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I 4 N. Y. Doc., 650. 2 6 N. Y. Doc., 893.
2
18
JESUIT MISSIONARIES.
[CHAP. II.
cases to conduct which was very censurable, and interfered with the success of the missions. But it is impossible to believe that these men were as bad as their enemies have painted them; and in judging them we must not forget that those who opposed them most strenuously were opposed also to the policy of extending French settlements at all. The motives of their opponents have been discussed very sharply by most of the writers who have succeeded them, and the documents in the Marine Department have shown beyond con- troversy that the French government found some of its most serious difficulties in dealing with an order whose devotion and courage deserve high eulogiums, but who did not make the interests of France or Canada their primary consideration. But at the same time that as a body the Jesuit missionaries did not desire French settlements in the Northwest, we are indebted to some of them, of whom Marquette is a noble example, for great services in exploring the country, and accurate geographical information. They were second to none in their contributions to geographical knowl- edge in both hemispheres; and as remarkable for courage and perseverance as for scientific research. Whatever may have been the truth in regard to the reasons which led them to act as they did, there is no ground for suspecting them of indi- vidual selfishness. Their zeal for their order was unbounded, but they were devoted and unselfish in obeying it.
19
EARLY NORTHERN POSTS.
CHAP. II.]
We may assume, whatever may have been the previous acquaintance of the French with this region, that the Michigan settlements began with those at Michilimackinac and the Sault de Ste. Marie. The creation of military posts and civil settlements at these places was almost con- temporaneous with the missions, and began the policy which, although opposed and hindered, was at length to prevail. Had this policy of settle- ment begun earlier and continued unopposed, the destiny of Canada might have been changed.
CHAPTER III.
PREPARATIONS FOR WESTERN OCCUPATION.
THE movements for the settlement of the Northwest began in earnest about the year 1670. Louis XIV. had developed into a king of bound- less ambition, and had a natural anxiety to extend his dominions into remote regions. China and the East Indies were at that time looked upon as mines of wealth, open to any European monarch with courage and enterprise enough to reach out for them. The reports which had come in various forms from the Northwest brought rumors of short and easy ways through the American woods and rivers to the South Sea, and it was believed the rich countries of the east were within no very long distance across the continent. Louis and his ministers determined to open and control this passage; and the extension of Cana- dian settlements was in their view a necessary step to that end. The royal designs had always favored settlements, but it was very difficult to know what course was best, when secret intrigues and conflicting interests kept up a series of con- tradictory representations.
The governors, who were generally anxious to extend the colony, were entangled in all man-
21
ST. LUSSON AT THE SAULT.
CHAP. III.]
ner of snares, and were misrepresented and op- posed by those who would find no profit in the extended jurisdiction of civil government. And the first efforts to extend the royal dominions resulted only in the establishment of a few mili- tary posts. But the explorations had a permanent value.
In 1669 or 1670, Talon, then Intendant of New France, sent, or claimed the credit of send- ing out, two parties to discover the South Sea passage. It was supposed for some time that the short route from Lake Superior to Hudson's Bay was all that lay between the colony and the South Sea. This notion prevailed in Champlain's time; and while further experience had created doubts concerning the precise way, it was still thought the upper lake road was likely to be the true one. De St. Lusson was accordingly des- patched in that direction, and Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was ordered to the southward.
St. Lusson pursued his journey energetically, and on his return in 1671, he held a council of all the northern tribes at the Sault de Ste. Marie, where they formed an alliance with the French, and acknowledged their supremacy.'
From that time forward it would appear that there was a military post kept up beside the mission, and the traders made it a rallying point.
I He supposed that he had been within 300 leagues from the Vermilion or South Sea and the Western Sea, where there was but 1500 leagues more of navigation to Tartary, China and Japan .- 9 N. Y. Doc., 72.
22
FRENCH AND INDIAN INTERCOURSE.
[CHAP. III.
