USA > Louisiana > The history of Louisiana : from the earliest period, Volume I > Part 9
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The Algonquins and Hurons advanced side byside, till within one hundred and fifty yards from the Iro- quois ; they then opened, and the French, rushing between, poured in their fire. Two of the obnoxious leaders of the enemy, who had been designated to the French, fell ; the third was wounded. The Al- gonquinsand Hurons yelled and discharged vollies of
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1610]
arrows, while the French gave a second fire. This put the enemy to flight; he was pursued ; several of. his men were killed, and a greater number made prisoners. The victors lost none of their men; about fifteen were wounded, but not one dangerous- ly. A large supply of provisions was found in the enemy's camp, of which the pursuers were in much need.
Champlain returned, with his allies, to Quebec, where Pontgrave soon after arrived. They sailed together for France, leaving the command of the colony to Pierre Chauvin.
Henry the fourth was much pleased with the ac- count Champlain gave him of the settlement on the St. Lawrence, and gave to his American dominions the name of New France. Dumontz was then at court, using his best efforts, especially with the Marchioness of Guercheville, to recover his privilege; but without success. His associates, the principal of whom were le Gendre and Collier, did not for- sake him. They fitted out two ships, the command of which they gave to Champlain and Pontgrave. The views of these men were quite different. Champlain had most at heart the success of the col- ony ; Pontgrave thought of nothing but the acquisi- tion of wealth, by traffic with the Indians.
The first reached Tadoussac on the twenty-sixth of April 1610, and proceeded to Quebec without delay. He found the colony in a prosperous con- dition. Wheat and rye had been sown the preced- ing year, and succeeded well; vines had been plant- ed, but the event had disappointed the hope of the farmer. The people were healthy, and the Indians much pleased with their new neighbours, among whom they found a supply of provisions, when the precarious resource of the chase rendered it neces- LOU. n 6
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sary; but they valued the whites most, on account of the protection they afforded against the irruptions of the Iroquois. The Hurons. the Algonquins and the Montagnes, were the most immediate neighbours of the French. The first dwelt above Quebec, and the two other below, towards Tadoussac.
These Indians pressed Champlain to accompany them, on a second expedition against the Iroquois; their warriors being alrealy assembled at the mouth of the river Sorel. On his arrival there, he found the number of these much smaller than it had been . represented. A party, of about one hundred of the enemy, was hovering in the neighbourhood ; he was told he might surprise them. if leaving his boat, he went up in a light canoe of the Indians. He did so, with four of his countrymen, who had accompanied. : him, and he had hardly proceeded three miles up, when hus Indians, without saying one word, jumped out of the canoc, and without leaving a guide with the whites, ran along the shore as fast as they could.
The country was swampy, and the musquitoes and other insects, extremely troublesome. Champlain : was advancing -lowly. in uncertainty and doubt, when an Algonquin chief came to hurry him, saying the battle was begun. He hastened, and soon heard the yells of the combatants. The Iroquois had been found. and attacked in a small entrenchment, and had repelled the assailants. These taking courage, on the approach of their white allies, returned to the charge. The conflict was obstinate; Champlain was wounded in the neck, and one of his men in the arm. This did not prevent a galling fire from being at first poured in : but at last, the ammunition was exhausted; the enemy, greatly distressed by the musketry, was elated on its silence. The French, placing themselves at the head of their allies, march-
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'ed to the attack and were repelled ; but others, whom Champlain had left behind. coming up, the charge was renewed, and the Iroquois were mostly killed or wounded. and those who attempted to es- cape were drowned in the stream.
On the fourteenth of May, Henry the fourth fell under the dagger of Ravaillac, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and was succeeded by his son, Louis the thirteenth.
The Marchioness of Guercheville was now in the enjoyment of the privilege, which had been granted to Dumontz; who, after its revocation, had been per- mitted to resume it for one year. Her avowed ob- ject was the conversion of the Indians, and the pro- motion of the Catholic religion, in Acadie. . For this purpose, she sent thither, in the following year, two Jesuits, fathers Briart and Masse, as missionaries to Port Royal. This is the first spiritual succour, sent to this part of the continent, from France.
