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NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA
The English and French in North America 1689-1763
[Illustration]
NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL HISTORY OF AMERICA
Edited by
JUSTIN WINSOR
Librarian of Harvard University
Corresponding Secretary Massachusetts Historical Society
VOL. V
Boston and New York
Houghton, Mifflin and Company
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
Copyright, 1887,
By Houghton, Mifflin & Co.
All rights reserved.
The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A.
Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
CONTENTS AND ILLUSTRATIONS.
[_The cut on the title shows the medal struck to commemorate the fall
of Quebec._]
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
CANADA AND LOUISIANA. _Andrew McFarland Davis_ 1
ILLUSTRATIONS: La Présentation, 3; Autograph of Callières, 4;
of Vaudreuil, 5; of Beauharnois, 7; of La Jonquière and of
La Galissonière, 8; One of Céloron’s Plates, 9; Portrait of
Lemoyne d’Iberville, with Autograph, 15; Environs du Mississipi
(1700), 22; Portrait of Bienville, with Autograph, 26;
Autograph of Lamothe, 29; of Lepinay, 31; Fac-simile of Bill
of the Banque Royale, 34; Plans of New Orleans, 37, 38; View
of New Orleans, 39; Map of the Mississippi, near New Orleans,
41; Fort Rosalie and Environs, 47; Plan of Fort Chartres, 54;
Autograph of Vaudreuil, 57.
CRITICAL ESSAY 63
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autograph of La Harpe, 63; Portrait of
Charlevoix, with Autograph, 64; Autograph of Le Page, 65;
Map of the Mouths of the Mississippi, 66; Autograph of De
Vergennes, 67; Coxe’s Map of Carolana, 70.
EDITORIAL NOTES 75
ILLUSTRATIONS: Portrait of John Law, 75; his Autograph, 76.
CARTOGRAPHY OF LOUISIANA AND THE MISSISSIPPI BASIN UNDER THE
FRENCH DOMINATION. _The Editor_ 79
ILLUSTRATIONS: Map of Louisiana, in Dumont, 82; Huske’s Map
(1755), 84; Map of Louisiana, by Le Page du Pratz, 86.
CHAPTER II.
NEW ENGLAND, 1689-1763. _The Editor_ 87
ILLUSTRATIONS: Map of New England (1688), 88; Elisha Cooke,
the Elder, 89; Seal of Massachusetts Province, 93; Bellomont,
97; Samuel Sewall, 100; Hertel, Seigneur de Rouville, 106; The
Four Maquas (Indians), _opp._ 107; Draft of Boston Harbor,
_opp._ 108; Ground Plan of Castle William, _opp._ 108; British
Soldiers (1701-1714), 109; Gurdon Saltonstall, with Autograph,
112; William Dummer, 114; Jeremiah Dummer, 115; Elisha Cooke,
the Younger, 117; Thomas Prince, 122; Boston Light and Province
Sloop, 123; Increase Mather, 125; Mather Byles, 128; George
II., 130; Popple’s Map of New England, 134; An English Fleet,
136; Benjamin Pollard, 138; Autograph of Benning Wentworth,
139; Portrait and Autograph of George Berkeley, 140; William
Shirley, 142; Popple’s Chart of Boston Harbor, 143.
CRITICAL ESSAY. _The Editor_ 156
ILLUSTRATIONS: Hannah Adams, 160; John Gorham Palfrey, 161.
EDITORIAL NOTES 164
ILLUSTRATIONS: Rhode Island Twelve-Pence Bill, 172; Rhode
Island Three-Shillings Bill, 173; New Hampshire Five-Shillings
Bill, 174; New Hampshire Three-Pounds Bill, 175; Plan of Fort
Halifax, 182; Autograph of Wm. Lithgow, 182; of Jabez Bradbury,
183; Flanker of Fort Halifax, 183; Restoration of Fort Halifax,
184; Block House (1714), 185; Plans of Fort Anson, 187.
CHAPTER III.
MIDDLE COLONIES. _Berthold Fernow_ 189
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autograph of Jacob Leisler, 189; of Lord
Cornbury, 192; of Governor Fletcher, with Seal, 194; of
Lovelace, 196; of Governor Hunter, with Seal, 196; of Rip van
Dam, 198; of Governor Clinton, with Seal, 202; of Governor
James De Lancey, with Seal, 205; of Governor Cadwallader
Colden, with Seal, 206; of Governor Robert Monckton, with Seal,
206.
CRITICAL ESSAY. (_Manuscript sources, by Mr. Fernow_) 231
(_Cartography and Boundaries of the Middle Colonies, by Mr.
Fernow and the Editor_) 233
ILLUSTRATIONS: Cadwallader Colden’s Map in fac-simile, 237;
Map of Pennsylvania (1756), 239.
EDITORIAL NOTES 240
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autograph of Daniel Horsmanden, 242; Views of
New York (1732), 250; (1746), 251; (1761), 251; Plans of New
York City (1695), 253; of New York and Perth Amboy Harbor
(1732), 254; of New York (1755), 255; (1763), 256; (1764, by
Bellin), 257; Heap’s East Prospect of Philadelphia (1754-1761),
258.
CHAPTER IV.
MARYLAND AND VIRGINIA. _The Editor_ 259
ILLUSTRATIONS: Frederick, Lord Baltimore, 262; Alexander
Spotswood, 266; Robert Dinwiddie, with Autograph, 269.
CRITICAL ESSAY 270
ILLUSTRATIONS: Map of Maryland, _opp._ 273; Map of Virginia
(1738), 274; William Byrd, 275; Map of Northern Neck of
Virginia (1736-1737), 277; William and Mary College, 279;
Autograph of Hugh Jones, 280; Map of Part of Colonial Virginia,
_opp._ 280; Fac-simile of Title of _Apostolic Charity_, by
Thomas Bray (1700), 283.
CHAPTER V.
THE CAROLINAS. _William J. Rivers_ 285
ILLUSTRATIONS: Map of North Carolina (1663-1729), 285;
Autographs of the Lords Proprietors (Clarendon, Ashley,
Albemarle, G. Carteret, Craven, John Berkeley, Will. Berkeley,
James Colleton), 287; Map of Cooper and Ashley Rivers, 315;
Plan of Charlestown, S. C. (1732), 330; View of Charlestown
(1742), 331.
CRITICAL ESSAY. _The Editor_ 335
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autograph of John Locke, 336; Shapley’s
Sketch-Map of the Carolina Coast (1662), 337; Map (1666), 338;
Lederer’s Map (1669-1670), 339; Morden’s Map (1687), 341; Plan
of Charlestown (1704), 343; Autographs of John Archdale and
John Oldmixon, 344; Carolina War-Map (1711-1715), 346; Indian
Map of South Carolina (1730), 349; Moll’s Map of Carolina
(1730), 351; Autograph of George Chalmers, 353.
NOTE ON THE LATER HISTORIES OF CAROLINA. _The Editor_ 354
CHAPTER VI.
THE ENGLISH COLONIZATION OF GEORGIA, 1733-1752. _Charles C.
Jones, Jr._ 357
ILLUSTRATIONS: General Oglethorpe, 362; Map of South
Carolina and Georgia (1733), 365; Early View of Savannah,
368; Tomo-chi-chi Mico, 371; Map of the County of Savannah
(Urlsperger), 373; Map of Coast Settlements before 1743, 375;
Map of Coast from St. Augustine to Charlestown, S. C., with
Map of Simon’s Island (Urlsperger), 379; Plan of St. Augustine
(1763), 381; Map of Coast of Florida (1742), 382; Map of Harbor
and Town of St. Augustine (1742), 383; Whitefield, 388.
CRITICAL ESSAY 392
ILLUSTRATION: Handwriting of Oglethorpe, 393.
CHAPTER VII.
THE WARS ON THE SEABOARD: ACADIA AND CAPE BRETON. _Charles C.
Smith_ 407
ILLUSTRATION: A French Frigate, 412.
CRITICAL ESSAY 418
AUTHORITIES ON THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WARS OF NEW ENGLAND AND
ACADIA, 1688-1763. _The Editor_ 420
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autographs of John Gyles, 421; of Francis
Nicholson and Samuel Vetch, 422; View of Annapolis Royal, 423;
Autographs of Vaudreuil, 424; of the Signers of the Conference,
January 16, 1713-14 (J. Dudley, Francis Nicholson, William
Tailer, W. Winthrop, Elisha Hutchinson, Samuel Sewall, J.
Addington, Em. Hutchinson, Penn Townsend, Andrew Belcher, Edw.
Bromfield, Ichabod Plaisted), 425; Fac-simile of the Title of
Penhallow’s _History_ (1726), 426; of Church’s _Entertaining
Passages_ (1716), 427; Bellin’s Map of Port Royal, 428; View
of Gut of Annapolis, 429; Autograph of Thomas Westbrook,
430; of John Lovewell, 431; Plan of Lovewell’s Fight, 433;
Autographs of R. Auchmuty and W. Vaughan, 434; Portrait of
Sir William Pepperrell, with Autograph, 435; his Arms, 436;
Autographs of Edward Tyng and John Rous, 437; Gibson’s Picture
of the Siege of Louisbourg, fac-simile, _opp_. 437; Autograph
of Peter Warren, 439; of Richard Gridley, 440; Bellin’s Map of
Cape Breton (1746), 440; Gridley’s Plan of Louisbourg (1745),
441, 442, 443; Plan of Attack on Louisbourg (1745), 444; Map of
the Siege (1745), 445; Pepperrell’s Plan of the Siege (1745),
446; View of Louisbourg, 447; Plan of Island Battery, 448; View
of the Entrance of Mines Basin, 449; View of Cape Baptist, 449;
Autograph of Paul Mascarene, 450; Plan of Forts Beauséjour and
Gaspereau, 451; Autograph of Charles Lawrence, 452; Map of Fort
Beauséjour and Adjacent Country, 453; Colonel Monckton, with
Autograph, 454; Autograph of John Winslow, 455; his Portrait,
456; Autograph of Colonel Murray, 460; Admiral Boscawen, with
Autograph, 464; Map of Siege of Louisbourg (1758), 465; Views
of Louisbourg and Harbor, 466; Portrait of General Wolfe, 467;
Plan of Siege of Louisbourg (1758), 468, 469; Plan of the
Attack, 470.
MAPS AND BOUNDS OF ACADIA. _The Editor_ 472
ILLUSTRATIONS: Lahontan’s Map of Acadia, 473; Map of the French
Claim (1755), 478; of the English Claim (1755), 479; Jefferys’
Map of Nova Scotia, 480-481.
CHAPTER VIII.
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE GREAT VALLEYS OF NORTH AMERICA. _The
Editor_ 483
ILLUSTRATIONS: French Soldier (1700), 484; British Infantry
Soldier (1725), 485; Popple’s Map of Lakes Champlain and George
(1732), 486; View of Quebec (1732), 488; British Footguard
(1745), 489; French Soldier (1745), 489; Colden’s Map of the
Region of the Great Lakes, 491; Autographs of Duquesne, 492;
of Contrecœur, 493; of Jumonville, 493; of Villiers, 494;
French Soldiers (1755), 497; Map of Fort Duquesne and
Vicinity, 497; Contemporary Plan of Braddock’s Defeat, 499;
Autograph of Sir William Johnson, 502; his Portrait, 503;
Autograph of Montcalm, 505; Portraits of Lord Loudon, 506,
507; Plan of Albany, 508; Plan of Fort Frederick at Albany,
509; Autograph of Loudon, 510; The Forts at Oswego, 511; Fort
Edward and Vicinity, 512, 513, 514; Fort St. Jean, 515; Fort
William Henry, 516; View of the Site of Fort William Henry,
517; Plan of Attack on Fort William Henry, 518; Fort at German
Flats, 519; Autograph of James Abercromby, 521; Lord Howe,
522; View of Ticonderoga, 523; Plan of Attack on Ticonderoga
(1758), 524; Fort Frontenac, 525; Mante’s Map of Lake George,
526; Autograph of Jeff. Amherst, 527; Fort Stanwix, 528;
Autographs of Generals Forbes and Vaudreuil, 530; Portrait of
General Amherst, 531; Fort Pitt, 532; The New Fort Pitt, 533;
Fort Niagara, 534; Fort George on Lake George, 535; Modern
Map of Lake George, 536; Plan of Ticonderoga, 537; of Crown
Point, 537; View of the Ruins of Crown Point, 538; Plan of
Isle-aux-Noix, 539; Portrait of General Wolfe, 541; Plan of the
Siege of Quebec (1759), 542; Contemporary Plan of Quebec, 543;
Bougainville, 546; British Soldiers, 547; Montcalm, 548; Plan
of Quebec as Surrendered, 549; View of Heights of Abraham, with
Wolfe’s Monument, 551; Map of the Campaign of Lévis and Murray,
552; Plan of Quebec (1763), 553; View of Montreal (1761), 554;
Plans of Montreal (1763, 1758), 555, 556; Map of Routes to
Canada (1755-1763), 557; Robert Rogers, 558.