The French in their early dealings with the Indians, and especially with the Iroquois, had done very much like the English, and made no attempt to conciliate them. But they discovered the mistake, and by resorting to friendly methods very soon conciliated most of their savage neighbors. The chiefs and people were treated courteously, and without that haughty arrogance which has too often attended the dealing of the whites with the natives. The French settlers received and dealt with them on relations of equality, and they lived together on the kindest
terms. It has been noticed by all who are fam- iliar with frontier life that the social relations of the French and Indians are exceptionally pleasant. The young men were at home among the tribes, and often spent months with them, hunting and roving. The wigwam fare contented them, and they lived as their hosts lived. They were often formally adopted as chiefs, and acted as friends of the tribe whenever it was necessary to inter- vene on their behalf. It was also very common for the kindly French woman to receive the young girls into her house, and teach them household industry. The removal of the Indians from Michigan has broken up these ancient ties, but it was once a pleasant as well as familiar sight to witness the delight with which the old chiefs and their French brothers met, after a long separation, and exchanged their experiences.
The alliance formed under the direction of
23
DOLLIER AND GALINÉE
CHAP. III.]
St. Lusson was the primary means of closing the Northwest against the English until after the conquest.
La Salle, who was afterwards to become more famous than St. Lusson, did not at this time com- plete his explorations. There were joined with him in his expedition two seminary priests, Dollier de Casson and Galinée. Dollier was a man of great personal strength, and an old officer of cavalry under Turenne. Galinée was especially skilled in surveying, and was to act as geographer. They all kept together until, after waiting in the country of the Senecas for a guide, they changed their plans and went to the head of Lake Ontario, where they met Louis Joliet. He had come down from the upper lakes, and recommended them to take that course instead of going to the Ohio. Dollier and his companion concluded to do this, and La Salle remained behind. They spent the winter at Long Point on the north shore of Lake Erie, and in the spring set out again, but having lost most of their baggage by a storm at Pointe Pelée, they concluded to return to Montreal. They passed up the Detroit River, and near the present city of Detroit found a rude stone idol of repute as a manitou, and worshipped by the Indians. These objects of superstition seem to have been found in several places about the lakes, and received offerings of tobacco and other articles. The nearest one above Detroit was the White Rock in Lake Huron, which Mr.
24
IMAGE - BREAKING.
[CHAP. 111.
Schoolcraft passed on his journey in 1820 with Gen. Cass's expedition towards the source of the Mississippi.' The zealous missionaries relate that after their recent misfortunes there was no one in the party who was not filled with hatred against the false divinity. They broke the idol in pieces with one of their axes, and contrived, by joining two canoes, to take the largest frag- ment into deep water with the remainder, and so disposed of the abomination.
This is said by Mr. Parkman to be the first passage through Detroit River of which a record has been preserved, although not the first in fact.2 The same reliable writer has discovered evidence of the continued labors of La Salle during the next few years, of which no full account has been published, which indicates that he was not without success in his preliminary work. But the Report of Courcelles in 1671 shows an accurate know- ledge of the geography of all the lakes but Lake Michigan, which must have come from earlier explorations, and which was not much improved upon by subsequent travellers.3
I Mr. Schoolcraft in that expedition remarked that he did not see any offerings except of articles of no value, and questioned the extent of the reverence paid the images. Joutel in his journey says the Indians feared death unless they made offerings, and Charlevoix speaks of offerings as acts of homage .- Charlevoix, Letter 19, Foutel, ( 1 La Hist. Doc. ) 182. Henry gives several illustrations of these superstitions .- Henry's Travels passim.
2 Discovery of the Great West, 16, 17.
3 9 N. Y. Doc., 81. Id., p. 21.
25
TRADE JEALOUSIES.
CHAP. IU.]
Meanwhile the posts of Michilimackinac and the Sault were becoming more important, as the traders extended their enterprises. About this time several names appear in history which are prominent among the great discoverers and leaders. Most of them were recognized chiefs of the coureurs de bois. And their place in our early annals is due to a course of affairs which was noteworthy.
