USA > New York > Franklin County > A history of St. Lawrence and Franklin counties, New York : from the earliest period to the present time > Part 8
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 8
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
under a strong guard of sixty Indians, to prevent my plotting any more against the French, and to banish all hope of my escape!" Here he met with unexpected kindness, and lodged at the house of the mother of a French smith, whose name was Mary Harris, and had been taken captive while a child at Deerfield in New England.
He soon after went to Montreal; and while there, saw the English captives and standards, the trophies of the French victory at Oswego of July 15th, 1756, brought into town. Among the prisoners, 1400 in num- ber, he recognized his own son. He remained a prisoner about a year after, and was at length permitted to leave for England with other pri- soners, and finally returned home ..
The memoirs of Father Picquet have been written by M. de la Lande, of the Academie des Sciences, and are published in the fourteenth vol- ume of a work entitled, " Lettres Edifiantes et Curieuses " (Lyons edition, 1819, p. 262, et seq.), from which an abridged translation is published in the Documentary History of New York, from which, and from the original essay, we derive the following.
"A missionary remarkable for his zeal, and the services which he has rendered to the church and the state, born in the same village as myself, and with whom I have enjoyed terms of particular intimacy, has given to me a relation of his labors, and I have thought that this notice de- served to find a place in the Lettres Edifiantes, having exactly the same object as the other articles in that collection, and 1 flatter myself that I shall be able to render an honorable testimony to the memory of a com- patriot, and of a friend so amiable as M. l'abbé Picquet.
Francois Picquet, doctor of the Sorborne, King' Missionary and Pre- fect Apostolic to Canada, was born at Bourg, in Bresse, on the 6th Dec., 1708. The ceremonials of the church, from his infancy, were to him so engaging, that they seemed to announce his vocation.
The good instruction which he received from an estimable father, seconded by a happy disposition, enabled him to accomplish his earlier studies with the approbation of all his superiors, and of his professors, although in the dissipation and folly of youth, he was relieved by occu- pations altogether foreign to his studies. M. Picquet, in fact, loved to test his abilities in various ways, and in this he succeeded; but his first · pastimes had announced his first preferences, and the church was his principal delight.
As early as the seventeenth year of his age, he successfully com- menced the functions of a missionary in his country ; and at twenty years, the Bishop of Sinope, Suffragan of the Diocese of Lyon, gave him, by a flattering exception, permission to preach in all the parishes of Bresse and Franche-Comte which depended on his diocese. The enthusiasm of his new state rendered him desirous to go to Rome, but the Archbishop of Lyons advised him to study theology at Paris. He followed this advice, and entered the congregation of St. Sulpice. The direction of the new converts was soon proposed to him ; but the activity of his zeal induced him to seek a wider field, and led him beyond the seas in 1733, to the missions of North America, where he remained thirty years, and where his constitution, debilitated by labor, acquired a
invigorate
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force and vigor, which secured for him a robust health to the end of his life.
After having for some time lahored at Montreal, in common with other missionaries, he desired to undertake so:ne new enterprise, by which France might profit by restoring peace to our vast colonies.
About 1740, he established himself at the Lake of Two Mountains,* to the North of Montreal, to draw the Algonquins, the Nipissings, and the savages of the lake Temiscaming to the head of the colony, and upon the route of all the nations of the north, which descend by the great river of Michilimakina, to Lake Huron.
There had been an ancient mission upon the Lake of Two Mountains, but it had been abandoned. M. Picquet took advantage of the peace which the country then enjoyed, in constructing a stone fort. This fort commanded the villages of the four nations, which composed the mission of the lake. He next caused a palisade to be built around each of the villages, of cedar posts, flanked by good redoubts. The King defrayed half of this expense; the missionaries incurred the rest by labor.
He there fixed the two nomadic nations of the Algonquins and the Nipissings, and caused them to build a fine village, and to sow and reap; a thing before regarded as next to impossible. These two nations, in the event, were first to give succor to the French. The pleasure which they experienced in this establishment attached them to France, and the' king, in whose name M. Picquet procured them assistance in money, in provisions, and all that the wants of these two nations required.
