FRONTENAC IS APPOINTED GOVERNOR
During the early days of the absence of its first pastor, the Church of
Canada had enjoyed only days of prosperity; skilfully directed by MM. de
Bernières and de Dudouyt, who scrupulously followed the line of conduct
laid down for them by Mgr. de Laval before his departure, it was
pursuing its destiny peacefully. But this calm, forerunner of the storm,
could not last; it was the destiny of the Church, as it had been the lot
of nations, to be tossed incessantly by the violent winds of trial and
persecution. The difficulties which arose soon reached the acute stage,
and all the firmness and tact of the Bishop of Quebec were needed to
meet them. The departure of Laval for France in the autumn of 1671 had
been closely followed by that of Governor de Courcelles and that of
Commissioner Talon. The latter was not replaced until three years later,
so that the new governor, Count de Frontenac, who arrived in the autumn
of 1672, had no one at his side in the Sovereign Council to oppose his
views. This was allowing too free play to the natural despotism of his
character. Louis de Buade, Count de Palluau and de Frontenac,
lieutenant-general of the king's armies, had previously served in
Holland under the illustrious Maurice, Prince of Orange, then in France,
Italy and Germany, and his merit had gained for him the reputation of a
great captain. The illustrious Turenne entrusted to him the command of
the reinforcements sent to Candia when that island was besieged by the
Turks. He had a keen mind, trained by serious study; haughty towards the
powerful of this world, he was affable to ordinary people, and thus made
for himself numerous enemies, while remaining very popular. Father
Charlevoix has drawn an excellent portrait of him: "His heart was
greater than his birth, his wit lively, penetrating, sound, fertile and
highly cultivated: but he was biased by the most unjust prejudices, and
capable of carrying them very far. He wished to rule alone, and there
was nothing he would not do to remove those whom he was afraid of
finding in his way. His worth and ability were equal; no one knew better
how to assume over the people whom he governed and with whom he had to
deal, that ascendency so necessary to keep them in the paths of duty and
respect. He won when he wished it the friendship of the French and their
allies, and never has general treated his enemies with more dignity and
nobility. His views for the aggrandizement of the colony were large and
true, but his prejudices sometimes prevented the execution of plans
which depended on him.... He justified, in one of the most critical
circumstances of his life, the opinion that his ambition and the desire
of preserving his authority had more power over him than his zeal for
the public good. The fact is that there is no virtue which does not
belie itself when one has allowed a dominant passion to gain the upper
hand. The Count de Frontenac might have been a great prince if Heaven
had placed him on the throne, but he had dangerous faults for a subject
who is not well persuaded that his glory consists in sacrificing
everything to the service of his sovereign and the public utility."
It was under the administration of Frontenac that the Compagnie des
Indes Occidentales, which had accepted in 1663 a portion of the
obligations and privileges of the Company of the Cent-Associés,
renounced its rights over New France. Immediately after his arrival he
began the construction of Fort Cataraqui; if we are to believe some
historians, motives of personal interest guided him in the execution of
this enterprise; he thought only, it seems, of founding considerable
posts for the fur trade, favouring those traders who would consent to
give him a share in their profits. The work was urged on with energy. La
Salle obtained from the king, thanks to the support of Frontenac,
letters patent of nobility, together with the ownership and jurisdiction
of the new fort.
With the approval of the governor, Commissioner Talon's plan of having
the course of the Mississippi explored was executed by two bold men:
Louis Joliet, citizen of Quebec, already known for previous voyages and
for his deep knowledge of the Indian tongues, and the devoted
missionary, Father Marquette. Without other provisions than Indian corn
and dried meat they set out in two bark canoes from Michilimackinac on
May 17th, 1673; only five Frenchmen accompanied them. They reached the
Mississippi, after having passed the Baie des Puants and the rivers
Outagami and Wisconsin, and ascended the stream for more than sixty
leagues. They were cordially received by the tribe of the Illinois,
which was encamped not far from the river, and Father Marquette promised
to return and visit them. The two travellers reached the Arkansas River
and learned that the sea was not far distant, but fearing they might
fall into the hands of hostile Spaniards, they decided to retrace their
steps, and reached the Baie des Puants about the end of September.
