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Francis Parkman's Works.
NEW LIBRARY EDITION.
Vol. III.
FRANCIS PARKMAN'S WORKS.
New Library Edition.
Pioneers of France in the New World 1 vol.
The Jesuits in North America 1 vol.
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West 1 vol.
The Old Régime in Canada 1 vol.
Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV. 1 vol.
A Half Century of Conflict 2 vols.
Montcalm and Wolfe 2 vols.
The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after
the Conquest of Canada 2 vols.
The Oregon Trail 1 vol.
[Illustration]
_La Salle Presenting a Petition to Louis XIV._
Drawn by Adrien Moreau.
La Salle and the Discovery of the Great West, _Frontispiece_
LA SALLE
AND THE
DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST.
FRANCE AND ENGLAND IN
NORTH AMERICA.
Part Third.
BY
FRANCIS PARKMAN.
BOSTON:
LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY.
1908.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
Francis Parkman,
In the Clerk's Office
of the
District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by
Francis Parkman,
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
_Copyright, 1897,_
By Little, Brown, and Company.
_Copyright, 1897,_
By Grace P. Coffin and Katharine S. Coolidge.
_Copyright, 1907,_
By Grace P. Coffin.
Printers
S. J. Parkhill & Co., Boston, U. S. A.
TO
THE CLASS OF 1844,
Harvard College,
THIS BOOK IS CORDIALLY DEDICATED
BY ONE OF THEIR NUMBER.
PREFACE OF THE ELEVENTH EDITION.
When the earlier editions of this book were
published, I was aware of the existence of a collection
of documents relating to La Salle, and
containing important material to which I had
not succeeded in gaining access. This collection
was in possession of M. Pierre Margry, director
of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies at
Paris, and was the result of more than thirty
years of research. With rare assiduity and zeal,
M. Margry had explored not only the vast depository
with which he has been officially connected
from youth, and of which he is now the
chief, but also the other public archives of
France, and many private collections in Paris
and the provinces. The object of his search
was to throw light on the career and achievements
of French explorers, and, above all, of La
Salle. A collection of extraordinary richness
grew gradually upon his hands. In the course
of my own inquiries, I owed much to his friendly
aid; but his collections, as a whole, remained
inaccessible, since he naturally wished to be the
first to make known the results of his labors.
An attempt to induce Congress to furnish him
with the means of printing documents so interesting
to American history was made in 1870
and 1871, by Henry Harrisse, Esq., aided by the
American minister at Paris; but it unfortunately
failed.
In the summer and autumn of 1872, I had
numerous interviews with M. Margry, and at his
desire undertook to try to induce some American
bookseller to publish the collection. On returning
to the United States, I accordingly made
an arrangement with Messrs. Little, Brown &
Co., of Boston, by which they agreed to print
the papers if a certain number of subscriptions
should first be obtained. The condition proved
very difficult; and it became clear that the best
hope of success lay in another appeal to Congress.
This was made in the following winter,
in conjunction with Hon. E. B. Washburne;
Colonel Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland; O. H.
Marshall, Esq., of Buffalo; and other gentlemen
interested in early American history. The attempt
succeeded. Congress made an appropriation
for the purchase of five hundred copies of
the work, to be printed at Paris, under direction
of M. Margry; and the three volumes devoted
to La Salle are at length before the public.
Of the papers contained in them which I had
not before examined, the most interesting are
the letters of La Salle, found in the original by
M. Margry, among the immense accumulations
of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies and
the Bibliothèque Nationale. The narrative of
La Salle's companion, Joutel, far more copious
than the abstract printed in 1713, under the
title of "Journal Historique," also deserves
special mention. These, with other fresh material
in these three volumes, while they add new
facts and throw new light on the character of
La Salle, confirm nearly every statement made
in the first edition of the Discovery of the Great
West. The only exception of consequence relates
to the causes of La Salle's failure to find
the mouth of the Mississippi in 1684, and to the
conduct, on that occasion, of the naval commander,
Beaujeu.
This edition is revised throughout, and in part
rewritten with large additions. A map of the
country traversed by the explorers is also added.
The name of La Salle is placed on the titlepage,
as seems to be demanded by his increased prominence
in the narrative of which he is the central
figure.
Boston, 10 December, 1878.
* * * * *
Note.--The title of M. Margry's printed collection is "Découvertes
et Établissements des Français dans l'Ouest et dans le Sud
de l'Amérique Septentrionale (1614-1754), Mémoires et Documents
originaux." I., II., III. Besides the three volumes relating to La
Salle, there will be two others, relating to other explorers. In
accordance with the agreement with Congress, an independent edition
will appear in France, with an introduction setting forth the
circumstances of the publication.