He there erected a Calvary, which was the finest monument of religion in Canada, by the grandeur of the crosses which were planted upon the summit of one of the two mountains, by the different chapels and the different oratories, all alike built of stone, arched, ornamented withi pictures, and distributed in stations for the space of three quarters of a league.
He here endeavored to gain an exact understanding with all the northern tribes, by means of the Algonquins and the Nipissings, and with those of the south and west, by means of the Iroquois and the Hurons. His negotiations resulted so well, that he annually, at the feast of the Passover and the Pentecost, baptized to the faith thirty to forty adults.
When the savage hunters had passed eight months in the woods, they remained a month in the village, which made it a kind of mission, re - ceiving many each day with the two catechisms and with spiritual con- ferences. He taught them the prayers and the chants of the church, and he imposed penances upon those who created any disorder. A portion were settled and domiciled.
In short, he succeeded beyond all hope in persuading these nations to submit entirely to the King, and to render him the master of their na- tional assemblies, with full liberty to make known his intentions and to nominate all their chiefs. From the commencement of the war of 1742, his savages showed their attachment to France and to the King, whose paternal character M. Picquet had announced to them, and who was regarded as the beloved and the idol of the nation.
The following is a letter which a savage warrior of the Lake of Two Mountains addressed to the King, in his enthusiasm, and which the three nations begged the governor to send to the King, at the beginning of the war. I will insert it to give an idea of their style, and of their oratorical figures. If it is not, word for word, the discourse of a savage, it is at
* About 36 miles N. W. of Montreal .- Author
5
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least reported by those who knew the best, their style and their disposi- tions.
"MY FATHER:
Pay less attention to the fashion of my speech, than to the sentiments of my heart: no nation is capable of subduing me, or worthy of com- manding me.
Thou art the only one in the world who is able to reign over me, and I prefer to all the advantages which the English can offer me to live with him, the glory of dieing in thy service.
Thou art great in thy name; I know it: Onnontio (the governor) who brings me thy word, and the Black Gown (the missionary) who announ- ces to me that of the great spirit,* Kichemaniton, have told me that thou art the chief eldest son of the bride of Jesus, who is the great master of life ; that thou commandest the world in wars, that thy nation is innu- merable; that thou art the most absolute master of all the chiefs who command men, and govern the rest of the world.
Meanwhile, the noise of thy tread strikes my two ears; and I learn from thy enemies themselves, that thou hast only to appear, and forts fall to dust, and thy enemies are vanquished; that the quiet of night and the pleasures of the day yield to the glory which thou bringest; and the eye is wearied in following the courses and the labors of thy victories. I say that thou art great in thy name, and greater by thy heart that animates thee, and that thy warlike virtues surpass even mine. The nations know me: I was born in the midst of wars, and nourished with the blood of my enemies.
Ah my father, what joy for me, could I be able in thy service to assist thy arm, and behold myself the fire which war kindles in thy eye!
But if it should be that my blood should be shed for thy glory, under this sun, rely upon my fidelity, and the death of the English, and upon my bravery.
I have the war hatchet in my hand, and my eye fixed upon Onnontio, who governs me here in thy name.
I wait, upon one foot, only, and the hand raised, the signal which bids me strike thy enemy and mine.
Such, my father, is thy warrior of the Lake of Two Mountains."
The savages held their word, and the first blows that were struck upon the English in Canada, were by their hands.
M. Picquet was among the first to foresee the war which sprang up about 1742 between the English and the French. He prepared himself for it a long time beforehand. He began by drawing to his Mission (at the Lake of the Two Mountains) all the French scattered in the vicinity, to strengthen themselves and afford more liberty to the savages. These furnished all the necessary detachments; they were continually on the frontiers to spy the enemy's movements. M. Picquet learned, by one of these detachments, that the English were making preparations at Sarasto [Saratoga?], and were pushing their settlements up to Lake St. Sacra- ment .; He informed the general of the circumstance and proposed to him to send a body of troops there, at least to intimidate the enemy, if
* They call Matchimaniton, the bad spirit, or the devil. They call the king Onnontio Gwa .- Note in the original.
t " I am building a fort at this lake, which the French call Lake St. Sacrament, but I have given it the name of Lake GEORGE, not only in honor to his Majesty, but to ascertain his un- doubted dominion here."-Sir Wm. Johnson to the Board of Trade, Sep. 3, 1775. Lond. Doc. xxxii., 178.
