KING LOUIS BUILDS A MIGHTY FORT
Afar off, in the little Dutch town of Ryswick, the two kings, William
and Louis, had signed the treaty of peace. It was agreed that all
the places captured by either French or English soldiers during the
war should be given back again. What did this mean to Canada and
America? Only this: that all these eight years of bloodshed had been
in vain. Neither French nor English were a whit the richer or more
powerful than before. You must always remember that what both sides
were really fighting for was the mastery of the North-American
continent. Vast as it was, there was not room enough for both. One
side or other must possess it. Should it be French or English? No
lasting peace could there be as long as the question remained
unsettled.
A great advantage was gained for Canada when the Iroquois at length
gave way. Their chiefs, journeying to Montreal in 1701, smoked the
calumet with Governor de Callières and handed him the belt of
wampum--which signified that there should be no more fighting between
Onontio and the Five Nations. Never again did the Iroquois make
serious trouble for the people of Canada, and the fetters {156} which
had so long bound the fur trade were for ever removed.
But the very next year after this had happened the Peace of Ryswick
came to an end. It had lasted only five years, and it was the
reckless ambition of Louis the Fourteenth that killed it. He, too,
like Kondiaronk, "The Rat," could exclaim to his courtiers, "I have
killed the peace!" The new war is known in Europe as the War of the
Spanish Succession, because Louis wanted to put his Bourbon nephew on
the vacant throne of Spain. In America it is always called "Queen
Anne's War." William the Third had died that year, and Queen Anne
had succeeded him on the English throne.
The English colonists were still as much in earnest as ever about the
importance of overcoming by any means in their power the "French
danger," as they called it. They did not hesitate to employ the
tribes of Indians, however remote, in the work of harrying the French
settlements, both east and west. Port Royal was again attacked, only
this time the attack was ignominiously repulsed. Meanwhile the
French were not idle. De Calliéres had strongly advised the
establishment of several posts on the lake for the reception of furs
and merchandise. In June 1701 La Motte Cadillac, with a Jesuit
priest and 100 men, was despatched to build a fort at Detroit.
Governor de Calliéres hesitated to attack Albany until he could feel
confident that the long-dreaded Iroquois Indians would not return to
the old allies, the English. He was still making up his mind when
illness seized him, and {157} in 1703 he died. His successor was the
Marquis de Vaudreuil.
But if the authorities at Quebec doubted the wisdom of provoking
Indian hostility in their quarrel with the New Yorkers, Vaudreuil and
his friends felt sure of Abenakis friendship. This famous tribe had
long hated the New Englanders with a deadly hate. They had committed
terrible outrages for many years upon the unfortunate Yankee
settlers. De Vaudreuil feared that if the Abenakis were to be at
peace too long, they might forget their hatred and even become on
friendly terms with the Americans. So Canadian priests and soldiers
were sent amongst them to stir up their zeal. They did not want any
pitched battles or long sieges. Their policy was to persecute and
slay the outlying farmers and woodmen, to make settlement outside of
the large towns impossible.
One of the most terrible of these raids occurred at Deerfield in
Massachusetts. This place was on the river Connecticut. A party
under De Rouville crept up Lake Champlain in mid-winter, and,
following the river on the ice, reached Deerfield in the dark. What
had happened at Schenectady and Salmon Falls happened here. The
surprised people could make no defence, the town was burnt, fifty
people slaughtered, almost without resistance, and a hundred more
carried away prisoners. A man never laid his head on the pillow at
night without the fear that a red assassin might scalp it ere morning
dawned. A little later the Abenakis were induced to attack the town
of Haverhill in broad daylight. Fierce fighting {158} ensued,
because this time there were fifty soldiers present to aid the
inhabitants in their resistance; but all was in vain. The massacre
at Haverhill is still spoken of with horror in New England. You can
imagine the storm of indignation which swept through the English
colonies when they heard of these dreadful raids, how strong was
their anger against the Abenakis! Bands of stout colonists were sent
against them, eager for vengeance and showing no mercy, and as a
result the chiefs of the Abenakis at length decided that it would be
safer for them to cross the border and set up their wigwams in
Canada. From Canada they could raid New England as usual. But, to
their surprise, they were by no means heartily welcomed by the
French. Canadians well knew by this time the treacherous nature of
the Indian. Guns and food were given them, and a smiling face hid
the Governor's real embarrassment. Fortunate for him if that were to
be his only embarrassment!
