USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 11
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The bishop was favourably heard at court, and returned with de Mesy, who at his recommendation, was sent to relieve the Baron d'Avaugour,
The company of New France, drawing but little advantage from its charter, had surrendered it; and Gaudais, the king's commissioner to take possession of the country, arrived with the governor and bishop. One hundred families came over with him. A num- ber of civil and military officers, and some troops were also sent.
After having executed the object of his mission, received the oaths of fidelity of the former and new , colonists, and made several ordinances for the re- gulation of the police and administration of justice, the commissioner returned to France.
The governors had hitherto claimed cognizance of all suits, which the plaintiff brought before them, and disposed of them, in a summary way, and with- out appeal. They, however, seldom proceeded to judgment, without having previously tried in vain to induce the parties to submit their differences to the arbitration of their friends; and the final decisions of the governors. when the attempt failed, had gene- rally given satisfaction. We have seen, however, that in 1640, a grand seneschal of New France and inferior judges at . Quebec, Montreal and Trois Rivieres, had been appointed. By an edict of the king, of the month of March 1664, a sovereign coun- cil was created in New France. It was composed of the governor. the apostolic vicar, the intendant, and four counsellors. (chosen among the most notable inhabitants, by, and removeable at the pleasure of, these three officers) an attorney general and a clerk. This tribunal was directed to take the ordinances of the king, and the custom of Paris, as the rules of its decisions. The military and ecclesiastical chief,
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had precedence over the intendant in council, though the latter exercised the functions of president. A majority of the judges was a quorum in civil, but the presence of five of them, was required in criminal, cases.
Inferior tribunals were established at Quebec, Montreal and Trois Rivieres.
The occupation, by the Dutch and Swedes, of the territory between New England and Maryland, had never been viewed in England, as the exercise of a legitimate right, but rather as an encroachment on that of the crown, the country having been disco- vered by one of its subjects, Henry Hudson. The circumstance of his being, at the time, in the service of the states general, was not deemed to affect the claim of his natural sovereign. Charles the second, accordingly made a grant to his brother the Duke of York, and Lord Berkeley, of all the territory between New England and the river Delaware, and a force was sent to take possession of it in 1664.
Governor Stuyvesant, who commanded at New Amsterdam, would have resisted the English forces; but the inhabitants were unwilling to support him. He was therefore, compelled to yield. The town of New Amsterdam received the name of New York, which was also given to the province, and fort Orange that of Albany.
The territory between the Hudson and the Dela- ware, the North and South river, was erected into a distinct province, and called New Jersey.
In New France, de Mesy did not live on better terms with the bishop and clergy, than his prede- cessor. Great discontents prevailed also, between him and the members of the council. They rose to such an height, that he ordered Villere, a notable in- habitant, who had been called to a seat in the coun-
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cil, and Bourdon, the attorney general, to be arrested, and, after a detention of a few days, he shipped them to France. The stern wisdom and unshaken in- tegrity of the prisoners, were universally acknowl- edged. Their complaints were favourably heard at court. The answer of the governor to the charges, exhibited against him, appeared unsatisfactory, and de Courcelles was sent to relieve him.
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Louis the fourteenth had, in the preceding year, appointed the Marquis de Tracy, his viceroy and lieutenant general in America. This officer was directed to visit the French islands in the West Indies, to proceed to Quebec and stay as long as might be necessary, to settle the disturbed govern- ment of the colony, and provide for its protection against the irruptions of the Iroquois.
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In June 1665, the viceroy landed at Quebec, with four companies of the regiment of Carignan Salieres .. He dispatched a part of this small force, with some militia, under the orders of captain de Repentigny, who met several parties of the Iroquois, whom he reduced to order. The rest of the regiment arrived soon after, with de Salieres its colonel, and a consi- derable number of new settlers and tradesmen, and a stock of horses, oxen and sheep. The horses were the first seen in Canada. The addition to the pop- ulation of the colony, which then arrived, much exceeded its former numbers.