The following year Father Marquette wished to keep his promise given to
the Illinois. His health is weakened by the trials of a long mission,
but what matters this to him? There are souls to save. He preaches the
truths of religion to the poor savages gathered in attentive silence;
but his strength diminishes, and he regretfully resumes the road to
Michilimackinac. He did not have time to reach it, but died near the
mouth of a river which long bore his name. His two comrades dug a grave
for the remains of the missionary and raised a cross near the tomb. Two
years later these sacred bones were transferred with the greatest
respect to St. Ignace de Michilimackinac by the savage tribe of the
Kiskakons, whom Father Marquette had christianized.
With such an adventurous character as he possessed, Cavelier de la Salle
could not learn of the exploration of the course of the Upper
Mississippi without burning with the desire to complete the discovery
and to descend the river to its mouth. Robert René Cavelier de la Salle
was born at Rouen about the year 1644. He belonged to an excellent
family, and was well educated. From his earliest years he was
passionately fond of stories of travel, and the older he grew the more
cramped he felt in the civilization of Europe; like the mettled mustang
of the vast prairies of America, he longed for the immensity of unknown
plains, for the imposing majesty of forests which the foot of man had
not yet trod. Maturity and reason gave a more definite aim to these
aspirations; at the age of twenty-four he came to New France to try his
fortune. He entered into relations with different Indian tribes, and the
extent of his commerce led him to establish a trading-post opposite the
Sault St. Louis. This site, as we shall see, received soon after the
name of Lachine. Though settled at this spot, La Salle did not cease to
meditate on the plan fixed in his brain of discovering a passage to
China and the Indies, and upon learning the news that MM. Dollier de
Casson and Gallinée were going to christianize the wild tribes of
south-western Canada, he hastened to rejoin the two devoted
missionaries. They set out in the summer of 1669, with twenty-two
Frenchmen. Arriving at Niagara, La Salle suddenly changed his mind, and
abandoned his travelling companions, under the pretext of illness. No
more was needed for the Frenchman, _né malin_,[7] to fix upon the
seigniory of the future discoverer of the mouth of the Mississippi the
name of Lachine; M. Dollier de Casson is suspected of being the author
of this gentle irony.
Eight years later the explorations of Joliet and Father Marquette
revived his instincts as a discoverer; he betook himself to France in
1677 and easily obtained authority to pursue, at his own expense, the
discovery already begun. Back in Canada the following year, La Salle
thoroughly prepared for this expedition, accumulating provisions at Fort
Niagara, and visiting the Indian tribes. In 1679, accompanied by the
Chevalier de Tonti, he set out at the head of a small troop, and passed
through Michilimackinac, then through the Baie des Puants. From there he
reached the Miami River, where he erected a small fort, ascended the
Illinois, and, reaching a camp of the Illinois Indians, made an alliance
with this tribe, obtaining from them permission to erect upon their soil
a fort which he called Crèvecoeur. He left M. de Tonti there with a few
men and two Récollet missionaries, Fathers de la Ribourde and Membré,
and set out again with all haste for Fort Frontenac, for he was very
anxious regarding the condition of his own affairs. He had reason to be.
