mission. Nine years later, Membré, of the Récollets, accompanied
La Salle into the region, and instructed natives as far down the
Mississippi as the mouth; and with La Salle at his death were
Anastasius Douay, of the Récollets, and the Sulpitian Cavalier. In
1698, Francis Jolliet de Montigny and Anthony Davion, priests of the
Seminary of Quebec, established missions on the Yazoo, among the
Natchez, and elsewhere in the neighborhood; to their aid, soon came
others of their house,--St. Côme, Gaulin, Fonçault, and Erborie, who
labored until about 1710, when, St. Côme and Fonçault being killed by
roving Indians, the survivors retired to the North. The Jesuit Du Rue
accompanied Iberville into the country in 1699-1700, followed by De
Limoges and Dongé, of his order, their work continuing until about 1704.
In 1721, Father Charlevoix reported that but two priests were then
in Louisiana, one at Yazoo and another in New Orleans; at the latter
post, a chaplain of some sort was established throughout the French
régime. Capuchins and Jesuits were both admitted to Louisiana, in
1722, the former to serve as priests to the French of the country,
chiefly at New Orleans and Natchez, while the Jesuits were restricted
to the Indian missions, although permitted to maintain a house in the
outskirts of New Orleans. It was not long before the Illinois mission
became attached to Louisiana, and missionaries for that field usually
entered upon their work by way of the New Orleans house. Missions were
maintained in the villages of the Arkansas, Yazoo, Choctaws, and
Alibamons; but the uprising of the Indians in the Natchez district, in
1727, led to the fall of these several missions, together with that
of French colonies above New Orleans. Father Du Poisson was killed
by savages at Natchez, where he was temporarily supplying the French
settlers in the absence of their Capuchin friar; Souel fell a victim
to the Yazoos, at whose hands Doutreleau narrowly escaped destruction.
However, the Jesuits did not despair, but soon returned to the Lower
Mississippi, where they continued their labors until about 1770,
although the order had in 1762 been suppressed in France.
The Louisiana mission of the Jesuits, while producing several martyrs,
and rich in striking examples of missionary zeal, has yielded but
meagre documentary results; few of the papers in the present series
touch upon its work, and indeed detailed knowledge thereof is not
easily obtainable. Severed from Canada by a long stretch of wilderness,
communication with the St. Lawrence basin was difficult and spasmodic,
and in the case of the Jesuits generally unnecessary; for, having their
own superior at New Orleans, his allegiance was to the general of the
order in France, not to his fellow-superiors in Quebec and Montreal.
The several missions of New France played a large part in American
history; that of Louisiana, although interesting, is of much less
importance.
THE RELATIONS.
A few explorers like Champlain, Radisson, and Perrot have left valuable
narratives behind them, which are of prime importance in the study
of the beginnings of French settlement in America; but it is to the
Jesuits that we owe the great body of our information concerning the
frontiers of New France in the seventeenth century. It was their
duty annually to transmit to their superior in Quebec, or Montreal,
a written journal of their doings; it was also their duty to pay
occasional visits to their superior, and to go into retreat at the
central house of the Canadian mission. Annually, between 1632 and 1673,
the superior made up a narrative, or _Relation_, of the most important
events which had occurred in the several missionary districts under
his charge, sometimes using the exact words of the missionaries, and
sometimes with considerable editorial skill summarizing the individual
journals in a general account, based in part upon the oral reports
of visiting fathers. This annual _Relation_, which in bibliographies
occasionally bears the name of the superior, and at other times of the
missionary chiefly contributing to it, was forwarded to the provincial
of the order in France, and, after careful scrutiny and re-editing,
published by him in a series of duodecimo volumes, known collectively
as _The Jesuit Relations_.
The authors of the journals which formed the basis of the _Relations_
were for the most part men of trained intellect, acute observers, and
practised in the art of keeping records of their experiences. They
had left the most highly civilized country of their times, to plunge
at once into the heart of the American wilderness, and attempt to win
to the Christian faith the fiercest savages known to history. To gain
these savages, it was first necessary to know them intimately,--their
speech, their habits, their manner of thought, their strong points and
their weak. These first students of the North American Indian were
not only amply fitted for their undertaking, but none have since had
better opportunity for its prosecution. They were explorers, as well
as priests. Bancroft was inexact when he said, in oft-quoted phrase,
"Not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the
way." The actual pioneers of New France were almost always coureurs de
bois, in the prosecution of the fur trade; but coureurs de bois, for
obvious reasons, seldom kept records, even when capable of doing so,
and as a rule we learn of their previous appearance on the scene only
through chance allusions in the _Relations_. The Jesuits performed
a great service to mankind in publishing their annals, which are,
for historian, geographer, and ethnologist, among our first and best
authorities.
