USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 10
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 10
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The esteem which he had gained by his merit, the praises which in an especial manner he had received, might have induced him to remain there, but he had resolved never to swear allegiance to another power. Inducements were held out as motives by many French, by missionaries and by the savages themselves, who proposed to engage him, and labored to make him see the advantages that would result.
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He still hoped to take with him in his retreat the grenadiers of each battalion, according to the advice of M. the Marquis de Lévis, to thus preserve the colors and the honor of their corps, but of this he was not the master.
He had the materials of subsistence abundantly, but was obliged to content himself with twenty-five Frenchmen who accompanied him as far as Louisiana, and he thus escaped with them from the English, although he had been the most exposed during the war, and although he did not receive the least help in so long a journey; but he had with him two little detachments of savages, one of which preceded him seve- ral leagues and the other accompanied him, who were successively re- lieved by similar detachments, as he passed through different tribes.
Those whom he left he sent each to his own nation, and advised them as a father. Every where they received him admirably, notwithstanding the deplorable circumstances in which he was in; every where he found the natives with the best dispositions, and he received their protestations of zeal aud inviolable attachment to the king their father.
He passed to Michilimachina, between Lake Huron and Lake Michi- gan, but the savages, consisting of Iroquois or Algonquins, here left him, that M. Picquet might not be embarrassed from this cause ;* proceeded thus by way of Upper Canada to the Illinois country and Louisiana, and · sojourned twenty-two months at New Orleans.
Here he occupied himself in recovering his spirits, in quelling a sort of civil war which had sprung up between the governor and the inhabit- ants, and in preaching peace, both in public and in private.
He had the satisfaction of seeing this happily restored, during his so- journ.
General Amherst in taking possession of Canada, immediately informed himself of the place where M. Picquet had taken refuge, and upon the assurance which was given him that he had departed on his return to France by the west, he said haughtily; " I am mistaken in him, if this Abbé had not been less faithful to the King of England, had he taken the oath of allegiance to him, as had been to the King of France. We would then have given him all our confidence, and gained him to ourselves. "
This General was mistaken. M. Picquet had an ardent love for his country, and he could not have adopted another.
Soon the English would have finished by proscribing him and offering a reward for his head, as a dangerous enemy.
Meanwhile the English themselves, have contributed to establish the glory and the services of this useful missionary ; we read in one of their Gazettes: " The Jesuit of the west has detached all the nations from us, and placed them in the interests of France." They called him a Jesuit because they had not then seen his girdle, nor the buttons of his cassock, as M. De Galissonniere wrote to him jocosely, in sending him the extract of their Gazette ; or to speak seriously, the zeal of the Jesuits so well known in the new world, makes them believe that out of so great a number of missionaries, there can be none but Jesuits. They are represented as the authors of all the losses of the English, and the advantages which the French have gained over them. Some even insinuate that they possess supernatural powers. In short, our enemies believed themselves lost, when they were in the armny, on account of the horde of savages that al- ways attended them.
* I have much desired to find in his papers, his memoirs upon the customs of Canada; but I have heard M. Picquet say, that this subject was well treated of in the works of Father La- fitau, who had dwelt five years at the Saut St. Louis, near Montreal .- Note in the Original.
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They spoke of nothing but of Picquet, and of his good luck; and this became even a proverb throughout the colony.
An English officer, having wished to make himself conspicuous, once offered a bounty for his head, whereupon the savages conspired to seize this English chief; he was led into their presence, and they danced around him with their tomahawks, awaiting the signal of the missionary, who made it not, in his courtesy to an enemy.
Thus did he endeavor, by every possible means, to act neutral, at least between the English and the French.