Although repeatedly foiled, the people of both New and Old England
again plotted on a large scale the destruction of French power in
Canada, Acadia, and Newfoundland. One day a ship reached Quebec with
tidings that an English army was on its way to join with two other
forces in an attack upon Quebec. The report was true, but certain
accidents occurred which prevented carrying out the plan for that
season. In the following year (1709), however, they fell upon Port
Royal. The English intention was to sail on to Quebec, but the
danger of being caught in the ice prevented them, and Nicholson
appearing before {159} the Acadian capital, called upon the brave
Subercase to surrender. Port Royal had not expected an attack; both
powder and provisions were low, but Subercase was not a man to yield
without firing a shot. So gallant a resistance did he offer,
although his garrison was in a half-starved state, that when at last
he could fight no more, Nicholson granted him the honours of war.
With the fleur-de-lys flying in the icy breeze, with the roll of
drums and the sound of the trumpet, the last of the shattered band of
Frenchmen sailed out of Port Royal, which was to be Port Royal no
more. In honour of Queen Anne, Nicholson rechristened the place
Annapolis Royal, and thereafter it was held by the Queen's successors
on the English throne.
Acadia now being English and garrisoned by the colonists, it remained
to deal a deadly blow at Quebec. Up to this time the chief
difficulty had been to procure sufficient soldiers from England, for
during all the years since the outbreak of Queen Anne's war England
had been drained of her first-class fighting men. The great
Marlborough had wanted them for Oudenarde, Ramillies, and those other
great battles which you read of in the history of that time in
Europe. But now, flushed and confident with his many victories,
Marlborough could afford to spare a few regiments for the conquest of
Quebec. No child's play it was to be this time, no half-hearted
attempt. Nicholson himself was there at the English Court to press
the scheme upon Queen Anne and her ministers. A large and splendid
fleet of fifteen warships, besides forty-six transports and store
{160} ships, was got ready, and with the fleet seven of Marlborough's
best regiments were ordered to set sail for Canada.
But it is not always big armaments, many men, many ships, many guns,
that win the famous battles of history. Sometimes, as we have seen,
so far from winning the battle, they do not even strike a blow. This
expedition was England's shame. This, which might have conquered
Quebec for the English flag, melted away in sorrow, disease, and
disgrace, all because of the utter incompetency of its leaders. The
Admiral, Sir Hovenden Walker, was both foolish and perverse. As for
the commander of the land forces, Sir John Hill, he was chosen not
because of his war-like talents, but because he was a brother of Mrs.
Masham, the Queen's great personal friend.
You may be interested in learning something of his personal history
as afterwards written by the Duchess of Marlborough. "Abigail Hill's
brother, whom the bottle man afterwards called 'honest Jack Hill,'
was a tall boy whom I clothed (for he was all in rags) and put to
school in St. Albans. I afterwards got my Lord Marlborough to make
him groom of the bedchamber to the Duke of Gloucester, and though my
Lord always said that Jack Hill was good for nothing, yet to oblige
me he made him his aide-de-camp and afterwards gave him a regiment."
Under such a commander the fleet and army, crossing the Atlantic,
arrived at Boston. Here they were joined by two Massachusetts
regiments under the command of Samuel Vetch, a New Englander, who had
been made Governor of Annapolis. The {161} plan decided upon was
that Canada should be attacked, simultaneously with Quebec and
Montreal, by 12,000 men. Surely, with such a force, it seemed
impossible to fail! But failure had marked the enterprise for its
own. A dense fog hung over the gulf and river of St. Lawrence. In
vain Admiral Walker was warned that to steer to the north was to
advance to certain destruction. Walker simply laughed at the advice.
But his laughter had scarcely died away ere the shrieks of drowning
men rang in his ears. Eight ships, packed close with brave soldiers
eager for the fray, were shattered to pieces in the black fog. A
terrible night ensued, a night which has no parallel in the annals of
the British Navy. When day dawned, some Indian and French
fur-traders found 1000 bodies strewn on the beach. There were some
women amongst them, hapless soldiers' wives, who from early times
have accompanied British expeditions, and have been present in defeat
and victory.
After this terrible disaster the question arose whether the attack on
Quebec should be abandoned or not. There was still a great land
force left, enough to plant the British flag on the heights of Quebec
if valour and endurance could do it. The officers and soldiers
looked with one accord to General Hill, their commander, who had it
in his power yet to atone for the disaster which had overtaken his
comrade, Admiral Walker. When Hill spoke, it was not to say,
"Gentlemen, we will retrieve our misfortunes," but, "Gentlemen, we
will turn back." Vetch implored him to reconsider, but orders were
{162} given to turn about the prows of the remaining ships.