Many of the _Relations_ were written in Indian camps, amid a chaos of
distractions. Insects innumerable tormented the journalists, they were
immersed in scenes of squalor and degradation, overcome by fatigue and
lack of proper sustenance, often suffering from wounds and disease,
maltreated in a hundred ways by hosts who, at times, might more
properly be called jailers; and not seldom had savage superstition
risen to such a height, that to be seen making a memorandum was certain
to arouse the ferocious enmity of the band. It is not surprising
that the composition of these journals of the Jesuits is sometimes
crude; the wonder is, that they could be written at all. Nearly always
the style is simple and direct. Never does the narrator descend to
self-glorification, or dwell unnecessarily upon the details of his
continual martyrdom; he never complains of his lot; but sets forth
his experience in phrases the most matter-of-fact. His meaning is
seldom obscure. We gain from his pages a vivid picture of life in the
primeval forest, as he lived it; we seem to see him upon his long canoe
journeys, squatted amidst his dusky fellows, working his passage at the
paddles, and carrying cargoes upon the portage trail; we see him the
butt and scorn of the savage camp, sometimes deserted in the heart of
the wilderness, and obliged to wait for another flotilla, or to make
his way alone as best he can. Arrived at last, at his journey's end,
we often find him vainly seeking for shelter in the squalid huts of
the natives, with every man's hand against him, but his own heart open
to them all. We find him, even when at last domiciled in some far-away
village, working against hope to save the unbaptized from eternal
damnation; we seem to see the rising storm of opposition, invoked
by native medicine-men,--who to his seventeenth-century imagination
seem devils indeed,--and at last the bursting climax of superstitious
frenzy which sweeps him and his before it. Not only do these devoted
missionaries,--never, in any field, has been witnessed greater personal
heroism than theirs,--live and breathe before us in the _Relations_;
but we have in them our first competent account of the Red Indian, at
a time when relatively uncontaminated by contact with Europeans. We
seem, in the _Relations_, to know this crafty savage, to measure him
intellectually as well as physically, his inmost thoughts as well as
open speech. The fathers did not understand him from an ethnological
point of view, as well as he is to-day understood; their minds were
tinctured with the scientific fallacies of their time. But, with what
is known to-day, the photographic reports in the _Relations_ help the
student to an accurate picture of the untamed aborigine, and much
that mystified the fathers, is now, by aid of their careful journals,
easily susceptible of explanation. Few periods of history are so well
illuminated as the French régime in North America. This we owe in large
measure to the existence of the Jesuit _Relations_.
What are generally known as the _Relations_ proper, addressed
to the superior and published in Paris, under direction of the
provincial, commence with Le Jeune's _Brieve Relation du Voyage de la
Nouvelle-France_ (1632); and thereafter a duodecimo volume, neatly
printed and bound in vellum, was issued annually from the press
of Sebastien Cramoisy, in Paris, until 1673, when the series was
discontinued, probably through the influence of Frontenac, to whom
the Jesuits were distasteful. The _Relations_ at once became popular
in the court circles of France; their regular appearance was always
awaited with the keenest interest, and assisted greatly in creating
and fostering the enthusiasm of pious philanthropists, who for many
years substantially maintained the missions of New France. In addition
to these forty volumes, which to collectors are technically known
as "Cramoisys," many similar publications found their way into the
hands of the public, the greater part of them bearing date after the
suppression of the Cramoisy series. Some were printed in Paris and
Lyons by independent publishers; others appeared in Latin and Italian
texts, at Rome, and other cities in Italy; while in such journals as
_Mercure François_ and _Annuæ Litteræ Societatis Jesu_, occasionally
were published letters from the missionaries, of the same nature as the
_Relations_, but briefer and more intimate in tone.
It does not appear, however, that popular interest in these
publications materially affected the secular literature of the period;
they were largely used in Jesuit histories of New France, but by others
were practically ignored. General literary interest in the _Relations_
was only created about a half century ago, when Dr. E. B. O'Callaghan,
editor of the _Documentary History of New York_, called attention to
their great value as storehouses of contemporary information. Dr.