"His creditors," says the Abbé Ferland, "had had his goods seized after
his departure from Fort Frontenac; his brigantine _Le Griffon_ had been
lost, with furs valued at thirty thousand francs; his employees had
appropriated his goods; a ship which was bringing him from France a
cargo valued at twenty-two thousand francs had been wrecked on the
Islands of St. Pierre; some canoes laden with merchandise had been
dashed to pieces on the journey between Montreal and Frontenac; the men
whom he had brought from France had fled to New York, taking a portion
of his goods, and already a conspiracy was on foot to disaffect the
Canadians in his service. In one word, according to him, the whole of
Canada had conspired against his enterprise, and the Count de Frontenac
was the only one who consented to support him in the midst of his
misfortunes." His remarkable energy and activity remedied this host of
evils, and he set out again for Fort Crèvecoeur. To cap the climax of
his misfortunes, he found it abandoned; being attacked by the Iroquois,
whom the English had aroused against them, Tonti and his comrades had
been forced to hasty flight. De la Salle found them again at
Michilimackinac, but he had the sorrow of learning of the loss of
Father de la Ribourde, whom the Illinois had massacred. Tonti and his
companions, in their flight, had been obliged to abandon an unsafe
canoe, which had carried them half-way, and to continue their journey on
foot. Such a series of misfortunes would have discouraged any other than
La Salle; on the contrary, he made Tonti and Father Membré retrace their
steps. Arriving with them at the Miami fort, he reinforced his little
troop by twenty-three Frenchmen and eighteen Indians, and reached Fort
Crèvecoeur. On February 6th, 1682, he reached the mouth of the Illinois,
and then descended the Mississippi. Towards the end of this same month
the bold explorers stopped at the juncture of the Ohio with the Father
of Rivers, and erected there Fort Prudhomme. On what is Fame dependent?
A poor and unknown man, a modest collaborator with La Salle, had the
honour of giving his name to this little fort because he had been lost
in the neighbourhood and had reached camp nine days later.
Providence was finally about to reward so much bravery and perseverance.
The sailor who from the yards of Christopher Columbus's caravel, uttered
the triumphant cry of "Land! land!" did not cause more joy to the
illustrious Genoese navigator than La Salle received from the sight of
the sea so ardently sought. On April 9th La Salle and his comrades could
at length admire the immense blue sheet of the Gulf of Mexico. Like
Christopher Columbus, who made it his first duty on touching the soil of
the New World to fall upon his knees to return thanks to Heaven, La
Salle's first business was to raise a cross upon the shore. Father
Membré intoned the Te Deum. They then raised the arms of the King of
France, in whose name La Salle took possession of the Mississippi, and
of all the territories watered by the tributaries of the great river.
Their trials were not over: the risks to be run in traversing so many
regions inhabited by barbarians were as great and as numerous after
success as before. La Salle was, moreover, delayed for forty days by a
serious illness, but God in His goodness did not wish to deprive the
valiant discoverers of the fruits of their efforts, and all arrived safe
and sound at the place whence they had started. After having passed a
year in establishing trading-posts among the Illinois, La Salle
appointed M. de Tonti his representative for the time being, and betook
himself to France with the intention of giving an account of his journey
to the most Christian monarch. His enemies had already forestalled him
at the court; we have to seek the real cause of this hatred in the
jealousy of traders who feared to find in the future colonists of the
western and southern country competitors in their traffic. But far from
listening to them, the son of Colbert, Seignelay, then minister of
commerce, highly praised the valiant explorer, and sent, in 1684, four
ships with two hundred and eighty colonists to people Louisiana, this
new gem in the crown of France. But La Salle has not yet finally drained
the cup of disappointment, for few men have been so overwhelmed as he by
the persistence of ill-fortune. It was not enough that the leader of the
expedition should be incapable, the colonists must needs be of a
continual evil character, the soldiers undisciplined, the workmen
unskilful, the pilot ignorant. They pass the mouth of the Mississippi,
near which they should have disembarked, and arrive in Texas; the
commander refuses to send the ship about, and La Salle makes up his mind
to land where they are. Through the neglect of the pilot, the vessel
which was carrying the provisions is cast ashore, then a gale arises
which swallows up the tools, the merchandise and the ammunition. The
Indians, like birds of prey, hasten up to pillage, and massacre two
volunteers. The colonists in exasperation revolt, and stupidly blame La
Salle. He saves them, nevertheless, by his energy, and makes them raise
a fort with the wreck of the ships. They pass two years there in a
famine of everything; twice La Salle tries to find, at the cost of a
thousand sufferings, a way of rescue, and twice he fails. Finally, when
there remain no more than thirty men, he chooses the ten most resolute,
and tries to reach Canada on foot. He did not reach it: on May 20th,
1687, he was murdered by one of his comrades. "Such was the end of this
daring adventurer," says Bancroft.[8] "For force of will, and vast
conceptions; for various knowledge and quick adaptation of his genius to
untried circumstances; for a sublime magnanimity that resigned itself to
the will of Heaven and yet triumphed over affliction by energy of
purpose and unfaltering hope, he had no superior among his
countrymen.... He will be remembered in the great central valley of the
West."
