BORDER WARFARE
Frontenac's best legacy to Quebec and to Canada was the pacification
of the Indian tribes. Under his stern rule the prestige of France had
been restored, and to the new Governor, De Callières, was left the
duty of arranging the formalities of peace with the ancient enemy, the
Iroquois. A treaty, however, was only concluded in the face of
strenuous opposition from New England, which now beheld with grave
concern the changed front of the "Five Nations," who, for the space of
a hundred years, had been the sharpest thorn in the side of New
France, and whose territory had been as armour-plate about their own
settlements.
In opportune time the Treaty of Ryswick had nominally settled all
points of contention between France and England in both hemispheres,
and it was soon followed by the cessation of hostilities between the
whites and Indians. The Governor of New France summoned deputies from
all the tribes to a grand council, at which, after many days of
debate, he skilfully persuaded them to bury the hatchet and submit
their internecine differences to Quebec for arbitration. Belts of
wampum were exchanged, and the calumet of peace was passed forthwith
between the followers and colleagues of De Callières and the painted
chiefs of a dozen tribes.
The conclusion of this treaty was a fortunate stroke of French
diplomacy, as not many months were to pass before Europe became once
more involved in a war, into which the colonies of the rival powers
were naturally drawn. Apart from the recognition of the English
Pretender in France, the immediate cause of war in Europe was the
question of the Spanish succession; for while Louis XIV. claimed the
throne for his grandson, Philip of Anjou, England, on the other hand,
recognised that this union of France and Spain would upset the balance
of power on both sides of the Atlantic, and that her American
possessions would be exposed to a cross fire from both north and
south.
The great battles of Blenheim, Ramilies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet of
the European conflict had their counterpart in the _petite guerre_
which was waged by the opposing colonies in America. French privateers
issuing from Port Royal swept along the coast of New England, the
settlements of Acadia suffering reprisals in kind. At last the
ruthless destruction of the little village of Haverhill on the
Merrimac by a Canadian war-party roused the English colonists to fury,
and they loudly demanded the conquest of Canada. The authorities were
already predisposed to this large undertaking by the arguments of one
Samuel Vetch, whom the Governor of Massachusetts had formerly
despatched on a special mission to Canada. Vetch soon perceived that
the defences of Quebec and Montreal were not too formidable to be
overcome by a well-devised assault; and proceeding to England he made
representations to the advisers of Queen Anne, who, in 1709, sent him
back to Boston with command to contrive an expedition against the
fortress of Canada. A land force from New England was to proceed
northward by way of the Richelieu, and to co-operate with an English
fleet on the St. Lawrence.
Once more, however, fortune intervened to save Quebec. England long
delayed in sending the promised fleet, and it was already late autumn
before the colonial forces were ready to set out. While Colonel
Nicholson, its leader, perceived the hopelessness of so unseasonable
an assault upon the city, he was yet unwilling to remain inactive.
Moreover, Acadia lay close by, and the stronghold of Port Royal
challenged his arms. He determined on its subjection. The brave
highspirited Subercase[21] was commandant of the town, and although
his garrison was ill-provisioned and almost destitute of ammunition,
the fort was defended with the utmost boldness against the
overwhelming force of the besiegers. Subercase saw the hopelessness of
his situation from the first, but in the end his invincible courage
secured an honourable capitulation, and, with a pomp and circumstance
contrasting strangely with their starved faces and ragged uniforms,
the little garrison of Port Royal marched proudly out of the fort.
Nicholson took possession of the stronghold and changed its name to
Annapolis in honour of the British sovereign. So fell the first of
these fortresses, which were the counters in that long game played on
the chess-board of a continent.
The capture of Port Royal strengthened the determination of the
English colonists to drive the French out of Canada by destroying
their grim stronghold upon the St. Lawrence. The home government fell
in readily with the project, and despatched seven regiments of the
line, fresh from Marlborough's campaigns, together with a fleet of
fifteen warships under Admiral Sir Hovenden Walker. This powerful
auxiliary to the strength of the colonies arrived duly at Boston,
where the details of the invasion of Canada were arranged; and when
at length all was ready, the English admiral sailed from Boston for
the St. Lawrence, Nicholson at the same time setting out overland for
Montreal with a force of twelve thousand men.
[Footnote 21: This was the officer who, years before, had striven to
rescue the victims of the massacre of Lachine.]