The viceroy proceeded with a part of the troops to the river Richelieu, where he employed them in 'erecting three forts. The first, was on the spot on which had stood fort Richelieu, built by Montmagny in 1638, and which was gone to ruins. The new one was built by an officer of the name of Sorel, who was afterwards left in command there. It re- ceived his name, and communicated it to the river.
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The second fort, was erected at the falls. It was at first called Fort Louis; but Chambly, the officer, who built and commanded it, having acquired the land around, it took his name. The third was nine miles higher up, and was called St. Theresa, from the circumstance of its having been completed on the day, on which the catholics worship that saint. These fortifications were intended as a protection against the Iroquois, who generally came down that river to invade the colony. They were greatly em- boldened by the expectation of aid, from the English at Albany. The new . forts effectually guarded against their approach by the stream; but the Indians soon found other parts of the country afford- ing them as easy a passage. They became so troublesome, that the viceroy and governor were, for a considerable time, compelled to keep the field with the regular forces, and as many of the inhabi- tants as could be spared from the labours of agricul- ture. They had several encounters with large parties of Indians, whom they defeated. The latter found it of no avail, to continue their irruptions, while the colony was thus on its guard.
The tranquility, which the retreat of the foe, and the vigilance of the chiefs gave to the colony, was ยท however, soon disturbed, by events over which human foresight can have no control. Several shocks of an earthquake, attended with the appearance of the meteors that had accompanied that of 1663, now excited great alarm. A deadly epidemic disease, added its horrors to those which the commotions of nature had produced.
Charles the second, unmindful of his father's char- ter to Sir Robert Heath, about a third of a century before, had in 1663 granted to Lord Clarendon and LOU. I. 10
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others, the territory from the river San Matheo or St. John, in Florida, to the thirty-sixth degree of northern latitude. There was as yet but an insig- nificant settlement, in this vast extent of country. It was on the north side of Albemarle Sound, and had been formed by stragglers' from the colony of Vir- ginia, who, travelling southerly, had stopped at a small distance beyond its southern limit, and had been joined by emigrants, chiefly of the Quaker pro- fession, driven by the intolerant spirit of the people of New England. The new proprietors, having dis- - covered valuable tracts of land not included in their charter, obtained in June 1665, a second and more extensive one. It covers all the territory from the twenty-ninth degree to Wynock, in 36 degrees 30 minutes of northern latitude. They effected shortly after, a small settlement on Cape Fear river, which was afterwards removed farther south, and became the nucleus of the state of South Carolina, as that on Albemarle Sound, extending southerly and wes- terly, became that of North Carolina.
On the seventeenth of September 1665, Philip the fourth of Spain died in his sixtieth year, and was succeeded by his son Charles the second.
The French king. had in 1662, transferred to the West India Company, all the privileges which that of New France had enjoyed; the former, not being in a situation to avail itself immediately of the royal favour, requested that the colonial government might for a while be administered by the king's of- ' ficer. In the spring of 1667, the Marquis de Tracy, according to the king's order, put the company in formal possession of the country, and soon after sail- ed for France. Neither the colony, nor the com- pany appear to have derived any great advantage
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from this arrangement; and in the following year, the freedom of commerce in New France was pro- claimed.
By the treaty of Breda in 1667, Acadie was res- tored to the French.
The ecclesiastical government of New France had been hitherto confided to an apostolic vicar, a bishop in partibus infidelium, that of Petrea. The pope now erected the city of Quebec, into a bishop's see, and St. Vallier was appointed its first incum- bent. This gentleman, however, did not receive the canonical institution, till four years after.
The lords of manors in New France did not enjoy any ecclesiastical patronage; and the bishop who, receiving all the tithes collected in the diocess, was burdened with the support of the curates, had the uncontrolled appointment of them.
It does not appear, that with the exception of the seminary of St. Sulpice, any lord in New France, ever claimed the administration of justice by his own judges. This corporation was in the exercise of this right as lords of the island of Montreal ; but they surrendered it to the king in 1692.