PREFACE OF THE FIRST EDITION.
The discovery of the "Great West," or the
valleys of the Mississippi and the Lakes, is a
portion of our history hitherto very obscure.
Those magnificent regions were revealed to the
world through a series of daring enterprises,
of which the motives and even the incidents
have been but partially and superficially known.
The chief actor in them wrote much, but printed
nothing; and the published writings of his associates
stand wofully in need of interpretation
from the unpublished documents which exist,
but which have not heretofore been used as
material for history.
This volume attempts to supply the defect.
Of the large amount of wholly new material
employed in it, by far the greater part is drawn
from the various public archives of France, and
the rest from private sources. The discovery of
many of these documents is due to the indefatigable
research of M. Pierre Margry, assistant
director of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies
at Paris, whose labors as an investigator of
the maritime and colonial history of France can
be appreciated only by those who have seen their
results. In the department of American colonial
history, these results have been invaluable;
for, besides several private collections made by
him, he rendered important service in the collection
of the French portion of the Brodhead documents,
selected and arranged the two great
series of colonial papers ordered by the Canadian
government, and prepared with vast labor analytical
indexes of these and of supplementary
documents in the French archives, as well as a
copious index of the mass of papers relating to
Louisiana. It is to be hoped that the valuable
publications on the maritime history of France
which have appeared from his pen are an earnest
of more extended contributions in future.
The late President Sparks, some time after the
publication of his Life of La Salle, caused a
collection to be made of documents relating to
that explorer, with the intention of incorporating
them in a future edition. This intention
was never carried into effect, and the documents
were never used. With the liberality which
always distinguished him, he placed them at my
disposal, and this privilege has been kindly continued
by Mrs. Sparks.
Abbé Faillon, the learned author of "La Colonie
Française en Canada," has sent me copies
of various documents found by him, including
family papers of La Salle. Among others who
in various ways have aided my inquiries are Dr.
John Paul, of Ottawa, Ill.; Count Adolphe de
Circourt, and M. Jules Marcou, of Paris; M. A.
Gérin Lajoie, Assistant Librarian of the Canadian
Parliament; M. J. M. Le Moine, of Quebec;
General Dix, Minister of the United States
at the Court of France; O. H. Marshall, of Buffalo;
J. G. Shea, of New York; Buckingham
Smith, of St. Augustine; and Colonel Thomas
Aspinwall, of Boston.
The smaller map contained in the book is a
portion of the manuscript map of Franquelin, of
which an account will be found in the Appendix.
The next volume of the series will be devoted
to the efforts of Monarchy and Feudalism under
Louis XIV. to establish a permanent power on
this continent, and to the stormy career of Louis
de Buade, Count of Frontenac.
Boston, 16 September, 1869.
CONTENTS.
Page
INTRODUCTION 3
CHAPTER I.
1643-1669.
CAVELIER DE LA SALLE.
The Youth of La Salle: his Connection with the Jesuits; he goes to
Canada; his Character; his Schemes; his Seigniory at La Chine; his
Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India. 7
CHAPTER II.
1669-1671.
LA SALLE AND THE SULPITIANS.
The French in Western New York.--Louis Joliet.--The Sulpitians on Lake
Erie; at Detroit; at Saut Ste. Marie.--The Mystery of La Salle: he
discovers the Ohio; he descends the Illinois; did he reach the 19
Mississippi?
CHAPTER III.
1670-1672.
THE JESUITS ON THE LAKES.
The Old Missions and the New.--A Change of Spirit.--Lake Superior and
the Copper-mines.--Ste. Marie.--La Pointe.--Michilimackinac.--Jesuits
on Lake Michigan.--Allouez and Dablon.--The Jesuit Fur-trade. 36
CHAPTER IV.
1667-1672.
FRANCE TAKES POSSESSION OF THE WEST.
Talon.--Saint-Lusson.--Perrot.--The Ceremony at Saut Ste. Marie.--The
Speech of Allouez.--Count Frontenac. 48
CHAPTER V.
1672-1675.
THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI.
Joliet sent to find the Mississippi.--Jacques
Marquette.--Departure.--Green Bay.--The Wisconsin.--The
Mississippi.--Indians.--Manitous.--The Arkansas.--The
Illinois.--Joliet's Misfortune.--Marquette at Chicago: his Illness;
his Death. 57
CHAPTER VI.
1673-1678.
LA SALLE AND FRONTENAC.
