1685-1687.
Denonville and Dongan.
Troubles of the New Governor • His Character • English Rivalry •
Intrigues of Dongan • English Claims • A Diplomatic Duel • Overt Acts •
Anger of Denonville • James II. checks Dongan • Denonville emboldened •
Strife in the North • Hudson's Bay • Attempted Pacification • Artifice
of Denonville • He prepares for War.
Denonville embarked at Rochelle in June, with his wife and a part of his
family. Saint-Vallier, the destined bishop, was in the same vessel; and
the squadron carried five hundred soldiers, of whom a hundred and fifty
died of fever and scurvy on the way. Saint-Vallier speaks in glowing
terms of the new governor. "He spent nearly all his time in prayer and
the reading of good books. The Psalms of David were always in his hands.
In all the voyage, I never saw him do any thing wrong; and there was
nothing in his words or acts which did not show a solid virtue and a
consummate prudence, as well in the duties of the Christian life as in
the wisdom of this world." [1]
[1] Saint-Vallier, État Présent de l'Église, 4 (Quebec, 1856).
When they landed, the nuns of the Hôtel-Dieu were overwhelmed with the
sick. "Not only our halls, but our church, our granary, our hen-yard,
and every corner of the hospital where we could make room, were filled
with them." [2]
[2] Juchereau, Hôtel-Dieu, 283.
Much was expected of Denonville. He was to repair the mischief wrought
by his predecessor, and restore the colony to peace, strength, and
security. The king had stigmatized La Barre's treaty with the Iroquois
as disgraceful, and expressed indignation at his abandonment of the
Illinois allies. All this was now to be changed; but it was easier to
give the order at Versailles than to execute it in Canada. Denonville's
difficulties were great; and his means of overcoming them were small.
What he most needed was more troops and more money. The Senecas,
insolent and defiant, were still attacking the Illinois; the tribes of
the north-west were angry, contemptuous, and disaffected; the English of
New York were urging claims to the whole country south of the Great
Lakes, and to a controlling share in all the western fur trade; while
the English of Hudson's Bay were competing for the traffic of the
northern tribes, and the English of New England were seizing upon the
fisheries of Acadia, and now and then making piratical descents upon its
coast. The great question lay between New York and Canada. Which of
these two should gain mastery in the west?
Denonville, like Frontenac, was a man of the army and the court. As a
soldier, he had the experience of thirty years of service; and he was in
high repute, not only for piety, but for probity and honor. He was
devoted to the Jesuits, an ardent servant of the king, a lover of
authority, filled with the instinct of subordination and order, and, in
short, a type of the ideas, religious, political, and social, then
dominant in France. He was greatly distressed at the disturbed condition
of the colony; while the state of the settlements, scattered in broken
lines for two or three hundred miles along the St. Lawrence, seemed to
him an invitation to destruction. "If we have a war," he wrote, "nothing
can save the country but a miracle of God."
Nothing was more likely than war. Intrigues were on foot between the
Senecas and the tribes of the lakes, which threatened to render the
appeal to arms a necessity to the French. Some of the Hurons of
Michillimackinac were bent on allying themselves with the English. "They
like the manners of the French," wrote Denonville; "but they like the
cheap goods of the English better." The Senecas, in collusion with
several Huron chiefs, had captured a considerable number of that tribe
and of the Ottawas. The scheme was that these prisoners should be
released, on condition that the lake tribes should join the Senecas and
repudiate their alliance with the French. [3] The governor of New York
favored this intrigue to the utmost.
[3] Denonville au Ministre, 12 Juin, 1686.
Denonville was quick to see that the peril of the colony rose, not from
the Iroquois alone, but from the English of New York, who prompted them.