Champlain discovered the lake to which he gave, and which still bears, his name.
The Dutch began, in 1613, their first establishment on the northern continent, in the island of Manhattan. They called it Nova Belgica, and its principal town (now the city of New York) New Amsterdam.
The Marchioness of Guercheville fitted out two ships at Honfleur, for Acadie. She gave the com- mand of them to De la Saussaie, whom she intended placing at the head of her affairs there. He sailed on the twelfth of March 1613, and cast anchor in the port de la Haive, on the sixth of May. He erected there a pillar, with the armorial escutcheon of the Marchioness. From thence he went to Port Royal, where he found only an apothecary, who commanded, two Jesuits and three other persons-Becancourt, whom she had entrusted with her affairs there, being
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gone with the rest of the colonists, into the country in quest of provisions. Having taken the Jesuits on board, De la Saussaie proceeded to the river Penob- scot, on the northern shore of which, he erected a small fort with the aid of his crew, and of twenty-five colonists, whom he had brought from France, and a few cabins for their accommodation. He called the place St. Sauveur.
He was hardly settled there, when Samuel Argal, an Englishman from Virginia, with eleven men of his nation, came into the neighbourhood, and hearing of the French settlement, determined on destroying it; viewing it as an encroachment on the rights of the northern company, within whose grant he conceived it to be. The French, being unprovi- ded with artillery (and the English having four pieces of cannon) made but a feeble resistance. They had several men killed. After their surren- der, the settlement was abandoned to pillage and destruction ; the vanquished were permitted to re- turn to France: some of them, however, voluntarily ' followed Argal to Virginia. The escutcheon of the King of England was substituted for that of the Mar- chioness. Argal. before he sailed, sent some of his men to St. Croix and Port Royal, where, as at St. Sauveur, the houses of the French were consumed by fire.
. The death of Henry the fourth had left Dumontz without support : Champlain had found a patron in the Earl of Soissons. whom the queen regent had placed at the head of the affairs of New France ; but this nobleman died soon after, and was succeed- ed by the Prince of Conde. Under the auspices of the latter, Champlain sailed with Pontgrave, who had lately returned from Acadie. Landing at Quebec, on the seventh of May 1613, and finding
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every thing in good order, he proceeded up the river, and laid the foundation of the city of Montreal. He visited the Ouatamais, and joining Pontgrave, whom he had left trading below, returned with him to St. Maloes. He formed there an association with mer- chants of that city, of Rouen and of La Rochelle, and by the aid of the Prince of Conde, obtained a charter for it.
The English northern company, deterred by the ill success of the colony they had sent to Sagadehoc five years before, had in the meanwhile limited their enterprise to a few voyages, undertaken for the sole purposes of fishing and trading for furs and peltries with the natives. In one of these, John Smith made in 1614, an accurate map from Cape Cod to Penob- scot river. He laid it before the Prince of Wales, who gave the country the appellation of New Eng- land, under which the territory between the Dutch colony of Nova Belgica, and the French of Canada became known to Europe.
The company, lately formed by Champlain, at St. Malocs, fitted out their first expedition for New France, in the following year. He carried thither , four recollet friars, whom he landed at Quebec, on the twenty-fifth of March 1615. He next proceeded . to Montreal, where he found a large party of the Hurons, who proposed a third expedition against the Iroquois. He assented to it, provided they would wait till his return from Quebec, where his presence was absolutely necessary ; this was agreed to, and he sat off.
The Indians, however, grew soon tired of waiting for him, and proceeded with a few Frenchmen he had left in Montreal and father Joseph le Caron, one of the recollet friars lately arrived. Champlain reached Montreal, a few days after their departure,
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and was much vexed at their conduct. : He would have desisted from following them. had he not feared the friar, who was with them. might be ill treated. He embarked with two Frenchmen and ten Indians, and joined the Hurons in their village. Placing himself at their head. he led them towards the Iro- quois, who were found in an entrenchment, the ap- proaches to which were in every direction, obstruct- ed by trunks of large trees, still armed with all their branches. The assailants, repulsed on their first approach, attempted to set fire to the trees; but the besiegers had providled themselves. against this mode of offence, with a large supply of water. Champlain now erected a high scaffold. on which he placed his countrymen. whose galling fire greatly annoyed the enemy and would have ensured victory, if the Hurons had not become untractable and unmindful of the orders of their leader. He was at last wounded in the leg. an accident. which drove his allies from pre- sumption to despair ; and he found himself compelled to order a retreat. It was made in a better order `than he had expected : for. notwithstanding the pur- suit, he did not lose one man.