John G. Shea, author of _History of the Catholic Missions among the
Indian Tribes of the United States_, and Father Felix Martin, S. J., of
Montreal, soon came forward, with fresh studies of the _Relations_.
Collectors at once commenced searching for Cramoisys, which were found
to be exceedingly scarce,--most of the originals having been literally
worn out in the hands of their devout seventeenth-century readers;
finally, the greatest collector of them all, James Lenox, of New York,
outstripped his competitors and laid the foundation, in the Lenox
Library, of what is to-day probably the only complete collection in
America. In 1858, the Canadian government reprinted the Cramoisys, with
a few additions, in three stout octavo volumes, carefully edited by
Abbés Làverdière, Plante, and Ferland. These, too, are now rare, copies
seldom being offered for sale.
The Quebec reprint was followed by two admirable series brought
out by Shea and O'Callaghan respectively. Shea's _Cramoisy Series_
(1857-1866), numbers twenty-five little volumes, the edition of
each of which was limited to a hundred copies, now difficult to
obtain; it contains for the most part entirely new matter, chiefly
_Relations_ prepared for publication by the superiors, after 1672,
and miscellaneously printed; among the volumes, however, are a few
reprints of particularly rare issues of the original Cramoisy press.
The O'Callaghan series, seven in number (the edition limited to
twenty-five copies), contains different material from Shea's, but of
the same character. A further addition to the mass of material was
made by Father Martin, in _Relations Inédites de la Nouvelle-France_,
1672-79 (2 vols., Paris, 1861); and by Father Carayon in _Première
Mission des Jésuites au Canada_ (Paris, 1864). In 1871, there was
published at Quebec, under the editorship of Abbés Laverdière and
Casgrain, _Le Journal des Jésuites_, from the original manuscript in
the archives of the Seminary of Quebec (now Laval University). The
memoranda contained in this volume,--a rarity, for the greater part
of the edition was accidentally destroyed by fire,--were not intended
for publication, being of the character of private records, covering
the operations of the Jesuits in New France between 1645 and 1668. The
_Journal_ is, however, an indispensable complement of the _Relations_.
It was reprinted by a Montreal publisher (J. M. Valois) in 1892, but
even this later edition is already exhausted. Many interesting epistles
are found in _Lettres Édifiantes et Curieuses, écrites des Missions
Étrangères_, which cover the Jesuit missions in many lands, between the
years 1702 and 1776; only a small portion of this publication (there
are several editions, ranging from 1702-1776 to 1875-77) is devoted to
the North American missions.
American historians, from Shea and Parkman down, have already made
liberal use of the _Relations_, and here and there antiquarians and
historical societies have published fragmentary translations. The
great body of the _Relations_ and their allied documents, however, has
never been Englished. The text is difficult, for their French is not
the French of the modern schools; hence these interesting papers have
been doubly inaccessible to the majority of our historical students.
The present edition, while faithfully reproducing the old French text,
even in most of its errors, offers to the public for the first time, an
English rendering side by side with the original.
In breadth of scope, also, this edition will, through the generous
enterprise of the publishers, readily be first in the field. Not only
will it embrace all of the original Cramoisy series, the Shea and
O'Callaghan series, those collected by Fathers Martin and Carayon, the
_Journal des Jésuites_, and such of the _Lettres Édifiantes_ as touch
upon the North American missions, but many other valuable documents
which have not previously been reprinted; it will contain, also,
considerable hitherto-unpublished material from the manuscripts in the
archives of St. Mary's College, Montreal, and other depositories. These
several documents will be illustrated by faithful reproductions of all
the maps and other engravings appearing in the old editions, besides
much new material obtained especially for this edition, a prominent
feature of which will be authentic portraits of many of the early
fathers, and photographic facsimiles of pages from their manuscript
letters.
In the Preface to each volume will be given such Bibliographical
Data concerning its contents, as seem necessary to the scholar. The
appended Notes consist of historical, biographical, archæological, and
miscellaneous comment, which it is hoped may tend to the elucidation of
the text. An exhaustive General Index to the English text will appear
in the final volume of the series.