Objects of La Salle.--Frontenac favors him.--Projects of
Frontenac.--Cataraqui.--Frontenac on Lake Ontario.--Fort
Frontenac.--La Salle and Fénelon.--Success of La Salle:
his Enemies. 83
CHAPTER VII.
1678.
PARTY STRIFE.
La Salle and his Reporter.--Jesuit Ascendency.--The Missions and the
Fur-trade.--Female Inquisitors.--Plots against La Salle: his Brother
the Priest.--Intrigues of the Jesuits.--La Salle poisoned: he
exculpates the Jesuits.--Renewed Intrigues. 106
CHAPTER VIII.
1677, 1678.
THE GRAND ENTERPRISE.
La Salle at Fort Frontenac.--La Salle at Court: his
Memorial.--Approval of the King.--Money and Means.--Henri de
Tonty.--Return to Canada. 120
CHAPTER IX.
1678-1679.
LA SALLE AT NIAGARA.
Father Louis Hennepin: his Past Life; his
Character.--Embarkation.--Niagara Falls.--Indian Jealousy.--La Motte
and the Senecas.--A Disaster.--La Salle and his Followers. 131
CHAPTER X.
1679.
THE LAUNCH OF THE "GRIFFIN."
The Niagara Portage.--A Vessel on the Stocks.--Suffering and
Discontent.--La Salle's Winter Journey.--The Vessel launched.--Fresh
Disasters. 144
CHAPTER XI.
1679.
LA SALLE ON THE UPPER LAKES.
The Voyage of the "Griffin."--Detroit.--A Storm.--St. Ignace of
Michilimackinac.--Rivals and Enemies.--Lake Michigan.--Hardships.--A
Threatened Fight.--Fort Miami.--Tonty's Misfortunes.--Forebodings. 151
CHAPTER XII.
1679, 1680.
LA SALLE ON THE ILLINOIS.
The St. Joseph.--Adventure of La Salle.--The Prairies.--Famine.--The
Great Town of the Illinois.--Indians.--Intrigues.--Difficulties.--
Policy of La Salle.--Desertion.--Another Attempt to poison
La Salle. 164
CHAPTER XIII.
1680.
FORT CRÈVECOE]UR.
Building of the Fort.--Loss of the "Griffin."--A Bold
Resolution.--Another Vessel.--Hennepin sent to the
Mississippi.--Departure of La Salle. 180
CHAPTER XIV.
1680.
HARDIHOOD OF LA SALLE.
The Winter Journey.--The Deserted Town.--Starved Rock.--Lake
Michigan.--The Wilderness.--War Parties.--La Salle's Men give
out.--Ill Tidings.--Mutiny.--Chastisement of the Mutineers. 189
CHAPTER XV.
1680.
INDIAN CONQUERORS.
The Enterprise renewed.--Attempt to rescue Tonty.--Buffalo.--A
Frightful Discovery.--Iroquois Fury.--The Ruined Town.--A Night
of Horror.--Traces of the Invaders.--No News of Tonty. 202
CHAPTER XVI.
1680.
TONTY AND THE IROQUOIS.
The Deserters.--The Iroquois War.--The Great Town of the
Illinois.--The Alarm.--Onset of the Iroquois.--Peril of
Tonty.--A Treacherous Truce.--Intrepidity of Tonty.--Murder
of Ribourde.--War upon the Dead. 216
CHAPTER XVII.
1680.
THE ADVENTURES OF HENNEPIN.
Hennepin an Impostor: his Pretended Discovery; his Actual Discovery;
captured by the Sioux.--The Upper Mississippi. 242
CHAPTER XVIII.
1680, 1681.
HENNEPIN AMONG THE SIOUX.
Signs of Danger.--Adoption.--Hennepin and his Indian Relatives.--The
Hunting Party.--The Sioux Camp.--Falls of St. Anthony.--A Vagabond
Friar: his Adventures on the Mississippi.--Greysolon Du Lhut.--Return
to Civilization. 259
CHAPTER XIX.
1681.
LA SALLE BEGINS ANEW.
His Constancy; his Plans; his Savage Allies; he becomes
Snow-blind.--Negotiations.--Grand Council.--La Salle's
Oratory.--Meeting with Tonty.--Preparation.--Departure. 283
CHAPTER XX.
1681-1682.
SUCCESS OF LA SALLE.
His Followers.--The Chicago Portage.--Descent of the Mississippi.--The
Lost Hunter.--The Arkansas.--The Taensas.--The Natchez.--Hostility.--The
Mouth of the Mississippi.--Louis XIV. proclaimed Sovereign of the Great
West. 295
CHAPTER XXI.
1682, 1683.
ST. LOUIS OF THE ILLINOIS.