Champlain wintered in the neighbourhood, unable to procure a guide for his return to Quebec. He visited the villages near him, as far as Lake Nipis- sing. In the spring, he induced a few Indians, who had become attached to him, to pilot father Joseph and himself to Quebre. where they landed on the eleventh of July. He soon after went over to France.
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During his absence. two Frenchmen, on a trading , excursion, were killed by the Hurons. On his re- turn, he was planning an expedition against his for- mer allies, in order to avenge his countrymen's death; but the former, apprehensive of the conse- quences, if they gave him time to make his prepara-
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tions, determined on striking the first blow, and destroying every white man in Canada. With this object in view, they assembled about eight hundred warriors, near Trois Rivieres. Brother Pacific, a lay recollet friar, who had been stationed as a school master in the settlement, having received early in- formation of their design, successfully exerted him- self to dissuade them from it, holding out the hope that, if they abandoned it, and gave up the assassins, Champlain would be prevailed on to forbear taking the just revenge he meditated. Accordingly, at their request, he went down to Quebec. Champlain demanded two Indians, who had been designated, as the perpetrators of the murder. One of them was sent, and with him a large quantity of furs and pel- tries, in order, according to the Indian custom, to cover the dead, or atone for the crime. Prudential considerations induced Champlain to appear satis- fied with this.
The troubles, that distracted France during the minority of Louis the thirteenth, prevented the re- gency from attending to the possessions of the crown, in America. Champlain continued to make frequent, but unsuccessful voyages to France, in search of aid : and his associates, satisfied with advancing their own interests by traffic, did not think of pro- moting the settlement or agriculture of the colony.
The prince of Conde, sold in 1620, his vice royalty to his brother-in-law, the Marshal of Montmorency. This nobleman, appointed Champlain his lieutenant, , who, encouraged by the promises of his new patron, took his family over. On his landing at Tadoussac. he found three traders of la Rochelle, who, in con- tempt of the king's orders. and in violation of the company's rights. were trafficking with the Indians, and so far forgot themselves as to supply them with
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fire arms and ammunition; a measure which, until then, had been cautiously avoided.
On the twentieth of December, a ship from Eng- land landed one hundred and twenty men near Cape Cod, who laid the foundation of a colony, which, in course of time, became greatly conspicuous in the annals of the northern continent. They called their first town New Plymouth.
Philip the third, on the twenty-first of March of the following year, the forty-third of his age, trans- mitted the crown of Spain to his son, Philip the fourth.
This year, James the first of England, granted to Sir William Alexander, all the territory taken by Argal from the French in America. giving it the ap- pellation of Nova Scotia, instead of that of Acadie, under which it was then known. The grantee divi- ded it into two provinces: the first, which included the peninsula, retained the name in the royal grant ; the second, including the rest of the territory, was called Nova Alexandria. The king proposed to create fifty baronets, from among the associates of Sir William, who would contribute most liberally to the settlement of the territory granted.
The Iroquois, apprehending, that if the French were suffered to gain ground in Canada, the Hurons and Algonquins would acquire with their help, a pre- ponderance over their nation, determined openly to attack the whites. Accordingly they fell on a small party of the latter, near the falls of St. Louis; but timely information of the approach of the Indians, enabled the French to repel them. On their return, they led away father William Poulain, a recollet monk; but the French had taken an Iroquois chief of considerable note, and the holy man, as they were tying him to the stake, received his freedom and his
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life, on the proposal of his countrymen to give the warrior in exchange for him.
