .- The Dutchess of Aiguillon. Ursuline Nuns .- Sisters of the Congregation .- Fort Richelieu .- Louis XIV .- Union of the New England colonies .- Their treaty with Acadie .- D'Aillebout .- Offer of a treaty to Canada .- Oliver Cromwell .- Com- missioners of New England .- Indians .- Missionaries among them .- Godefroy and Dreuillettes sent to Boston. De Lauson .- Irruption of the Iroquois .- Swedish colo- ny abandoned .- D'Argenson .- Bishop of Petrea .- Vicar General .- Seminary of Montreal -- The Eng. lish from Virginia, discover the Ohio .- Charles Il. proclaimed in Virginia .- Irruptions of the Iroquois near Quebec .- Epidemic .- Meteors .- D'Avaugour .- Dissentions among the chiefs .- Sale of ardent spirits to the Indians .- Earthquake .- Vision of a Nun .- The Charter of the Company of New France surrendered .- De Gaudais .- Superior and inferior courts of Justice. Grant to the Duke of York .- The Dutch driven from New Belgica .- New York .- Albany .- New Jersey .- Fresh dissentions among the chiefs .- De Courcelles .-- De Tracy .- Viceroy of New France .- Regiment of Carignan Salieres. - New colonists. - Horses, oxen and sheep brought from France to Canada .- Fort Sorel. Fort St. Theresa .- Expedition against the Iroquois .- Another earthquake .- Carolina .- Charles II. of Spain. West India Company .- Quebec erected into a Bishop's See .- French and English Plenipotentiaries in Boston. Frontenac .- Fort at Catarocoui .- Salem. - Father Marquette .- Joliet. - Lake Michigan .- Outaganars
60
CHAPTER
[1632
river. - Quisconsing .- Mississippi. - Illinois. - Mis- souri .- Arkansas .- Great rejoicings in Quebec on the discovery of the Mississippi.
EMERY DE CAEN was despatched, with a `copy of the treaty. - to Quebec. . His principal ob- ject in bringing it, was the recovery of the property he had left in Canada, for the restoration of which, provision had been made by an article of the treaty. With the view of yielding to him some indemnifica- tion for the loss of his privilege, Louis the thirteenth had granted him the exclusive commerce of New France, in furs and peltries, for one year.
Kertz surrendered the country to de Caen.
Charles the first, on the twenty-eighth of June, granted to Cecilius, Lord Baltimore, a large tract of country. between the settlements of Virginia and the river and bay of Delaware. It was called Mary- land, in honor of Henrietta Maria, sister to Louis the thirteenth of France. Lord Baltimore, soon after seat thither two hundred colonists. They were all Roman catholics, and chiefly from Ireland.
The company of New France resumed its rights in 1633, and Champlain, who on its nomination, had been appointed governor of Canada, returned to Quebec, bringing with him a few Jesuits.
Acadie was granted to the commander of Razilly, one of the principal members of the company. He found himself to settle it, and began a small estab -. lishment at la Haive. A party of his people, at- tacked a trading house of the colony of New England ou Penob-cot river. In the following year, he erect- ed a small military post there. . It- was attacked by an English ship and barque. under Captain Girling ; but it successfully defended itself.
The Plymouth company, dividing its territory
-
-
-
61
THE THIRD.
1638]
among its members, the land between Merrimack and Piscataqua rivers, was granted to Mason. It now constitutes the state of New Hampshire. That to the north east, as far as Kennebeck river, was al- lotted to Sir Ferdinando Gorges, another member. It is now the state of Maine. .
Roger Williams, a popular preacher, and a Mrs. Hutchinson, being banished from Massachusetts, ., purchased each a tract of land from the Naragan- set Indians, on which they settled, with a few of their adherents, and laid the foundations of Providence and Rhode Island. Nearly about the same time, Hooker, a favourite minister in Boston, with leave of the government, led a small colony farther souther- ly, and laid in the towns of Hartford, Windsor and Wethersfield, the foundation of the present state of Connecticut.
In December 1635, a college was established by royal authority at Quebec, and in the following year, Champlain died, and was succeeded by the Cheva- lier de Montmagny.
