1682-1683.
Death of Prince Rupert -- The Company's Difficulty in Procuring
Proper Servants -- Radisson at Port Nelson -- The two Gillams
-- Their Meeting -- Capture of the New England Party -- The
First Scotchman in the Bay -- Governor Bridgar Carried off
Prisoner -- Indian Visitors to the Fort -- Disasters to the
Ships -- The French Burn the Island Fort -- Radisson's Harangue
to the Indians -- Return to France.
[Sidenote: Death of Prince Rupert.]
On the 28th of November, 1682, at his house in Spring Garden, died the
first Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company. The prince had been in
ill-health for some time, he was in his sixty-third year; and he had
lived a stirring and adventurous life. His demise occasioned general
regret, more amongst the people than at Court; for, as a writer of
that day observed, "he had of late years proved a faithful counsellor
to the King, but a greater patriot to English liberty; and therefore
was towards his latter end neglected by the Court to that degree that
nothing passed between him and his great relations but bare civilities
in the common forms." On the sixth of the ensuing month his body was
privately interred among others of the Royal Family in a vault in
Westminster Abbey.
A week later there was held a General Court of the Company, at which
the Duke of York was chosen to succeed Rupert in the governorship.
Besides the Duke himself, his Royal Highness the Duke of Albemarle,
Lord Arlington and Mr. Hays, all delivered enthusiastic panegyrics on
the deceased prince, rightly attributing to his zeal, judgment and
enterprise, the successful establishment of the Company. And the
meeting then adjourned out of regret for the dead Governor without
proceeding to further business.
More than fifteen years had elapsed since Medard Chouart des
Groseilliers had first fired Prince Rupert with his project of
founding a great fur-traffic in the unknown and unexplored regions of
the New World. The prince had lived to see that project succeed even
beyond his most sanguine expectations. Now, at his death, the Company
owned four ships; and after all the cost of its plant, its ships and
its equipment had been paid, it was returning an annual profit of two
hundred per cent. on its capital. It was well-known that his Highness
favoured greater activity, and one of his last acts had been to sign
the commission of John Bridgar as Governor of the new settlement at
Port Nelson. But during his own Governorship, the Company, feeling, no
doubt, that they must balance the Prince's zeal for adventure with
considerable caution, opposed the policy of rapid expansion with
somewhat excessive prudence; and it was only after his death that they
felt confident in pursuing a more vigorous and enterprising plan of
commerce.
Under date of April 27th, 1683, while the drama between the French and
English was being enacted at Port Nelson, the following instructions
were addressed to Governor Sargeant, regarding trade with the
interior: "You are to choose out from amongst our servants such as are
best qualified with strength of body and the country language to
travel and to penetrate into the country, and to draw down the Indians
by fair and gentle means to trade with us."
But the Company was to learn that the parsimony which then
characterized its policy was not calculated to foster the success of
its aims. The majority of the men it sent out from England could not
be classified under the head of adventurous spirits, ready to dare all
for mere excitement and the prospect of gain. They were for the most
part young men gifted with no more aptitude for the work in the
wilderness than a disinclination to pursue their callings at home. No
small number were dissatisfied apprentices; one William Evans had been
a drawer at the Rainbow Inn; Portman had sent his scullion.
Even at that early day the staffs employed on the plantations were
recruited from amongst the very class least competent to exploit those
regions. The majority of the applicants for employment in the
Company's service in the seventeenth century were not men of character
and vigour, or even of robust physique, but rather hare-brained
artisans of the wild, dare-devil type, whose parents and friends
foresaw for them, if London or Bristol formed the sphere of their
talents, a legal and violent rather than a natural termination of
their respective careers.
[Sidenote: Company's encouragement requested.]
Sargeant's response to the foregoing injunction certainly served to
enlighten his superiors. "I shall not be neglectful," he wrote, "as
soon as I can find any man capable and willing to send up into the
country with the Indians, to endeavour to penetrate into what the
country will and may produce, and to effect their utmost in bringing
down the Indians to our factory; but your Honours should give good
encouragement to those who undertake such extraordinary service; or
else I fear that there will be but few that will embrace such
employment."
The rebuke may have been just; but it seems to have given offence to
some of the more pompous members of the Company; and Sargeant was
desired not to cast any further reflection on his employers in his
communications to them. Nevertheless, the Company was soon to learn
the value of a less niggardly policy.