CRITICAL ESSAY 560
ILLUSTRATIONS: French Soldiers (1710), 562; Bonnecamp’s
Map, 569; Fort Cumberland and Vicinity, 577; Contemporary Map
of Dieskau’s Campaign, 585; Clement’s Plan of the Battle of
Lake George, 586; Map of Forts George and Ticonderoga
(1749-1760), 588; Crown Point Currency of New Hampshire, 590;
General Townshend, 607.
NOTES 611
ILLUSTRATIONS: Autograph of William Smith, 618; Portrait of
Garneau, 619; of James Grahame, 620.
INDEX 623
NARRATIVE AND CRITICAL
HISTORY OF AMERICA.
CHAPTER I.
CANADA AND LOUISIANA.
BY ANDREW McFARLAND DAVIS,
_American Antiquarian Society_.
THE story of the French occupation in America is not that of a people
slowly moulding itself into a nation. In France there was no state
but the king; in Canada there could be none but the governor. Events
cluster around the lives of individuals. According to the discretion
of the leaders the prospects of the colony rise and fall. Stories
of the machinations of priests at Quebec and at Montreal, of their
heroic sufferings at the hands of the Hurons and the Iroquois, and of
individual deeds of valor performed by soldiers, fill the pages of the
record. The prosperity of the colony rested upon the fate of a single
industry,—the trade in peltries. In pursuit of this, the hardy trader
braved the danger from lurking savage, shot the boiling rapids of the
river in his light bark canoe, ventured upon the broad bosom of the
treacherous lake, and patiently endured sufferings from cold in winter
and from the myriad forms of insect life which infest the forests in
summer. To him the hazard of the adventure was as attractive as the
promised reward. The sturdy agriculturist planted his seed each year
in dread lest the fierce war-cry of the Iroquois should sound in his
ear, and the sharp, sudden attack drive him from his work. He reaped
his harvest with urgent haste, ever expectant of interruption from the
same source, always doubtful as to the result until the crop was fairly
housed. The brief season of the Canadian summer, the weary winter, the
hazards of the crop, the feudal tenure of the soil,—all conspired to
make the life of the farmer full of hardship and barren of promise. The
sons of the early settlers drifted to the woods as independent hunters
and traders. The parent State across the water, which undertook to say
who might trade, and where and how the traffic should be carried on,
looked upon this way of living as piratical. To suppress the crime,
edicts were promulgated from Versailles and threats were thundered
from Quebec. Still, the temptation to engage in what Parkman calls the
“hardy, adventurous, lawless, fascinating fur-trade” was much greater
than to enter upon the dull monotony of ploughing, sowing, and reaping.
The Iroquois, alike the enemies of farmer and of trader, bestowed their
malice impartially upon the two callings, so that the risk was fairly
divided. It was not surprising that the life of the fur-trader “proved
more attractive, absorbed the enterprise of the colony, and drained the
life-sap from other branches of commerce.” It was inevitable, with the
young men wandering off to the woods, and with the farmers habitually
harassed during both seed-time and harvest, that the colony should at
times be unable to produce even grain enough for its own use, and that
there should occasionally be actual suffering from lack of food. It
often happened that the services of all the strong men were required to
bear arms in the field, and that there remained upon the farms only old
men, women, and children to reap the harvest. Under such circumstances
want was sure to follow during the winter months. Such was the
condition of affairs in 1700. The grim figure of Frontenac had passed
finally from the stage of Canadian politics. On his return, in 1689, he
had found the name of Frenchman a mockery and a taunt.[1] The Iroquois
sounded their threats under the very walls of the French forts. When,
in 1698, the old warrior died, he was again their “Onontio,” and they
were his children. The account of what he had done during those years
was the history of Canada for the time. His vigorous measures had
restored the self-respect of his countrymen, and had inspired with
wholesome fear the wily savages who threatened the natural path of
his fur-trade. The tax upon the people, however, had been frightful.
A French population of less than twelve thousand had been called upon
to defend a frontier of hundreds of miles against the attacks of a
jealous and warlike confederacy of Indians, who, in addition to their
own sagacious views upon the policy of maintaining these wars, were
inspired thereto by the great rival of France behind them.
To the friendship which circumstances cemented between the English and
the Iroquois, the alliance between the French and the other tribes
was no fair offset. From the day when Champlain joined the Algonquins
and aided them to defeat their enemies near the site of Ticonderoga,
the hostility of the great Confederacy had borne an important part
in the history of Canada. Apart from this traditional enmity, the
interests of the Confederacy rested with the English, and not with
the French. If the Iroquois permitted the Indians of the Northwest
to negotiate with the French, and interposed no obstacle to the
transportation of peltries from the upper lakes to Montreal and Quebec,
they would forfeit all the commercial benefits which belonged to their
geographical position. Thus their natural tendency was to join with
the English. The value of neutrality was plain to their leaders;
nevertheless, much of the time they were the willing agents of the
English in keeping alive the chronic border war.
[Illustration: LA PRÉSENTATION.
[After a plan in the contemporary Mémoires _sur le Canada_,
1749-1760, published by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec
(_réimpression_), 1873, p. 13.—ED.]]
Nearly all the Indian tribes understood that the conditions of trade
were better with the English than with the French; but the personal
influence of the French with their allies was powerful enough
partially to overcome this advantage of their rivals. This influence
was exercised not only through missionaries,[2] but was also felt
through the national characteristics of the French themselves, which
were strongly in harmony with the spirit of forest life. The Canadian
bushrangers appropriated the ways and the customs of the natives. They
were often adopted into the tribes, and when this was done, their
advice in council was listened to with respect. They married freely
into the Indian nations with whom they were thrown; and the offspring
of these marriages, scattered through the forests of the Northwest,
were conspicuous among hunters and traders for their skill and courage.
“It has been supposed for a long while,” says one of the officers of
the colony, “that to civilize the savages it was necessary to bring
them in contact with the French. We have every reason to recognize the
fact that we were mistaken. Those who have come in contact with us have
not become French, while the French who frequent the wilds have become
savages.” Prisoners held by the Indians often concealed themselves
rather than return to civilized life, when their surrender was provided
for by a treaty of peace.[3]
[Illustration]
Powerful as these influences had proved with the allies of the French,
no person realized more keenly than M. de Callières, the successor of
Frontenac, how incompetent they were to overcome the natural drift of
the Iroquois to the English. He it was who had urged at Versailles the
policy of carrying the war into the province of New York as the only
means of ridding Canada of the periodic invasions of the Iroquois.[4]
He had joined with Frontenac in urging upon the astute monarch who had
tried the experiment of using Iroquois as galley-slaves, the impolicy
of abandoning the posts at Michilimakinac and at St. Joseph. His
appointment was recognized as suitable, not only by the colonists,
but also by Charlevoix, who tells us that “from the beginning he had
acquired great influence over the savages, who recognized in him a man
exact in the performance of his word, and who insisted that others
should adhere to promises given to him.” He saw accomplished what
Frontenac had labored for,—a peace with the Iroquois in which the
allied tribes were included. The Hurons, the Ottawas, the Abenakis,
and the converted Iroquois having accepted the terms of the peace,
the Governor-General, the Intendant, the Governor of Montreal, and
the ecclesiastical authorities signed a provisional treaty on the 8th
of September, 1700. In 1703, while the Governor still commanded the
confidence of his countrymen, his career was cut short by death.
[Illustration]
The reins of government now fell into the hands of Philippe de
Vaudreuil, who retained the position of governor until his death.
During the entire period of his administration Canada was free from
the horrors of Indian invasion. By his adroit management, with the aid
of Canadians adopted by the tribes, and of missionaries, the Iroquois
were held in check. The scene in which startled villagers were roused
from their midnight slumber by the fierce war-whoop, the report of the
musket, and the light of burning dwellings, was transferred from the
Valley of the St. Lawrence to New England. Upon Vaudreuil must rest the
responsibility for the attacks upon Deerfield in 1704 and Haverhill in
1708, and for the horrors of the Abenakis war. The pious Canadians,
fortified by a brief preliminary invocation of Divine aid, rushed upon
the little settlements and perpetrated cruelties of the same class
with those which characterized the brutal attacks of the Iroquois upon
the villages in Canada. The cruel policy of maintaining the alliance
with the Abenakis, and at the same time securing quiet in Canada by
encouraging raids upon the defenceless towns of New England, not only
left a stain upon the reputation of Vaudreuil, but it also hastened the
end of French power in America by convincing the growing, prosperous,
and powerful colonies known as New England that the only path to
permanent peace lay through the downfall of French rule in Canada.[5]
Aroused to action by Canadian raids, the New England colonies
increased their contributions to the military expeditions by way of
Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence, which had become and remained,
until Wolfe’s success obviated their necessity, the recognized method
of attack on Canada. During Vaudreuil’s time these expeditions were
singularly unfortunate. Some extraneous incident protected Quebec each
year.[6] It is not strange that such disasters to the English were
looked upon by the pious French as a special manifestation of the
interest taken in Canada by the Deity. Thanks were given in all parts
of the colony to God, who had thus directly saved the province, and
special fêtes were celebrated in honor of Notre Dame des Victoires.
The total population of Canada at this time was not far from eighteen
thousand. The English colonies counted over four hundred thousand
inhabitants. The French Governor, in a despatch to M. de Pontchartrain,
called attention, in 1714, to the great disproportion of strength
between the French and English settlements, and added that there could
be little doubt that on the occasion of the first rupture the English
would make a powerful effort to get possession of Canada. The English
colonies were in themselves strong enough easily to have overthrown
the French in America. In addition, they were supported by the Home
Government; while Louis XIV., defeated, humiliated, baffled at every
turn, was compelled supinely to witness these extraordinary efforts
to wrest from him the colonies in which he had taken such personal
interest. Well might the devout Canadian offer up thanks for his
deliverance from the defeat which had seemed inevitable! Well might
he ascribe it to an interposition of Divine Providence in his behalf!
Under the circumstances we need not be surprised that a learned prelate
should chronicle the fact that the Baron de Longueuil, before leaving
Montreal in command of a detachment of troops, “received from M. de
Belmont, _grand vicaire_, a flag around which that celebrated recluse,
Mlle. Le Ber, had embroidered a prayer to the Holy Virgin,” nor that it
should have been noticed that on the very day on which was finished “a
nine days’ devotion to Notre Dame de Pitié,” the news of the wreck of
Sir Hovenden Walker’s fleet reached Quebec.[7] Such coincidences appeal
to the imagination. Their record, amid the dry facts of history, shows
the value which was attached to what Parkman impatiently terms this
“incessant supernaturalism.” To us, the skilful diplomacy of Vaudreuil,
the intelligent influence of Joncaire (the adopted brother of the
Senecas), the powerful aid of the missionaries, the stupid obstinacy of
Sir Hovenden Walker, and certain coincidences of military movements in
Europe at periods critical for Canada, explain much more satisfactorily
the escape of Canada from subjection to the English during the period
of the wars of the Spanish Succession.
Although Vaudreuil could influence the Iroquois to remain at peace,
he could not prevent an outbreak of the Outagamis at Detroit. This,
however, was easily suppressed. The nominal control of the trade of the
Northwest remained with the French; but the value of this control was
much reduced by the amount of actual traffic which drifted to Albany
and New York, drawn thither by the superior commercial inducements
offered by the English.
The treaty of Utrecht, in 1713, established the cession of Acadia to
the English by its “ancient limits.” When the French saw that the
English pretension to claim by these words all the territory between
the St. Lawrence River and the ocean, was sure to cut them off by water
from their colony at Quebec, in case of another war, they on their part
confined such “ancient limits” to the peninsula now called Nova Scotia.
France, to strengthen the means of maintaining her interpretation,
founded the fortress and naval station of Louisbourg.