The piety of the Dutchess d'Aiguillon procured to the colony two useful establishments -- that of the Sisters of the Congregation, who came from Dieppe in 1637; and that of the Ursuline Nuns from Tours, in 1638, to devote themselves to the relief of suffer- ing humanity in the hospital, and the education of young persons of their sex.
With the view of checking the irruptions of the Iroquois, who greatly distressed the upper settlers. and came down the river, that falls into the St. Law- rence on its right side, at a small distance from the town of Montreal, Montmagny had a fort erected on its banks; it was called Fort Richelieu, in honor of the Cardinal, then prime minister, and afterwards communicated its name to the stream ..
62
CHAPTER
[1640
Justice had hitherto been rendered to the colo- nists, by the governor and commandants; in 1640, provision was made for its more regular administra- tion, by the appointment of judges at Quebec, Mon- treal and Trois Rivieres, and a grand seneschal of New France. The former had original, and the latter appellate jurisdiction.
Louis the thirteenth, on the fourteenth of May 1643, the forty-second year of his age, transmitted his sceptre to his son, Louis the fourteenth.
The English settlements, near the French, suffer- ing as much from the Indians as Canada, the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, sought protection in the union of their efforts. They entered into a league of alliance, offensive and defensive, and gave to five commission- er, chosen by each colony, the power of regulating the affairs of the confederacy. Accordingly the go- vernor of Massachusetts, in behalf of the united colonies, in the following year, concluded a treaty of peace and commerce, with Monsieur d'Antouy, go- vernor of Acadie ; it was laid before, and ratified by, the commissioners.
In 1646. d'Aillebout succeeded Montmagny, in the government of New France.
The Indians continuing to distress the back set- ders of New England, the commissioners of the united colonies -ent a deputy to Quebec; who, in their be- half. proposed to d'Aillebout, that the French and New England colonies should enter into a perpetual alliance, independent from any rupture between the parent countries. D'Aillebout, approving the mea- sure, sent father Deuilletes, a Jesuit, to meet the commissioners'in Boston. The envoy, it appears, was instructed not to agree to any treaty, unless the aid of New England was afforded to New France,
.63
THE THIRD.
1646]
against the Iroquois. Time has destroyed every trace of the final result of this mission.
-
Democracy now prevailed in England, over the monarch and its nobles. The House of Lords was abolished, and Charles the first lost his head on the scaffold, on the 30th of January 1648, in the forty- eighth year of his age. Oliver Cromwell, under the title of protector, assumed the reins of government. During the struggle, that preceded the king's fall, the northern colonies spiritedly adhered to the po- pular party ; Virginia remained attached to the royal cause, which did not cease to prevail there, till the arrival of a fleet, with the protector's governor. Some resistance was even made to his landing.
The commissioners of New England resumed their negociations to induce the governor of New France, to enter into an alliance with them. The English and French colonies were now much dis- tressed by irruptions of the Indians. The French had sent among the latter, a considerable number of missionaries, who proceeded, in their efforts to pro- pagate the gospel, much in the same manner as methodists now do, in new and thinly inhabited countries. Besides travelling missionaries, who per- formed regular tours of duty, among the more dis- tant tribes, they had stationed ones in the nearer. The stationed missionary was generally attended by a lay brother, who instructed young Indians in their Catechism. The father had often around him a number of his countrymen, who came to sell goods and collect peltries. His dwelling was the ordinary resort of the white men, whom necessity, cupidity or any other cause, led into the forests. A number of Indians gathered near the mission, to minister to the wants of the holy man, and his inmates or visitors. His functions gave him a great ascendency over his
-
64.