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we could do no more. The expedition was formed. M. Picquet accom- panied M. Marin who commanded this detachment. They burnt the fort, the Lydius establishments,* several saw mills, the planks, boards and other building timber, the stock of supplies, provisions, the herds of cattle along nearly fifteen leagues of settlement, and made one hundred and forty-five prisoners, without having lost a single Frenchinan or without having any even wounded. + This expedition alone prevented the English undertaking any thing at that side during the war.
Peace having been re-established in 1748, our missionary occupied himself with the means of remedying, for the future, the inconveniences which he had witnessed. The road he saw taken by the savages and other parties of the enemy sent by the English against us, caused him to select a post which could, hereafter, intercept the passage of the English. He proposed to M. de la Galissoniére to make a settlement of the mis- sion of La Presentation, near Lake Ontario, an establishment which succeeded beyond his hopes, and has been the most useful of all those of Canada.
Mr. Rouille, Minister of the Marine, wrote on the 4th May, 1749: " A large number of Iroquois having declared that they were desirous of embracing Christianity, it has been proposed to establish a mission towards Fort Frontenac, in order to attract the greatest number possible thither. It is Abbe Picquet, a zealous missionary and in whom these nations seem to have confidence, who has been entrusted with this negotiation. He was to have gone last year, to select a suitable site for the establishment of the mission, and verify, as precisely as was possible, what can be depended upon relative to the dispositions of these same nations. In a letter of the 5th October last, M. de la Galisonnière stated, that, though an entire confidence can not be placed in those they have manifested, it is notwithstanding of much importance, to succeed in dividing them, that nothing must be neglected that can contribute to it. It is for this reason that His Majesty desires you shall prosecute the design of the proposed settlement. If it could attain a certain success, it would not be difficult then to make the savages understand that the only means of extricating themselves from the pretensions of the Eng- lish, to them and their lands, is to destroy Choueguen,¿ so as to deprive them thereby of a post which they established chiefly with a view to control their tribes. This destruction is of such great importance, both as regards our possessions and the attachment of the savages and their trade, that it is proper to use every means to engage the Iroquois to undertake it. This is actually the only means that can be employed, but you must feel that it requires much prudence and circumspection."'
Mr. Picquet eminently possessed the qualities requisite to effect the removal of the English from our neighborhood. Therefore the General, the Intendant, and the Bishop deferred absolutely to him in the selection of the settlement for this new mission; and despite the efforts of those who had opposite interests, he was entrusted with the undertaking.
* Now Fort Edward, Washington county.
t " I received an account on the 19th inst., by Express from Albany, that a party of French and their Indians had cut off a settlement in this province, called Saraghtoge, about fifty mlles from Albany, and that about twenty houses with a fort (which the public would not repair) were burned to ashes, thirty persons killed and scalped, and about sixty taken prisoners. -- Gov. Clinton to the Board, 30th Nov. 1745. Lond. Doc.xxvii., 187, 235.
# Oswego.
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HISTORY OF ST. LAWRENCE
The fort of La Presentation is situated at 302 deg. 40 min. longitude, and at 44 deg. 50 min. latitude, on the Presentation river, which the Indians name Soegasti; thirty leagues above Mont-Real ; fifteen leagues from Lake Ontario or Lake Frontenac, which with Lake Champlain gives rise to the River St. Lawrence: fifteen leagues west of the source of the River Hudson which falls into the sea at New York. Fort Fron- tenac had been built near there in 1671, to arrest the incursions of the English and the Iroquois; the bay served as a port for the mercantile and military marine which had been formed there on that sort of sea where the tempests are as frequent and as dangerous as on the ocean, But the post of La Presentation appeared still more important, because the harbor is very good, the river freezes there rarely, the harks can Jeave with northern, eastern and southern winds, the lands are excellent, and that quarter can be fortified most advantageously.