Dongan understood the situation. He saw that the French aimed at
mastering the whole interior of the continent. They had established
themselves in the valley of the Illinois, had built a fort on the lower
Mississippi, and were striving to entrench themselves at its mouth. They
occupied the Great Lakes; and it was already evident that, as soon as
their resources should permit, they would seize the avenues of
communication throughout the west. In short, the grand scheme of French
colonization had begun to declare itself. Dongan entered the lists
against them. If his policy should prevail, New France would dwindle to
a feeble province on the St. Lawrence: if the French policy should
prevail, the English colonies would remain a narrow strip along the sea.
Dongan's cause was that of all these colonies; but they all stood aloof,
and left him to wage the strife alone. Canada was matched against New
York, or rather against the governor of New York. The population of the
English colony was larger than that of its rival; but, except the fur
traders, few of the settlers cared much for the questions at issue. [4]
Dongan's chief difficulty, however, rose from the relations of the
French and English kings. Louis XIV. gave Denonville an unhesitating
support. James II., on the other hand, was for a time cautious to
timidity. The two monarchs were closely united. Both hated
constitutional liberty, and both held the same principles of supremacy
in church and state; but Louis was triumphant and powerful, while James,
in conflict with his subjects, was in constant need of his great ally,
and dared not offend him.
[4] New York had about 18,000 inhabitants (Brodhead, Hist. N. Y., II.
458). Canada, by the census of 1685, had 12,263.
The royal instructions to Denonville enjoined him to humble the
Iroquois, sustain the allies of the colony, oppose the schemes of
Dongan, and treat him as an enemy, if he encroached on French territory.
At the same time, the French ambassador at the English court was
directed to demand from James II. precise orders to the governor of New
York for a complete change of conduct in regard to Canada and the
Iroquois. [5] But Dongan, like the French governors, was not easily
controlled. In the absence of money and troops, he intrigued busily with
his Indian neighbors. "The artifices of the English," wrote Denonville,
"have reached such a point that it would be better if they attacked us
openly and burned our settlements, instead of instigating the Iroquois
against us for our destruction. I know beyond a particle of doubt that
M. Dongan caused all the five Iroquois nations to be assembled last
spring at Orange (Albany), in order to excite them against us, by
telling them publicly that I meant to declare war against them." He
says, further, that Dongan supplies them with arms and ammunition,
incites them to attack the colony, and urges them to deliver
Lamberville, the priest at Onondaga, into his hands. "He has sent
people, at the same time, to our Montreal Indians to entice them over to
him, promising them missionaries to instruct them, and assuring them
that he would prevent the introduction of brandy into their villages.
All these intrigues have given me not a little trouble throughout the
summer. M. Dongan has written to me, and I have answered him as a man
may do who wishes to dissimulate and does not feel strong enough to get
angry." [6]
[5] Seignelay to Barillon, French Ambassador at London, in N. Y. Col.
Docs., IX. 269.
[6] Denonville à Seigneloy, 8 Nov., 1686.
Denonville, accordingly, while biding his time, made use of counter
intrigues, and, by means of the useful Lamberville, freely distributed
secret or "underground" presents among the Iroquois chiefs; while the
Jesuit Engelran was busy at Michillimackinac in adroit and vigorous
efforts to prevent the alienation of the Hurons, Ottawas, and other lake
tribes. The task was difficult; and, filled with anxiety, the father
came down to Montreal to see the governor, "and communicate to me,"
writes Denonville, "the deplorable state of affairs with our allies,
whom we can no longer trust, owing to the discredit into which we have
fallen among them, and from which we cannot recover, except by gaining
some considerable advantage over the Iroquois; who, as I have had the
honor to inform you, have labored incessantly since last autumn to rob
us of all our allies, by using every means to make treaties with them
independently of us. You may be assured, Monseigneur, that the English
are the chief cause of the arrogance and insolence of the Iroquois,
adroitly using them to extend the limits of their dominion, and uniting
with them as one nation, insomuch that the English claims include no
less than the Lakes Ontario and Erie, the region of Saginaw (Michigan),
the country of the Hurons, and all the country in the direction of the
Mississippi." [7]
[7] Denonville à Seignelay, 12 Juin, 1686.