PREFACE TO VOL. I
There is a dramatic unity in the Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,
as they will be presented in this series. Commencing with a report of
the first conversion of savages in New France, in 1610, by a secular
priest, and soon drifting into the records of Jesuit missionary effort,
they touch upon practically every important enterprise of the Jesuits,
in Canada and Louisiana, from the coming of Fathers Biard and Massé, in
1611, to the death, in the closing decade of the eighteenth century, of
Father Well, "the last Jesuit of Montreal."
I. The series fitly opens with Lescarbot's _La Conversion des
Savvages_. Marc Lescarbot, a Paris lawyer, a Huguenot poet as well as
historian, and in many respects a picturesque character in the early
scenes of our drama, adroitly seeks in this document to convince the
Catholic Queen of France that his Huguenot patrons, De Monts and
Poutrincourt, are so wisely ordering affairs in their New World domain
that not only will the glory of France be enhanced, but the natives
be won to Christ through the medium of the Church; for it was part of
the agreement entered into with the Crown, by these adventurers, that
while their colonists should be permitted to have Huguenot ministers,
the aborigines must be converted only by Catholic priests. To this end,
Lescarbot describes with unction the sudden conversion by a secular
priest, Messire Jessé Fléché, of old Chief Membertou and twenty other
Micmacs, and their formal baptism on the beach at Port Royal. The
object is, of course, to ward off the threatened invasion of New France
by the Jesuits, by showing how thoroughly the work of proselyting is
being carried forward without their aid.
II. By the same ship which, in the hands of Poutrincourt's son,
Biencourt, carries to France this ingenious document, one Bertrand,
a Huguenot layman, sends a message to his friend, the Sieur de
la Tronchaie. In his _Lettre Missive_, M. Bertrand describes the
conversion of Membertou and his fellow savages, and speaks with
enthusiasm of the new country: as well he may, for in Volume II. we
shall find Lescarbot testifying that in Paris the worthy Bertrand was
"daily tormented by the gout," while at Port Royal he was "entirely
free" from it.
III. Lescarbot's fervid description of Father Fléché's conversions
did not succeed in keeping the Jesuits from New France. The present
document is a letter written at Dieppe, by Father Pierre Biard, of the
Society of Jesus, to his general at Rome, telling of the adventures
which had befallen Father Ennemond Massé and himself, since they,
the pioneers of their order in the New World, had been ordered from
France to Port Royal. Certain Huguenot merchants of Dieppe conspired to
prevent the passage of the Jesuits to America; but finally the queen
and other court ladies, favoring the missionaries, purchased control of
the Huguenots' ship and cargo, and the exultant fathers are now on the
eve of sailing.
IV. In this letter, written by Biard to his provincial, a few weeks
after the arrival at Port Royal, the missionary gives the details
of his voyage, describes the spiritual and material condition
of Poutrincourt's colony, and outlines plans for work among the
Indians--only Huguenot ministers being, as yet, allowed under the
charter to serve the spiritual needs of the colonists themselves.
V. In this letter, Biard notifies his general of the safe arrival of
Massé and himself.
VI. A like duty is here performed by Massé.
VII. Father Jouvency, one of the eighteenth-century historians of the
Society of Jesus, herein gives an historical account of the Canadian
missions of his order, in 1611-13; and, by way of comparison, tells of
the condition of the same missions in 1703, ending with a list of the
Jesuit missions in North America in the year 1710, the date of original
publication.
VIII. Herein, Jouvency gives a detailed account of the Indian tribes of
Canada,--their customs, characteristics, superstitions, etc. Although
not in strict chronological order, these chapters are given here as
being from the same work as the foregoing.
In the preparation of several of the Notes to Volume I., the Editor has
had some assistance from Mrs. Jane Marsh Parker, of Rochester, N. Y.
R. G. T.
MADISON, WIS., August, 1896.
I
LESCARBOT'S LA CONVERSION DES SAVVAGES
PARIS: JEAN MILLOT, 1610
SOURCE: Title-page and text, reprinted from original in Lenox Library,
New York; the Register of Baptisms from original in the John Carter
Brown Library, Providence, R. I.
PECULIARITIES IN ORIGINAL PAGINATION: P. 7, misnumbered 1; p. 16,
misnumbered 6; pp. 23, 24, are repeated, except the last sentence on p.
24; p. 46 numbered "[-4-6]."
LA
CONVERSION
DES SAVVAGES
QVI ONT ESTÉ BAPTIZÉS
EN LA NOVVELLE
France, cette annee 1610.