Another party, in thirty canoes, came to Quebec and surrounded the convent of the recollets, on St. Charles river. The pious monks had fortified their, till then, peaceful monastery. The Iroquois hovered , for several days around it, and retreated after having captured a small party of Hurons, who had come to the relief of their godly fathers. After destroying their huts and burning some of their prisoners, near the holy place, the Iroquois withdrew. Champlain found the force he could command too weak to ven- ture on a pursuit. At the solicitation of the princi- pal inhabitants, he sent father George le Baillif to France, to lay the distressed situation of the colony before the sovereign, and implore the needed relief.
Quebec in 1622, fourteen years after its settle- ment, had only fifty inhabitants, men, women and children. A brisk trade was carried on with the natives at Tadoussac below, and at Montreal and Trois Rivieres above the city.
The charter, which the Prince of Conde had pro- cured to the company of merchants of St. Maloes, Rouen and la Rochelle, which Champlain had form- ed, was now revoked and its privilege granted to William de Caen and Edmund de Caen, his nephews.
The uncle came to Quebec, and although a pro- testant, was cordially received. He gave the direc- tion of his affairs in Canada to Pontgrave, who was, by the ill state of his health, obliged to follow his principal to France, in the following year.
Champlain, having received intelligence that the Hurons, his former allies, meditated an union with the Iroquois against the French, sent among them three recollet monks-Fathers Joseph le Caron and Nicholas Viel and brother Nicholas Saghart. The
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timely exertion of the influence of these pious men, had the effect of averting the impending calamity. He now laid the foundation of the fortress of Quebec, and went to France with his family.
Henry de Levy, Duke of Ventadour, had suc- ceeded his uncle the Marshal of Montmorency, in the vice-royalty of New France. All the relief, which the solicitations of Champlain could obtain from the new viceroy, who had lately withdrawn from court, and received holy orders, was of the spiritual kind. Father Lallemand, who had accompanied de la Saussaie in Acadie, father Masse, of whom men- . · tion has already been made, and father Jean de Bre- beuf, all three of the order of the Jesuits, were sent as missionaries to Canada, and were accompanied by two of their lay brethren, and father Daillon, a recollet. They all landed at Quebec, in 1625.
On the twenty-ninth of April of the same year, on the demise of James the first, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, his son, Charles the first, ascended the thrones of England and Scotland. This year is re- markable, as the one in which the French and Eng- lish made their first settlements in the West India islands. They both landed, on the same day, in dif- ferent parts of the island of St. Christopher.
Charles the first. in some degree, pursued the in- tentions of his father. by granting patents of knight baronets to the promoters of the settlement of Nova Scotia. The original scheme was, however, defeat- ed, and Sir William Alexander, sold his property in that country to the French. He was Charles' secre- tary of state for Scotland, and was created Lord Stirling. The person, who had inherited his title in 1776, took part with the Americans, and served the United States with distinction, as a general officer
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during the war, which terminated by the recognition of their independence, by their former sovereign.
Fathers Daillon and Brebeuf, some time after their arrival at Quebec, sat off for Trois Rivieres, where they met with a party of the Hurons, who offered to escort them. As their object was to go and preach the gospel to the Indians, they accepted the offer, and were about starting, when the news of the death of father Viel induced them to remain. This father, having spent some time with the Hurons, left them on a visit to Quebec in a canoe, with two of their young men. Instead of the usual pass, they took the branch of the river, which runs between the islands of Montreal and Jesus, commonly called the river of the meadows, in which there is a fall, and neglecting to make a small portage, they attempted passing over the fall. In doing so, the canoe upsat, and the father with an Indian boy, who waited on him, were drowned. The fall was, from this circum- stance, called le sault du recollet. The Indians made their escape. As they carried away the father's baggage, and did not appear well disposed before, they were strongly suspected of premeditated mur- der.
Three Jesuits, father Philibert, Nouet and Anne de Noue and a brother, came to Quebec in 1626, in a vessel chartered by their order. This spiritual, was accompanied by worldly aid. A number of useful mechanics came also. They added much to the appearance of the place, which now began to take that of a town, having had before that of a plan- tation only. The Indians were often troublesome; at times, killing such of the whites, as straggled to any distance. Animosities arose between the in- habitants and the agents of the de Caens, who were protestants. They paid but little attention to the
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culture of the ground, being solicitous only of collect- ing furs and peltries. Such was the situation of the colony, when Champlain returned, in 1627.
Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, having pa- tronized the plan of Gulielm Usselin, for establish- ing a colony near that of the Dutch on Hudson river, a number of Swedes and Fins came over this year, and landed on Cape Henlopen, which they called Paradise point; they purchased from the natives, all the land from the Cape to the falls of the Delaware, and began their settlement.
In the month of May, Louis the thirteenth at his camp, before la Rochelle, issued an edict, by which a number of individuals, which was to be carried to one hundred, were incorporated under the style of " the company of New France.". The privilege of the de Caens was expressly revoked. New France and Caroline or French Florida, were transferred to the company : the sovereign reserving only the faith and homage of its members and the inhabitants of the country, with a golden crown, on the accession of every king. the right of commissioning the officers of the highest tribunal of justice, presented to him, by the company. the power of casting cannons, erect- ing forts and doing whatever might be needed for the defence of the country. The company was in- vested with the power of granting land, erecting dukedom -. marquisates, earldoms, baronies, &c. An exclusive trade in furs and peltries was granted for ever; and in every thing else, during fifteen years. The right was, however, reserved to the king's sub- jects in the country. to purchase furs, peltries and hides from the Indians; under the obligation of sel- ling beaver skins to the factors of the company, at a fixed price.
The company covenanted to transport, in the
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course of the first year, two or three hundred me- chanics of different trades to Canada; to increase the number of its inhabitants, within fifteen years, to sixteen thousand; to lodge, feed and maintain the people they should send thither, during three years, and afterwards to grant them cleared land, sufficient for their support and supply them with grain for seed. It was stipulated, that all the colonists should be native French and. Roman catholics, and no alien or heretic was to be received; it was provided, that in every settlement, there should be at least three priests supported by the company : cleared land was to be allotted for their support.
The company was composed of several noblemen, wealthy merchants and other influential characters, at whose head was the Cardinal of Richelieu. The Duke of Ventadour surrendered his office of viceroy to the king.
The first efforts of the company, were unsuccess- ful. Its vessels were taken by the English, although there was no war between them and the French; but the cabinet of St. James had taken umbrage at the siege of la Rochelle."
David Kertz. a native of Dieppe, but a refugee in the service of Charles the first, instigated, as was supposed, by William de Caen, who was exasperated at the loss of his privilege, cast anchor, with a small fleet before 'Tadoussac, early in the spring of the following year, and sent one of his ships to destroy the houses and seize the cattle at Cape Tousmente : and another to summon Champlain to surrender Quebec. The French chief was in the utmost dis- tress for provisions and ammunition. He, however, returned a bold answer. Kertz, having, in the mean while, received intelligence of the approach of a number of vessels. sent by the company to carry
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men and provisions to Canada, thought it more ad- visable to go and meet them, than to attempt a siege.
Roquemont, who commanded the company's ships, cast anchor at Gaspe, from whence he dispatched a light vessel to Quebec, in order to apprize Cham- plain of his approach, and deliver him a commission, by which he was appointed governor and lieutenant general of New France. Miscalculating the rela- tive forces of the French and English fleets, Roque- mont went in search of Kertz, and fought him; but, his ships, being overladen and encumbered, were all captured. -
The joy, which Roquemont's messenger had ex- cited in Quebec, was not of long duration. It was soon followed by the melancholy tidings of the cap- ture of the vessels, loaded with the needed supplies. This misfortune was attended by another. The crops failed throughout the country. The Indians for a while yielded some relief, from the produce of their chase ; but this precarious aid did not, nor could it, last long. The colonists had still some hope from another quarter. Father Nouet, superior of the Jesuits, and father Lallemand, were gone to solicit succour in France. They found, in the gene- rosity of their friends, the means of chartering a ves- sel and loading her with provisions, and took pas- sage in her with father Alexander Vieuxpont, and a lay brother. A storm cast her a shore on the coast of Acadie. The superior and lay brother were drowned. Father Vieuxpont joined father Vimont, in the island of Cape Breton. Father Lallemand sailed for France, but experienced a second ship- wreck, near San Sebastian, from which he however escaped. 1
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