About the same time the French also determined to strengthen the
fortifications of Quebec and Montreal; and in 1721 Joncaire established
a post among the Senecas at Niagara.[8]
In 1725 Vaudreuil died. Ferland curtly says that the Governor’s
wife was the man of the family; but so far as the record shows, the
preservation of Canada to France during the earlier part of his
administration was largely due to his vigilance and discretion. Great
judgment and skill were shown in dealing with the Indians. A letter
of remonstrance from Peter Schuyler bears witness that contemporary
judgment condemned his policy in raiding upon the New England colonies;
but in forming our estimate of his character we must remember that the
French believed that similar atrocities, committed by the Iroquois in
the Valley of the St. Lawrence, were instigated by the English.
[Illustration]
The administration[9] of M. de Beauharnois, his successor, who arrived
in the colony in 1726, was not conspicuous. He appears to have been
personally popular, and to have appreciated fairly the needs of Canada.
The Iroquois were no longer hostile. The days of the martyrdom of the
Brebeufs and the Lallemands were over.[10] In the Far West a company
of traders founded a settlement at the foot of Lake Pepin, which
they called Fort Beauharnois. As the trade with the Valley of the
Mississippi developed, routes of travel began to be defined. Three of
these were especially used,—one by way of Lake Erie, the Maumee, and
the Wabash, and then down the Ohio; another by way of Lake Michigan,
the Chicago River, a portage to the Illinois, and down that river; a
third by way of Green Bay, Fox River, and the Wisconsin,—all three
being independent of La Salle’s route from the foot of Lake Michigan to
the Kankakee and Illinois rivers.[11] By special orders from France,
Joncaire’s post at Niagara had been regularly fortified. The importance
of this movement had been fully appreciated by the English. As an
offset to that post, a trading establishment had been opened at Oswego;
and now that a fort was built at Niagara, Oswego was garrisoned. The
French in turn constructed a fort at Crown Point, which threatened
Oswego, New York, and New England.
The prolonged peace permitted considerable progress in the development
of the agricultural resources of the country. Commerce was extended as
much as the absurd system of farming out the posts, and the trading
privileges retained by the governors, would permit. Postal arrangements
were established between Montreal and Quebec in 1721. The population
at that time was estimated at twenty-five thousand. Notwithstanding
the evident difficulty experienced in taking care of what country the
French then nominally possessed, M. Varenne de Vérendrye in 1731 fitted
out an expedition to seek for the “Sea of the West,”[12] and actually
penetrated to Lake Winnipeg.
The foundations of society were violently disturbed during this
administration by a quarrel which began in a contest over the right
to bury a dead bishop. Governor, Intendant, council, and clergy took
part. “Happily,” says a writer to whom both Church and State were
dear, “M. de Beauharnois did not wish to take violent measures to make
the Intendant obey him, otherwise we might have seen repeated the
scandalous scenes of the evil days of Frontenac.”
[Illustration]
After the fall of Louisbourg, in 1745, Beauharnois was recalled, and
Admiral de la Jonquière was commissioned as his successor; but he did
not then succeed in reaching his post. It is told in a later chapter
how D’Anville’s fleet, on which he was embarked, was scattered in 1746;
and when he again sailed, the next year, with other ships, an English
fleet captured him and bore him to London.
[Illustration]
In consequence of this, Comte de la Galissonière was appointed Governor
of Canada in 1747. His term of office was brief; but he made his mark
as one of the most intelligent of those who had been called upon to
administer the affairs of this government. He proceeded at once to
fortify the scattered posts from Lake Superior to Lake Ontario. He
forwarded to France a scheme for colonizing the Valley of the Ohio;
and in order to protect the claims of France to this vast region,
he sent out an expedition,[13] with instructions to bury at certain
stated points leaden plates upon which were cut an assertion of these
claims. These instructions were fully carried out, and depositions
establishing the facts were executed and transmitted to France. He
notified the Governor of Pennsylvania of the steps which had been
taken, and requested him to prevent his people from trading beyond
the Alleghanies,[14] as orders had been given to seize any English
merchants found trading there. An endeavor was made to establish at
Bay Verte a settlement which should offset the growing importance of
Halifax, founded by the English. The minister warmly supported La
Galissonière in this, and made him a liberal money allowance in aid
of the plan. While busily engaged upon this scheme, he was recalled.
Before leaving, he prepared for his successor a statement of the
condition of the colony and its needs.[15]
[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF ONE OF CÉLORON’S PLATES, 1749.
[Reduced from the fac-simile given in the _Pennsylvania Archives_,
second series, vi. 80. Of some of these plates which have been found,
see accounts in Parkman, _Montcalm and Wolfe_, i. 62, and _Dinwiddie
Papers_, i. 95, published by the Virginia Historical Society. Cf. also
Appendix A to the _Mémoires sur le Canada depuis 1749 jusqu’à 1760_,
published by the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec, 1873
(_réimpression_).—ED.]]
By the terms of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, France in 1748 acquired
possession of Louisbourg. La Jonquière, who was at the same time
liberated, and who in 1749 assumed the government under his original
appointment, did not agree with the Acadian policy of his predecessor.
He feared the consequences of an armed collision with the English in
Nova Scotia, which this course was likely to precipitate. This caution
on his part brought down upon him a reprimand from Louis XV. and
positive orders to carry out La Galissonière’s programme. In pursuance
of these instructions, the neck of the peninsula, which according to
the French claim formed the boundary of Acadia, was fortified. The
conservatism of the English officer prevented a conflict. In 1750,
avoiding the territory in dispute, the English fortified upon ground
admitted to be within their own lines, and watched events. On the
approach of the English, the unfortunate inhabitants of Beaubassin
abandoned their homes and sought protection under the French flag.
Notwithstanding the claims to the Valley of the Ohio put forth by
the French, the English Government in 1750 granted to a company six
hundred thousand acres of land in that region; and English colonial
governors continued to issue permits to trade in the disputed
territory. Following the instructions of the Court, as suggested by
La Galissonière, English traders were arrested, and sent to France as
prisoners. The English, by way of reprisal, seized French traders found
in the same region.[16] The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle had provided
for a commission to adjust the boundaries between the French and the
English possessions. By the terms of the treaty, affairs were to remain
unchanged until the commission could determine the boundaries between
the colonies. Events did not stand still during the deliberations of
the commission; and the doubt whether every act along the border was a
violation of the treaty hung over the heads of the colonists like the
dispute as to the boundaries of Acadia, which was a constant threat of
war. The situation all along the Acadian frontier and in the Valley
of the Ohio was now full of peril. To add to the difficulty of the
crisis in Canada, the flagrant corruption of the Intendant Bigot, with
whom the Governor was in close communication, created distrust and
dissatisfaction. Charges of nepotism and corruption were made against
La Jonquière. The proud old man demanded his recall; but before he
could appear at Court to answer the charges, chagrin and mortification
caused his wounds to open, and he died on the 17th of May, 1752.
Thereupon the government fell to the Baron de Longueuil till a new
governor could arrive.
Bigot, whose name, according to Garneau, will hereafter be associated
with all the misfortunes of France upon this continent, was Intendant
at Louisbourg at the time of its fall. Dissatisfaction with him on
the part of the soldiers at not receiving their pay was alleged as an
explanation of their mutinous behavior. He was afterward attached to
the unfortunate fleet which was sent out to recapture the place. Later
his baneful influence shortened the days and tarnished the reputation
of La Jonquière.
In July, 1752, the Marquis Duquesne de Menneville assumed charge of the
government, under instructions to pursue the policy suggested by La
Galissonière. He immediately held a review of the troops and militia.
At that time the number of inhabitants capable of bearing arms was
about thirteen thousand. There existed a line of military posts from
the St. Lawrence to the Mississippi, composed of Quebec, Montreal,
Ogdensburg, Kingston, Toronto, Detroit, the Miami River, St. Joseph,
Chicago, and Fort Chartres. The same year that Duquesne was installed,
he took preliminary steps toward forwarding troops to occupy the Valley
of the Ohio, and in 1753 these steps were followed by the actual
occupation in force of that region. Another line of military posts was
erected, with the intention of preventing the English from trading in
that valley and of asserting the right of the French to the possession
of the tributaries of the Mississippi. This line began at Niagara,
and ultimately comprehended Erie, French Creek,[17] Venango, and Fort
Duquesne. All these posts were armed, provisioned, and garrisoned.
All French writers agree in calling the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle
a mere truce. If the sessions of the commissioners appointed to
determine the boundaries upon the _ante-bellum_ basis had resulted
in aught else than bulky volumes,[18] their decision would have been
practically forestalled by the French in thus taking possession of all
the territory in dispute. To this, however, France was impelled by the
necessities of the situation. Unless she could assume and maintain this
position, the rapidly increasing population of the English colonies
threatened to overflow into the Valley of the Ohio; and the danger was
also imminent that the French might be dispossessed from the southern
tributaries of the St. Lawrence. Once in possession, English occupation
would be permanent. The aggressive spirit of La Galissonière had led
him to recommend these active military operations, which, while they
tended to provoke collision, could hardly fail to check the movement
of colonization which threatened the region in dispute. On the Acadian
peninsula the troops had come face to face without bloodshed. The
firmness of the French commander in asserting his right to occupy the
territory in question, the prudence of the English officer, the support
given to the French cause by the patriotic Acadians, the military
weakness of the English in Nova Scotia,—all conspired to cause the
English to submit to the offensive bearing of the French, and to avoid
in that locality the impending collision. It was, however, a mere
postponement in time and transfer of scene. The gauntlet thrown down
at the mouth of the St. Lawrence was to be taken up at the headwaters
of the Ohio.
The story of the interference of Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie; of
George Washington’s lonely journey in 1753 across the mountains with
Dinwiddie’s letter; of the perilous tramp back in midwinter with
Saint-Pierre’s reply; of the return next season with a body of troops;
of the collision with the detachment of the French under Jumonville; of
the little fort which Washington erected, and called Fort Necessity,
where he was besieged and compelled to capitulate; of the unfortunate
articles of capitulation which he then signed,—the story of all these
events is familiar to readers of our colonial history; but it is
equally a portion of the history of Canada.[19] The act of Dinwiddie
in precipitating a collision between the armed forces of the colonies
and those of France was the first step in the war which was to result
in driving the French from the North American continent. The first
actual bloodshed was when the men under Washington met what was claimed
by the French to be a mere armed escort accompanying Jumonville to an
interview with the English. He who was to act so important a part in
the war of the American Revolution was, by some strange fatality, the
one who was in command in this backwoods skirmish. In itself the event
was insignificant; but the blow once struck, the question how the war
was to be carried on had to be met. The relations of the colonies to
the mother country, and the possibility of a confederation for the
purpose of consolidating the military power and adjusting the expenses,
were necessarily subjects of thought and discussion which tended toward
co-operative movements dangerous to the parent State. Thus in its
after-consequences that collision was fraught with importance. Bancroft
says it “kindled the first great war of revolution.”
The collision which had taken place could not have been much longer
postponed. The English colonies had grown much more rapidly than the
French. They were more prosperous. There was a spirit of enterprise
among them which was difficult to crush. They could not tamely see
themselves hemmed in upon the Atlantic coast and cut off from access
to the interior of the continent by a colony whose inhabitants did
not count a tenth part of their own numbers, and with whom hostility
seemed an hereditary necessity. It mattered not whether the rights of
discovery and prior occupation, asserted by the French, constituted,
according to the law of nations, a title more or less sound than that
which the English claimed through Indian tribes whom the French had by
treaty recognized as British subjects. The title held by the strongest
side would be better than the title based upon international law.
Events had already anticipated politics. The importance of the Ohio
Valley to the English colonies as an outlet to their growing population
had been forced upon their attention. To the French, who were just
becoming accustomed to its use as a highway for communication between
Canada and Louisiana, the growth of the latter colony was a daily
instruction as to its value.
* * * * *
The Louisiana which thus helped to bring the French face to face with
their great rivals was described by Charlevoix as “the name which
M. de La Salle gave to that portion of the country watered by the
Mississippi which lies below the River Illinois.” This definition
limits Louisiana to the Valley of the Mississippi; but the French
cartographers of the middle of the eighteenth century put no boundary
to the pretensions of their country in the vague regions of the West,
concerning which tradition, story, and fable were the only sources of
information for their charts. The claims of France to this indefinite
territory were, however, considered of sufficient importance to be
noticed in the document on the Northwestern Boundary question which
forms the basis of Greenhow’s _History of Oregon and California_.