CHAPTER
[1646
flock, amused and increased by the pageantry of the rites of his religion. His authority often extended over the whole tribe, and he commanded, and direct- ed the use of its forces. As he was supported by, and did support, the government of the colony, he soon became a powerful auxiliary, in the hands of its mili -- , tary chief. The union, which existed among the travelling and stationed missionaries, all appointed and sent or stationed, and directed by their superior in the convent of Quebec. had connected the tribes who had received a missionary, into a kind of al- liance and confederacy, the forces of which govern- ment commanded, and at times exerted against the more distant tribes. In return, it afforded the con- federates protection against their enemies. The . Iroquois, Eries and other nations, not in this alliance, considered the members of it as their foes, made . ` frequent irruptions in their villiages, and at times captured or killed the missionary and the white men around him. The parties, engaged in these expedi- tions, did not always confine the violence they thus exercised to Indian villages; they often attacked the frontier settlements of the whites, and at times approached their towns. These circumstances ren- dered it desirable to New France, to secure the aid of New England against the Indians. Accordingly, in June 1651, d'Aillebout, calling to his council the head of the clergy and some of the most notable planters, who recommended that Godefroy, one of the latter, and father Dreuillettes, should proceed to Bos- ton, and conclude the alliance, which the commis- sioners of the New England colonies had proposed. Charlevoix has preserved the resolutions .of the no- tables, the letter they wrote to the commissioners, and the passport or letter of credence, which the governor gave to the envoys; but he was not able to transmit us the result of the mission,
1
. 65
THE THIRD.
1659]
New France received a new governor, in the per- son of Lauson, in 1652.
A large party of the Iroquois, advancing towards Montreal, Duplessis Brocard, who commanded there, putting himself at the head of the inhabitants, marched out. He lost his life in an encounter, and his followers were routed. This accident, although it inspired the Indians with much confidence, did not embolden them to attack the town.
On the failure of an expedition, which Cromwell had directed to be prepared in Boston, under the command of Sedgwick, for the attack of the Dutch in . Nova Belgica, this officer took upon himself to dis- lodge the French from Acadie.
The French and English were not the only Euro- pean nations annoyed by the Indians. The Swedes, who, at this time, had several settlements over the territory, which is now covered by the states of New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware, finding them- selves in too small a number to stand their ground with the natives, abandoned New Sweden ; and John Rising, their governor, in 1655 by order of his sove- reign, transferred to Peter Stuyvesant, governor of Nova Belgica, all the rights of the Swedish crown in this quarter, for the use of the states-general.
In 1659, New France received new civil and ec- clesiastical chiefs. The Viscount of Argenson suc- ceeded Lauson, and Francis de Laval, Bishop of Petrea, appointed by the holy see, its apostolic vicar, arrived with a number of ecclesiastics. The island of Montreal was erected into a seignory, and the priests of St. Sulpice in Paris, were made lords of it. A seminary was established in the city of Montreal; it being the intention of government, to substitute a secular clergy to the Jesuits and recollets, who till now had ministered to the spiritual wants of the LOU. I. 9
1
66
CHAPTER
[1659
colonists. A similar establishment had been begun in Quebec. Regulations were made for the collec- tion of tithes. Societies of religious ladies in France sent some of their members to Montreal, for the re- . lief of the sick and the education of young persons of their sex.
While Canada was advancing in its internal im- provements, the Virginians extended their discove- ries over the mountains. Daniel Coxe, in his de- scription of Carolana, published in 1722, relates that Col. Woods of Virginia, dwelling near the falls of James river, about one hundred miles from the bay of Chesapeake, between the years 1654 and 1664, discovered at different times, several branches of the Ohio and Mississippi. He adds, he had in his possession, the journal of a Capt. Needham, who was employed by the Colonel.
In 1660, the people of Virginia, at the death of Mathews, the protector's governor, called on Sir William Berkely, the former governor under the king, to resume the reins of government, and pro- claimed Charles the second as their legitimate sove- reign, before they had any intelligence of Crom- wells' death. Charles' restoration was soon after effected in England, and his authority recognised, in all his American colonies.
This year was a disastrous one in Canada : large parties of the Iroquois incessantly rambled over the country, in every direction, killing or making priso- ners of the whites, who strayed to any distance from their plantations. The culture of the earth was much impeded by the terror they inspired. Even in Quebec, the people were alarmed. The Ursu- line and hospital nuns were frequently compelled -to seek shelter out of their monasteries, at night. In the following year, an epidemic disease made great
-
-
67
THE THIRD.