The most pressing danger was the defection of the lake tribes. "In spite
of the king's edicts," pursues Denonville, "the coureurs de bois have
carried a hundred barrels of brandy to Michillimackinac in a single
year; and their libertinism and debauchery have gone to such an
extremity that it is a wonder the Indians have not massacred them all to
save themselves from their violence and recover their wives and
daughters from them. This, Monseigneur, joined to our failure in the
last war, has drawn upon us such contempt among all the tribes that
there is but one way to regain our credit, which is to humble the
Iroquois by our unaided strength, without asking the help of our Indian
allies." [8] And he begs hard for a strong reinforcement of troops.
[8] Ibid.
Without doubt, Denonville was right in thinking that the chastising of
the Iroquois, or at least the Senecas, the head and front of mischief,
was a matter of the last necessity. A crushing blow dealt against them
would restore French prestige, paralyze English intrigue, save the
Illinois from destruction, and confirm the wavering allies of Canada.
Meanwhile, matters grew from bad to worse. In the north and in the west,
there was scarcely a tribe in the French interest which was not either
attacked by the Senecas or cajoled by them into alliances hostile to the
colony. "We may set down Canada as lost," again writes Denonville, "if
we do not make war next year; and yet, in our present disordered state,
war is the most dangerous thing in the world. Nothing can save us but
the sending out of troops and the building of forts and blockhouses. Yet
I dare not begin to build them; for, if I do, it will bring down all the
Iroquois upon us before we are in a condition to fight them."
Nevertheless, he made what preparations he could, begging all the while
for more soldiers, and carrying on at the same time a correspondence
with his rival, Dongan. At first, it was courteous on both sides; but it
soon grew pungent, and at last acrid. Denonville wrote to announce his
arrival, and Dongan replied in French: "Sir, I have had the honor of
receiving your letter, and greatly rejoice at having so good a neighbor,
whose reputation is so widely spread that it has anticipated your
arrival. I have a very high respect for the king of France, of whose
bread I have eaten so much that I feel under an obligation to prevent
whatever can give the least umbrage to our masters. M. de la Barre is a
very worthy gentleman, but he has not written to me in a civil and
befitting style." [9]
[9] Dongan to Denonville, 13 Oct., 1685, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX, 292.
Denonville replied with many compliments: "I know not what reason you
may have had to be dissatisfied with M. de la Barre; but I know very
well that I should reproach myself all my life if I could fail to render
to you all the civility and attention due to a person of so great rank
and merit. In regard to the affair in which M. de la Barre interfered,
as you write me, I presume you refer to his quarrel with the Senecas. As
to that, Monsieur, I believe you understand the character of that nation
well enough to perceive that it is not easy to live in friendship with a
people who have neither religion, nor honor, nor subordination. The
king, my master, entertains affection and friendship for this country
solely through zeal for the establishment of religion here, and the
support and protection of the missionaries whose ardor in preaching the
faith leads them to expose themselves to the brutalities and
persecutions of the most ferocious of tribes. You know better than I
what fatigues and torments they have suffered for the sake of Jesus
Christ. I know your heart is penetrated with the glory of that name
which makes Hell tremble, and at the mention of which all the powers of
Heaven fall prostrate. Shall we be so unhappy as to refuse them our
master's protection? You are a man of rank and abounding in merit. You
love our holy religion. Can we not then come to an understanding to
sustain our missionaries by keeping those fierce tribes in respect and
fear?" [10]
[10] Denonville to Dongan, 5 Juin, 1686, N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 456.
This specious appeal for maintaining French Jesuits on English
territory, or what was claimed as such, was lost on Dongan, Catholic as
he was. He regarded them as dangerous political enemies, and did his
best to expel them, and put English priests in their place. Another of
his plans was to build a fort at Niagara, to exclude the French from
Lake Erie. Denonville entertained the same purpose, in order to exclude
the English; and he watched eagerly the moment to execute it. A rumor of
the scheme was brought to Dongan by one of the French coureurs de bois,
who often deserted to Albany, where they were welcomed and encouraged.