The French were not disturbed by the pretensions of Spain to a large
part of the same territory, although based upon the discovery of the
Mississippi by De Soto and the actual occupation of Florida. Neither
were the charters of those English colonies, which granted territory
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, regarded as constituting valid claims
to this region. France had not deliberately set out to establish a
colony here. It was only after they were convinced at Versailles that
Coxe, the claimant of the grant of “Carolana,” was in earnest in his
attempts to colonize the banks of the Mississippi by way of its mouth,
that this determination was reached. As late as the 8th of April,
1699, the Minister of the Marine wrote: “I begin by telling you that
the King does not intend at present to form an establishment at the
mouth of the Mississippi, but only to complete the discovery in order
to hinder the English from taking possession there.” The same summer
Pontchartrain told the Governor of Santo Domingo[20] that the “King
would not attempt to occupy the country unless the advantages to be
derived from it should appear to be certain.” La Salle’s expedition in
1682 had reached the mouth of the river. His Majesty had acquiesced in
it without enthusiasm, and with no conviction of the possible value of
the discovery. He had, indeed, stated that “he did not think that the
explorations which the Canadians were anxious to make would be of much
advantage. He wished, however, that La Salle’s should be pushed to a
conclusion, so that he might judge whether it would be of any use.”
The presence of La Salle in Paris after he had accomplished the journey
down the river had fired the imagination of the old King, and visions
of Spanish conquests and of gold and silver within easy reach had
made him listen readily to a scheme for colonization, and consent to
fitting out an expedition by sea. When the hopes which had accompanied
the discoverer on his outward voyage gave place to accounts of the
disasters which had pursued his expedition, it would seem that the
old doubts as to the value of the Mississippi returned.[21] It was at
this time that Henri de Tonty, most faithful of followers, asked that
he might be appointed to pursue the discoveries of his old leader.[22]
Tonty was doomed to disappointment. His influence at Court was not
strong enough to secure the position which he desired. In 1697[23] the
attention of the Minister of the Marine was called by Sieur Argoud to
a proposition made by Sieur de Rémonville to form a company for the
same purpose. The memorial of Argoud vouches for Rémonville as a friend
of La Salle, sets forth at length the advantages to be gained by the
expedition, explains in detail its needs, and gives a complete scheme
for the formation of the proposed company. From lack of faith or lack
of influence this proposition also failed. It required the prestige of
Iberville’s name, brought to bear in the same direction, to carry the
conviction necessary for success.
Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville was a native of Canada. He was born on
the 16th of July, 1661,[24] and was reared to a life of adventure.
His name and the names of his brothers, under the titles of their
seigniories, are associated with all the perilous adventure of the
day in their native land. They were looked upon by the Onondagas as
brothers and protectors, and their counsel was always received with
respect. Maricourt, who was several times employed upon important
missions to the Iroquois, was known among them under the symbolic name
of Taouistaouisse, or “little bird which is always in motion.” In 1697,
when Iberville urged upon the minister the arguments which suggested
themselves to him in favor of an expedition in search of the mouth of
the Mississippi, he had already gained distinction in the Valley of
the St. Lawrence, upon the shores of the Atlantic, and on the waters
of Hudson’s Bay.[25] The tales of his wonderful successes on land
and on sea tax the credulity of the reader; and were it not for the
concurrence of testimony, doubts would creep in as to their truth.
It seemed as if the young men of the Le Moyne family felt that with
the death of Frontenac the days of romance and adventure had ended in
Canada; that for the time being, at least, diplomacy was to succeed
daring, and thoughts of trade at Quebec and Montreal were to take the
place of plans for the capture of Boston and New York. To them the
possibility of collision with Spaniards or Englishmen was an inducement
rather than a drawback. Here perhaps, in explorations on the shores
of the Gulf of Mexico, courage and audacity might find those rewards
and honors for which the opportunity was fast disappearing in Canada.
Inspired by such sentiments, the enthusiasm of Iberville overcame the
reserve of the King. The grandeur of the scheme began to attract his
attention. It was clear that the French had not only anticipated the
English in getting possession of the upper waters of the great river,
but their boats had navigated its current from source to mouth.
[Illustration: Le Moyne D’Iberville
This follows an engraving in Margry, vol. iv. J. M. Lemoine
(_Maple Leaves_, 2d series, 1873, p. 1) styles him “The Cid of New
France.”—ED.]
If they could establish themselves at its entrance, and were able to
control its navigation, they could hold the whole valley. Associated
with these thoughts were hopes of mines in the distant regions of the
upper Mississippi which might contribute to France wealth equal to
that which Spain had drawn from Mexico. Visions of pearl-fisheries in
the Gulf, and wild notions as to the value of buffalo-wool, aided
Iberville in his task of convincing the Court of the advantages to be
derived from his proposed voyage.
In June, 1698, two armed vessels were designated for the
expedition,—the “Badine,” which was put under the command of
Iberville, and the “Marin,” under the Chevalier de Surgères. The
correspondence between the Minister of the Marine and Iberville during
the period of preparation shows that the Court earnestly endeavored to
forward the enterprise.
Rumors were rife that summer at Rochelle that an expedition was fitting
out at London[26] for the purpose of establishing a colony of French
Protestants on the banks of the Mississippi. On the 18th of June
Iberville wrote to the Minister to warn him of the fact. He had turned
aside as a joke, he says, the rumors that his expedition was bound to
the Mississippi, and he suggests that orders be sent him to proceed
to the River Amazon, with which he could lay such stories at rest and
deceive the English as to his movements. The instructions with which he
was provided allege that he was selected for the command because of his
previous record. He was left free to prosecute his search for the mouth
of the river according to his own views. After he should have found
it, he was to fortify some spot which should command its entrance. He
was to prevent, at all hazards, any other nation from making a landing
there. Should he find that be had been anticipated in the discovery,
still he was to effect a landing if possible; and in case of inability
to do so, he was to make a careful examination of affairs and report.
On the morning of the 24th of October, 1698,[27] the “Badine” and the
“Marin” sailed from Brest, at which port they had put in after leaving
Rochelle. They were accompanied by two transports, which formed a part
of the expedition. The two frigates and one of the transports arrived
at Santo Domingo on the 4th of December. The other transport arrived
ten days after. The frigate “François,” under Chasteaumorand, was here
added to the fleet as an escort to the American coast. On the 31st of
December they sailed from Santo Domingo, and on the 23d of January,
1699, at half-past four in the evening, land was seen distant eight
leagues to the northeast. In the evening fires were observed on shore.
Pursuing a course parallel with the coast, they sailed to the westward
by day and anchored each night. The shore was carefully reconnoitred
with small boats as they proceeded, and a record of the soundings
was kept, of sufficient accuracy to give an idea of the approach to
the coast. On the 26th they were abreast of Pensacola,[28] where they
found two Spanish vessels at anchor, and the port in possession of an
armed Spanish force, with whom they communicated. Still following the
coast to the westward, they anchored on the 31st off the mouth of the
Mobile River. Here they remained for several days, examining the coast
and the islands. They called one of these islands Massacre Island, on
account of the large number of human bones which they found upon it.
Not satisfied with the roadstead, they worked along the coast, sounding
and reconnoitring; and on the 10th of February came to anchor at a
spot where the shelter of some islands furnished a safe roadstead.
Preparations were at once begun for the work of exploration, and on the
13th Iberville left the ships for the mainland in a boat with eleven
men. He was accompanied by his brother Bienville with two men in a bark
canoe which formed part of their equipment. His first effort was to
establish friendly relations with the natives. He had some difficulty
in communicating with them, as his party was mistaken for Spaniards,
with whom the Indians were not on good terms. His knowledge of Indian
ways taught him how to conquer this difficulty. Leaving his brother
and two Canadians as hostages in their hands, he succeeded on the 16th
in getting some of the natives to come on board his ship, where he
entertained them by firing off his cannons. On the 17th he returned
to the spot where he had left his brother, and found him carrying on
friendly converse with natives who belonged to tribes then living upon
the banks of the Mississippi. The bark canoe puzzled them; and they
asked if the party came from the upper Mississippi, which in their
language they called the “Malbanchia.” Iberville made an appointment
with these Indians to return with them to the river, and was himself
at the rendezvous at the appointed time; but they failed him. Being
satisfied now that he was near the mouth of the Mississippi, and that
he had nothing to fear from the English, he told Chasteaumorand that
he could return to Santo Domingo with the “François.” On the 21st that
vessel sailed for the islands.
On the 27th the party which was to enter the mouth of the river left
the ships. They had two boats, which they speak of as _biscayennes_,
and two bark canoes. Iberville was accompanied by his brother
Bienville, midshipman on the “Badine;” Sauvolle, _enseigne de vaisseau_
on the “Marin;” the Récollet father Anastase, who had been with
La Salle; and a party of men,—stated by himself in one place at
thirty-three, and in another at forty-eight.[29]
On the afternoon of the 2d of March, 1699, they entered the river,—the
Malbanchia of the Indians, the Palissado of the Spaniards, the
Mississippi of to-day.
After a careful examination of the mouth of the river, at that time
apparently in flood, Iberville set his little party at the hard work
which was now before them, of stemming the current in their progress
up the stream. His search was now directed toward identifying the
river, by comparison with the published descriptions of Hennepin, and
also by means of information contained in the Journal of Joutel,[30]
which had been submitted to him in manuscript by Pontchartrain. At the
distance, according to observations of the sun, of sixty-four leagues
from the mouth of the river, he reached the village of the Bayagoulas,
some of whom he had already seen. At this point his last doubt about
the identity of the river was dissipated; for he met a chief of the
Mougoulachas clothed in a cloak of blue serge, which he said was given
to him by Tonty. With rare facility, Iberville had already picked up
enough of the language of these Indians to communicate with them; and
Bienville, who had brought a native up the river in his canoe, could
speak the language passably well. “We talked much of what Tonty had
done while there; of the route that he took and of the Quinipissas,
who, they said, lived in seven villages, distant an eight days’
journey to the northeast of this village by land.” The Indians drew
rude maps of the river and the country, showing that when Tonty left
them he had gone up to the Oumas, and that going and coming he had
passed this spot. They knew nothing of any other branch of the river.
These things did not agree with Hennepin’s account, the truth of which
Iberville began to suspect. He says that he knew that the Récollet
father had told barefaced lies about Canada and Hudson’s Bay in his
Relation, yet it seemed incredible that he should have undertaken to
deceive all France on these points. However that might be, Iberville
realized that the first test to be applied to his own reports would be
comparison with other sources of information; and having failed to find
the village of the Quinipissas and the island in the river, he must
by further evidence establish the truth or the falsity of Hennepin’s
account. This was embarrassing. The “Marin” was short of provisions,
Surgères was anxious to return, the position for the settlement had not
yet been selected, and the labor of rowing against the current was hard
on the men, while the progress was very slow. Anxious as Iberville was
to return, the reasons for obtaining further proof that he was on the
Mississippi, with which to convince doubters in France, overcame his
desires, and he kept on his course up the river. On the 20th he reached
the village of the Oumas, and was gratified to learn that the memory of
Tonty’s visit, and of the many presents which he had distributed, was
still fresh in the minds of the natives. Iberville was now, according
to his reckoning, about one hundred leagues up the river. He had been
able to procure for his party only Indian corn in addition to the
ship’s provisions with which they started. His men were weary. All the
testimony that he could procure concurred to show that the route by
which Tonty came and went was the same as that which he himself had
pursued, and that the division of the river into two channels was a
myth.[31] With bitterness of spirit he inveighs against the Récollet,
whose “false accounts had deceived every one. Time had been consumed,
the enterprise hindered, and the men of the party had suffered in the
search after purely imaginary things.” And yet, if we may accept the
record of his Journal, this visit to the village of the Oumas was the
means of his tracing the most valuable piece of evidence of French
explorations in this vicinity which could have been produced. “The
Bayagoulas,” he says, “seeing that I persisted in wishing to search
for the fork and also insisted that Tonty had not passed by there,
explained to me that he had left with the chief of the Mougoulachas a
writing enclosed for some man who was to come from the sea, which was
similar to one that I myself had left with them.” The urgency of the
situation compelled Iberville’s return to the ships. On his way back he
completed the circuit of the island on which New Orleans was afterward
built, by going through the river named after himself and through Lake
Pontchartrain. The party which accompanied him consisted of four men,
and they travelled in two canoes. The two boats proceeded down the
Mississippi, with orders to procure the letter from the Mougoulachas
and to sound the passes at the mouth of the river.
On the 31st both expeditions reached the ships. Iberville had the
satisfaction of receiving from the hands of his brother[32] the letter
which Tonty had left for La Salle, bearing date, “At the village of
the Quinipissas, April 20, 1685.”[33] The contents of the letter were
of little moment, but its possession was of great value to Iberville.