Besides, that mission was adapted by its situation to reconcile to us the Iroquois savages of the Five Nations who inhabit between Virginia and Lake Ontario. The Marquis of Beauharnois and afterwards M. de la Jonquière, Governor-General of New France, were very desirous that we should occupy it, especially at a time when English jealousy, irritated by a war of many years, sought to alienate from us the tribes of Canada.
This establishment was as if the key of the colony, because the English, French and Upper Canada savages could not pass elsewhere than under the cannon of Fort Presentation when coming down from the south, the Iroquois to the south, and the Micissagues to the north, were within its reach. Thus it eventually succeeded in collecting them together from over a distance of one hundred leagues. The officers, interpreters and traders, notwithstanding, then regarded that establish- ment as chimerical. Euvy and opposition had effected its failure, had it not been for the firmness of the Abbe Picquet, supported by that of the administration. This establishment served to protect, aid and con- fort the posts already erected on Lake Ontario. The barks and canoes, for the transportation of the king's effects, could be constructed there at a third less expense than elsewhere, because timber is in greater quan- tity and more accessible, especially when M. Picquet had had a saw mill erected there for preparing and manufacturing the timber. In fine, he could establish a very important settlement for the French colonists, and a point of reunion for Europeans and savages, where they would find themselves very convenient to the hunting and fishing in the upper part of Canada.
M. Picquet left with a detachment of soldiers, mechanics and some savages. He placed himself at first in as great security as possible against the insults of the enemy, which availed him ever since. On the 20th October, 1749, he had built a fort of palisades, a house, a barn, a stable, a redoubt, and an oven. He had lands cleared for the savages. His improvements were estimated at thirty to forty thousand livres, but he introduced as much judgment as economy. He animated the work- men, and they labored from three o'clock in the morning until nine at night. As for himself, his disinterestedness was extreme. He received at that time neither allowance nor presents; he supported himself by his industry and credit. From the king he had but one ration of two pounds of bread and one half pound of pork, which made the savages say, when they brought him a burk and some partridges: " We doubt not, father, but that there have been disagreeable expostulations in your stomach, because you have had nothing but pork to eat. Here's some- thing to put your affairs in order." The hunters furnished him where- withal to support the Frenchmen, and to treat the generals occasionally. The savages brought him trout weighing as many as eighty pounds.
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When the court had granted him a pension, he employed it only for the benefit of his establishment. At first, he had six heads of families in 1749, eiglity-seven the year following, and three hundred and ninety- six in 1751. All these were of the most antient and most influential families, so that this mission was, from that time, sufficiently powerful to attach the Five Nations to us, amounting to twenty-five thousand inliabit- ants, and he recokned as many as three thousand in his colony. By attaching the Iroquois cantons to France and establishsng them fully in our interest, we were certain of having nothing to fear from the other savage tribes, and thus a limit could be put to the ambition of the English. Mr. Picquet took considerable advantage of the peace to in- crease that settlement, and he carried it in less than four years to the most desirable perfection, despite of the contradictions that he had to combat against; the obstacles he had to surmount; the jibes and unbe- coming jokes which he was obliged to bear; but his happiness and glory suffered nothing therefrom. People saw with astonishment several villages start up almost at once; a convenient, habitable and pleasantly situated fort; vast clearances, covered almost at the same time with the finest maize. More than five hundred families, still all infidels, who congregated there, soon rendered this settlement the most beautiful, the most charming and the most abundant of the colony. Depending on it were La Presentation, La Galette, Suegatzí, L'isle au Galop, and L'isle Picquet in the River St. Lawrence. There were in the fort seven small stone guns and eleven four to six pounders.
The most distinguished of the Iroquois families were distributed at La Presentation in three villages: that which adjoined the French fort contained, in 1754, forty-nine bark cabins, some of which were from sixty to eighty feet long, and accommodated three to four families. The place pleased them on account of the abundance of hunting and fishing. This mission could no doubt be increased, but cleared land sufficient to allow all the families to plant and to aid them to subsist would be neces- sary, and each tribe should have a separate location.