They had recourse to the mediation of the savages, and offered to allow him freely to preach the catholic faith to the nations, and even to domi- ciliated Europeans,-to pay him two thousand crowns pension, with all the assistance necessary for establishing himself ;- to ratify the concession of Lake Ganenta and its environs; a charming place which the six can- tons of the Iroquois had presented to M. Picquet, in a most illustrious council, which they had held at the Château of Quebec. The belts, which are the contracts of these nations, were deposited at his ancient mission, the Lake of Two Mountains; but he constantly declared that he preferred the stipend which the King gave him, and that all the overtures that could be inade, and all the advantages that could be offered by a foreign power, were vain; that the idea of neutrality, under the circumstances, was idle, and an outrage upon his fidelity; in a word, that the thought itself was horrible. That he could make his fortunes without them, and that his character was very remote from this species of cupidity. The services, the fidelity, and the disinterestedness of father Picquet, merited for him a higher destiny.
Likewise the generals, commandants, and the troops, failed not by mili- tary honors, to evince their esteem and their respect for him, in a decisive manner, and worthy of the nature of his services. He received these honors as well from the army as at Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and at all the forts which he passed, and even at the Cedars, notwith- standing the jealousy of certain menial subjects, such as M. De * * * who had sought to tarnish the glory of the missionary; but he had been too vindictive in his assaults, to effect his object.
We have seen him at Bourg even, a long time after, receive tokens of veneration and regard from the officers of regiments who had seen him in Canada.
We see rendered in many letters of the ministers, similar testimonials rendered to his zeal and success. They give him the more credit, because they saw his anxieties of heart, under the obstacles he had to surmount, and upon the ancient hostility of these nations, who had been almost perpetually at war, but their experience with the English had led them to bestow their attachment upon the French, in proof of which the conduct of these people for a long time after the war was cited.
We see in the work of T. Raynal (vol. vii, p. 292), that the savages had a marked predilection for the French; that the missionaries were the principal cause of this; and that he says that this fact is especially appli- cable to the Abbé Picquet.
To give probability to what he says of his services, allow me to quote the testimony which he rendered in 1769, to the governor-general, after his return to France, and the loss of Canada.
" We, Marquis du Quesne, commander of the royal and military order of Saint Louis, chief of the squadron of the naval arm, ancient lieutenant- general, commandent of New France, and the governments of Louis- burgh and Louisiana:
Certify, that upon the favorable testimony which we have received in
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Canada, of the services of the Abbé Picquet, missionary of the king among savage nations; upon the confidence which our predecessors in this colony have bestowed upon him; and the great reputation which he has acquired by the fine establishments which he has formed for the king, the numerous and supernatural conversions of infidels, which he has attached not less to the state than to religion, by his zeal, his disin- terestedness, his talents, and his activity, for the good of the service of His Majesty ; that we have employed him on different objects of the same service, during the whole period of our administration as governor- general, and that he has always acted equal to our expectations, and ever beyond our hope.
He has equally served religion and the state, with incredible success, during nearly thirty years.
He had directly rendered the king absolute master of the national assembles of four nations who composed his first mission to the Lake of Two Mountains, with liberty to nominate all their chiefs at his will. He had caused all the chiefs of the nations which composed his last mission, at la Presentation, to swear allegiance and fidelity to His Majesty; and at these places he created most admirable establishments; in a word, he has rendered himself so much more worthy of our notice, that he would rather return to Canada, and continue his labors, than to live in his country, and recover the heritage of his parents, who have disowned him, as we have learned, for his not wishing to live in France, ten years since, when he was accompanied by three savages.
We would detail the important services which this abbé has rendered, if llis Majesty or his ministers require it, and render justice to whom it is due, to obtain of the king those marks of approbation which are deserved; in the faith of which we have signed the present certificate, and sealed it with our arms.
Signed,
THE MARQUIS DU QUESNE.