_AVEC VN BREF RECIT,
du voyage du Sieur_ DE
POVTRINCOVRT.
[Illustration]
A PARIS,
Chez IEAN MILLOT, tenant sa boutique sur
les degrez de la grand' Salle du Palais.
_Avec Priuilege du Roy._
THE CONVERSION
OF THE SAVAGES
WHO WERE BAPTIZED
IN NEW FRANCE
during this year, 1610.
_WITH A BRIEF NARRATIVE
of the voyage of Sieur_ DE
POUTRINCOURT.
PARIS,
JEAN MILLOT, keeping shop upon the steps of
the great Hall of the Palace.
_By Royal License._
[iii] A la Royne.
_MADAME_,
_Dieu m'ayant fait naitre amateur de ma nation & zelateur de
sa gloire, ie ne puis moins que de luy faire part de ce qui la
touche, & qui sans doute l'époinçonnera quand elle entendra que
le nom de Iesus-Christ est annoncé és terres d'outre mer qui
portent le nom de France. Mais particulierement cela regarde vôtre
Majesté, laquelle sur ces nouvelles a rendu vn temoignage du grand
contentement_ [iv] _qu'elle en avoit. La Chrétienté doit ceci au
courage & à la pieté du Sieur de Poutrincourt, qui ne peut viure
oisif parmi la trãquillité en laquelle nous vivons par le benefice
du feu Roy vôtre Epoux. Mais (MADAME) si vous desirez bien-tot
voir cet oeuvre avancé, il faut que vous y mettiez la main. Donnez
luy des ailes pour voler sur les eaux, & penetrer si avant dans
les terres de delà, que jusques a l'extremité où l'Occident se
joint à l'Orient, tout lieu retentisse du nom de la France. Ie
sçay qu'il ne manque de volonté & fidelité au service du Roy & de
vôtre Majesté, pour faire (apres ce qui est de Dieu) que vous soyés
obeis par tout le monde. Et pour mon regard en tout ce que i'ay
iamais travaillé, ie me suis efforcé de bien meriter du Roy & du
public, ausquels i'ay dedié mes labeurs._ [v] _S'il m'en arrive
quelque fruit, ie le dedieray volontiers, & tout ce que Dieu m'a
donné d'industrie, à l'accroissement de cette entreprise, & à ce
qui regardera le bien de vôtre service. Cependant ayez (MADAME)
agreable ce petit discours evangelique (c'est à dire portant bonnes
nouvelles) que publie à la France souz vôtre bon plaisir, MADAME,
de vôtre Majesté le tres-humble, tres-obeïssant, & tres-fidele
serviteur & sujet_,
_MARC LESCARBOT_.
[iii] To the Queen.[1]
_MADAME_,
_God having created me a lover of my country and zealous for its
glory, I cannot do less than impart to it whatever affects its
interests; and so doubtless it will be greatly encouraged by the
tidings that the name of Jesus Christ has been proclaimed in the
lands beyond the sea, which bear the name of France. But this news
is of especial interest to your Majesty, who, upon hearing it, gave
evidence of your great satisfaction_ [iv] _therein._
_The Christian World owes this event to the courage and piety
of Sieur de Poutrincourt,[2] who cannot lead a life of idleness
amid the peaceful prosperity in which we live through the favor
of the deceased King, your Husband. But (MADAME), if you wish to
see immediate advancement in this work, you must lend a helping
hand. Give it wings to fly over the seas, and to penetrate so far
into the lands beyond that, even to the uttermost parts where the
West unites with the East, every place may resound with the name
of France. I know that there is no lack of good-will and loyalty
in the service of the King and of your Majesty, to the end that
(after what is due to God) you may be obeyed by all mankind. And
as for me, in all that I have ever done, I have endeavored to
merit the esteem of the King and of the public, to whom I have
dedicated my labors._ [v] _If I gather any fruit therefrom, I shall
willingly consecrate it, and all the energy God has given me, to
the enlargement of this enterprise and to whatever may concern
the welfare of your service. Meanwhile, be pleased (MADAME) to
accept this little gospel narrative (gospel, because bringing good
tidings), which is published in France under your good pleasure,
MADAME, by your Majesty's very humble, very obedient and very
faithful servant and subject_,
_MARC LESCARBOT.[3]_
[vi] Extraict du Priuilege du Roy.