The fur trade, as already mentioned, was regarded at Quebec and Montreal, as it was in the New York posts, as the chief end and aim of colonial enterprise. Every one, from the Gov- ernor down, was suspected, and perhaps justly, of having a part in it; and the principal struggle seems to have been between the monopolists and the irregular traders. The church revenues were increased by it, and widows and orphans were allowed privileges which they sold profitably. The result was that the country swarmed with the coureurs de bois, who were the indispensable agents of all parties legally or illegally engaged in the traffic. The missionaries were opposed to them, for the assigned reason that they demoralized the Indians whom they were laboring to convert. For the same reason they opposed the forming of posts and establishments on the frontier. The monopolists sometimes succeeded in getting such restrictions laid upon the post commanders as pre vented them from dealing on their own accoun with the Indians for certain kinds of furs, and
26
CARIGNAN REGIMENT.
[CHAP. III.
when the trade was in the hands of the great companies, as it was a large part of the time, they had their own agents at the forts.
The result was that a contraband trade grew up, which it was asserted brought the furs into the hands of the English, and built up their com- merce. Their emissaries were also said to be getting into friendly relations with the Western tribes, and drawing them into trade with the Iro- quois and the New York agencies.
The influences which were brought to bear on the French government were secret but powerful, and the coureurs de bois were outlawed and pro- scribed unless they came in and ceased their wan- derings. The Governor, with a patriotic desire to save the colony from the destruction which this would have inevitably brought upon it, succeeded in so far modifying this policy as to put them under some reasonable regulation, whereby he saved their services to the colony and secured the trade. The frontiers were reached by leaders of reputation, and posts were planted so judiciously as to shut out the English altogether. These men deserve special mention.
When the Marquis de Tracy came out as Vice Roy in 1665, it was with the expectation of using strong measures to suppress the Iroquois, who were aggressive and were regarded as dangerous neighbors. For this crusade against the Western infidels he brought out the famous Carignan Reg- iment, which had been first organized in Savoy,
27
COLONIAL NOBLESSE.
CHAP. I[I.]
and was afterwards turned over to the French King. It was a famous body of troops which had won its latest laurels in fighting against the Turks on the Austrian frontier. The officers were all gentlemen belonging to the noblesse, of French or Italian origin, and of tried valor. With this regiment another had been consolidated, known as that of Salières, and the whole force was there- after known as the Carignan-Salières Regiment. The colonial levies were also under the command of officers of good birth, most of whom are still represented among the French families of Canada and the Northwest.
When the Iroquois war was over, the officers and men of the Carignan Regiment were mostly retained in the country. Many of the former obtained Seigneuries, and attempted to get a sup- port from their new estates. But the early tra- vellers give a sad account of the straits to which these veterans were exposed, in keeping the wolf from the door. They were brave and adventu- rous, and worthy to rank with those early heroes of discovery, Gilbert and Raleigh and Drake, who found in the favor of Queen Elizabeth incen- tives to enterprise which her successors could not appreciate. They were mostly devoted mem- bers of the Gallican Church, but not on as good terms with the Jesuits as with the other orders, who paid less attention to the Indians and more to their own countrymen. The French court and the Governors General appreciated the value
28
HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY.
[CHAP. III.
of soldiers. The civilians were more attentive to the interests of trade, and looked upon the bold adventurers, who "would rather hear the bird sing than the mouse squeak," as the Sheriff of Nottingham did on Robin Hood.
The sagacious ministers had determined to use this valuable material to extend discovery. The expeditions which Talon reports himself to have sent out were probably suggested, at least, from France. It is one of the curious facts con- nected with the colonial administration that the public documents are usually made to exhibit the local authorities as originating everything, when the facts brought to light from other sources, in the Marine Department and elsewhere, show that they were compelled to permit what they osten- sibly directed. But, however this may be, it had become necessary to move in the matter, or run the risk of serious difficulty in the future.
On the second day of May, 1670, Charles II. issued letters patent incorporating "The Governor and Company of Adventurers of England, trading into Hudson's Bay," granting them the sole trade and commerce of the waters within the entrance of Hudson's Straits, except in the lands not granted to others nor possessed by any other Christian prince or state. The ignorance that pre- vailed on the subject of the boundaries between the two nations in those parts, and the certainty that future boundaries must depend much on actual control or occupancy, made it necessary to move
29
CHECKS AND BALANCES.