After fatal delays the ill-starred fleet reached Portsmouth again
about the middle of October. But even when safe in dock, misfortune
went with it to the last. The Admiral's flag-ship _Edgar_ by some
accident blew up, killing 400 seamen, and 30 of the townsfolk of
Portsmouth who had gone on board to learn from the sailors the
melancholy tale of the expedition. Well might the English people
have been angry, and their anger descended swiftly and heavily upon
the foolish and stubborn admiral's head. He was driven from England,
to die at last, broken in heart, rank, and fortune, on a West Indian
island.
But what further rejoicings in Canada! What gratitude, what repeated
Te Deums for the narrow escape the colony had had from almost certain
destruction! General Hill had caused to be printed beforehand, and
took with him, a bundle of proclamations, calling upon the French
Canadians to acknowledge the rule of Queen Anne. A bundle of these
documents had been washed ashore, and were now distributed amongst
the people amidst derisive laughter. So grateful did the Quebec folk
feel to Heaven for having preserved them from such peril, that they
built a memorial in Our Lady of Victories, as the church in the lower
town of Quebec was called. De Vaudreuil appealed to the people to
help him in making yet stronger the fortifications of Quebec, and he
did not appeal in vain. Fifty thousand écus poured into the Treasury
for this purpose.
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While Quebec and Canada were thus saved, by the Treaty of Utrecht in
1713 Great Britain obtained cession of Acadia, Newfoundland, and the
countries bordering Hudson Bay. Forced to give up so much, yet the
French retained Cape Breton, with the right to fortify it. King
Louis made great efforts to get Nova Scotia back into his power, but
in vain. Foiled in this, he well knew the value of Cape Breton, and
here it was resolved to erect a great fortress to dominate the whole
seaboard of Nova Scotia and New England. In a very few years Cape
Breton became the centre of intriguing governors and priests, always
in touch with the French population in Acadia to teach them to be
discontented and dangerous to the English rulers. Vaudreuil did not
cease to govern Canada till his death in 1725. He always clung to
the hope of regaining Acadia; he always prevented the Abenakis from
making peace with the colonists of New England, and encouraged them
to attack the outlying settlements. Vaudreuil still dreamed, as
Frontenac had done before him, of France ruling the whole of the
great north and west of the continent, and it was hard to see how
that prize could be wrested from her. As the eighteenth century wore
on, the chain of great inland lakes were as French as those two great
rivers, the St. Lawrence and the Mississippi. Little by little
French priests and fur-traders pushed their way through the
wilderness, making peace with new tribes and founding forts at the
heads or junctions of important rivers. Before Vaudreuil died, he
saw all New France prospering and in peace.
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Profit was even wrested from calamity. Once a great ship, _La
Seine_, bearing clothes and merchandise to Quebec and Montreal, had
been captured and carried a prize to England. The loss had caused
much distress in Canada, because up to this date the people had not
grown flax and hemp, and had spun no wool, and their clothing,
therefore, came across to them from France. In this emergency the
Canadians, particularly the women, were obliged to show their
ingenuity, and soon they began to weave coverings, blankets, and even
small carpets. They found the fibre of a nettle would make good
cloth, and the bark of the white wood cotton-tree was pressed into
service. Slowly but surely the industry grew, until there were
twenty-five different branches of trade producing druggets, cloths,
and linens. The nuns commenced to make bunting for their own dress,
black serge for the priests, and blue serge for their pupils.
At first there were no horses in Quebec or Montreal. But at the
beginning of the eighteenth century hundreds of these animals were
being bred, and to possess and train them became a passion amongst
the young men. The result was that many who had before been very
skilful in the use of snowshoes soon grew lazy and drove about in
sleighs. This came to the notice of the Governor, who told them that
Canada could not afford to have her young men unaccustomed to
snow-shoes. It was by means of snow-shoes that they were able, even
when a blizzard was blowing, to move silently and swiftly in time of
war. He issued a decree which forbade any {165} habitant to own more
than two mares and one colt. After a certain day any colonist
possessing more would be visited by an official ordered to kill the
extra horses, and the order was carried out.