M. Picquet had desired that in order to draw a large number, that they should clear during a certain time a hundred arpents of land each year, and build permanent cabins, and to surround their village with a palisade; that they should construct a church, and a house for seven or eight missionaries. The nations desired it, and it was an effectual means to establish them permanently. All this he could do with fifteen thousand livres a year, and he proposed to assign them a benefice, as tending to promote religion. Meanwhile our missionary applied himself to the instruction of the savages, and baptized great numbers.
The Bishop of Quebec, wishing to witness and assure himself person- ally of the wonders related to him of the establishment at La Presenta- tion, went thither in 1749, accompanied by some officers, royal interpre- ters, priests from other missions and several other clergymen, and spent ten days examining and causing the catechumens to be examined. He himself baptized one hundred and thirty-two, and did not cease during liis sojourn, blessing Heaven for the progress of religion among these infidels.
Scarcely were they baptized, when M. Picquet determined to give them a form of government. He established a council of twelve ancients; chose the most influential among the Five Nations; brought them to Mont-Real, where, at the hands of the Marquis du Quesne, they took the oatlı of allegiance to the King, to the great astonishment of the whole colony, where no person dared to hope for such an event.
Attentive as well to the good of the administration, as to the cause of
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religion, M. Picquet notified the chiefs of the colony of the abuses whichi he witnessed. He made for example, a remonstrance against the estab- lishment of traders who had come to locate at the Long Saut, and at Carillon, to hold traffic and commerce, who cheated the savages, and sold them worthless things, at a dear price, and hindered them from coming to the mission, where they were undeceived, instructed in reli- gion, and attached to France.
The garrisons which were established in the missions, embarrassed very much the projects of our missionary. "I have already seen," said he, in a memoir, "with gratification, the suppression of those of the Saut St. Louis, and at the lake of Two Mountains, and think that the government, informed by others as well as by myself, of the wrong they do to religion, as well as to the state, would withdraw that which is at la Presentation, where it is as useless, and even more pernicious than at the other missions.
No one knows better than myself, the disorders, which increase in proportion as the garrison becomes more numerous; the fervor of our first Christians is impaired by degrees by their bad example and bad councils; their docility towards the king is sensibly diminished; diffi- culties multiply almost continually between nations whose customs, and character, and interests, are so different; and in short, the commanders and guards of the magazines oppose habitually, a thousand obstacles to the fruits of the zeal of the missionaries.
During the twenty-eight years that I have had the charge and manage- ment of savages, I have always found with those who have studied their customs, and their character, that by free and frequent intercourse [.fre- quentation] with the French, they become corrupt entirely, and that the bad examples, the bad councils, and the mercenary spirit and interests of the inhabitants of European nations who frequent their villages, are the principal causes why they make so little progress in religion.
Hence comes sometimes their indocility to the orders of governors, their infidelity to the king himself, and their apostacies.
It is a thing of public notoriety, that at the Saut St. Louis, and at the Lake of Two Mountains, inissions formerly so fervent, and which for almost a hundred years have rendered important services to the colony, they have there been the principal causes of these almost irreparable disorders; that they have not only introduced libertinism, and all kinds of debauchery, but even revolution and revolt."
M. Picquet feared above all, the introduction of crimes of the whites, happily unknown among savages .*
" The commandants were not then occupied in the missions which diminished the confidence of the savages in their missionaries. It seemed as if it were a victory gained, if they could detach some one, or even when they had adroitly prejudiced an officer against the mission- aries, and wounded his feelings.
A devoutly religious missionary as indefatigable in the service of the king, as he was in that of his God, yielded himself at the foot of authori- ty to the detriment of the mission of Saut St. Louis, under the force of accusations which the commandant of the fort fabricated against him. Then irreligion, libertinism, infidelity towards the king, and the insolence of the savages, immediately took the place of piety, of attachment, of submission, and of obedience, of which for a long period previous, they had given proofs under the guidance of the missionaries. At length, to
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