In the meanwhile Vaudreuil had succeeded De Callières as Governor at
Quebec, a post which long military experience in Canada fitted him to
hold in the warfare now enveloping New France. At this time the total
population of the country was not much more than fifteen thousand
souls, and of fighting men--those whose ages ranged from fifteen years
to sixty--Montreal possessed twelve hundred, Three Rivers four
hundred, and the district of Quebec twenty-two hundred. On the other
hand, the population of the New England colonies was something over
one hundred thousand, the colony of New York alone twice outnumbering
New France.
Such disparity in the populations of the warring colonies was,
however, somewhat discounted by another consideration; for while the
power of New France was well organised and capable of skilful
direction, the English colonists could carry out no enterprise with
the undisciplined soldiery at their disposal. This explains why the
French were able to survive for more than half a century the attacks
of antagonists richer, more numerous, and not less valorous than
themselves. It further shows why, throughout their continuous border
warfare, the more audacious and better-trained soldiery of New France
triumphed so often over the raw levies of Connecticut and New York.
* * * * *
Sir Hovenden Walker's armada set sail from Boston harbour on the 30th
of July, 1711, fore-doomed, through the incapacity of its leader, to
the most ignominious failure yet befalling any expedition against
Quebec. By reason of his former mission to Canada, Colonel Vetch had
been commanded to accompany the fleet, and his _Journal of a Voyage
Designed to Quebec_ furnishes the mournful details of this ill-fated
enterprise.
By the Admiral's direction, Vetch was on board the _Sapphire_, the
smallest of the frigates, with orders to pick out the safe channel for
the rest of the fleet; and although but a landsman, he did his best to
act as a pilot. All went well until they reached the wide mouth of the
St. Lawrence. There, instead of depending upon one of the smaller
ships to lead the way, the Admiral imprudently sailed with his
flag-ship in the van. By a singular want of judgment, moreover, he
chose to follow the channel north of the Island of Anticosti.
In the fairest of weathers this reef-strewn passage is full of peril,
and a dense fog enveloped the fleet on that disastrous August evening.
Although advised to anchor until the fog should lift, the Admiral
scoffed at fear. Driven by a whistling wind, the ships of the line
leaped forward, shaping a course north-north-west, until suddenly the
sound of breakers burst upon them; and as if in relentless mockery,
the rising moon lit up the angry reefs of Egg Island. Helms were put
hard down, and the Admiral's vessel swung round to the wind; but eight
of the tall battleships were too late to avoid their doom. Eight
hundred and eighty-four persons were drowned, thirty-four of these
being women.
A council of war was held three days later, but instead of pressing on
up the river with the rest of the ships, Sir Hovenden Walker and
Brigadier Hill,[22] the commander of the forces, decided to abandon
the expedition. The _Sapphire_ was despatched to Boston to recall the
land force; and on the shores of Lake Champlain these inglorious
orders overtook the sturdy Nicholson, who regretfully led his column
back to Albany.
Meanwhile, Quebec had awaited this her third siege in a fever of
anxiety. Vaudreuil had disposed a thousand men, under De Ramézay, at
the new stone fort at Chambly to check the invasion by land, and
strengthened the city with all available forces, regular and
irregular. The _habitants_ of the long Côte de Beaupré had hidden
away their goods, and flocked within the walls of the city with all
the provisions they could transport. Prayers for deliverance rose
unceasingly from the altars of the churches and convents, while the
nuns devoted themselves to a nine days' Mass at Notre Dame de Pitié.
[Footnote 22: Brigadier John Hill was the brother of Mrs. Masham,
Queen Anne's favourite, to whom, and not to his merit, he owed his
appointment.]
Upon this anxiety came the tidings of the wreck at Egg Island. Once
more Providence had intervened to save them, and Quebec was delirious
with joy. Every belfry in New France pealed forth its hymn of
thanksgiving. The little church on the Lower Town market-place changed
its name from _Notre Dame de la Victoire_ to _Notre Dame des
Victoires_, and the citizens added a portico in token of their
exultation and gratitude.
* * * * *
The Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, which brought the war of the Spanish
succession to a close, deprived France of many of her American
possessions. Chief of these were Acadia, Newfoundland, and the
Hudson's Bay Territory, all of which were now ceded to England. In the
Gulf of St. Lawrence, France retained only the Isle Royale, Isle of
St. John,[23] and the two tiny rocks of St. Pierre and Miquelon. New
France was, however, unwilling to give up her hold on the Atlantic
seaboard, and procured a grant of thirty million francs from the home
government to build the fortress of Louisbourg at the entrance to the
river St. Lawrence. Vauban, the great French engineer, drew the plans
of that vast fortification on the rocky headland of Cape Breton, which
was destined to play so important a part in the final storm then
gathering over the American continent.