Louisiana.--Illness of La Salle: his Colony on the Illinois.--Fort
St. Louis.--Recall of Frontenac.--Le Febvre de la Barre.--Critical
Position of La Salle.--Hostility of the New Governor.--Triumph of
the Adverse Faction.--La Salle sails for France. 309
CHAPTER XXII.
1680-1683.
LA SALLE PAINTED BY HIMSELF.
Difficulty of knowing him; his Detractors; his Letters; vexations of
his Position; his Unfitness for Trade; risks of Correspondence; his
Reported Marriage; alleged Ostentation; motives of Action; charges
of Harshness; intrigues against him; unpopular Manners; a Strange
Confession; his Strength and his Weakness; contrasts of his
Character. 328
CHAPTER XXIII.
1684.
A NEW ENTERPRISE.
La Salle at Court: his Proposals.--Occupation of Louisiana.--Invasion
of Mexico.--Royal Favor.--Preparation.--A Divided Command.--Beaujeu
and La Salle.--Mental Condition of La Salle: his Farewell to his
Mother. 343
CHAPTER XXIV.
1684, 1685.
THE VOYAGE.
Disputes with Beaujeu.--St. Domingo.--La Salle attacked with
Fever: his Desperate Condition.--The Gulf of Mexico.--A Vain Search
and a Fatal Error. 366
CHAPTER XXV.
1685.
LA SALLE IN TEXAS.
A Party of Exploration.--Wreck of the "Aimable."--Landing of the
Colonists.--A Forlorn Position.--Indian Neighbors.--Friendly Advances
of Beaujeu: his Departure.--A Fatal Discovery. 378
CHAPTER XXVI.
1685-1687.
ST. LOUIS OF TEXAS.
The Fort.--Misery and Dejection.--Energy of La Salle: his Journey of
Exploration.--Adventures and Accidents.--The Buffalo.--Duhaut.--Indian
Massacre.--Return of La Salle.--A New Calamity.--A Desperate
Resolution.--Departure for Canada.--Wreck of the
"Belle."--Marriage.--Sedition.--Adventures of La Salle's Party.--The
Cenis.--The Camanches.--The Only Hope.--The Last Farewell. 391
CHAPTER XXVII.
1687.
ASSASSINATION OF LA SALLE.
His Followers.--Prairie Travelling.--A Hunters' Quarrel.--The Murder
of Moranget.--The Conspiracy.--Death of La Salle: his Character. 420
CHAPTER XXVIII.
1687, 1688.
THE INNOCENT AND THE GUILTY.
Triumph of the Murderers.--Danger of Joutel.--Joutel among the
Cenis.--White Savages.--Insolence of Duhaut and his
Accomplices.--Murder of Duhaut and Liotot.--Hiens, the
Buccaneer.--Joutel and his Party: their Escape; they reach the
Arkansas.--Bravery and Devotion of Tonty.--The Fugitives reach
the Illinois.--Unworthy Conduct of Cavelier.--He and his Companions
return to France. 435
CHAPTER XXIX.
1688-1689.
FATE OF THE TEXAN COLONY.
Tonty attempts to rescue the Colonists: his Difficulties and
Hardships.--Spanish Hostility.--Expedition of Alonzo de Leon: he
reaches Fort St. Louis.--A Scene of Havoc.--Destruction of the
French.--The End. 464
APPENDIX.
I. Early Unpublished Maps of the Mississippi and the Great
Lakes 475
II. The Eldorado of Mathieu Sâgean 485
INDEX 491
[Illustration:
COUNTRIES
traversed by
MARQUETTE, HENNEPIN
AND
LA SALLE.
G.W. Boynton, Sc.]
LA SALLE
AND THE
DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST.
INTRODUCTION.
The Spaniards discovered the Mississippi. De
Soto was buried beneath its waters; and it was down
its muddy current that his followers fled from the
Eldorado of their dreams, transformed to a wilderness
of misery and death. The discovery was never used,
and was well-nigh forgotten. On early Spanish
maps, the Mississippi is often indistinguishable from
other affluents of the Gulf. A century passed after
De Soto's journeyings in the South, before a French
explorer reached a northern tributary of the great
river.
This was Jean Nicollet, interpreter at Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence.