Meanwhile for ten days the two ex-employees, Radisson and
Groseilliers, gave no further evidence to the English at the new
settlement on Nelson River of their presence. But on the tenth day
their curiosity and uneasiness regarding the conduct of the English
Governor, Bridgar, and the other servants of the Company, had reached
such a pitch that it was decided without further consideration that
Radisson should start off at once to reconnoitre their behaviour. The
actual distance between Fort Bourbon, on the Hays River, and the
Company's factory on Nelson River was not above fifty miles; but owing
to the dangerous character of the river, and the necessity for delay
before an attempt could be made to cross it, Radisson and his party
consumed fourteen days on the journey.
[Sidenote: Bridgar's credulity.]
On their arrival on the 3rd of February, one of the first objects to
attract their attention was the _Prince Rupert_, stuck fast in the ice
and mud about a mile from where the factory was being erected. At the
same time they met the Governor, who was out on a hunting expedition
with the chief mate of the vessel. Satisfying himself that no
treachery was intended, Radisson accepted Bridgar's invitation to
enter the log-house which he had caused to be built for his own
occupation. Radisson introduced one of the Frenchmen who accompanied
him as the captain of an imaginary ship, which he averred had arrived
from France in his behalf. "Mr. B. believed it and anything else I
chose to tell him," remarks Radisson naively, "I aiming always to
prevent him from having any knowledge of the English interloper."
While engaged in the pleasing diversion of drinking each other's
health, a number of musket shots were fired. The crew of the vessel
not taking any notice of this, the bushranger concluded that those on
board were not on their guard and might readily be surprised.
With this condition uppermost in his mind, the Frenchman quitted
Bridgar, having first allayed any suspicion which might have naturally
arisen as to the intention of the party. The latter went boldly on
board the ship, and no hindrance being offered, their leader had a
colloquy with Captain Gillam. The latter, while he received the visit
civilly enough, found occasion to let Radisson know that he was far
from entirely trusting him. When his visitor suggested that he was
running a great risk in allowing the _Prince Rupert_ to remain
grounded, Gillam bluntly requested Radisson to mind his own business,
adding that he knew perfectly well what he was doing--a boast which,
as the sequel showed, was certainly not well founded. Radisson was
determined not to be put out of temper, and so run risk of spoiling
his plans.
Winter, even in all its rigour, seems to have had no terrors for our
indomitable bushranger. For the next two months, as we shall see, he
continued to scour backwards and forwards through the country,
inspiring his followers and urging them onward to the prosecution of a
plan which was obvious to them all. After parting from Gillam the
elder, who had not the faintest suspicion that his son was in the
locality, Radisson at once started to parley with Gillam, the
younger.
When he had regained the island which he had left, he was instantly
made aware that the New Englanders had been considerably less idle
than the Company's servants; having completed a very creditable fort
and mounted it with six pieces of cannon. With Benjamin Gillam, our
bushranger passed off the same subterfuge with which he had hoodwinked
Zachary. He spoke fluently of his newly arrived ship and her cargo and
crew, and to cap his narrative, proceeded to introduce her captain,
who was none other than the old pilot, Pierre Allemand, who, from the
description still extant of his appearance, looked every inch the
bold, fierce and uncompromising mariner. He had a great deal to tell
Benjamin likewise of the Company's post near by, which he said
contained forty soldiers.
"Let them be forty devils," exclaimed Gillam, junior, "we have built a
good fort and are afraid of nothing."
Whereupon Radisson gently reminded him that according to his agreement
he was to have built no fort whatever. In reply to this Benjamin
begged his visitor not to take umbrage at such a matter, as he never
intended to dispute the rights of the French in the region; and the
fort was merely intended as a defence against the Indians.
[Sidenote: A manoeuvre of Radisson's.]
As the evening wore on, a manoeuvre suggested itself to Radisson. He
resolved to bring father and son together. No sooner had he formed
this amiable resolve than he revealed to Benjamin Gillam the proximity
of the _Prince Rupert_ and her commander, and described the means by
which an encounter might be effected without eliciting the suspicions
of Governor Bridgar or any of the Company's servants. It consisted
briefly in young Benjamin's disguising himself as a Frenchman and a
bushranger. The scheme met with the young man's hearty approbation and
the details were settled as Radisson had designed.