The English governor was exceedingly wroth. He had written before in
French out of complaisance. He now dispensed with ceremony, and wrote in
his own peculiar English: "I am informed that you intend to build a fort
at Ohniagero (Niagara) on this side of the lake, within my Master's
territoryes without question. I cannot beleev that a person that has
your reputation in the world would follow the steps of Monsr. Labarr,
and be ill advized by some interested persons in your Governt. to make
disturbance between our Masters subjects in those parts of the world for
a little pelttree (peltry). I hear one of the Fathers (the Jesuit Jean
de Lamberville) is gone to you, and th'other that stayed (Jacques de
Lamberville) I have sent for him here lest the Indians should insult
over him, tho' it's a thousand pittys that those that have made such
progress in the service of God should be disturbed, and that by the
fault of those that laid the foundation of Christianity amongst these
barbarous people; setting apart the station I am in, I am as much Monsr.
Des Novilles (Denonville's) humble servant as any friend he has, and
will ommit no opportunity of manifesting the same. Sir, your humble
servant, Thomas Dongan." [11]
[11] Dongan to Denonville, 22 May, 1686, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 455.
Denonville in reply denied that he meant to build a fort at Niagara, and
warned Dongan not to believe the stories told him by French deserters.
"In order," he wrote, "that we may live on a good understanding, it
would be well that a gentleman of your character should not give
protection to all the rogues, vagabonds, and thieves who desert us and
seek refuge with you, and who, to gain your favor, think they cannot do
better than tell nonsensical stories about us, which they will continue
to do so long as you listen to them." [12]
[12] Denonville à Dongan, 20 Juin, 1686.
The rest of the letter was in terms of civility, to which Dongan
returned: "Beleive me it is much joy to have soe good a neighbour of soe
excellent qualifications and temper, and of a humour altogether
differing from Monsieur de la Barre, your predecessor, who was so
furious and hasty and very much addicted to great words, as if I had bin
to have bin frighted by them. For my part, I shall take all immaginable
care that the Fathers who preach the Holy Gospell to those Indians over
whom I have power bee not in the least ill treated, and upon that very
accompt have sent for one of each nation to come to me, and then those
beastly crimes you reproove shall be checked severely, and all my
endevours used to surpress their filthy drunkennesse, disorders,
debauches, warring, and quarrels, and whatsoever doth obstruct the
growth and enlargement of the Christian faith amongst those people." He
then, in reply to an application of Denonville, promised to give up
"runawayes." [13]
[13] Dongan to Denonville, 26 July, 1686, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 460.
Promise was not followed by performance; and he still favored to the
utmost the truant Frenchmen who made Albany their resort, and often
brought with them most valuable information. This drew an angry letter
from Denonville. "You were so good, Monsieur, as to tell me that you
would give up all the deserters who have fled to you to escape
chastisement for their knavery. As most of them are bankrupts and
thieves, I hope that they will give you reason to repent having harbored
them, and that your merchants who employ them will be punished for
trusting such rascals." [14] To the great wrath of the French governor,
Dongan persisted in warning the Iroquois that he meant to attack them.
"You proposed, Monsieur," writes Denonville, "to submit every thing to
the decision of our masters. Nevertheless, your emissary to the
Onondagas told all the Five Nations in your name to pillage and make war
on us." Next, he berates his rival for furnishing the Indians with rum.
"Think you that religion will make any progress, while your traders
supply the savages in abundance with the liquor which, as you ought to
know, converts them into demons and their lodges into counterparts of
Hell?"
[14] Denonville à Dongan, 1 Oct., 1686.
"Certainly," retorts Dongan, "our Rum doth as little hurt as your
Brandy, and, in the opinion of Christians, is much more wholesome." [15]
[15] Dongan to Denonville, 1 Dec., 1686, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 462.