It was with deep feelings of joy that Mgr. de Laval, still in France at
this period, had read the detailed report of the voyage of discovery
made by Joliet and Father Marquette. But the news which he received from
Canada was not always so comforting; he felt especially deeply the loss
of two great benefactresses of Canada, Madame de la Peltrie and Mother
Incarnation. The former had used her entire fortune in founding the
Convent of the Ursulines at Quebec. Heaven had lavished its gifts upon
her; endowed with brilliant qualities, and adding riches to beauty, she
was happy in possessing these advantages only because they allowed her
to offer them to the Most High, who had given them to her. She devoted
herself to the Christian education of young girls, and passed in Canada
the last thirty-two years of her life. The Abbé Casgrain draws the
following portrait of her: "Her whole person presented a type of
attractiveness and gentleness. Her face, a beautiful oval, was
remarkable for the harmony of its lines and the perfection of its
contour. A slightly aquiline nose, a clear cut and always smiling mouth,
a limpid look veiled by long lashes which the habit of meditation kept
half lowered, stamped her features with an exquisite sweetness. Though
her frail and delicate figure did not exceed medium height, and though
everything about her breathed modesty and humility, her gait was
nevertheless full of dignity and nobility; one recognized, in seeing
her, the descendant of those great and powerful lords, of those perfect
knights whose valiant swords had sustained throne and altar. Through the
most charming simplicity there were ever manifest the grand manner of
the seventeenth century and that perfect distinction which is
traditional among the families of France. But this majestic _ensemble_
was tempered by an air of introspection and unction which gave her
conversation an infinite charm, and it gained her the esteem and
affection of all those who had had the good fortune to know her." She
died on November 18th, 1671, only a few days after the departure for
France of the apostolic vicar.
[Illustration: The Ursuline Convent, Quebec
Drawn on the spot by Richard Short, 1761]
Her pious friend, Mother Mary of the Incarnation, first Mother Superior
of the Ursulines of Quebec, soon followed her to the tomb. She expired
on April 30th, 1672. In her numerous writings on the beginnings of the
colony, the modesty of Mother Mary of the Incarnation has kept us in the
dark concerning several important services rendered by her to New
France, and many touching details of her life would not have reached us
if her companion, Madame de la Peltrie, had not made them known to us.
In Mother Incarnation, who merited the glorious title of the Theresa of
New France, were found all the Christian virtues, but more particularly
piety, patience and confidence in Providence. God was ever present and
visible in her heart, acting everywhere and in everything. We see, among
many other instances that might be quoted, a fine example of her
enthusiasm for Heaven when, cast out of her convent in the heart of the
winter by a conflagration which consumed everything, she knelt upon the
snow with her Sisters, and thanked God for not having taken from them,
together with their properties, their lives, which might be useful to
others.
If Madame de la Peltrie and Mother Mary of the Incarnation occupy a
large place in the history of Canada, it is because the institution of
the Ursulines, which they founded and directed at Quebec, exercised the
happiest influence on the formation of the Christian families in our
country. "It was," says the Abbé Ferland, "an inestimable advantage for
the country to receive from the schools maintained by the nuns, mothers
of families reared in piety, familiar with their religious duties, and
capable of training the hearts and minds of the new generation." It was
thanks to the efforts of Madame de la Peltrie, and to the lessons of
Mother Incarnation and her first co-workers, that those patriarchal
families whose type still persists in our time, were formed in the early
days of the colony. The same services were rendered by Sister Bourgeoys
to the government of Montreal.
FOOTNOTES:
[7] Allusion to a verse of the poet Boileau.
[8] _History of the United States_, Vol. II., page 821.