On the following day the party set out through the snow. Arriving at
the point of land opposite to which the Company's ship lay, Radisson
posted two of his best men in the woods on the path which led to the
factory. He instructed them to allow the Governor to pass should he
come that way, but that if he returned from the ship unaccompanied or
prior to their own departure they were to seize and overpower him on
the spot. With such precautions as these, Radisson felt himself safe
and went on board the _Prince Rupert_ accompanied by Gillam. He
introduced his two companions into the captain's room without any
notice on the part of Gillam the elder, and the mate and another man
he had with him. Leaning across the table, upon which was deposited a
bulky bottle of rum, Radisson whispered to the honest captain that he
had a secret of the highest importance to communicate if he would but
dismiss the others. Gillam readily sent away the mate, but would not
dismiss his second attendant until Radisson, again in a whisper,
informed him that the black-bearded man in the strange head-gear was
his son.
[Sidenote: Meeting of father and son.]
After communicating this intelligence the pair had their own way. The
next few moments were devoted to embraces and to an interchange of
news, for Captain Gillam and Benjamin had not met for two years. The
sire could not refrain from imparting to his son that he was running a
great risk; he declared it would be ruinous to him if it got to the
Governor's ears that there was any collusion between them. Radisson
again professed his friendship, but added that in his opinion neither
of the parties had any right to be where they were, he having taken
possession for the King of France. "This territory is all his Most
Christian Majesty's," he said. "The fort we have built yonder we call
Fort Bourbon, and none have any right here but such as own allegiance
to Lewis XIV." He observed that nothing would cause a rupture of the
friendly relations now subsisting between French and English but the
trade in peltries, trade which he had too great reason to fear they
hoped to initiate with the Indians in the spring.
The elder Gillam coolly responded that the ship he commanded, and the
spot on which they were then assembled, luckily belonged not to
himself, but to the Hudson's Bay Company.
"With regard to the trade, gentlemen," said he, "you have nothing to
fear from me. Even though I don't carry a solitary beaver back to the
Thames, I shall not trouble myself, being sure of my wages."
[Sidenote: Gillam nearly betrayed.]
This interview was prolonged. The healths of the Kings of France and
England, Prince Rupert and M. Colbert (quite in ignorance of the death
of the two last named) were drunk with zeal and enthusiasm. In the
midst of all this, that which Radisson had anticipated, occurred.
Governor Bridgar, notified of Radisson's return, came to the ship in
hot haste. On his joining the group, he remarked meaningly that the
fort the French had constructed must be nearer than he had been given
to think, since its commandant could effect so speedy a return. He
evinced himself very uneasy in mind concerning the Frenchman's
intentions. Before their departure, young Gillam came very near being
betrayed. He was partially recognized by one of the traders who
accompanied the Governor. But the matter passed off without serious
consequences.
None too soon did the party return to young Gillam's fort on the
island, for a tremendous blizzard ensued, sweeping the whole country,
and forcing Radisson to remain for some days within doors. As soon as
the storm had subsided, however, Radisson started off, declining
Gillam's offer of his second mate to accompany him back to the French
settlement.
"I managed to dissuade him," he writes, "having my reasons for wishing
to conceal the road we should take. On leaving we went up from the
fort to the upper part of the river, but in the evening we retraced
our steps and next morning found ourselves in sight of the sea, into
which it was necessary to enter in order to pass the point and reach
the river in which was our habitation. But everything was so covered
with ice that there was no apparent way of passing farther. We found
ourselves, indeed, so entangled in the ice that we could neither
retreat nor advance towards the shore to make a landing. It was
necessary, however, that we should pass through the ice or perish. We
remained in this condition for four hours without being able to
advance or retire and in great danger of our lives. Our clothes were
frozen on us and we could only move with difficulty; but at last we
made so strong an attempt that we arrived at the shore, our canoe
being all broken up. Each of us took our baggage and arms, and marched
in the direction of our habitation without finding anything to eat for
three days, except crows and birds of prey, which are the last to
leave these countries."