Each tried incessantly to out-general the other. Denonville, steadfast
in his plan of controlling the passes of the western country, had
projected forts, not only at Niagara, but also at Toronto, on Lake Erie,
and on the Strait of Detroit. He thought that a time had come when he
could, without rashness, secure this last important passage; and he sent
an order to Du Lhut, who was then at Michillimackinac, to occupy it with
fifty coureurs de bois. [16] That enterprising chief accordingly
repaired to Detroit, and built a stockade at the outlet of Lake Huron on
the western side of the strait. It was not a moment too soon. The year
before, Dongan had sent a party of armed traders in eleven canoes,
commanded by Johannes Rooseboom, a Dutchman of Albany, to carry English
goods to the upper lakes. They traded successfully, winning golden
opinions from the Indians, who begged them to come every year; and,
though Denonville sent an officer to stop them at Niagara, they returned
in triumph, after an absence of three months. [17] A larger expedition
was organized in the autumn of 1686. Rooseboom again set out for the
lakes with twenty or more canoes. He was to winter among the Senecas,
and wait the arrival of Major McGregory, a Scotch officer, who was to
leave Albany in the spring with fifty men, take command of the united
parties, and advance to Lake Huron, accompanied by a band of Iroquois,
to form a general treaty of trade and alliance with the tribes claimed
by France as her subjects. [18]
[16] Denonville à Du Lhut, 6 Juin, 1686.
[17] Brodhead, Hist. of New York, II. 429; Denonville au Ministre, 8
Mai, 1686.
[18] Brodhead, Hist. of New York, II. 443; Commission of McGregory, in
N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 318.
Denonville was beside himself at the news. He had already urged upon
Louis XIV. the policy of buying the colony of New York, which he thought
might easily be done, and which, as he said, "would make us masters of
the Iroquois without a war." This time he wrote in a less pacific mood:
"I have a mind to go straight to Albany, storm their fort, and burn
every thing." [19] And he begged for soldiers more earnestly than ever.
"Things grow worse and worse. The English stir up the Iroquois against
us, and send parties to Michillimackinac to rob us of our trade. It
would be better to declare war against them than to perish by their
intrigues." [20]
[19] Denonville au Ministre, 16 Nov., 1686.
[20] Ibid., 15 Oct., 1686.
He complained bitterly to Dongan, and Dongan replied: "I beleeve it is
as lawfull for the English as the French to trade amongst the remotest
Indians. I desire you to send me word who it was that pretended to have
my orders for the Indians to plunder and fight you. That is as false as
'tis true that God is in heaven. I have desired you to send for the
deserters. I know not who they are but had rather such Rascalls and
Bankrouts, as you call them, were amongst their own countrymen."
[21] Dongan to Denonville, 1 Dec., 1686; Ibid., 20 June, 1687, in N. Y.
Col. Docs., III. 462, 465.
He had, nevertheless, turned them to good account; for, as the English
knew nothing of western geography, they employed these French
bush-rangers to guide their trading parties. Denonville sent orders to
Du Lhut to shoot as many of them as he could catch.
Dongan presently received despatches from the English court, which
showed him the necessity of caution; and, when next he wrote to his
rival, it was with a chastened pen: "I hope your Excellency will be so
kinde as not desire or seeke any correspondence with our Indians of this
side of the Great lake (Ontario): if they doe amisse to any of your
Governmt. and you make it known to me, you shall have all justice done."
He complained mildly that the Jesuits were luring their Iroquois
converts to Canada; "and you must pardon me if I tell you that is not
the right way to keepe fair correspondence. I am daily expecting
Religious men from England, which I intend to put amongst those five
nations. I desire you would order Monsr. de Lamberville that soe long as
he stayes amongst those people he would meddle only with the affairs
belonging to his function. Sir, I send you some Oranges, hearing that
they are a rarity in your partes." [22]
[22] Dongan to Denonville, 20 Juin, 1687, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 465.
"Monsieur," replies Denonville, "I thank you for your oranges. It is a
great pity that they were all rotten."