M. de Vaudreuil, governor and lieutenant-general for the king in all of New France, certified the same in 1765, that M. Picquet had served nearly thirty years in this colony, with all the zeal and distinction possi- ble, as well in relation to the direct interests of the state, as relatively to those of religion ; that his talents for gaining the good will of the savages, his resources in critical moments, and his activity, have uniformly entitled him to the praises and the confidence of the governors and the bishops: that above all, he had proved useful by his services in the late war, by sundry negotiations with the Iroquois, and the domiciliated nations; by the establishments which he had formed, and which had been of great service, by the indefatigable and incessant care which he had taken to keep the savages fortified in their attachment to the French, and at the same time confirmed in their Christianity.
M. de Bougainville, celebrated by his maritime expeditions, and who participated in the first acts of the war in Canada, certified in 1760, that M. Picquet, king's missionary, known by the establishments which he had made alike serviceable to religion and the state, in all the campaigns in which he had been with him, had contributed by his zeal, his activity, and his talents, to the good of the service of the king, and to the glory of his arms; and his standing among savage tribes, and his personal services had been of the greatest service, as well in military as political affairs.
All those who had returned from Canada, labored to make appreciated the services so long and so constantly rendered to France during nearly thirty years, and to make known the merit of a citizen, who had expa-
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triated himself to gratify the inclinations of his heart, who had sacrificed his youth, his heritage, and all the flattering hopes of France, who had exposed a thousand and a thousand times his life, preserving often the subjects of the king, and the glory of his arms, and who could himself say that he had nothing in his actions, but the glory of France, during his residence in Canada, in which he had spent much of his life.
His services had not the same result in the last war for the preservation of Canada, but the brilliant and almost incredible actions by which he contributed to it, have not the less preserved, with the savages, the notion and the high idea of French valor, and possible this feeling may here after result to our advantage.
I would wish to be able to report all of the letters of ministers, gover nors-general and private persons, of bishops, of intendants, and of other persons in authority, who witnessed with surprise the projects, the nego- tiations, and the operations of which this missionary had the charge, the congratulations which he received on his successes, as prompt as they were inspiring, upon his resources, upon the expedients which he sug- gested, his zeal and his experience in critical situations, and which his activity always put into execution.
I have often asked him to make a history of them, that should be alike curious and honorable for France.
We find a part of these letters among his papers; I have there seen among others, those of M. de Montcalm, who called him " My dear and very worthy patriarch of the Five nations."
M. the marquis de Lévis, desired especially to make known the labors and the successes of M. Picquet, of which he had been a witness, and which he had admired both for their disinterestedness, as well for regard to France as against the English, after the conquest of Canada; and I have witnessed the solicitations which M. de Lévis made to excite his ambition, or direct towards some important place, a zeal which was worthy of a bishopric.
The evidence of his ecclesiastical superiors, was not less favorable to the zeal of our missionary. The bishop of Quebec in 1760, departing for Europe, after having visited the new mission which M. Picquet had founded among the Iroquois, and where he had baptized more than a hundred adults, enjoined upon all the priests of his diocese, to aid him as much as they might be able; he conferred upon him all his powers, even those of approving the other priests, and of absolving from cen- sures, reserved to the sovereign Pontiff.
M. Picquet after returning from France, passed several years in Paris, but a portion of his time was engaged in exercising the ministry of all the suburbs, where the archbishop of Paris deemed that he could be most useful. His alacrity for labor fixed him a long time at Mount Vallérien, where he erected a parish church.
He had been compelled to make a journey to sell books, which the king had presented him in 1754, which had survived the treatment he had experienced in Canada, and although he was reduced to a very small patrimony, he failed to employ his activity in obtaining the recompenses he had so well merited.
Meanwhile the general assembly of the clergy of 1765, offered him a gratuity of twelve hundred livres, and charged M. the archbishop of Rheims, and M. the archbishop of Arles, to solicit for him a recom- pense from the king.
The assembly next ensuing in 1770, gave him also a similar gratuity, but his departure from Paris interrupted the success of the hopes which his friends had entertained of the recompenses from the court,
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In 1772, he wished to retire to Bresse, where a numerous family de- sired it, and urged it with much earnestness.
