THE LAST PHASE
The priests laboured on in their mission-fields from Cape
Breton to the Mississippi and north towards Hudson Bay,
wherever there were Indians. In the Iroquois country
alone did they fail to establish themselves securely.
The nearest neighbours of the Iroquois, the English of
New York and New England, stirred by French and Indian
raids on their borders and regarding all Frenchmen as
enemies, did what they could to destroy the influence of
the French priests and keep them out of the country. Lord
Bellomont, governor of New York, even threatened to hang
any priest found in his colony. Yet the Jesuits made
another attempt in 1702; but it did not succeed, and a
few years later the Iroquois mission was abandoned.
Among the Algonquin tribes the old dread of the priests
had vanished and they were everywhere hailed as friends.
They were no longer in danger of assassination, and,
apart from the hardships inevitable to wilderness life,
their lot was not an unpleasant one. Perhaps their worst
enemy was the brandy traffic carried on by the coureurs
de bois, which brought in its wake drunkenness, disease,
licentiousness, and crime. The missionaries fought this
evil, with the wholehearted support of Laval, the great
bishop of Quebec, and of his successors. But for their
opposition it is probable that the Indians in contact
with the French would have been utterly swept away; as
it was, brandy thinned their numbers quite as much as
war. Some of the coureurs de bois, who displayed their
wares and traded for furs at the mission stations, were
almost as obnoxious to the priests as the brandy which
they offered. Among them were many worthy men, like the
great Du Lhut; but the majority were 'white savages,'
whose conduct went far to nullify the teaching and example
of the missionaries.
Thus the missions went on until the British came. For
more than fifty years the conflict between the two nations
for mastery continued intermittently; and finally in 1760
the French struck their flag and departed. The victors
viewed the religious orders with distrust; they regarded
the priests as political agents; and they passed an edict
that such Jesuits and Recollets as were in Canada might
remain and 'die where they are, but they must not add to
their number.' Of the Jesuits only twelve remained, and
the last of these, Father Casot, died in 1800.
In looking back over the work of the missionaries in New
France, it would seem that their visible harvest was a
scant one, since the Indian races for whom they toiled
have disappeared from history and are apparently doomed
to extinction. This, of course, is due to natural causes
over which the priests had no control and which they
would thankfully have had otherwise. It cannot be questioned
that their work operated for the benefit of the natives.
But the priceless contribution of the missionaries lies
in the example which they gave to the world. During the
greater part of two centuries in the wilds they bore
themselves manfully and fought a good fight. In all that
time not one of all the men in that long procession of
missionaries is known to have disgraced himself or to
have played the coward in the face of danger or disaster.
The influence of the priests, however, was not confined
to the Indians. It permeated the whole colony and lives
to the present day. In no country in the world is there
a more peaceable and kindly or moral and devout people
than in the province of Quebec, largely because they have
kept in their primitive simplicity the lessons taught by
the clergy of New France. When the Revolution swept away
religion and morals in Old France, it left untouched the
French of Canada; and the descendants of the peasants of
Anjou, Picardy, and Poitou kept alive in the New World
the beliefs and customs, the simple faith and reverence
for authority, of their ancestors in the Old World.
Throughout the length and breadth of New France the
priests and nuns were the teachers of the people. And
the seminaries, schools, and colleges which they founded
continue to shape the morals and character of the French
Canadians of to-day.
It may be doubted whether the British government acted
wisely after winning Canada in suppressing the religious
orders. At any rate, after the unhappy rebellions of 1837
the government adopted a more generous policy; and the
Jesuits and the Oblates came to Canada in ever-increasing
numbers to take up missionary work anew. Like the priests
of old they went into the wilderness, no difficulty too
great to be overcome, no peril too hazardous to be risked.
In the Mackenzie valley, in the far Yukon, and among the
tumbled hills of British Columbia they planted the Cross,
establishing missions and schools.
But the great age of the Church in Canada was the heroic
age of Lalemant and Brebeuf, of Jogues and Bressani, of
Allouez and Marquette. Their memories are living lights
illuminating the paths of all workers among those who
sit in spiritual darkness. The resolution of these first
missionaries, not to be overcome by hardship, torture,
or threat of death itself, has served in time of trial
and danger to brace missionaries of all churches. Brebeuf
still lives and labours in the wilderness regions of
Canada; Marquette still toils on into the unknown.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
'The Relations' of the Jesuits are, of course, the prime
sources of information. Consult the edition edited by R.
G. Thwaites, 'The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents',
seventy-three volumes (1896-1901). This gives the original
French text with an English translation. See also
Rochemonteix, 'Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle France';
Parkman, 'Pioneers of France', 'The Old Regime in Canada',
'The Jesuits in North America', 'La Salle and the Discovery
of the Great West', 'Frontenac and New France'; Harris,
'Pioneers of the Cross in Canada'; Jones, 'Old Huronia',
the fifth report of the Bureau of Archives for the Province
of Ontario; Marshall, 'Christian Missions'; Campbell,
'Pioneer Priests of North America'.
The following general histories contain many illuminating
pages on the missions: Faillon, 'Histoire de la Colonie
Francaise'; Charlevoix, 'Histoire de la Nouvelle-France';
Boucher, 'Canada in the Seventeenth Century'; Sagard,
'Histoire du Canada'; Kingsford, 'History of Canada';
Shortt and Doughty, 'Canada and its Provinces' (especially
the chapter in the second volume by the distinguished
priest, Rev. Lewis Drummond, S.J.); Winsor, 'Narrative
and Critical History of America.
Reference works with valuable articles on the missions
and the Indians are: 'The Catholic Encyclopaedia'; Hodge,
'Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'; White,
'Handbook of Indians of Canada', adapted from Hodge.