He had been some twenty years in Canada, had lived among the savage
Algonquins of Allumette Island, and spent eight or nine years among the
Nipissings, on the lake which bears their name. Here he became an Indian
in all his habits, but remained, nevertheless, a zealous Catholic, and
returned to civilization at last because he could not live without the
sacraments. Strange stories were current among the Nipissings of a
people without hair or beard, who came from the West to trade with a
tribe beyond the Great Lakes. Who could doubt that these strangers were
Chinese or Japanese? Such tales may well have excited Nicollet's
curiosity; and when, in 1635, or possibly in 1638, he was sent as an
ambassador to the tribe in question, he would not have been surprised if
on arriving he had found a party of mandarins among them. Perhaps it was
with a view to such a contingency that he provided himself, as a dress
of ceremony, with a robe of Chinese damask embroidered with birds and
flowers. The tribe to which he was sent was that of the Winnebagoes,
living near the head of the Green Bay of Lake Michigan. They had come to
blows with the Hurons, allies of the French; and Nicollet was charged to
negotiate a peace. When he approached the Winnebago town, he sent one of
his Indian attendants to announce his coming, put on his robe of damask,
and advanced to meet the expectant crowd with a pistol in each hand. The
squaws and children fled, screaming that it was a manito, or spirit,
armed with thunder and lightning; but the chiefs and warriors regaled
him with so bountiful a hospitality that a hundred and twenty beavers
were devoured at a single feast. From the Winnebagoes, he passed
westward, ascended Fox River, crossed to the Wisconsin, and descended
it so far that, as he reported on his return, in three days more he
would have reached the sea. The truth seems to be that he mistook the
meaning of his Indian guides, and that the "great water" to which he was
so near was not the sea, but the Mississippi.
It has been affirmed that one Colonel Wood, of Virginia, reached a
branch of the Mississippi as early as the year 1654, and that about 1670
a certain Captain Bolton penetrated to the river itself. Neither
statement is sustained by sufficient evidence. It is further affirmed
that, in 1678, a party from New England crossed the Mississippi, reached
New Mexico, and, returning, reported their discoveries to the
authorities of Boston,--a story without proof or probability. Meanwhile,
French Jesuits and fur-traders pushed deeper and deeper into the
wilderness of the northern lakes. In 1641, Jogues and Raymbault preached
the Faith to a concourse of Indians at the outlet of Lake Superior. Then
came the havoc and desolation of the Iroquois war, and for years farther
exploration was arrested. In 1658-59 Pierre Esprit Radisson, a Frenchman
of St. Malo, and his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart des Groseilliers,
penetrated the regions beyond Lake Superior, and roamed westward till,
as Radisson declares, they reached what was called the Forked River,
"because it has two branches, the one towards the west, the other
towards the south, which, we believe, runs towards Mexico,"--which seems
to point to the Mississippi and its great confluent the Missouri. Two
years later, the aged Jesuit Ménard attempted to plant a mission on the
southern shore of Lake Superior, but perished in the forest by famine or
the tomahawk. Allouez succeeded him, explored a part of Lake Superior,
and heard, in his turn, of the Sioux and their great river the
"Messipi." More and more, the thoughts of the Jesuits--and not of the
Jesuits alone--dwelt on this mysterious stream. Through what regions did
it flow; and whither would it lead them,--to the South Sea or the "Sea
of Virginia;" to Mexico, Japan, or China? The problem was soon to be
solved, and the mystery revealed.
CHAPTER I
1643-1669.
CAVELIER DE LA SALLE.
The Youth of La Salle: his Connection with the Jesuits; he goes to
Canada; his Character; his Schemes; his Seigniory at La Chine; his
Expedition in Search of a Western Passage to India.
Among the burghers of Rouen was the old and rich family of the
Caveliers. Though citizens and not nobles, some of their connections
held high diplomatic posts and honorable employments at Court. They were
destined to find a better claim to distinction. In 1643 was born at
Rouen Robert Cavelier, better known by the designation of La Salle.[1]
His father Jean and his uncle Henri were wealthy merchants, living more
like nobles than like burghers; and the boy received an education
answering to the marked traits of intellect and character which he soon
began to display. He showed an inclination for the exact sciences, and
especially for the mathematics, in which he made great proficiency. At
an early age, it is said, he became connected with the Jesuits; and,
though doubt has been expressed of the statement, it is probably
true.[2]
[Sidenote: LA SALLE AND THE JESUITS.]