CHAP. III.]
at once, or run a risk of losing command of the Northern trade.1
At this time New York was in possession of the Dutch, but a few years after, in 1674, this also passed into the hands of the English, who were disposed to make the most of their chances, and anxious to form such trading connections as would have hemmed in Canada, and shut off its whole western and northwestern traffic.
In 1672 Colbert advised Talon to offer a re- ward for the discovery of the South Sea. The King and Colbert united at or about the same time in a secret letter to Frontenac, which gives a curious illustration of the diplomacy of the period. Expressing warm commendation of the clergy of both orders for their devotion and ser- vices to religion, and commending them to high consideration, it advises the Governor, without creating any apparent rupture, to restrain the designs of the Jesuit Fathers in Quebec within proper bounds of respect for the temporal author- ity, and to encourage and protect the ecclesiastics of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal as well as the Récollet Fathers, in Quebec, -"it being necessary to support the two ecclesiastical bodies, in order to counterbalance the authority
I In May. 1872, my valued friend, Hon. David Mills, M. P., presented to the Dominion Government an elaborate and thorough report on the boun- daries of the Province and of the Hudson's Bay Company, which is of much historical value, and contains information not, so far as I know, made public in any other work .- See A Report on the Boundaries of the Province of On- tario. By David Mills, M. P. Toronto, 1873.
30
JOLIET'S EXPEDITION.
[CHAP. III.
the Jesuit Fathers might assume to the prejudice of His Majesty."1 The next effective action may not have originated in Quebec, but Frontenac and Talon, the Intendant, both appear to have favored it. In 1672, Grandfontaine, Governor of Acadia, sent Joliet to the Mascoutin country (Wisconsin) to discover the South Sea and the Mississippi River, which was supposed to discharge itself into the Gulf of California.2 He was joined at Mackinaw by Father Marquette, and on the 17th of May, 1673, they left the Mission of St. Ignace on one of the most successful of the early explora- tions. They went up the Fox River and across the portage, to the Wisconsin, and thus reached the Mississippi on the 17th of June. In another month they reached below the 34th parallel of latitude in the country of the Akansas, and then returned, reaching Green Bay at the end of Sep- tember. Joliet went on to Quebec in the next year, arriving there during the summer. The Governor reports him as having found continuous navigation excepting at Niagara, from Lake Ontario to the Gulf of Mexico, and as having discovered admirable countries.3 Mr. Shea, in his excellent history of the Discovery of the Mississippi River, gives a copy of that portion of Frontenac's Report which refers to this journey in the original French, as it refutes one of Henne-
1 9 N. Y. Doc., 88.
2 Frontenac's Letter to France. See 9 N. Y. Doc., 92. 3 9 N. Y. Doc., 121.
31
LA SALLE.
CHAP. III. |
pin's assertions concerning Joliet's failure to report to the government.1
Joliet probably went eastward through the Detroit River and Lake Erie.
In 1675, a patent of nobility was granted to Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle, for meritorious services.2 Among the things which His Majesty regards as especially worthy of reward among his Canadian subjects, is "despising the greatest perils, in order to extend to the ends of this New World our name and our dominion." It is to be inferred that La Salle had spent some time, at least, in distant explorations which have not yet been published.
Meanwhile there is nothing of record bearing directly on the history of Michigan, beyond the occasional references to the missions and the traders. There is reason to believe that Du Luth and others had already penetrated far into the Northwest, and the reports which credit him with the discovery of the Upper Mississippi are not improbable. Hennepin was rescued by him in July, 1680, in the upper country, and it was probably familiar ground.
In 1678, La Salle, having returned to France, obtained Royal letters authorizing him to spend five years in exploring, with liberty to build forts where he should deem it necessary, and hold
I Shea's History of Discovery of the Mississippi, p. xxxiii.
2 9 N. Y. Doc., 125.
32
CHEVALIER DE TONTY.
[CHAP. III.
them with the same privileges as his fort at Frontenac. He was not to trade with the Outawacs (Ottawas) or others who bring their beavers and peltries to Montreal, but was to have the right to trade in buffalo-skins. There is reason to believe that La Salle had with the concurrence of Frontenac and others given a lib- eral construction to his trading privileges at Fort Frontenac, and such seems to have been a com- mon practice.