[Footnote 23: Now called Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island
respectively.]
In the meantime New France had entered upon a season of unexpected
peace--unexpected because for at least two generations the conflict
with the English colonists had been so continuous that Quebec had
almost come to regard warfare as her normal state. The respite
following upon the Treaty of Utrecht was the more welcome; and in that
breathing space of almost thirty years it seemed as if a real
prosperity had at last visited the St. Lawrence. The cultivation of
flax and hemp and the weaving of cloth, which had been but a feeble
industry since the days of Talon, now assumed real importance. Furs
were still the main resource of the colony; but grain, fish, oil, and
leather also found their way to France in increasing quantities.
Quebec became the centre of a considerable shipping trade, and
sea-going vessels were launched from the stocks on the bank of the
little St. Charles.
Moreover, the energies of the people presently found another and
alluring field. In 1716 a missionary to the Sault Indians discovered
the gensing root, which, as a medical drug, was quoted in European
markets at its weight in silver. At first its price in Quebec was only
forty sols per pound, but when the people saw its value rising to
almost as many _livres_, the rush of searchers to the woods left all
other industries at a standstill. Agriculture furnished a slow road to
wealth by comparison with the hunt of the gensing plant, and Quebec
passed through the fever of a modern gold-rush. Natural and economic
conditions, however, had provided their own remedy; and in time the
glut of the market and the extirpation of the gensing plant sent the
feverish botanists back to their wonted pursuits. Then ensued a period
of peace and quiet progress, of patriotic co-operation of the
officials and the people for the good of the land.
In 1725 the long and beneficent rule of the first Vaudreuil came to an
end, and the Marquis de Beauharnois succeeded to the governorship of
Quebec. The features of this and the succeeding administrations were
the further expansion westward of New France and the construction of
that chain of forts by which she sought finally to fasten her grip
upon the continent. One by one these fortresses rose up in the far
wilderness to hem in the English between the sea and the Alleghanies,
and one by one they were demolished, as England and her colonies
slowly rolled down the curtain on the drama of French dominion in
North America.
Nearer home, also, that is to say, nearer to Quebec, French enterprise
had taken the form of building and manning forts; and as the fate of
these scattered strongholds closely affects the story of Quebec, a
brief outline of their location is here given.
Port Royal had passed for ever out of French hands, and to take its
place the giant bastions of Louisbourg had risen on a ridge of rock
which made one arm of Gabarus Bay. On the river Missaguash, which the
French claimed to mark the northern boundary of English Acadia, stood
Fort Beauséjour. Chambly, Sorel, and St. Thérèse, on the Richelieu,
were Indian forts of old foundation; and as a further defence against
the English, Beauharnois built Crown Point at the narrows of Lake
Champlain. The stronghold of Carillon was situated a few miles beyond.
On the Alleghany river, Forts Venango and Le Boeuf barred the westward
growth of Pennsylvania; and Fort Duquesne, begun as an English fort by
the Ohio Company, guarded the junction of the Alleghany and the
Monongahela. Fort Niagara, near one end of Lake Ontario, and Fort
Frontenac at the other, were also to figure in the closing stages of
the conflict.
The exploit of the Sieur de la Vérendrye, which marked this period,
was perhaps the most picturesque achievement Quebec had witnessed
since the days of La Salle. In the spring of 1731, La Vérendrye, with
his three sons and a handful of adventurous _coureurs de bois_, set
off from the trading post of Michillimackinac to take possession of
the West. By a long succession of paddles and portages. La Vérendrye
came to the Lake of the Woods. Then, threading his way through its
myriad islands, he found and followed a wild stream which bore him
down to Lake Winnipeg. From here he passed into the Red River, and at
its junction with the Assiniboine built Fort Rouge. From this base the
bold explorers made their way as far north as the forks of the
Saskatchewan; and by 1743 the distant peaks of the Rocky Mountains had
rewarded the vision of a younger La Vérendrye. To no avail: for this
wide dominion was destined to pass to hands firmer to hold, if slower
to acquire.
[Illustration: The Earl of Chatham from the collection in the
possession of Lord Bridport]