The Chevalier de Grandfontaine and Sir John Temple, plenipotentiaries of the French and British crowns, signed in Boston, on the seventh of July 1670, a declaration, by which the right of France to all the country from the river of Pentagoet, to the island of Cape Breton (both inclusive) was recog- nised. The chevalier. was appointed governor of Acadie.
Count de Frontenac succeeded Courcelles, in the government of New France, in the following year. He found it desolated by repeated irruptions of the Iroquois, who came down along the eastern shore of lake Ontario, and descended the St. Law- rence. With the view of checking their approach
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this way, he built a fort at Catarocoui, on the lake, near the place where its waters form the river.
The western company, by an edict of February 1670, had been authorised to send to the islands, small coins expressly struck for circulation there, to the amount of one hundred thousand livres, (about $20,000) and the edict especially provided, they should not circulate elsewhere. In November 1672. however, their circulation was authorized in the king's dominions in North America, and their value was increased one third; pieces of fifteen sous being raised to twenty, and others in the same proportion. At the same time, the practice, that had prevailed in the islands and in new France, of substituting the contract of exchange to that of sale was forbidden. The king ordered, that in future, all accounts, notes. bills, purchases and payments should be made in money, and not by exchange or computation of sugar, or other produce, under pain of nullity. Former con- tracts, notes, bills. obligations, leases, &c., in which a quantity of sugar, or other produce, was stipulated to be delivered, were resolved by the royal power, into ob- ligations to pay money. This interference in the con- cerns of individuals created confusion, and the great de- mand it occasioned for coin, increased its value and occasioned a consequent decrease of land and other property, which had a most mischievous effect.
The Canadians had learnt from the Indians, that there was a large stream to the west, the course of which was unknown; but they had ascertained it did not flow northerly nor easterly ; and great hopes were entertained that it might afford a passage to China, or at least to the Gulf of Mexico. Talon, the first intendant of New France, was about returning home, and determined on discovering, before he sailed, the course of this great river.
He engaged, for this purpose, father Marquette. a
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recollet monk, who had been for a long time em- ployed in distant missions, and Joliet, a trader of Quebec, and a man of considerable information and experience in Indian affairs. . The two adventurers proceeded to the bay of lake Michigan, and en- tered a river, called by the Indians Outagamis, and by the French, des renards. Ascending almost to its source, notwithstanding its falls, they made a small portage to that of Ouisconsing. Descending this stream, which flows westerly, they got into that they were in quest of, on the seventh of July 1673. History has not recorded any account of its having been floated on by any white man, since Muscoso, with the remainder of his army, descended it from Red River to its mouth, about one hundred and thirty years before.',
Committing themselves to the current, the holy man and his companion soon reached a village of the Illinois, near the mouth of the Missouri. These In- dians gladly received their visitors. Their nation was in alliance with the French, and traders from Canada came frequently among them; a circum- stance which had rendered them obnoxious to the Iroquois, whom they found too numerous to be suc- cessfully resisted, without the aid of their white friends. The guests were hospitably entertained, and their influence, with the governor and ecclesias- tical superior, was solicited, that some aid might be afforded them, and that a missionary might come and reside among them.
After a short stay, the current, which now began to be strong, brought the travellers in a few days to a village of the Arkansas. Believing now they had fully ascertained that the course of the river was towards the Gulf of Mexico, their stock of provisions being nearly exhausted, they deemed it useless and
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unsafe to proceed farther, among unknown tribes, on whose disposition prudence forbade to rely. . They therefore hastened back to the river of the Illinois, ascended it and proceeded to Chicagou, on lake Mi- chigan. Here they parted : the father returning to his mission, among the Indians on the northern shore of the lake, and the trader going down to Quebec, to impart to their employer the success of their la- bours. Count de Frontenac gave to the river they had explored the name of Colbert, in compliment to the then minister of the marine.
Joliet's services in this circumstance, were remu- nerated by a grant of the large island of Anticosti, near the mouth of the river St. Lawrence.