The French governor, unlike his rival, felt strong in the support of his
king, who had responded amply to his appeals for aid; and the temper of
his letters answered to his improved position. "I was led, Monsieur, to
believe, by your civil language in the letter you took the trouble to
write me on my arrival, that we should live in the greatest harmony in
the world; but the result has plainly shown that your intentions did not
at all answer to your fine words." And he upbraids him without measure
for his various misdeeds: "Take my word for it. Let us devote ourselves
to the accomplishment of our masters' will; let us seek, as they do, to
serve and promote religion; let us live together in harmony, as they
desire. I repeat and protest, Monsieur, that it rests with you alone;
but do not imagine that I am a man to suffer others to play tricks on
me. I willingly believe that you have not ordered the Iroquois to
plunder our Frenchmen; but, whilst I have the honor to write to you, you
know that Salvaye, Gédeon Petit, and many other rogues and bankrupts
like them, are with you, and boast of sharing your table. I should not
be surprised that you tolerate them in your country; but I am astonished
that you should promise me not to tolerate them, that you so promise me
again, and that you perform nothing of what you promise. Trust me,
Monsieur, make no promise that you are not willing to keep." [23]
[23] Denonville à Dongan, 21 Aug., 1687; Ibid., no date (1687).
Denonville, vexed and perturbed by his long strife with Dongan and the
Iroquois, presently found a moment of comfort in tidings that reached
him from the north. Here, as in the west, there was violent rivalry
between the subjects of the two crowns. With the help of two French
renegades, named Radisson and Groseilliers, the English Company of
Hudson's Bay, then in its infancy, had established a post near the mouth
of Nelson River, on the western shore of that dreary inland sea. The
company had also three other posts, called Fort Albany, Fort Hayes, and
Fort Rupert, at the southern end of the bay. A rival French company had
been formed in Canada, under the name of the Company of the North; and
it resolved on an effort to expel its English competitors. Though it was
a time of profound peace between the two kings, Denonville warmly
espoused the plan; and, in the early spring of 1686, he sent the
Chevalier de Troyes from Montreal, with eighty or more Canadians, to
execute it. [24] With Troyes went Iberville, Sainte-Hélène, and
Maricourt, three of the sons of Charles Le Moyne; and the Jesuit Silvy
joined the party as chaplain.
[24] The Compagnie du Nord had a grant of the trade of Hudson's Bay from
Louis XIV. The bay was discovered by the English, under Hudson; but the
French had carried on some trade there before the establishment of Fort
Nelson. Denonville's commission to Troyes merely directs him to build
forts, and "se saisir des voleurs coureurs de bois et autres que nous
savons avoir pris et arrêté plusieurs de nos François commerçants avec
les sauvages."
They ascended the Ottawa, and thence, from stream to stream and lake to
lake, toiled painfully towards their goal. At length, they neared Fort
Hayes. It was a stockade with four bastions, mounted with cannon. There
was a strong blockhouse within, in which the sixteen occupants of the
place were lodged, unsuspicious of danger. Troyes approached at night.
Iberville and Sainte-Hélène with a few followers climbed the palisade on
one side, while the rest of the party burst the main gate with a sort of
battering ram, and rushed in, yelling the war-whoop. In a moment, the
door of the blockhouse was dashed open, and its astonished inmates
captured in their shirts.
The victors now embarked for Fort Rupert, distant forty leagues along
the shore. In construction, it resembled Fort Hayes. The fifteen traders
who held the place were all asleep at night in their blockhouse, when
the Canadians burst the gate of the stockade and swarmed into the area.
One of them mounted by a ladder to the roof of the building, and dropped
lighted hand-grenades down the chimney, which, exploding among the
occupants, told them unmistakably that something was wrong. At the same
time, the assailants fired briskly on them through the loopholes, and,
placing a petard under the walls, threatened to blow them into the air.