La Salle was always an earnest Catholic; and yet, judging by the
qualities which his after-life evinced, he was not very liable to
religious enthusiasm. It is nevertheless clear that the Society of Jesus
may have had a powerful attraction for his youthful imagination. This
great organization, so complicated yet so harmonious, a mighty machine
moved from the centre by a single hand, was an image of regulated power,
full of fascination for a mind like his. But if it was likely that he
would be drawn into it, it was no less likely that he would soon wish to
escape. To find himself not at the centre of power, but at the
circumference; not the mover, but the moved; the passive instrument of
another's will, taught to walk in prescribed paths, to renounce his
individuality and become a component atom of a vast whole,--would have
been intolerable to him. Nature had shaped him for other uses than to
teach a class of boys on the benches of a Jesuit school. Nor, on his
part, was he likely to please his directors; for, self-controlled and
self-contained as he was, he was far too intractable a subject to serve
their turn. A youth whose calm exterior hid an inexhaustible fund of
pride; whose inflexible purposes, nursed in secret, the confessional and
the "manifestation of conscience" could hardly drag to the light; whose
strong personality would not yield to the shaping hand; and who, by a
necessity of his nature, could obey no initiative but his own,--was not
after the model that Loyola had commended to his followers.
La Salle left the Jesuits, parting with them, it is said, on good terms,
and with a reputation of excellent acquirements and unimpeachable
morals. This last is very credible. The cravings of a deep ambition, the
hunger of an insatiable intellect, the intense longing for action and
achievement, subdued in him all other passions; and in his faults the
love of pleasure had no part. He had an elder brother in Canada, the
Abbé Jean Cavelier, a priest of St. Sulpice. Apparently, it was this
that shaped his destinies. His connection with the Jesuits had deprived
him, under the French law, of the inheritance of his father, who had
died not long before. An allowance was made to him of three or (as is
elsewhere stated) four hundred livres a year, the capital of which was
paid over to him; and with this pittance he sailed for Canada, to seek
his fortune, in the spring of 1666.[3]
[Sidenote: LA SALLE AT MONTREAL.]
Next, we find him at Montreal. In another volume, we have seen how an
association of enthusiastic devotees had made a settlement at this
place.[4] Having in some measure accomplished its work, it was now
dissolved; and the corporation of priests, styled the Seminary of St.
Sulpice, which had taken a prominent part in the enterprise, and,
indeed, had been created with a view to it, was now the proprietor and
the feudal lord of Montreal. It was destined to retain its seignorial
rights until the abolition of the feudal tenures of Canada in our own
day, and it still holds vast possessions in the city and island. These
worthy ecclesiastics, models of a discreet and sober conservatism, were
holding a post with which a band of veteran soldiers or warlike
frontiersmen would have been better matched. Montreal was perhaps the
most dangerous place in Canada. In time of war, which might have been
called the normal condition of the colony, it was exposed by its
position to incessant inroads of the Iroquois, or Five Nations, of New
York; and no man could venture into the forests or the fields without
bearing his life in his hand. The savage confederates had just received
a sharp chastisement at the hands of Courcelle, the governor; and the
result was a treaty of peace which might at any moment be broken, but
which was an inexpressible relief while it lasted.
The priests of St. Sulpice were granting out their lands, on very easy
terms, to settlers. They wished to extend a thin line of settlements
along the front of their island, to form a sort of outpost, from which
an alarm could be given on any descent of the Iroquois. La Salle was the
man for such a purpose. Had the priests understood him,--which they
evidently did not, for some of them suspected him of levity, the last
foible with which he could be charged,--had they understood him, they
would have seen in him a young man in whom the fire of youth glowed not
the less ardently for the veil of reserve that covered it; who would
shrink from no danger, but would not court it in bravado; and who would
cling with an invincible tenacity of gripe to any purpose which he might
espouse. There is good reason to think that he had come to Canada with
purposes already conceived, and that he was ready to avail himself of
any stepping-stone which might help to realize them. Queylus, Superior
of the Seminary, made him a generous offer; and he accepted it. This
was the gratuitous grant of a large tract of land at the place now
called La Chine, above the great rapids of the same name, and eight or
nine miles from Montreal. On one hand, the place was greatly exposed to
attack; and, on the other, it was favorably situated for the fur-trade.
La Salle and his successors became its feudal proprietors, on the sole
condition of delivering to the Seminary, on every change of ownership, a
medal of fine silver, weighing one mark.[5] He entered on the
improvement of his new domain with what means he could command, and
began to grant out his land to such settlers as would join him.
Approaching the shore where the city of Montreal now stands, one would
have seen a row of small compact dwellings, extending along a narrow
street, parallel to the river, and then, as now, called St. Paul Street.