This important discovery filled all Canada with joy, and the inhabitants of the capital followed the constituted authorities of the colony to the cathedral church, where the bishop, surrounded by his clergy, sung a solemn Te Deum. Little did they suspect that the event, for which they were rendering thanks to heaven, was marked, in the book of fate, as a prin- cipal one among those, which were to lead to the expulsion of the French nation from North America, that Providence had not destined the shores of the mighty stream for the abode of the vassals of any European prince; but had decreed that it should be for a while the boundary, and for ever after roll its waves in the midst of those free and prosperous communities, that now form the confederacy of the United States.
Robertson .- Charlevoix .- Marshall.
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The French are driven from Acadie .- Complaints of the Canadians against their Governor .- The Abbe de Fe- nelon .- Sale of spirituous liquors to the Indians .- Re- presentations of the Clergy .- The Archbishop of Paris and Father de la Chaise .- Lasalle proposes to ex- plore the course of the Mississippi .- He goes to France. The Prince of Conti .- The Chevalier de Tonti .- La- salle returns .- Fort Frontenac .- Adventurers from New- England cross the Mississippi and visit New-Mexico. Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Michigan .- Little Miami River .- Illinois .- Lasalle's men endeavour to indispose the Illinois against him .- He defeats their plan .- The intrigue of a Mascoutan Indian .- Attempt to poison Lasalle .- Arkansas .- Dacan .- Hennepin .- Mississippi .- Falls of St. Anthony .- Sioux .- Pennsyl- vania .-- Miamis .-- Outagamis .-- Ainous. - Mascou- tans .- Fort Crevecoeur .- Irruptions of the Iroquois into the country of the Illinois .- Acadie restored to the French .- Fort Penkuit .- Chicagou .-- Illinois .- Mis- sissippi River .- The Miami .- Chickasaws .- Fort Prudhome .- Cappas .- Arkansas .--- Alligators .- Tarn- sas .- Red River -Quinipissas .- Tangipaos .- Gulf of Mexico .- Lasalle takes possession of the country, at the mouth of the Mississippi .- He calls the river, St. Louis, and the country Louisiana .- He is visited by Indians from several tribes .- He returns .- His party is attacked by the Quinipissas, who are routed .- The Natchez .- Tacnsas .- Arkansas .- Chickasaw Bluffs .- Lasalle is detained there by sickness .- The Chevalier de Tonti proceeds with part of the men .- They meet at Michilli- mackinac .- The Chevalier goes to Fort St. Louis, and Lasalle to Quebec .- Count de Frontenac .- Lasalle sails for France.
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THE people of New England saw with a jealous eye, the French in possession of Acadie. On the tenth of August 1674, Chambly, who commanded there, was surprised in the fort of Pentagoet, by an English adventurer, who had lurked in his garrison for several days. This man had procured the aid , of the crew of a Flemish privateer, about one hun- dred in number. The French, being but thirty in the fort, were soon subdued. The victor marched afterwards with a part of his force, to the fort on the river St. John. Manson, who commanded there, was found still less prepared for defence, than his chief. By the capture of these two forts, the only ones which the French had in Acadie, the whole country fell 'into the power of the invaders. Charles the second, disavowed this act of hostility, committed in a period of profound peace. It had been planned, and the means of its execution had been procured, in Boston.
The absence of causes of external disturbance, gave rise to internal, in Canada. The colonists com- plained that, through the ill-timed exertion of the influence of Count de Frontenac, the seats in the superior council, which were destined for notable inhabitants, were exclusively filled by men entirely devoted to him-that more suits had been commen- . ced in the last six months, than during the six pre- ceding years. An act of arbitrary power had greatly excited the clergy against him. He had imprisoned the abbe de Fenelon, then a priest of the seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal, who afterwards became Archbishop of Cambray, and acquired great reputa- tion, in the literary world, as the author of Telema- chus, on the alleged charge of having preached against him, and of having been officiously indus- trious in procuring attestations from the inhabitants, in favour of Perrot, whom the count had put under
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arrest. They also complained, that he had, of his own authority, exiled two members of the council, and openly quarelled. with the intendant.