The doubts of the incredulous must yield to proof of this nature. Here
was Tonty’s account of his trip down the river, of his search along the
coast for traces of his old leader, and of his reluctant conclusion
that his mission was a failure. In the midst of the clouds of treachery
which obscure the last days of La Salle, the form of Tonty looms up,
the image of steadfast friendship and genuine devotion. “Although,”
he says, “we have neither heard news nor seen signs of you, I do not
despair that God will grant success to your undertakings. I wish it
with all my heart; for you have no more faithful follower than myself,
who would sacrifice everything to find you.”
After his return to the ships, Iberville hastened to choose a spot
for a fortification. In this he experienced great difficulty; but
he finally selected Biloxi, where a defence of wood was rapidly
constructed and by courtesy called a fort. A garrison of seventy men
and six boys was landed, with stores, guns, and ammunition. Sauvolle,
_enseigne de vaisseau du roy_, “a discreet young man of merit,” was
placed in command. Bienville, “my brother,” then eighteen years old,
was left second in rank, as _lieutenant du roy_. The main object of
the expedition was accomplished. The “Badine” and the “Marin” set sail
for France on the 3d of May, 1699. For Iberville, as he sailed on the
homeward passage, there was the task, especially difficult for him,
of preparing a written report of his success. For Sauvolle and the
little colony left behind, there was the hard problem to solve, how
they should manage with scant provisions and with no prospect of future
supply. So serious was this question that in a few days a transport was
sent to Santo Domingo for food. This done, they set to work exploring
the neighborhood and cultivating the friendship of the neighboring
tribes of Indians. To add to their discomforts, while still short of
provisions they were visited by two Canadian missionaries who were
stationed among the Tonicas and Taensas in the Mississippi Valley.
The visitors had floated down the river in canoes, having eighteen
men in all in their company, and arrived at Biloxi in the month of
July. Ten days they had lived in their canoes, and during the trip
from the mouth of the river to Biloxi their sufferings for fresh water
had been intense. Such was the price paid to satisfy their craving
for a sight of their compatriots who were founding a settlement at
the mouth of the river. On the 15th of September, while Bienville was
reconnoitring the river at a distance of about twenty-three leagues
from its mouth, he was astonished by the sight of an armed English ship
of twelve guns.[34] This was one of the fleet despatched by Coxe, the
claimant of the grant from the English Government of the province of
Carolana.[35] The rumor concerning which Iberville had written to the
Minister the year before had proved true. Bienville found no difficulty
in persuading the captain that he was anticipated, that the country was
already in possession of the French, and that he had better abandon any
attempt to make a landing. The English captain yielded; but not without
a threat of intention to return, and an assertion of prior English
discovery. The bend in the river where this occurred was named English
Turn. The French refugees, unable to secure homes in the Mississippi
Valley under the English flag, petitioned to be permitted to do so as
French citizens.[36] The most Christian King was not fond of Protestant
colonists, and replied that he had not chased heretics out of his
kingdom to create a republic for them in America. Charlevoix states
that the same refugees renewed their offers to the Duke of Orleans when
regent, who also, rejected them.
Iberville, who had been sent out a second time, arrived at Biloxi Dec.
7, 1699. This time his instructions were, to examine the discoveries
made by Sauvolle and Bienville during his absence, and report
thereon. He was to bring back samples of buffalo-wool, of pearls, and
of ores.[37] He was to report on the products of the country, and to
see whether the native women and children could be made use of to
rear silk-worms. An attempt to propagate buffaloes was ordered to be
made at the fort. His report was to determine the question whether
the establishment should be continued or abandoned.[38] Sauvolle
was confirmed as “Commandant of the Fort of the Bay of Biloxi and
its environs,” and Bienville as _lieutenant du roy_. Bienville’s
report about the English ship showed the importance of fortifying the
entrance of the river. A spot was selected about eighteen leagues from
the mouth, and a fort was laid out. While they were engaged in its
construction Tonty arrived. He had made his final trip down the river,
from curiosity to see what was going on at its mouth.[39]
The colony was now fairly established, and, notwithstanding the
reluctance of the King, was to remain. Bienville retained his position
as second in rank, but was stationed at the post on the river. Surgères
was despatched to France. Iberville himself, before his return, made a
trip up the river to visit the Natchez and the Taensas. He was shocked,
while with the latter tribe, at the sacrifice of the lives of several
infants on the occasion of the temple being struck by lightning. He
reported that the plants and trees that he had brought from France were
doing well, but that the sugar-canes from the islands did not put forth
shoots.
With the return of Iberville to France, in the spring of 1700, the
romantic interest which has attached to his person while engaged in
these preliminary explorations ceases, and we no longer watch his
movements with the same care. His third voyage, which occupied from the
fall of 1701 to the summer of 1702, was devoid of interest. On this
occasion he anchored his fleet at Pensacola, proceeding afterward with
one of his vessels to Mobile. A period of inaction in the affairs of
the colony follows, coincident with the war of the Spanish Succession,
during which the settlement languished, and its history can be told in
few words. Free transportation from France to Louisiana was granted
to a few unfortunate women and children, relatives of colonists. Some
Canadians with Indian wives came down the river with their families.
Thus a semblance of a settlement was formed. Bienville succeeded to the
command, death having removed Sauvolle from his misery in the fall of
1701. The vitality of the wretched troops was almost equally sapped,
whether stationed at the fort on the spongy foothold by the river side,
or on the glaring sands of the gently sloping beach at Biloxi. Fishing,
hunting, searching for pearls, and fitting out expeditions to discover
imaginary mines occupied the time and the thoughts of the miserable
colonists; while the sages across the water still pressed upon their
attention the possibility of developing the trade in buffalo-wool, on
which they built their hopes of the future of the colony. Agriculture
was totally neglected; but hunting-parties and embassies to
Indians explored the region now covered by the States of Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.
[Illustration: ENVIRONS DU MISSISSIPI, 1700.
[This is figure 3 of plate i. in R. Thomassy’s _Géologie pratique de la
Louisiane_ (1860), called “Carte des environs du Mississipi (envoyée
à Paris en 1700).” He describes it (p. 208) as belonging to the
Archives Scientifiques, and thinks it a good record of the topography
as Iberville understood it. The material of this map and of another,
likewise preserved in the Archives Scientifiques de la Marine, are held
by Thomassy (p. 209) to have been unskilfully combined by M. de Fer in
his _Les Costes aux environs de la Rivière de Misisipi_, 1701.
Thomassy also noted (p. 215) in the Dépôt des Cartes de la Marine, and
found in the Bibliothèque Nationale, a copy of a map by Le Blond de la
Tour of the mouths of the Mississippi in 1722, _Entrée du Mississipi en
1722, avec un projet de fort_, of which Thomassy gives a reproduction
(pl. iii. fig. 1), and he considers it a map of the first importance in
tracing the changes which the river has made in its bed. He next notes
and depicts (pl. iii. fig. 2) a _Plan particulier de l’embouchure du
fleuve Saint-Louis_, which was drawn at New Orleans, May 29, 1724, and
is signed “De Pauger, Royal Engineer.” It assists one in tracing the
early changes, being on the same scale as La Tour’s map.—ED.]]
Le Sueur explored the upper Mississippi in search of mines. In 1700
Bienville and Saint-Denys scoured the Red River country in search of
Spaniards, but saw none. In 1701 Saint-Denys was gone for six months
on a trip to the same region, with the same result.[40] The records
of these expeditions and the Relations of the fathers have preserved
for us a knowledge of the country as it then was, and of the various
tribes which then inhabited the Valley of the Mississippi. From them we
obtain descriptions of the curious temples of the Natchez and Taensas;
of the perpetual fire preserved in them; of the custom of offering as a
sacrifice the first-fruits of the chase and the field; of the arbitrary
despotism of their grand chief, or Sun; of the curious hereditary
aristocracy transmitted through the female Suns;[41] of the strange
custom of sacrificing human lives on the death of a Grand Sun. To be
selected to accompany the chief to the other world was a privilege as
well as a duty; to avoid its performance when through ties of blood or
from other cause the selection was involuntary, was a disgrace and a
dishonor.
We find records of the presence of no less than four of the Le Moyne
brothers,—Iberville, Bienville, Sérigny, and Chateauguay. Iberville
was rewarded in 1699 by appointment as chevalier of the Order of St.
Louis; in 1702 by promotion to the position of _capitaine de vaisseau_;
and in 1703 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the colony, which
Pontchartrain in his official announcement calls “the colony of
Mississippi.” These honors did not quite meet his expectations. He
wanted a concession, with the title of count; the privilege of sending
a ship to Guinea for negroes; a lead mine; in short, he wanted a number
of things. He bore within his frame the seeds of disease contracted in
the south; and in 1706, while employed upon a naval expedition against
the English, he succumbed at Havana to an attack of yellow fever. With
him departed much of the life and hope of the colony. Supplies, which
during his life had never been abundant, were now sure to be scarce;
and we begin to find in the records of the colony the monotonous,
reiterated complaints of scarcity of provisions. These wails are
occasionally relieved by accounts of courtesies exchanged with the
Spanish settlements at Pensacola and St. Augustine. The war of the
Spanish Succession had brought Spain and France close together. The
Spanish forts stood in the pathway of the English and protected Biloxi.
When the Spanish commander called for help, Bienville responded with
men and ammunition; and when starvation fairly stared the struggling
Spanish settlement in the face, he shared with them his scant food.
They in turn reciprocated, and a regular debit and credit account of
these favors was kept, which was occasionally adjusted by commissioners
thereto duly appointed. So few were the materials of which histories
are ordinarily composed, during these years of torpor and inaction,
that one of the historians of that time thus epitomizes a period of
over a year: “During the rest of this year and all of the next nothing
new happened except the arrival of some brigantines from Martinique,
Rochelle, and Santo Domingo, which brought provisions and drinks which
they found it easy to dispose of.”
France was too deeply engaged in the struggle with England to forward
many emigrants. Canada could furnish but a scant population for the
scattered settlements from Cape Breton to the Mississippi. The hardy
adventurers who had accompanied Iberville in his search for the mouth
of the Mississippi, and the families which had drifted down from
Illinois, were as many as could be procured from her, and more than
she could spare. The unaccustomed heat of the climate and the fatal
fevers which lurked in the Southern swamps told upon the health of
the Canadians, and sickness thinned their ranks. In the midst of
the pressure of impending disasters which threatened the declining
years of the most Christian King, the tardy enthusiasm in behalf
of the colony, which his belief in its pearls and its buffalo-wool
had aroused, caused him to spare from the resources of a bankrupt
kingdom the means to equip and forward to the colony a vessel laden
with supplies and bearing seventy-five soldiers and four priests. The
tax upon the kingdom for even so feeble a contribution was enough to
be felt at such a time; but the result was hardly worth the effort.
The vessel arrived in July, 1704, during a period of sickness. Half
of her crew died. To assist in navigating her back to France twenty
soldiers were furnished. During the month of September the prevailing
epidemic carried off the brave Tonty and thirty of the newly arrived
soldiers. Given seventy-five soldiers as an increase to the force of a
colony, which in 1701 was reported to number only one hundred and fifty
persons, deduct twenty required to work the ship back, and thirty more
for death within six weeks after arrival, and the net result which we
obtain is not favorable for the rapid growth of the settlement. The
same ship, in addition to supplies, soldiers, and priests, brought
other cargo; namely, two Gray Sisters, four families of artisans, and
twenty-three poor girls. The “poor girls” were all married to the
resident Canadians within thirty days. With the exception of the visit
of a frigate in 1701, and the arrival of a store-ship in 1703, this
vessel is the only arrival outside of Iberville’s expeditions which is
recorded in the _Journal historique_ up to that date. The wars and
rumors of wars between the Indians soon disclosed a state of things at
the South which in some of its features resembled the situation at the
North. The Cherokees and Chickasaws were so placed geographically that
they came in contact with English traders from Carolina and Virginia.
Penicaut, when on his way up the river with Le Sueur, met one of
these enterprising merchants among the Arkansas, of whom he says, “We
found an English trader here who was of great assistance in obtaining
provisions for us, as our stock was rapidly declining.” Le Sueur says,
“I asked him who sent him here. He showed me a passport from the
governor of Carolina, who, he said, claimed to be master of the river.”
Thus English traders were here stumbling-blocks to the French precisely
as they had been farther north. Their influence appears to have been
used in stirring up the Indians to hostile acts, just as in New York
the Iroquois were incited to attack the Canadians. The Choctaws, a
powerful tribe, were on the whole friendly to the French. The wars in
Louisiana were not so disastrous to the French as the raids of the Five
Nations had proved in the Valley of the St. Lawrence. The vengeance of
the Chickasaws was easily sated with a few Choctaw scalps, and perhaps
with the capture of a few Indian women and children whom they could
sell to the English settlers in Carolina as slaves. Hence the number of
French lives lost in these attacks was insignificant.