Fort Bourbon was reached at length. After reporting to his
brother-in-law all that had passed, Groseilliers was not long in
counselling what was best to be done. In his opinion the first thing
necessary was to secure possession of young Gillam's ship. Time
pressed and the spring would soon be upon them, bringing with it the
advent of the Indians. He argued that delay might prove fatal,
inasmuch as Bridgar might at any moment learn of the presence of the
New England interlopers; and in that event he would probably make an
effort to capture their fort and add their forces to his own. If this
were done, the success of the French in overpowering the English
traders would be slight and their voyage would have been undertaken
for nothing.
[Sidenote: Calamity to the Company's ship.]
It was therefore agreed that Groseilliers should remain in charge of
the fort, while his kinsman should immediately return to Nelson River.
In a few days they parted once more, Radisson setting out with a fresh
party and thoroughly resolved upon action. The first discovery he
made, on arriving at the scene of his proposed operations, was that
the Company's ship, the _Prince Rupert_, was frozen fast in the ice,
and must inevitably perish when the spring floods came. He also
speedily ascertained that the Governor, by no means relishing his
presence in the vicinity, was already planning measures to thwart, if
not to capture, his rivals, for he had sent out two sailors charged
with the task of discovering the exact whereabouts of the French and
the extent of their strength and equipment.
These two spies Radisson promptly captured--no difficult task indeed,
for they had lost their way and were half-frozen and almost famished.
The anticipated fate of the _Prince Rupert_ was not long delayed. The
tidings shortly reached Radisson that she was a total wreck, and with
it came also the news of the loss of her captain, the mate and four
sailors. A subsequent report, however, declared that Gillam had
escaped with his life.
Receiving this intelligence, Radisson presented himself before the
Governor to see how he was affected by such a calamity.
He found Bridgar drinking heavily, but resolved to keep up appearances
and to withhold from the French any knowledge of what had happened. He
affected to believe the ship safe, merely observing that she had
shifted her position a few leagues down the river. Radisson asserts
that at this time the Company's factory was short of provisions. It is
impossible that this could have been the case. The assertion was
probably made to cover his own depredations on the stores of the
Company.
Parting from the Governor, Radisson presented himself before Gillam
the younger, to whom he did not as yet choose to say anything
concerning his father and the loss of his ship. Under various
pretences he induced Gillam to pay him a visit at Fort Bourbon. The
latter does not seem at this time to have been aware of the intention
of the French towards him. But he was soon to be undeceived.
[Sidenote: Radisson's threats.]
"I remained quiet for a month," says Radisson, in the course of his
extraordinary narrative, "treating young Gillam, my new guest, well
and with all sorts of civilities, which he abused on several
occasions. For having apparently perceived that we had not the
strength I told him, he took the liberty of speaking of me in
threatening terms behind my back, treating me as a pirate and saying
that in spite of me he would trade in spring with the Indians. He had
even the hardihood to strike one of my men, which I pretended not to
notice; but, having the insolence later, when we were discussing the
privileges of New England, to speak against the respect due the best
of kings, I treated him as a worthless dog for speaking in that way
and told him that, having had the honour to eat bread in his service,
I would pray to God all my life for his Majesty. He left me,
threatening that he would return to his fort and that when he was
there I would not dare to speak to him as I had done. I could not
expect to have a better opportunity to begin what I had resolved to
do. I told this young brute then that I had brought him from his fort,
that I would take him back myself when I pleased, not when he wished.
He answered impertinently several times, which obliged me to threaten
that I would put him in a place of safety if he was not wiser. He
asked me then if he was a prisoner. I said I would consider it and
that I would secure my trade since he threatened to interrupt it. I
then withdrew to give him time to be informed by the Englishmen how
his father's life was lost with the Company's ship, and the bad
situation of Mr. Bridgar. I left in their company a Frenchman who
understood English, unknown to them. When I had left, young Gillam
urged the Englishman to fly, and to go to his master and assure him
that he would give him six barrels of powder and other supplies if he
would undertake to deliver him out of my hands. The Englishman made no
answer, but he did not inform me of the proposition that had been made
him (I had learned that from the Frenchman, who had learned everything
and thought it was time to act for my security)."
In the evening Radisson said nothing of what he knew of the plot. He
asked those in his train if the muskets were in their places, which he
had put around to act as guarantee against surprise. At the word
_musket_ young Gillam, who did not know what was meant, grew alarmed
and, according to Radisson, wished to fly, believing that it was
intended to kill him. But his flight was arrested by his captor, who
took occasion to free him from his apprehension. The next morning,
however, the bushranger's plans were openly divulged. He told Gillam
that he was about to take his fort and ship.