The population of Canada had now grown to 50,000 souls. As to life
in the colony, we get an excellent picture from the writings of
Father Charlevoix, who visited Canada in 1720, and spent some time in
making personal observations. He tells us that the country about
Montreal was wholly unsettled by Europeans excepting several
fortified posts and block-houses, such as Frontenac, Niagara,
Detroit, Michilimackinac, and other trading stations in the west.
"In Quebec," he wrote, "one finds nothing but what is select and
calculated to form an agreeable society. A Governor-General, with
his staff, a high-born officer and his troops, an Intendant with a
superior council and inferior court, a Commissary of Marines and
other officers, and a Superintendent of Waters and Forests, whose
jurisdiction is certainly the largest in the world; merchants in easy
circumstances, or at least living as if they were, a Bishop, a
seminary, and three convents.
"Other circles elsewhere are as brilliant as those surrounding the
Governor and Intendant. On the whole, it seems to me there are for
all classes the means of passing the time agreeably. Every one
contributes to his utmost, people amuse themselves with games and
excursions, using caleches in summer, sledges and skates in winter.
There is a great deal of hunting, for many gentle folks have no other
resources for living in comfort. The news from {166} Europe comes
all at once, and occupies a great part of the year, furnishing
subjects of conversation of the past and future."
"The Canadians," continues this eye-witness, "breathe from their
birth the air of liberty, which renders them very agreeable in social
intercourse. Nowhere else is our language spoken with greater
purity. One observes here no defective accent. There are here no
rich people; every one is hospitable, and no one amuses himself with
making money. If a person cannot afford to entertain friends at
table, he at least endeavours to dress well."
From the foregoing you may be able to form a fair picture of Canada
under the Old Régime.
Two hundred years ago, when Newfoundland was ceded to the English,
all the French officials and fishermen removed to the eastern coast
of Cape Breton. Cape Breton, despite its name, is an island, and was
known to the French as Isle Royale. The place whither the French
retired was a safe and spacious inlet, up to that time known as
English Harbour, and it was English Harbour that the French king
chose as the site of the greatest and most celebrated fortress in the
New World. To it was duly given the name of Louisburg. Vauban, a
celebrated engineer of his day, was called upon to design it. "Spare
neither money nor labour," said the King; "we shall make it another
Dunkerque." This Dunkerque, you may remember, was a fortified
seaport on the north-east coast of France, upon which millions of
money had been spent, and it was generally believed that no enemy
could take it. To {167} build its equal, hundreds of engineers,
stonecutters, masons, bricklayers, and workmen sailed across the
Atlantic. When finished, Louisburg fortress occupied an area of 100
acres, the harbour being defended by batteries on an island at the
entrance. Within the fort and town dwelt never less than 2000
people. With such a stronghold so near at hand, it was not strange
that the French in Acadia should dwell firmly in the belief that the
flag of the lilies would once more wave over them. If few English
colonists came to Nova Scotia, none at all migrated to that portion
of it which was still called Acadia.
While these things were happening in the far east, in the west
notable pioneers were forging a path to French dominion. The far
north-west was opened up by Sieur Verendrye with his three valiant
sons, a Jesuit priest, and a handful of bushrangers. Verendrye
struck out westward through Michilimackinac. He had heard of the
great Lake Winnipeg from the Indians and resolved to reach it.
Coming upon the Lake of the Woods, there he built a strong
fur-trading post, Fort St. Charles, where his party were met by the
Sioux, a fierce western tribe. In the battle one of Verendrye's sons
was slain. After the explorer had finally reached Lake Winnipeg, he
crossed its waters and paddled with his party up the Red River. One
morning they came to where the river Assiniboine joins the Red River,
and there Verendrye halted and built Fort Rouge. Hard by a
settlement grew up, which settlement has in our day expanded at
length into the great and flourishing city of Winnipeg.
{168}
Nothing could daunt Verendrye and his sons, neither heat nor cold,
hunger nor thirst. They pressed on through the forest and over the
prairie, exploring and building trading posts. The news of their
travels and successes with the Indians reached Quebec and Montreal,
and a horde of hardy bush-rangers were soon following their example.
The forts in the far wilderness grew closely packed with costly furs.
Heavily-laden canoes by the hundred found their way by river and lake
and toilsome portage to the great stone warehouses of Montreal, some
of which are yet upstanding in the city.
It was after the leader Verendrye's death that one of his sons, on
New Year's Day 1743, first amongst French Canadians, beheld the lofty
snow-clad pinnacles of the Rocky Mountains. Truly, in spite of many
discouragements, the fleur-de-lys was being borne westward valiantly.
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