The territory of Louisiana was no more vague and indefinite than
its form of government. Even its name was long in doubt. It was
indifferently spoken of as Louisiana or Mississippi in many despatches.
Sauvolle was left as commander of the post when Iberville returned to
France after his first voyage. In this office he was confirmed, and
Bienville succeeded to the same position. True, the post was the colony
then, but when Iberville was in Louisiana it was he who negotiated
with the Indians; it was he of whom the Company of Canada complained
for interfering with the trade in beaver-skins; it was he whom the
Court evidently looked upon as the head of the colony even before he
was formally appointed to the chief command. This chaotic state of
affairs not only produced confusion, but it engendered jealousies and
fostered quarrels. The Company of Canada found fault with Iberville
for interfering with the beaver trade. The Governor of Canada claimed
that Louisiana should be brought under his jurisdiction. Iberville
insisted that the boundaries should be defined; and complained that the
Canadians belittled him with the Indians when the two colonies clashed,
by contrasting Canadian liberality with his poverty.
[Illustration:
This follows an engraving given in Margry’s collection, vol. v.
Other engravings, evidently from the same original, but different in
expression, are in Shea’s _Charlevoix_, vol. i. etc.]
Le Sueur, who by express orders had accompanied Iberville on his
second voyage, was holding a fort on the upper Mississippi at the
same time that “Juchereau de Saint-Denys,[42] lieutenant-général de
la juridiction de Montréal,” was granted permission to proceed from
Canada with twenty-four men to the Mississippi,[43] there to establish
tanneries and to mine for lead and copper. One Nicolas de la Salle,
a purser in the naval service, was sent over to perform the duties
of _commissaire_. The office of _commissaire-ordonnateur_ was the
equivalent of the intendant,—a counterpoise to the governor and a spy
upon his actions. La Salle’s relation to this office was apparently the
same as Bienville’s to the position of governor. A purser performed the
duties of _commissaire_; a midshipman, those of commanding officer.
Of course La Salle’s presence in the colony could only breed trouble;
and we find him reporting that “Iberville, Bienville, and Chateauguay,
the three brothers, are thieves and knaves capable of all sorts of
misdeeds.” Bienville, on his part, complains that “M. de la Salle,
purser, would not give Chateauguay pay for services performed by order
of the minister.” This state of affairs needed amendment. Iberville
had never reported in the colony after his appointment in 1703 as
commander-in-chief. Bienville had continued at the actual head of
affairs. In February, 1708, it was ascertained in the colony that M. de
Muys had started from France to supersede Bienville, but had died on
the way.
M. Diron d’Artaguette, who had been appointed
_commissaire-ordonnateur_,[44] with orders to examine into the conduct
of the officers of the colony and to report upon the condition of its
affairs, arrived in Mobile in February, 1708. An attempt had apparently
been made to organize Louisiana on the same system as prevailed in
the other colonies. Artaguette made his investigation, and returned
to France in 1711. During his brief stay the monotony of the record
had been varied by the raid of an English privateer upon Dauphin
(formerly Massacre) Island, where a settlement had been made in 1707
and fortified in 1709. The peripatetic capital had been driven, by the
manifest unfitness of the situation, from Biloxi to a point on the
Mobile River, from which it was now compelled by floods to move to
higher lands eight leagues from the mouth of the river. No variation
was rung upon the chronic complaint of scarcity of provisions. The
frequent changes in the position of headquarters, lack of faith in
the permanence of the establishment, and the severe attacks of fever
endured each year by many of the settlers, discouraged those who might
otherwise have given their attention to agriculture. To meet this
difficulty, Bienville proposed to send Indians to the islands, there to
be exchanged for negroes. If his plan had met with approval, perhaps
he might have made the colony self-supporting, and thus have avoided
in 1710 the scandal of subsisting his men by scattering them among
the very savages whom he wished to sell into slavery. It is not to be
wondered at that the growth of the colony under these circumstances
was very slow. In 1701 the number of inhabitants was stated at one
hundred and fifty. In 1708 La Salle reported the population as composed
of a garrison of one hundred and twenty-two persons, including
priests, workmen, and boys; seventy-seven inhabitants, men, women,
and children; and eighty Indian slaves. In 1712 there were four
hundred persons, including twenty negroes. Some of the colonists had
accumulated a little property, and Bienville reported that he was
obliged to watch them lest they should go away.
On the 14th day of September, 1712, and of his reign the seventieth
year, Louis, by the grace of God king of France and Navarre, granted
to Sieur Antony Crozat the exclusive right to trade in all the lands
possessed by him and bounded by New Mexico and by the lands of the
English of Carolina; in all the establishments, ports, havens,
rivers, and principally the port and haven of the Isle of Dauphin,
heretofore called Massacre, the River St. Louis, heretofore called the
Mississippi, from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois, together
with the River of St. Philip, heretofore called the Missouri, and of
the St. Jerome, heretofore called the Ouabache, with all the countries,
territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which fall directly
or indirectly into that part of the River St. Louis. Louisiana thus
defined was to remain a separate colony, subordinate, however, to the
Government of New France. The exclusive grant of trade was to last for
fifteen years. Mines were granted in perpetuity subject to a royalty,
and to forfeiture if abandoned. Lands could be taken for settlement,
manufactures, or for cultivation; but if abandoned they reverted to
the Crown. It was provided in Article XIV., “if for the farms and
plantations which the said Sieur Crozat wishes to carry on he finds it
desirable to have some negroes in the said country of Louisiana, he
may send a ship each year to trade for them directly on the coast of
Guinea, taking a permit from the Guinea Company so to do. He may sell
these negroes to the inhabitants of the colony of Louisiana, and we
forbid all other companies and persons whatsoever, under any pretence
whatsoever, to introduce any negroes or traffic for them in the said
country, nor shall the said Crozat carry any negroes elsewhere.”
Crozat was a man of commercial instinct,—developed, however, only
to the standard of the times. The grant to him of these extensive
privileges was acknowledged in the patent to have been made for
financial favors received by the King, and also because the King
believed that a successful business man would be able to manage the
affairs of the colony. The value of the grant was dependent upon the
extent to which Crozat could develop the commerce of the settlement;
and he seems to have set to work in earnest to test its possibilities.
The journals of the colonists now record the arrivals of vessels with
stores, provisions, and passengers. Supplies were maintained during
this commercial administration upon a more liberal basis. The fear of
starvation was for the time postponed, and the colonists were spared
the humiliation of depending for means of subsistence upon the labor
of those whom they termed savages. Merchandise was imported, and
only purchasers were needed to complete the transaction. There being
no possible legal competition for peltries within the limits of the
colony, the market price was what the monopolist chose to pay. Louis
XIV. had forbidden “all persons and companies of all kinds, whatever
their quality and condition, and whatever the pretext might be, from
trading in Louisiana under pain of confiscation of goods and ships,
and perhaps of other and severer punishments.” Yet so oblivious were
the English traders of their impending fate that they continued to
trade among the tribes which were friendly to them, and at times even
went so far as to encroach upon the trade with the tribes allied to
the French and fairly within French lines. So negligent were the
_coureurs de bois_ of their own interest, that when Crozat put the
price of peltries below what the English and Spanish traders were
paying, they would work their way to Charleston and to Pensacola. So
indifferent were the Spaniards to a commerce not carried on in their
own ships, and so thoroughly did they believe in the principles of the
grant to Crozat, that they would not permit his vessels to trade in
their ports. Thus it happened that La Mothe Cadillac, who had arrived
in the colony in May, 1713, bearing his own commission as governor,
was soon convinced that the commerce of the colony was limited to the
sale of vegetables to the Spaniards at Pensacola, and the interchange
of a few products with the islands. His disappointment early showed
itself in his despatches. His selection for the post was unfortunate.
By persistent pressure he had succeeded while in Canada in convincing
the Court of the necessity for a post at Detroit and of the propriety
of putting La Mothe Cadillac in charge of it. He had upon his hands at
that time a chronic war with the priests, whose work he belittled in
his many letters. His reputation in this respect was so well known that
the inhabitants of Montreal in a protest against the establishment of
the post at Detroit alleged that he was “known not to be in the odor
of sanctity.” He had carried his prejudices with him to that isolated
post, and had flooded the archives with correspondence, memoranda, and
reports stamped with evidence of his impatience and lack of policy. The
vessel which brought him to Louisiana brought also another instalment
of marriageable girls. Apparently they were not so attractive as the
first lot. Some of them remained single so long that the officials were
evidently doubtful about finding them husbands. By La Mothe’s orders,
according to Penicaut, the MM. de la Loire were instructed to establish
a trading-post at Natchez in 1713. A post in Alabama called Fort
Toulouse was established in 1714.
[Illustration]
Saint-Denys in 1714 and again in 1716 went to Mexico. His first
expedition was evidently for the purpose of opening commercial
relations with the Spaniards. No signs of Spanish occupation were met
by the party till they reached the vicinity of the Rio Grande. This
visit apparently roused the Spaniards to the necessity of occupying
Texas, for they immediately sent out an expedition from Mexico to
establish a number of missions in that region. Saint-Denys, who on
his return accompanied this expedition, was evidently satisfied that
the Spanish authorities would permit traffic with the posts in New
Mexico.[45] A trading expedition was promptly organized by him in the
fall of 1716 and despatched within a few months of his return. This
expedition on its way to the presidio on the Rio Grande passed through
several Indian towns in the “province of Lastekas,” where they found
Spanish priests and Spanish soldiers.[46] Either Saint-Denys had been
deceived, or the Spanish Government had changed its views. The goods of
the expedition were seized and confiscated. Saint-Denys himself went to
Mexico to secure their release, if possible. His companions returned to
Louisiana. Meantime La Mothe had in January, 1717, sent a sergeant and
six soldiers to occupy the Island of Natchitoches.
While the French and Spanish traders and soldiers were settling down
on the Red River and in Texas, in the posts and missions which were to
determine the boundaries between Texas and Louisiana, La Mothe himself
was not idle. In 1715 he went up to Illinois in search of silver
mines. He brought back lead ore, but no silver. In 1716 the tribe of
the Natchez showed signs of restlessness, and attacked some of the
French. Bienville was sent with a small force of thirty-four soldiers
and fifteen sailors to bring this powerful tribe to terms. He succeeded
by deceit in accomplishing what he could not have done by fighting,
and actually compelled the Indians, through fear for the lives of some
chiefs whom he had treacherously seized, to construct a fort on their
own territory, the sole purpose of which was to hold them in awe. From
that date a garrison was maintained at Natchez. Bienville, who was then
commissioned as “Commandant of the Mississippi and its tributaries,”
was expected to make this point his headquarters. The jealousy between
himself and La Mothe had ripened into open quarrel. The latter covered
reams of paper with his crisp denunciations of affairs in Louisiana,
until Crozat, worn out with his complaints, finally wrote, “I am of
opinion that all the disorders in the colony of which M. de la Mothe
complains proceed from his own maladministration of affairs.”
No provision was made in the early days of the colony for the
establishment of a legal tribunal; military law alone prevailed. By an
edict issued Dec. 18, 1712, the governor and _commissaire-ordonnateur_
were constituted a tribunal for three years from the day of its
meeting, with the same powers as the councils of Santo Domingo and
Martinique. The tribunal was afterward re-established with increased
numbers and more definite powers.
On the 23d day of August, 1717, the Regent accepted a proposition made
to him by Sieur Antony Crozat to remit the remainder of the term of
his exclusive privilege. Although it must have wounded the pride of
a man like Crozat to acknowledge that so gigantic a scheme, fraught
with such exaggerated hopes and possibilities, was a complete failure,
yet there is no record of his having undertaken to save himself by
means of the annual shipload of negroes which he was authorized,
under Article XIV. of his grant, to import. The late King had simply
granted him permission to traffic in human beings. It remained for the
Regent representing the Grand Monarque’s great-grandson to convert
this permission into an absolute condition in the grant to the Company
to which Crozat’s rights were assigned. The population of the colony
was estimated at seven hundred of all ages, sexes, and colors, not
including natives, when in March, 1717, the affairs of government were
turned over to L’Epinay, the successor of La Mothe.