Five, including a woman, were killed or wounded; and the rest cried for
quarter. Meanwhile, Iberville with another party attacked a vessel
anchored near the fort, and, climbing silently over her side, found the
man on the watch asleep in his blanket. He sprang up and made fight, but
they killed him, then stamped on the deck to rouse those below, sabred
two of them as they came up the hatchway, and captured the rest. Among
them was Bridger, governor for the company of all its stations on the
bay.
They next turned their attention to Fort Albany, thirty leagues from
Fort Hayes, in a direction opposite to that of Fort Rupert. Here there
were about thirty men, under Henry Sargent, an agent of the company.
Surprise was this time impossible; for news of their proceedings had
gone before them, and Sargent, though no soldier, stood on his defence.
The Canadians arrived, some in canoes, some in the captured vessel,
bringing ten captured pieces of cannon, which they planted in battery on
a neighboring hill, well covered by intrenchments from the English shot.
Here they presently opened fire; and, in an hour, the stockade with the
houses that it enclosed was completely riddled. The English took shelter
in a cellar, nor was it till the fire slackened that they ventured out
to show a white flag and ask for a parley. Troyes and Sargent had an
interview. The Englishman regaled his conqueror with a bottle of Spanish
wine; and, after drinking the health of King Louis and King James, they
settled the terms of capitulation. The prisoners were sent home in an
English vessel which soon after arrived; and Maricourt remained to
command at the bay, while Troyes returned to report his success to
Denonville. [25]
[25] On the capture of the forts at Hudson's Bay, see La Potherie, I.
147-163; the letter of Father Silvy, chaplain of the expedition, in
Saint-Vallier, État Présent, 43; and Oldmixon, British Empire in
America, I. 561-564 (ed. 1741). An account of the preceding events will
be found in La Potherie and Oldmixon; in Jerémie, Relation de la Baie de
Hudson; and in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 796-802. Various embellishments
have been added to the original narratives by recent writers, such as an
imaginary hand-to-hand fight of Iberville and several Englishmen in the
blockhouse of Fort Hayes.
This buccaneer exploit exasperated the English public, and it became
doubly apparent that the state of affairs in America could not be
allowed to continue. A conference had been arranged between the two
powers, even before the news came from Hudson's Bay; and Count d'Avaux
appeared at London as special envoy of Louis XIV. to settle the
questions at issue. A treaty of neutrality was signed at Whitehall, and
commissioners were appointed on both sides. [26] Pending the discussion,
each party was to refrain from acts of hostility or encroachment; and,
said the declaration of the commissioners, "to the end the said
agreement may have the better effect, we do likewise agree that the said
serene kings shall immediately send necessary orders in that behalf to
their respective governors in America." [27] Dongan accordingly was
directed to keep a friendly correspondence with his rival, and take good
care to give him no cause of complaint. [28]
[26] Traité de Neutralité pour l'Amérique, conclu à Londres le 16 Nov.,
1686, in Mémoires des Commissaires, II. 86.
[27] Instrument for preventing Acts of Hostility in America in N. Y.
Col. Docs., III. 505.
[28] Order to Gov. Dongan, 22 Jan., 1687, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 504.
It was this missive which had dashed the ardor of the English governor,
and softened his epistolary style. More than four months after, Louis
XIV. sent corresponding instructions to Denonville; [29] but, meantime,
he had sent him troops, money, and munitions in abundance, and ordered
him to attack the Iroquois towns. Whether such a step was consistent
with the recent treaty of neutrality may well be doubted; for, though
James II. had not yet formally claimed the Iroquois as British subjects,
his representative had done so for years with his tacit approval, and
out of this claim had risen the principal differences which it was the
object of the treaty to settle.
[29] Louis XIV. à Denonville, 17 Juin, 1687. At the end of March, the
king had written that "he did not think it expedient to make any attack
on the English."