He afterwards went to Verjon, where he caused to be built a house, with the view of making an establishment for the education of young people. He preached, he catechised, he confessed, and his zeal was never so much manifested.
The chapter of Bourg, decreed him the title ef honorary canon. The ladies de la Visitation, asked him to become their director, and they thus attracted him to the capital of the province.
In 1777 he made a journey to Rome, where his reputation had preced- ed him, and where the Holy Father received him as a missionary worthy of being held dear by the church, and presented him with a gratuity of five thousand livres for his journey.
They there made the ineffectual endeavors to detain him; he returned to Bresse, and carried thither relics which he displayed for the venera- tion of the faithful, in the collegiate church at Bourg.
The reputation of the Abbey of Cluny, and the friendship which M. Picquet felt towards one of his nephews, established at Cluny, brought hiin to this habitation, so celebrated in Christianity. He purchased for himself, about 1779, a house and plat of land, which he wished to im- prove, but in 1781, he repaired with a sister to Verjon, for the settlement of affairs, where he was repeatedly attacked by an obstinate cold, and by a hemorrage, which reduced him considerably ; and also by a kind of dropsy; lastly a hernior, which had existed a long time, became aggra- vated and caused his death, on the 15th of July, 1781.
M. Picquet had a very prepossessing and commanding figure, and a countenance open and engaging. He possessed a gay and cheerful humor. Notwithstanding the austerity of his manners, he exhibited nothing but gaiety, which he turned to account in his designs. He was a theologian, an orator, and a poet, be sung and composed songs in French, as well as in Iroquois, with which he interested and amused the savages. He was a child with one, and a hero with others. His me- chanical ingenuity was often admired by the natives. In short, he re- sorted to every means to attract proselytes, and to attach them to him, and he accordingly had all the success which can reward industry, talents, and zeal.
It is thus I have thought best to make known a compatriot and a friend, worthy of being offered, as an example to incite those who are burning with zeal for religion and for their country.
Picquet was as much an object of abhorrence by the English, as he was of esteem by the French, a very natural result from the active partizan . spirit which he evinced, and the zeal and success with which he prose- cuted his plans for the aggrandizement of his faith, and his allegiance, which appear to have been equally the object of his ambition, and the aim and end of his life. Having given in the above biographical notice his memoirs drawn up in that florid style of paneygric, so common with the people and the age in which it was written, we will quote from an Eng- lish historian of the French war. (Thos. Mante, in a work entitled The History of the Late War in America, London, 1772, quarto, page 231.) It is probably as much biased by prejudice, as the other by partiality.
" As to the Abbé Picquet, who distinguished himself so much by his
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brutal zeal, as he did not expose himself to any danger, he received no injury ; and he yet lives, justly despised to such a degree by every one who knows any thing of his past conduct in America, that scarce any officer will admit him to his table.
However repugnant it must be to every idea of honor and humanity, not to give quarter to an enemy when subdued, it must be infinitely more so, not to spare women and children. Yet such had often been the ob- jects of the Abbé Picquet's cruel advice, enforced by the most barbarous examples, especially in the English settlements on the back of Virginia and Pennsylvania. "
To adopt either of these as a true account of the character of Picquet, would be equally unjust. Now that the times and circumstances in which he lived, have both passed away, and even the consequences resulting from his actions, have ceased to exist, we may perhaps from the data before us, in view of the times and the circumstances in which he acted, deduce the following conclusion :
That he was actuated by a controlling belief of the importance and the truth of the religion which he labored with such zeal to establish, and that this was the ruling passion of his life. That his energy and ability for the promotion of this object, at times led him to disregard the common claims of humanity, and to the performance of acts derogatory to our nature, and abhorred by civilized man.
That he evinced a capacity for the transaction of business and the pro- motion of the interests of his government, highly creditable to his charac- ter, and such as to entitle him to the esteem in which he was held by those in authority ; and that especially in the selection of a location for a new settlement, which was the great act of his life, he proved himself the possessor of a sound mind, and a capacity for judiciously combining and comparing, the probable effects of causes, which must have made a pro- minent station of the post he selected.