He returned to Canada, having with him an associate who from that time onward was his faithful friend and follower, and who was one of the most efficient men that ever came to Amer- ica.
His name appears constantly in the early
records of dealings in Michigan.
This was Henry,
the Chevalier de Tonty. He was of Italian origin, but his father Lorenzo Tonty had settled in Paris, and was there as early as 1653, as in that year he submitted to the King the financial scheme of life interests and survivorships once quite popular under the name of Tontine. The Chevalier began his military career in the French army as a cadet in 1668, and served several years by land and water, the naval service then not having been separated from the military as completely as it has been since. During the Sici- lian Campaign he lost a hand at Libisso by a grenade, and was taken prisoner, and exchanged six months after. His hand was replaced by one of steel, which gave him the name of Iron-hand,
33
THE GRIFFIN.
CHAP. III.]
among the Indians who had great respect for him. He returned again to the wars, but when peace was declared he was thrown out of em- ployment. He was recommended to La Salle by the Princess of Conti, and when that leader came back to Canada Tonty came with him. Henry de Tonty had a younger brother who was for a long time in command at Detroit, and was there when Charlevoix visited the place in 1721. On his return to America La Salle at once began preparations for his work. He met with many embarrassments, but finally, in the winter of 1678-9, began building a vessel of sixty tons burden, a few miles above Niagara Falls. This was com- pleted in the spring or early summer of 1679. This vessel, which was the first that ever sailed on Lake Erie or the upper lakes, was called the Griffin, and bore a carved image of that heraldic monster as a figure-head, in honor of Frontenac, being part of his coat of arms. And in further evidence of his fealty to his friend and patron, La Salle is reported to have boasted that he would make the Griffin fly higher than the ravens, the black-gowns or Jesuits having gained that sobri- quet. The little ship was provided with five small cannon and two arquebuses a croc, or wall- pieces usually mounted on tripods. The quarter- deck castle was surmounted by a carved eagle. A vessel of that tonnage was narrow quarters for the number of men in the company, and the old engravings (which, though not probably from
3
34
RIBOURDE. MEMBRE. HENNEPIN.
[CHAP. III.
drawings, represented the usual style of that time) show the high stern and after cabin, which were then universal, and may have had something to do with her final wreck. It is worthy of notice . that skilled mechanics and artists should be found
in such an expedition. The old chapels in the Northwest, where there was no local demand for artists, sometimes show bits of carving which would be creditable anywhere, and indicate great skill in the early workmen. On this eventful voyage, in addition to his sailors and other follow- ers, La Salle was accompanied by three priests. Gabriel de la Ribourde, the last scion of an old family of Burgundian nobles, came out in his old age to preach the gospel in the wilderness, and was head of the mission, although Hennepin con- veys the impression that he himself was in fact, if not in name, both civil and religious director. Father Zénobe Membré was of less note, but evidently a good and faithful man. Hennepin, whose reputation is not savory, was the third. The latter wrote various versions of the history of the expedition, which are in many respects sufficiently reliable, but which are grossly unfair to La Salle and Tonty as well as others, and to which in the later editions are appended narra- tives that are generally discredited. These appen- dages do not concern Michigan, and need not be discussed. He was evidently distrusted by La Salle and Tonty. He accounts for the enmity of the former, by alleging he had rebuked him
35
THE GRIFFIN SAILS.
CHAP. III.]
freely for religious shortcomings. He lays Tonty's dislike to the inveterate hatred of the old soldier against all subjects of the King of Spain; and his suspicion of the monk's fidelity was extreme, and, as it turned out, not illfounded.
The vessel was manned by voyageurs and other men of experience in the country, and the pilot Lucas was an old salt water mariner of some pretensions. There is no doubt but that La Salle had taken some pains to supply himself with proper material for his expedition.
On the seventh of August, 1679, the Griffin started on her first voyage to the Northwest, beginning her course with the singing of the Te Deum, and the firing of cannon. The wind was favorable and she made a quick passage over Lake Erie, anchoring at the mouth of Detroit River or the Strait on the evening of the tenth of August.
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