1662]
havock. It was a kind of hooping cough, terminat- ing in pleurisy. Many of the whites, and the domes- ticated Indians fell victims to it. Its greatest rava- ges were among the children. It was imagined to be occasioned by enchantment, and many of the faculty, did, or affected to, believe it. Others were terrified into credulity, and the strangest reports were circulated and credited. Time and the pro- gress of knowledge have dispelled the opinion (which at this period prevailed in Europe, and the colonists had brought over) that at times, malignant' spirits enabled some individuals to exercise super- natural powers over the health and lives of others. It was said, a fiery crown had been observed in the air at Montreal; lamentable cries heard at Trois Rivieres, in places, in which there was not any per- son; that at Quebec, a canoe all in fire, had been seen on the river, with a man armed cap-a-pie, sur- rounded by a circle of the same element; and in the island of Orleans, a woman had heard the cries of her fruit in her womb. A comet made its appear- ance; a phenomenon seldom looked upon as of no : importance, especially in calamitous times.
The alarm at last subsided. The parties of Iro- quois, who desolated the country, became less nu- merous and less frequent; these Indians finally sued for peace. The governor did not appear at first, very anxious to listen to their proposals; but pru- dence commanded the acceptance of them.
The Baron d'Avaugour relieved the Viscount d'Argenson, in 1662.
Serious discontents now arose between the civil and ecclesiastical chiefs. Much distress resulted from the inobservance of the regulations, made to prevent the sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians. A woman, who was found guilty of a breach of them.
68
CHAPTER
[1662
was sent to prison, and at the solicitation of her friends, the superior of the Jesuits waited on the' Baron, to solicit her release. . He received the holy man with rudeness; observing that, since the sale ·of spirituous liquors to the Indians was no offence in this woman, it should not, for the future, be one in any body. Obstinacy induced him afterwards to regulate his conduct, according to this rash declara- "tion; the shopkeepers (thinking themselves safe) suffered cupidity to direct theirs, and the regu- lations were entirely disregarded. The clergy exerted all their influence to suppress the growing evil, and withheld, absolution from those, who re- fused to promise obedience to the regulations. The Bishop resorted to the use of the censures of the church against the obstinate; this created much ill will against him and his clergy, and he crossed the sea, to solicit the king's strict orders, for the sup- pression of this disorder.
1
A dreadful earthquake was felt in- Canada, on the fifth of February 1663. The first shock is said by Charlevoix, to have lasted half an hour; after the . first quarter of an hour, its violence .gradually abated. At eight o'clock in the evening, a like shock was felt; some of the inhabitants said they had counted as many as thirty-two shocks, during the night. In the intervals between the shocks, the surface of the ground undulated as the sea, and the people felt, in their houses, the sensations which are experienced in a vessel at anchor. On the sixth, at three o'clock in the morning, another most violent shock was felt. It is related that at Tadoussac, there was a rain of ashes for six hours. During this strange commotion of nature, the bells .of the churches were kept constantly ringing, by the mo- tion of the steeples; the houses were so terribly
-
اوان
69
THE THIRD.
1663]
shaken, that the eaves, on each side, alternately touched the ground. Several mountains altered their positions; others were precipitated into the river, and lakes were afterwards found, in the places on which they stood before. The commotion was felt · for nine hundred miles from east to west, and five. hundred from north to south.
This extraordinary phenomenon was considered as the effect of the vengeance of God, irritated at the obstinacy of those, who, neglecting the admo- nitions of his ministers, and contemning the censures of his church, continued to sell brandy to the In- dians. The reverend writer, who has been cited, relates it was said, ignited appearances had been observed in the air, for several days before; globes of fire being seen over the cities of Quebec and Montreal, attended with a noise like that of the simultaneous discharge of several pieces of heavy artillery ; that the superior of the nuns, informed her confessor some time before, that being at her devo- tions, she believed " she saw the Lord, irritated against Canada, and she involuntarily demanded justice from him for all the crimes committed in the country ; praying the souls might not perish with the bodies : a moment after, she felt conscious the di- vine justice was going to strike; the contempt of the church exciting God's wrath. She perceived almost instantaneously four devils, at the corners of Quebec, shaking the earth with extreme violence, and a person of majestic mien alternately slackening and drawing back a bridle, by which he held them." A female Indian, who had been baptised, was said to have received intelligence of the impending chastisment of heaven. The reverend writer con- cludes his narration, by exultingly observing, " none. perished, all were converted."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.