The prophecy that a beautiful town might hereafter he built on the ele- vated plain opposite his fort, has been fully realized in the present village of Ogdensburgh, which the combination of favorable causes now exist- ing, is destined soon to give a rank second to but few on our inland waters.
The portrait of Picquet is preserved at the Sulpician Mission of the Lake of Two Mountains, the scene of his early labors, and first success as a missionary. Picquet was succeeded in the mission of La Presenta- tion, by Le Garde, a Sulpician, concerning whom the author has been un- able to learn any particulars.
A French writer, whose initials only are given, (S- de C-) has left a memoir upon the war in Canada, and the affairs of that province from 1749 till 1760, which was published under the direction of the Literary
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and Historical Society of Quebec, in 1835, and which makes frequent mention of the post at Oswegatchie. From this work we will translate a few extracts.
The rancor with which he assails Picquet, almost leads us to believe that he was actuated by a personal enmity, although it appears not to have been limited to this missionary, but to have been directed towards the religious establishments of the country in general.
We shall endeavor to preserve the spirit of the original, in our trans- lation. We are thus furnished with two versions of the conduct of Picquet; and prevented from being misled by an ex-parte narrative, like that which Lalande the astronomer, has given us.
" Thus M. de la Jonquière, persuaded that peace could not long con- tinue, labored to inspire the savages with a hatred to the English; and especially endeavored to attach the five nations or Iroquois. These people had been always distinguished by their bravery; the French had waged with them long and cruel wars, and the inhabitants had been compelled to labor arms in hand, as we see in the history of Charlevoix, · a jesuit, who has written an ecclesiastical history of this country.
This nation is divided into five branches, named the Onontagués, the Goyoguins, the Stonnontowans, [Senecas,] the Anniers, [Mohawks.] and the domiciliated tribes.
The Onondagas dwell upon a lake, at no great distance from the Mohawk river, in a fertile country, and the English pretend that it be- longs to them. The Goyogowins, and the Stonnontowans, are a little beyond in the same direction, and approaching Niagara. The Anniers dwell upon the river Mohawk, not far from a dwelling belonging to Mr. Johnson, an English officer, who understands the Indian language, and has been very active during this war. The others reside at the Saut St. Louis, three leagues from Montreal ; some at a place called la Presenta- tion, and some at the lake of Two Mountains.
The general can well rely upon the fidelity of those who dwell near him, but it is not so of the others. Their cantons situated as we have seen, above, furnish in one way and another, difficulties not easy to surmount.
M. the Abbé Picquet, priest of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, was to this canton, what the Abbé de Laloutre, was to Acadia. He had as much ambition as he had, but he turned it to a different account .* He understood the Iroquois language, and this gave him a great advantage, and enabled him to put on foot the negotiations which he wished with the five nations, to draw them to our cause, and engage them to come and dwell with us. This Abbé, who could not endure the restraint of the seminary, was very willing to seize an occasion like that which offered, of freeing himself, and of forming a community over which he might rule and reign. He labored to decoy the five nations, and to form upon the River Cataraqui, or Frontenac, above the rapids, a village.
The place which he selected for his establishment, announced his little genius, and caused the fort which he had built to be called Picket's Folly; as for himself he called it la Presentation, of which we here insert a plan.
* Hocquart has given him the title of the Apostle of the Iroquois, and the English called him the Jesuit of the West .- [ Note in the original.]
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When the Abbe Picquet had assembled some families, he talked of building a fort, under the pretext of protecting them, and they sent him a Commandant, and a magazine guard, and enjoined it upon the com- mandant, to have much regard for the Abbé, and placed him, so to speak, under his tutelage, and gave full permission to this priest to conduct and administer the magazines; in short everything was under his orders.
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