On a hill at the right stood the windmill of the seigniors, built of
stone, and pierced with loopholes to serve, in time of need, as a place
of defence. On the left, in an angle formed by the junction of a rivulet
with the St. Lawrence, was a square bastioned fort of stone. Here lived
the military governor, appointed by the Seminary, and commanding a few
soldiers of the regiment of Carignan. In front, on the line of the
street, were the enclosure and buildings of the Seminary, and, nearly
adjoining them, those of the Hôtel-Dieu, or Hospital, both provided for
defence in case of an Indian attack. In the hospital enclosure was a
small church, opening on the street, and, in the absence of any other,
serving for the whole settlement.[6]
Landing, passing the fort, and walking southward along the shore, one
would soon have left the rough clearings, and entered the primeval
forest. Here, mile after mile, he would have journeyed on in solitude,
when the hoarse roar of the rapids, foaming in fury on his left, would
have reached his listening ear; and at length, after a walk of some
three hours, he would have found the rude beginnings of a settlement. It
was where the St. Lawrence widens into the broad expanse called the Lake
of St. Louis. Here, La Salle had traced out the circuit of a palisaded
village, and assigned to each settler half an arpent, or about the third
of an acre, within the enclosure, for which he was to render to the
young seignior a yearly acknowledgment of three capons, besides six
deniers--that is, half a sou--in money. To each was assigned, moreover,
sixty arpents of land beyond the limits of the village, with the
perpetual rent of half a sou for each arpent. He also set apart a
common, two hundred arpents in extent, for the use of the settlers, on
condition of the payment by each of five sous a year. He reserved four
hundred and twenty arpents for his own personal domain, and on this he
began to clear the ground and erect buildings. Similar to this were the
beginnings of all the Canadian seigniories formed at this troubled
period.[7]
[Sidenote: LA CHINE.]
That La Salle came to Canada with objects distinctly in view, is
probable from the fact that he at once began to study the Indian
languages,--and with such success that he is said, within two or three
years, to have mastered the Iroquois and seven or eight other languages
and dialects.[8] From the shore of his seigniory, he could gaze westward
over the broad breast of the Lake of St. Louis, bounded by the dim
forests of Chateauguay and Beauharnois; but his thoughts flew far
beyond, across the wild and lonely world that stretched towards the
sunset. Like Champlain, and all the early explorers, he dreamed of a
passage to the South Sea, and a new road for commerce to the riches of
China and Japan. Indians often came to his secluded settlement; and, on
one occasion, he was visited by a band of the Seneca Iroquois, not long
before the scourge of the colony, but now, in virtue of the treaty,
wearing the semblance of friendship. The visitors spent the winter with
him, and told him of a river called the Ohio, rising in their country,
and flowing into the sea, but at such a distance that its mouth could
only be reached after a journey of eight or nine months. Evidently, the
Ohio and the Mississippi are here merged into one.[9] In accordance with
geographical views then prevalent, he conceived that this great river
must needs flow into the "Vermilion Sea;" that is, the Gulf of
California. If so, it would give him what he sought, a western passage
to China; while, in any case, the populous Indian tribes said to inhabit
its banks might be made a source of great commercial profit.
[Sidenote: SCHEMES OF DISCOVERY.]
La Salle's imagination took fire. His resolution was soon formed; and he
descended the St. Lawrence to Quebec, to gain the countenance of the
governor for his intended exploration. Few men were more skilled than he
in the art of clear and plausible statement. Both the governor Courcelle
and the intendant Talon were readily won over to his plan; for which,
however, they seem to have given him no more substantial aid than that
of the governor's letters patent authorizing the enterprise.[10] The
cost was to be his own; and he had no money, having spent it all on his
seigniory. He therefore proposed that the Seminary, which had given it
to him, should buy it back again, with such improvements as he had made.
Queylus, the Superior, being favorably disposed towards him, consented,
and bought of him the greater part; while La Salle sold the remainder,
including the clearings, to one Jean Milot, an iron-monger, for
twenty-eight hundred livres.[11] With this he bought four canoes, with
the necessary supplies, and hired fourteen men.
Meanwhile, the Seminary itself was preparing a similar enterprise. The
Jesuits at this time not only held an ascendency over the other
ecclesiastics in Canada, but exercised an inordinate influence on the
civil government. The Seminary priests of Montreal were jealous of these
powerful rivals, and eager to emulate their zeal in the saving of souls
and the conquering of new domains for the Faith. Under this impulse,
they had, three years before, established a mission at Quinté, on the
north shore of Lake Ontario, in charge of two of their number, one of
whom was the Abbé Fénelon, elder brother of the celebrated Archbishop of
Cambray. Another of them, Dollier de Casson, had spent the winter in a
hunting-camp of the Nipissings, where an Indian prisoner, captured in
the Northwest, told him of populous tribes of that quarter living in
heathenish darkness. On this, the Seminary priests resolved to essay
their conversion; and an expedition, to be directed by Dollier, was
fitted out to this end.