[Illustration]
The charter of the Company of the West, which succeeded to Crozat’s
rights, was registered on the 6th of September, 1717. The formation of
the Company was based upon an ingenious attempt to fund in the shape of
_rentes_—practically a form of annuity bonds—that portion of the debt
of the kingdom then outstanding as _billets d’état_. Louis XIV., at his
death, had left the nation encumbered with a debt generally estimated
at about 2,500,000,000, but rated above 3,000,000,000 livres[47] by
some writers. His necessities had compelled him to exhaust every
possible means of raising money, even to pledging specifically in
advance large portions of the revenue for several years. A floating
debt of about 600,000,000 livres was arbitrarily scaled down by the
Regent to 250,000,000, and placed in the form known as _billets
d’état_. Even after this reduction the new securities were at a
discount of from 60 to 70 per cent. It was to provide relief from this
condition of affairs that the Company of the West was inaugurated. The
capital stock was divided into shares of five hundred livres each. The
number of shares was not limited in the original edict. Payment for
them was made exclusively in _billets d’état_. For these _billets_,
when surrendered to the Government in sums of one million livres,
there were issued to the Company _rentes_ in perpetuity for forty
thousand livres. The State was relieved from the pressure of so much
of its debt as was thus used, by assuming the payment of 4 per cent
interest upon the principal. To secure this interest money certain
revenues of the Government were pledged. Thus the Company had an
income of 4 per cent upon its capital guaranteed by Government. If the
Louisiana grant was worth anything, all that could be made out of it
was an additional temptation to the investor. That grant consisted of a
monopoly of the commerce of the colony and of the absolute control of
its affairs, the proprietorship of all lands that they should improve,
and the ownership of mines. The privilege of granting lands free from
all feudal obligation was expressly permitted. The protection of the
Government was guaranteed to the servants of the Company. During the
existence of the charter, which was for twenty-five years from the date
of registration, property in Louisiana was to be exempt from taxation.
With the exception of the condition to import six thousand white
persons and three thousand negroes, this vast gift was practically
unencumbered. To these privileges was also added the exclusive right
to purchase beavers in Canada. The more readily to float the capital,
the shares of aliens were exempt from the _droit d’aubaine_ and from
confiscation in time of war.
The name of Law, director-general of the bank, led the list of
directors nominated in the royal edict. On the death of Louis XIV.
this famous Scotchman had offered his services to the Regent, and by
ready wit and plausible arguments had convinced him that measures
could be taken which would help the State carry the heavy load of debt
with which it was burdened. The foundation, on the 2d of May, 1716,
of a private bank of issue with a capital of 6,000,000 livres, was an
experimental step. The shares of this bank were to be paid for, 25 per
cent in coin and 75 per cent in the _billets d’état_. The redemption
of each bank-note was promised in coin of the same weight and standard
as the coinage of its date. At a time when changes were frequent in
the weight and alloy of coin, this feature made the notes of the bank
nominally more stable than the coinage of the realm.
Law’s fundamental idea was that the prosperity of a community was
proportionate to the amount of the circulating medium, and that good
faith would cause paper to be preferred to coin for this purpose.
In his communications to the Regent he recognized the relation of
supply and demand to the subject. His proposition was to establish a
government bank of issue which should act as the royal treasurer. The
distrust of the Regent led him at first to decline this enterprise,
but permission was given to Law to found a private bank. Under
the conservative restrictions with which it was surrounded, the
experimental bank was successful. The withdrawal of Crozat furnished
opportunity to overcome the scruples of the Regent by substituting for
the proposed royal bank a commercial company, whose stock, according
to the original plan, was to be purchased exclusively with _billets
d’état_, which, as before shown, were to be converted into 4 per
cent _rentes_ payable half-yearly. An avenue was thus opened for
the use of the _billets_. If holders availed themselves of it, the
Government would not only be relieved from their pressure, but also
from the discredit of their heavy discount. It was known that Crozat
had abandoned the grant because he could not make money out of it.
It was evident that capital and patience were necessary to develop
the commerce of Louisiana. Of money the Company received none from
original subscriptions to its stock, although by the terms of the
edict the interest for the year 1717 was to be reserved as a working
capital. Doubts as to whether this would be sufficient to develop the
colony made investors wary at first of its subscription lists. It was
soon found necessary to define the amount of capital stock. This was
fixed at 100,000,000 livres by an edict registered in December, 1717.
The grant in August, 1718, of the right to farm the tobacco, and the
extension of this right from six to nine years in September of the same
year, served to quicken popular interest in the Company.
Law’s bank having proved a pronounced success, the Regent was converted
to his scheme, the shareholders of the General Bank were reimbursed,
and it was converted into the Royal Bank. All limit upon the power to
issue bills was by this step practically removed. The character of the
coin in which the bills were to be redeemed was no longer limited to
the livre of the weight and standard of the date of the note, but was
changed to the livre of Tours. The very restraints which had operated
to give that confidence which Law had pronounced essential for a
paper-money circulation were thus removed.
In quick succession the companies of Senegal, of the East Indies,
of China, and of Africa were absorbed by the cormorant Company of
the West. Its title was changed to “the Company of the Indies.” The
profits of the mint and the general farms were purchased, and by a
series of edicts the management of nearly all the financial affairs
of the kingdom were lodged in the Company. Meantime France had been
deluged with a flood of notes[48] from the Royal Bank. The great
abundance of money had lowered interest and revived business. To meet
the various payments which the Company had assumed for the privileges
which it had purchased, as well as to satisfy the increasing demand for
shares, the capital was increased by a series of edicts in the fall
of 1719 to 600,000 shares.[49] Outstanding debts of the Government to
the extent of 1,500,000,000 livres were ordered to be redeemed, and
in place thereof new _rentes_ were to be issued to the Company at 3
per cent. After the first subscription, payment for stock had been
stipulated in coin or bank-notes, in place of _billets d’état_. The
various privileges acquired by the Company had been granted one by one,
and their accumulation had been slow enough to enable the public to
appreciate their value and to comprehend the favor in which the Company
was held by the Regent. Subscribers for new shares were therefore found
with increasing ease after each new grant. The demand for the stock
enabled the Company to place each new issue on the market at premiums.
The later issues were at ten times the par value.
[Illustration: BILL OF THE BANQUE ROYALE OF LAW (1720).
Reduced from a cut in La Croix’s _Dix-huitième siècle_.]
The price of the stock was still further inflated on the market by
requiring as a condition precedent for subscriptions to the new
issues, that persons desiring to subscribe should be holders of a
certain number of shares of the old stock for each share of the new.
Subscriptions were in turn stimulated by spreading the payments over
a protracted period, on the instalment plan, thus enabling persons of
small capital who wished to profit by the upward movement of the stock
to operate on margins. To the competition fostered by these ingenious
and at that time novel devices was now added the pressure for new
shares on the part of those whose investments had been disturbed by the
redemption of the _rentes_. Their demand that some favor be shown them
in the matter of subscriptions was recognized, and edicts were issued
which removed the stipulation that payments should be made in coin or
bank-notes; and in their place _billets d’état_, notes of the common
treasury, and orders on the cashier of the Company given in liquidation
of Government obligations, were ordered to be received. Shares rose
to ten thousand francs,[50] and even higher; and those who paid for
original shares in discredited _billets d’état_ could now realize forty
times their purchase-money. The temptation to those of conservative
disposition to realize their profits and convert them into coin or
property now burst the bubble. For a time the Company, by purchasing
its own stock, was able to check the impending disaster; but in spite
of all efforts of this sort, and notwithstanding edict after edict
ordaining the compulsory circulation of the notes and demonetizing gold
and silver, the bank, which had in the mean time been placed under
control of the Company, collapsed. The promoter of the scheme, in the
same year that he was controller-general of the finances of France, was
a fugitive and almost a pauper.
During the progress of these events Louisiana had become the scene
of active emigration, ludicrously small when compared with its great
domain, but active beyond any preceding movement of population on
the part of the French. On the 9th of February, 1718, three vessels
despatched by the Company arrived at Dauphin Island, bearing troops and
colonists, and also conveying to Bienville[51] the welcome news that he
was appointed _commandant-général_. In September, 1717,[52] Illinois
had been detached from New France and incorporated with Louisiana.
Boisbriant, who was appointed to the command of that province, did
not assume the government until the fall of 1718. The Company set to
work honestly to develop the resources of the country. Engineers were
sent over to superintend the construction of public works. The pass at
the mouth of the river was to be mapped, and two little towers were
ordered to be erected “at the entrance to the river, sufficiently
high to be seen from afar during the day, and upon which fire can be
made at night.” The coast was to be surveyed, and orders were given
to effect a landing at St. Joseph’s Bay,—a step which was taken only
to be followed by its prompt abandonment. Concessions were made to
many distinguished men in France, with conditions attached to each
that a certain number of colonists should be imported. Unfortunately
for the influence of these grants upon the future of the colony, it
was not required that the grantees themselves should live upon their
concessions. The grant to Law, twelve miles square, was situated on
the Arkansas River. By agreement, he undertook to introduce fifteen
hundred settlers. Vessels began now to arrive with frequency, bringing
involuntary as well as voluntary emigrants. The power of the courts
in France was invoked, apparently with success, to secure numbers
for Louisiana, without regard to character. Vagrants and convicts,
considered dangerous for French society, were thought suitable for
colonists. These steps were soon followed by complaints from the colony
of the worthlessness of such settlers and of the little reliance that
could be placed upon them in military service.[53] Raynal, in his
vigorous way, characterizes them as “the scum of Europe, which France
had, as it were, vomited forth into the New World at the time of Law’s
system.”
The new commanding general sent a force of mechanics and convicts
in February, 1718, to clear the territory now occupied by the city
of New Orleans, and to lay the foundations of a new settlement.[54]
The channel at Dauphin Island having been blocked by a storm, the
headquarters of the colony were removed, first to Old Biloxi, and
afterward by order of the Company in 1719, to New Biloxi. During
the fall of 1718 MM. Benard de la Harpe and Le Page du Pratz, whose
names are associated with the annals of Louisiana, both arrived in
the colony. The pages of the chroniclers of colonial events are now
sprinkled with the names of ships which arrived with troops and
emigrants, including young women from the hospitals and prisons of
Paris. On the 6th of June, 1719, two vessels arrived direct from the
coast of Guinea with “five hundred head of negroes.” The Company had
entered with fervor upon the performance of the stipulation imposed by
the charter.
The news of the war between France and Spain reached the colony in the
spring of 1719. The inconvenience of the roadsteads occupied by the
French had made them anxious to possess Pensacola. Iberville had urged
upon the Government the necessity of procuring its cession from Spain
if possible. So forcible were his arguments that negotiations to that
end had been opened by Pontchartrain.
[Illustration: NOUVELLE ORLÉANS.[55]]
Although the settlement had been neglected by the Spanish Government,
yet the proposition to cede it to France was rejected with pompous
arguments, in which the title of Spain was asserted as dating back
to the famous Bull of Alexander VI., dividing the newly discovered
portions of the world between Spain and Portugal.[56] Upon receipt
of the news of hostility between the two nations, Bienville promptly
availed himself of the opportunity to capture the place.
[Illustration: _Plan de la_ Nouvelle Orleans _Capitale de la Louisiane_
[This is the “Plan de la Nouvelle Orléans” (1718-1720) in Dumont’s
_Mémoires historiques de la Louisiane_, ii. 50, made by Le Blond
de la Tour and Pauger. A plan signed by N. B[ellin] in 1744, “Sur
les manuscrits du dépôt des chartes de la marine,” was included in
Charlevoix’s _Nouvelle France_, ii. 433, and reproduced in Shea’s
translation, vi. 40. In November, 1759, Jefferys published a “Plan
of New Orleans, with the disposition of its quarters and canals as
they have been traced by M. de la Tour in the year 1720.” He inserted
this map (which included also a map of the lower Mississippi) in the
_History of the French Dominion in America_ (London, 1760), and in
the _General Topography of North America and West Indies_ (London,
1768).—ED.]]
The episodes of the capture of Pensacola by the French, its recapture
by the Spaniards, the desertion of a large part of the French garrison,
the successful resistance of Sérigny to the siege of Dauphin Island
by a Spanish fleet, the opportune arrival of a French fleet, and the
capture again of Pensacola, furnished occupation and excitement to
the colonists for a few months, but had no other result. The port
was returned to Spain when peace was restored.[57] For several years
the French at Natchitoches, and the Spaniards a few miles off at the
Mission of the Adaes, had lived peacefully side by side. The French
lieutenant in command of the post took advantage of the outbreak
of hostilities to destroy the Spanish Mission. It was, however,
immediately reoccupied by the Spaniards in force, and was permanently
retained by them. In Illinois, through the arrival of a band of
Missouris who had come to chant the calumet bedecked in chasubles and
stoles, and tricked out in the paraphernalia of the altar, Boisbriant
learned that a Spanish expedition from Santa Fé, in 1720, had been
completely annihilated by these savages.