Much ill will was created, between him and the bishop. clergy and missionaries, by the sale of spiri- - tuous liquors to the Indians, which they had hitherto successfully opposed, and the count now counte- nanced. The priests complained it destroyed the whole fruits of their labour among the converted Indians, and the bishop had declared the breach of the law, in this respect, a sin, the absolution of which was reserved to him alone, in his diocess.
These dissemtions were made known to the king, who, with the view of putting a stop to them, direct- ed that an assembly of the most notable inhabitants . of the colony, should be convened and express its opinion on the propriety of disallowing the traffic, and that their determination should be laid before the archbishop of. Paris and father de la Chaise, an eminent Jesuit, confessor of the king. It was urged in France, that a discontinuance of the sale would deprive the colonial government of the attachment of the natives, who would be induced to carry their furs and peltries to Albany and New York. The two high dignitaries of the church, to whom the . sovereign had committed the examination of this question, having conferred with St. Vallier, the Bish- op of Quebec. (who had been induced by his zeal in the cause of humanity, to go over and solicit the King's interference) decided, that the sale should not be allowed. . This report became the basis of an or- dinance, the strictest observance of which was en- joined on the count, and the prelate pledged him- self to confine his interference to cases of the most flagrant violation of the ordinance.
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Father Marquette had died; and the great joy, which the discovery of the Mississippi had excited, . had subsided. Joliet was, perhaps, too much engaged by his own private concerns to prosecute the plans of further discoveries, and the utmost apathy, on this subject prevailed in the colonial government. To the enterprise of a then obscure individual, France owed her success in colonization on the Mississippi.
Robert Cavelier de Lasalle, a native of Rouen who had spent several years in the order of the Je-' suits, and whom this circumstance had prevented from receiving any part of the succession of his pa- rents, who had ended their lives, while he was thus civilly dead, came to Canada, in search of some en- terprise that might give him wealth or fame. Such appeared to have been the prosecution of Marquette and Joliet's discoveries. He did not doubt that the mighty stream poured its water's into the Gulf of Mexico; but he fostered the idea, that by ascending it, a way might be found to some other river running westerly and affording a passage to Japan and China.
He communicated his views to count de Fronte- nac, to whom he suggested the propriety of enlarging - the fort at Catarocoui. increasing its force, and thus by holding out protection, induce settlers to improve the surrounding country, which would afford a strong barrier to the rest of the colony in case the Iroquois renewed their irruptions. He presented, as a farther advantage, the facility. which this would give for the building of barques for the extension of trade, along the shores of the lakes, and of the limits of the colo- . nies and the dominions of the king over distant tribes of Indians. The count entered into Lasalle's views ; but, as the execution of the proposed plan required considerable disbursements, which he did not choose to order without the minister's directions, he ordered
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the projector to go over, to present and explain his plans.
Lasalle, on his arrival, was fortunate enough to procure an introduction to, and gain the notice of the Prince de Conti, whose patronage secured him the most ample success at court. The king granted him letters of nobility, and an extensive territory around the fort at Catarocoui, now called fort Fron- * tenac, on condition of his rebuilding it with stone, and invested him with ample power for prosecuting the projected discoveries, and carrying on trade with the natives. The prince desired Lasalle to take with him the chevalier de Tonti, an Italian officer, who had served in Sicily, where he had lost a hand. He had substituted to it, one made of copper, of which habit enabled him occasionally to make a powerful use. He was the son of the projector of a plan of placing money at interest (not unknown now in the United States) called a tontine; in which the principal, paid in by those who die, is lost to their estates, and enures to the benefit of the survivors.
Daniel Coxe mentions, in his description of the English province of Carolana, that this year, 1678, a considerable number of persons went from New England, on a journey of discovery, and proceeded as far as New Mexico, four hundred and fifty miles beyond the Mississippi, and on their return rendered an account of their discoveries to the government of Boston, as is attested among many others by Colonel Dudley, then one of the magistrates, and afterwards Governor of New England, and since Deputy Gover- nor of the Isle of Wight, under Lord Cutts.
Lasalle, accompanied by the prince's protegee and thirty colonists, among whom were useful me- chanics, landed at Quebec on the 15th of September 1678, and proceeded without tarrying, to the entrance
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