Eight hundred regulars were already in the colony, and eight hundred
more were sent in the spring, with a hundred and sixty-eight thousand
livres in money and supplies. [30] Denonville was prepared to strike. He
had pushed his preparations actively, yet with extreme secrecy; for he
meant to fall on the Senecas unawares, and shatter at a blow the
mainspring of English intrigue. Harmony reigned among the chiefs of the
colony, military, civil, and religious. The intendant Meules had been
recalled on the complaints of the governor, who had quarrelled with him;
and a new intendant, Champigny, had been sent in his place. He was as
pious as Denonville himself, and, like him, was in perfect accord with
the bishop and the Jesuits. All wrought together to promote the new
crusade.
[30] Abstract of Letters, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 314. This answers
exactly to the statement of the Mémoire adressé au Régent, which places
the number of troops in Canada at this time at thirty-two companies of
fifty men each.
It was not yet time to preach it, or at least Denonville thought so. He
dissembled his purpose to the last moment, even with his best friends.
Of all the Jesuits among the Iroquois, the two brothers Lamberville had
alone held their post. Denonville, in order to deceive the enemy, had
directed these priests to urge the Iroquois chiefs to meet him in
council at Fort Frontenac, whither, as he pretended, he was about to go
with an escort of troops, for the purpose of conferring with them. The
two brothers received no hint whatever of his real intention, and tried
in good faith to accomplish his wishes; but the Iroquois were
distrustful, and hesitated to comply. On this, the elder Lamberville
sent the younger with letters to Denonville to explain the position of
affairs, saying at the same time that he himself would not leave
Onondaga except to accompany the chiefs to the proposed council. "The
poor father," wrote the governor, "knows nothing of our designs. I am
sorry to see him exposed to danger; but, should I recall him, his
withdrawal would certainly betray our plans to the Iroquois." This
unpardonable reticence placed the Jesuit in extreme peril; for the
moment the Iroquois discovered the intended treachery they would
probably burn him as its instrument. No man in Canada had done so much
as the elder Lamberville to counteract the influence of England and
serve the interests of France, and in return the governor exposed him
recklessly to the most terrible of deaths. [31]
[31] Denonville au Ministre, 9 Nov., 1686; Ibid., 8 Juin, 1687.
Denonville at last seems to have been seized with some compunction, and
writes: "Tout cela me fait craindre que le pauvre père n'ayt de la peine
à se retirer d'entre les mains de ces barbares ce qui m'inquiète fort."
Dongan, though regarding the Jesuit as an insidious enemy, had treated
him much better, and protected him on several occasions, for which he
received the emphatic thanks of Dablon, superior of the missions. Dablon
to Dongan (1685?), in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 454.
In spite of all his pains, it was whispered abroad that there was to be
war; and the rumor was brought to the ears of Dongan by some of the
Canadian deserters. He lost no time in warning the Iroquois, and their
deputies came to beg his help. Danger humbled them for the moment; and
they not only recognized King James as their sovereign, but consented at
last to call his representative Father Corlaer instead of Brother. Their
father, however, dared not promise them soldiers; though, in spite of
the recent treaty, he caused gunpowder and lead to be given them, and
urged them to recall the powerful war-parties which they had lately sent
against the Illinois. [32]
[32] Colden, 97 (1727), Denonville au Ministre, 8 Juin, 1687.
Denonville at length broke silence, and ordered the militia to muster.
They grumbled and hesitated, for they remembered the failures of La
Barre. The governor issued a proclamation, and the bishop a pastoral
mandate. There were sermons, prayers, and exhortations in all the
churches. A revulsion of popular feeling followed; and the people, says
Denonville, "made ready for the march with extraordinary animation." The
church showered blessings on them as they went, and daily masses were
ordained for the downfall of the foes of Heaven and of France. [33]
[33] Saint-Vallier, État Présent. Even to the moment of marching,
Denonville pretended that he meant only to hold a peace council at Fort
Frontenac. "J'ai toujours publié que je n'allois qu'à l'assemblée
générale projetée à Cataracouy (Fort Frontenac), J'ai toujours tenu ce
discours jusqu'au temps de la marche." Denonville au Ministre, 8 Juin,
1687.