[Sidenote: DEPARTURE.]
He was not ill suited to the purpose. He had been a soldier in his
youth, and had fought valiantly as an officer of cavalry under Turenne.
He was a man of great courage; of a tall, commanding person; and of
uncommon bodily strength, which he had notably proved in the campaign of
Courcelle against the Iroquois, three years before.[12] On going to
Quebec to procure the necessary outfit, he was urged by Courcelle to
modify his plans so far as to act in concert with La Salle in exploring
the mystery of the great unknown river of the West. Dollier and his
brother priests consented. One of them, Galinée, was joined with him as
a colleague, because he was skilled in surveying, and could make a map
of their route. Three canoes were procured, and seven hired men
completed the party. It was determined that La Salle's expedition and
that of the Seminary should be combined in one,--an arrangement ill
suited to the character of the young explorer, who was unfit for any
enterprise of which he was not the undisputed chief.
Midsummer was near, and there was no time to lose. Yet the moment was
most unpropitious, for a Seneca chief had lately been murdered by three
scoundrel soldiers of the fort of Montreal; and, while they were
undergoing their trial, it became known that three other Frenchmen had
treacherously put to death several Iroquois of the Oneida tribe, in
order to get possession of their furs. The whole colony trembled in
expectation of a new outbreak of the war. Happily, the event proved
otherwise. The authors of the last murder escaped; but the three
soldiers were shot at Montreal, in presence of a considerable number of
the Iroquois, who declared themselves satisfied with the atonement; and
on this same day, the sixth of July, the adventurers began their voyage.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The following is the _acte de naissance_, discovered by Margry in
the _registres de l'état civil_, Paroisse St. Herbland, Rouen: "Le
vingt-deuxième jour de novembre, 1643, a été baptisé Robert Cavelier,
fils de honorable homme Jean Cavelier et de Catherine Geest; ses parrain
et marraine honorables personnes Nicolas Geest et Marguerite Morice."
La Salle's name in full was René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle. La
Salle was the name of an estate near Rouen, belonging to the Caveliers.
The wealthy French burghers often distinguished the various members of
their families by designations borrowed from landed estates. Thus,
François Marie Arouet, son of an ex-notary, received the name of
Voltaire, which he made famous.
[2] Margry, after investigations at Rouen, is satisfied of its truth
(_Journal Général de l'Instruction Publique_, xxxi. 571.) Family papers
of the Caveliers, examined by the Abbé Faillon, and copies of some of
which he has sent to me, lead to the same conclusion. We shall find
several allusions hereafter to La Salle's having in his youth taught in
a school, which, in his position, could only have been in connection
with some religious community. The doubts alluded to have proceeded from
the failure of Father Felix Martin, S. J., to find the name of La Salle
on the list of novices. If he had looked for the name of Robert
Cavelier, he would probably have found it. The companion of La Salle,
Hennepin, is very explicit with regard to this connection with the
Jesuits, a point on which he had no motive for falsehood.
[3] It does not appear what vows La Salle had taken. By a recent
ordinance (1666), persons entering religious orders could not take the
final vows before the age of twenty-five. By the family papers above
mentioned, it appears, however, that he had brought himself under the
operation of the law, which debarred those who, having entered religious
orders, afterwards withdrew, from claiming the inheritance of relatives
who had died after their entrance.
[4] The Jesuits in North America, chap. xv.
[5] _Transport de la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice_, cited by Faillon. La
Salle called his new domain as above. Two or three years later, it
received the name of La Chine, for a reason which will appear.
[6] A detailed plan of Montreal at this time is preserved in the
Archives de l'Empire, and has been reproduced by Faillon. There is
another, a few years later, and still more minute, of which a fac-simile
will be found in the Library of the Canadian Parliament.
[7] The above particulars have been unearthed by the indefatigable Abbé
Faillon. Some of La Salle's grants are still preserved in the ancient
records of Montreal.
[8] _Papiers de Famille._ He is said to have made several journeys into
the forests, towards the North, in the years 1667 and 1668, and to have
satisfied himself that little could be hoped from explorations in that
direction.
[9] According to Dollier de Casson, who had good opportunities of
knowing, the Iroquois always called the Mississippi the Ohio, while the
Algonquins gave it its present name.
[10] _Patoulet à Colbert, 11 Nov., 1669._
[11] _Cession de la Seigneurie; Contrat de Vente_ (Margry, i. 103, 104).
[12] He was the author of the very curious and valuable _Histoire de
Montréal_, preserved in the Bibliothèque Mazarine, of which a copy is in
my possession. The Historical Society of Montreal has recently resolved
to print it.