[Illustration: NEW ORLEANS IN 1719.
[This is reproduced from plate ii. of Thomassy’s _Géologie pratique
de la Louisiane_. There is another cut in Gay’s _Popular History of
the United States_, ii. 530. To M. de Vallette Laudun, or Laudreu,
sometimes referred to as the Chevalier de Bonrepos, is ascribed the
authorship of a _Description du Mississipi, écrite de Mississipi en
France à Mademoiselle D._ ... (Paris, 1720), the writer being the
captain of the ship “Toulouse.” It was reprinted as _Relation de
la Louisiane, écrite à une dame par un officier de marine_, in the
_Relations de la Louisiane et du fleuve Mississipi_, published at
Amsterdam in 1720, which corresponds to vol. v. of Bernard’s _Recueil
des voyages au nord_. It was reprinted as _Journal d’un voyage à la
Louisiane fait en 1720 par M. ..., capitaine de vaisseau du roi_,
both at Paris and La Haye in 1768 (Carter-Brown, vol. iii. nos. 280,
1,641).—ED.]]
Far more important in their effect upon the prosperity of the colony
than any question of capture or occupation which arose during these
hostilities were the ordinances passed by the Company of the West, on
the 25th of April, 1719, in which were announced the fixed prices at
which supplies would be furnished to inhabitants at different points,
and the arbitrary amounts that would be paid at the same places for
peltries, tobacco, flour, and such other articles as the Company would
receive. Gayarré summarizes the condition of the colonists under these
rules as follows: “Thus the unfortunates who were sent to Louisiana had
to brave not only the insalubrity of the climate and the cruelty of the
savages, but in addition they were held in a condition of oppressive
slavery. They could only buy of the Company at the Company’s price.
They could only sell to the Company for such sum as it chose to pay;
and they could only leave the colony by permission of the Company.”
Whites brought from Europe and blacks brought from Africa “worked
equally for one master,—the all-powerful Company.”
Through a title based upon La Salle’s occupation in 1685, strengthened
by the explorations of Bienville and Saint-Denys in 1700, the
subsequent journeys of Saint-Denys in 1701, 1714, and 1716, and the
occupation of Natchitoches, the French laid claim to a large part of
what now constitutes Texas. Benard de la Harpe left Dauphin Island
toward the end of August, 1718, with fifty men, to establish a post on
his concession at Cadodaquais. He settled on land of the Nassonites,
eighty leagues in a straight line from Natchitoches. He was instructed
to open up trade with the neighboring Spaniards, and through him
Bienville forwarded a letter to the Spanish Governor. A correspondence
ensued between La Harpe and the Governor at Trinity River, in which
each expressed doubts as to the right of the other to be where he was.
La Harpe closed it with an assurance that he could be found in command
of his fort, and could convince the Governor that he knew how to defend
it. No overt act followed this fiery correspondence, and La Harpe
shortly after went on an extended tour of exploration to the northward
and westward of his concession. We hear no more of this post from
French sources; but Spanish authorities assert that after the Mission
at Adaes was broken up, the Spaniards returned with an armed force and
the French retired to Natchitoches. That post was then put under charge
of Saint-Denys. Great stress was laid at Paris upon the necessity
for occupying the coast to the west of the mouth of the Mississippi,
and positive orders had been issued to that effect by the King on
the 16th of November, 1718. Nothing was done, however, until 1720,
when six men were landed one hundred and thirty leagues west of the
Mississippi and left to perish. In 1721 these orders were reiterated,
and La Harpe was appointed “commandant and inspector of commerce of
the Bay of St. Bernard.” On August 16 he sailed to take possession of
that bay. His equipment and his force were totally inadequate for the
purpose. He made a landing at some point on the coast; but finding the
Indians hostile, he was obliged to abandon the expedition. With this
futile attempt all efforts on the part of the French to occupy any
point on the coast of Texas ceased. On the other hand, they remained
in uninterrupted possession of Natchitoches;[58] and the Spaniards,
though they continued to occupy Adaes as long as the French were at
Natchitoches, never renewed their attempts on the region of the Osage
and the Missouri.
[Illustration: NEW ORLEANS AND THE MISSISSIPPI.
[This is a part of the “Carte de la Côte de la Louisiane, par M. de
Sérigny en 1719 et 1720,” as given in Thomassy’s _Géologie pratique de
la Louisiane_, 1860.—ED.]]
During the year 1721 the mortality of the immigrants on the passage
over seriously affected the growth of the colony. Among other similar
records it is reported that in March two vessels arrived, having on
board forty Germans,—all that remained out of two hundred. The same
month the “Africaine” landed one hundred and eighty negroes out of two
hundred and eighty on board when she sailed, and the “Duc du Maine”
three hundred and ninety-four out of four hundred and fifty-three. The
pains of the poor creatures did not end with the voyage. Some of them
“died of hunger and suffering on the sands of Fort Louis.” Enfeebled
by the confinement and trials of a protracted ocean voyage, immigrants
and slaves alike were landed on the beach at Biloxi, where neither
suitable food nor proper shelter was furnished them.[59] Indeed, so
great was the distress for food in 1721, that the very efforts put
forth to increase the population were a source of embarrassment and
suffering. There were not provisions enough left at Biloxi in September
to maintain the garrison; and once again, after more than twenty years’
occupation by the French, the troops at Biloxi were dispersed among the
Indians for subsistence.
The engineers who were watching the action of the Mississippi kept
a record of their soundings. They attributed the changes which they
observed to the scouring action of the water, and suggested methods[60]
for keeping up the strength of the current by restraining the river
within limits. Their observations confirmed Bienville in the opinion
that New Orleans could be reached directly by vessel; thus avoiding the
wretched anchorage, fifteen miles from shore,[61] and the expensive and
troublesome transfer from ship to barge, and from barge to boat, only
to effect a landing by wading, at a spot which was still several days
of difficult travel from the natural highway of the country.
The news of the collapse of the Royal Bank and of the flight of Law
reached the colony in June, 1721. The expectation that the troubles
of the mother country would react upon the fortunes of the colony
created great excitement; but the immediate result fell short of the
anticipation. Affairs in the territory of Law’s concession were in
great confusion. The Alsatians and Germans whom he had placed upon it,
finding themselves neglected and the future of the grant doubtful,
came down to New Orleans in the expectation of being sent back to
Europe. The colony did not willingly relinquish its hold on any of
its settlers. These industrious laborers, who had been imported to
till the soil, were placated by the grant of concessions along the
Mississippi at a point about twenty miles above New Orleans. By their
skill in market-gardening they secured the control of that business
in the little town which almost in spite of the Company had sprung
up on the banks of the river. Bienville, supported by Pauger, one of
the engineers, had for some time favored New Orleans as headquarters.
The views of the Company on this point had fluctuated. In 1718 the
instructions were, to try to open the river to vessels. In 1720 Ship
Island, the Alibamons, and the Ouabache (Ohio) were the points they
proposed to fortify. In 1721 Pauger prepared a plan for the proposed
city of New Orleans. At that time there were only a few cabins there.
It was necessary to cut down brush and trees to run the lines.
Settlers were attracted by these proceedings, but jealousy stopped the
work for a while. Charlevoix, who visited the place in 1722, says that
the transfer of the stores of the Company from Biloxi to New Orleans
began about the middle of June of that year.
The “Aventurier” arrived in the roadstead in the latter part of May,
1722, bringing orders to make New Orleans the principal establishment
of the colony. She was taken up the river by the engineers La Tour and
Pauger, and orders were given that all ships should thereafter enter
the Mississippi. The “Aventurier” reached New Orleans July 7, and
on the 5th of August the departure of Bienville from Biloxi for New
Orleans is recorded.
Exchange and currency had proved to be serious drawbacks to the
prosperity of Canada. Louisiana was destined to undergo a similar
experience. Paper money and card money were issued by the Company.
Arbitrary ordinances requiring the presentation of these bills for
redemption within a stated time were suddenly promulgated. The price
at which the silver dollar should circulate was raised and lowered by
edict. Copper money was also forced into circulation. The “Aventurier”
had some of this coin on board when she made her famous trip to New
Orleans. It was imported, conformably to the edict of June, 1721. The
inhabitants were enjoined to receive it without demur, as the Company
would take it on the same terms as gold and silver.
To provide for the adjustment of disputes, the colony was divided into
nine districts, and judicial powers were conferred upon the commanders
of the districts. The jurisdiction of the Superior Council was made
exclusively appellate. A similar appellate court, subordinate, however,
to the Superior Council, was provided for Illinois.
By ordinance issued May 16, 1722, by the commissioners of the Council,
with consent of the Bishop of Quebec, the province of Louisiana was
divided into three spiritual jurisdictions. The first comprised the
banks of the Mississippi from the Gulf to the mouth of the Ohio, and
included the region to the west between these latitudes. The Capuchins
were to officiate in the churches and missions of this district, and
their Superior was to reside in New Orleans. The second district
comprised all the territory north of the Ohio, and was assigned to the
charge of the Jesuits, whose headquarters were to be in Illinois. The
district south of the Ohio and east of the Mississippi was assigned to
the Carmelites. The residence of their Superior was ordinarily to be
at Mobile. Each of the three Superiors was to be a grand vicar of the
Bishop of Quebec.
By ordinance of the Bishop of Quebec, issued Dec. 19, 1722, the
district of the Carmelites was added to that of the Capuchins. The
Carmelites then returned to France. In the month of December, 1723, the
northern boundary of this district was changed to Natchez, and all the
country north of that point, to the east and to the west, was put under
charge of the Jesuits.
On the 27th of June, 1725, the Company, to allay the fears of the
Capuchins, issued a new ordinance, in which they declared that the
Capuchins alone should have the right to perform ecclesiastical
functions in their district, and that no priest or monk of other
brotherhood should be permitted to do so except with their consent. By
request of the Capuchins, this was confirmed by patent from the King,
dated the 25th of July, 1725.
The Capuchins had neither the numbers nor the influence essential for
so great a work. For this reason the Company assigned the care of the
French posts of the district to the Capuchins, and the charge of the
Indian missions to the Jesuits; and an agreement was made, Feb. 26,
1726, with the Jesuit fathers, in which the latter undertook to furnish
missionaries for the required work. In consequence of this arrangement
it became necessary for the Jesuits to have an establishment in New
Orleans. Permission to have such establishment was granted by the
Company, on condition that they should exercise no ecclesiastical
function except by consent of the Capuchins. Beaubois, the Jesuit
Superior, disregarded this injunction, and undertook to override
the Capuchins, who would have returned to France if he had not been
recalled.
On the 13th of September, 1726, the Company entered into a contract
with the Ursulines, in which the latter agreed to provide six nuns for
the hospital and to educate the girls of New Orleans. The nuns, who
were furnished in pursuance of this agreement, sailed from France Feb.
23, 1727. After a perilous voyage, five months in length, they arrived
at New Orleans and at once entered on their work.
In 1724 the accumulated complaints of the several officers with whom
Bienville had come into collision produced his downfall. La Harpe came
to his rescue in a memorial upon the importance of the country and
the necessity of maintaining the colony. Louisiana was not to be held
responsible for frauds on the Company, nor for lack of system and bad
management in its affairs. The Company itself had “begun by sending
over convicts, vagrants, and degraded girls. The troops were made up
of deserters and men indiscriminately picked up in the streets of
Paris. The warehouses were openly robbed by clerks, who screened their
knaveries by countless false entries. Disadvantageous bargains were
made with companies of Swiss and Germans, of miners, and manufacturers
of tobacco,[62] which turned out absolutely without value because the
Company did not carry them out. A vast number of burdensome offices
were created. The greater part of the directors who were sent out
thought only of their own interests and of how they could thwart M. de
Bienville, a man more familiar with the country than they were. If he
proposed to bring ships up the river, they obstinately opposed him,
fearing that they would then no longer be able to maintain traffic with
the Spaniards and thus amass fortunes.” La Harpe’s interposition may
have subsequently influenced opinions as to Bienville’s merits, but
at the time it had no apparent result. In February, 1724, Bienville
received positive orders to return to France. The brief interval which
elapsed before he sailed gave him an opportunity to associate his name
with the issue of the harsh and arbitrary code of fifty-four articles
regulating the conduct of the unfortunate slaves in the colony, and
imposing penalties for violations of law.