"He answered haughtily that even if I had a hundred men I could not
succeed, and that his people would have killed more than forty before
they could reach the palisades. This boldness did not astonish me,
being very sure that I would succeed in my design."
[Sidenote: Hays' Island fort.]
Having secured Gillam the younger, it was now necessary to secure the
fort of which he was master. The intrepid Frenchman started for Hays'
Island with nine men, and gaining an entrance by strategy, he cast off
the mask of friendship and boldly demanded the keys of the fort and
the whole stock of arms and powder. He added that in the event of
their refusal to yield he would raze the fort to the ground. No
resistance seems to have been attempted, and Radisson took formal
possession of the place in the name of the King of France. This
ceremony being concluded, he ordered Jenkins, the mate, to conduct him
to the ship, and here formal possession was taken in the same fashion,
without any forcible objection on the part of the crew. Some
explanation of this extraordinary complaisance, if Radisson's story of
the number of men he took with him be true, may be found in the
commander's unpopularity, he having recently killed his supercargo in
a quarrel.
Nevertheless, Benjamin Gillam was not to be altogether without
friends.
A certain Scotchman, perchance the first of his race in those regions,
which were afterwards to be forever associated with Scottish zeal and
labours, wishing to show his fidelity to his chief, escaped, and
eluding the efforts of the fleetest of the French bushrangers to catch
him, he arrived at Fort Nelson and told his tale. The Governor's
astonishment may be imagined. He had hitherto no inkling of the
presence of the New England interlopers, and although his captain and
fellow-servant was not equally ignorant, Gillam had kept his counsel
well. The Governor decided at once to head a party of relief, in which
he was seconded by the elder Gillam, who was at the moment only just
recovering from illness caused by exposure during the shipwreck. The
_Susan_ was their first point of attack. Under the cover of night they
made a determined effort to recapture her for the Company. It is
possible that the attempt might have succeeded had not Radisson,
suspecting the move, despatched his entire available force at the same
time and completely overpowered the Governor's men. He thought at
first sight that Bridgar himself was among his prisoners, but the
Governor was not to be caught in that fashion; he had not himself
boarded the ship. The Scotchman who accompanied him, however, was not
so fortunate; he fell into Radisson's hands and suffered for his zeal.
He was tied to a post and informed that his execution would take place
without ceremony on the morrow. The sentence was never carried out.
For Radisson, after exposing his prisoner to the cold all night in an
uncomfortable position, seems to have thought better of his threat,
and after numerous vicissitudes the Scot at length regained his
liberty.
Reinforcements for the French now arrived from Groseilliers. Believing
himself now strong enough to beard the lion in his lair, Radisson
decided to lose no more time in rounding off his schemes. First,
however, he saw fit to address a letter to the Governor asking him if
he "approved the action of the Company's people whom he held
prisoners, who had broken two doors and the storeroom of his ship, in
order to carry off the powder."
Bridgar's reply was that he owed no explanation to a renegade employee
of the Company. Radisson had not been sincere in his professions, and
he had dealt basely and deceitfully with him in preserving silence on
the subject of the interlopers. "As I had proper instructions,"
concluded Bridgar, in a more conciliatory strain, "on setting sail
from London to seize all ships coming to this quarter, I would
willingly have joined hands with you in capturing this vessel. If you
wish me to regard you as sincere you will not keep this prize for your
own use."
The other's response was rapid and masterly. He marched upon Fort
Nelson with twelve men, and by the following nightfall was master of
the English establishment. This feat nearly drove the unhappy Governor
to despair, and he sought solace by applying himself to the rum cask
with greater assiduity than ever. In the frame of mind thus
superinduced, John Bridgar, the first Governor of Port Nelson, was
carried off a prisoner to Fort Bourbon.
This post was built of logs, as the others had been, but there was a
bastion of stone at one end facing the river. It occupied, as nearly
as one may now ascertain, the site upon which was afterwards reared
York Factory. But in the course of the seventy years following the
post was shifted slightly from site to site, when the exigencies of
fire and other causes of destruction demanded a new building.
A few days after the Governor's arrival at Fort Bourbon, the first
Indians began to appear with provisions, which were now beginning to
be very sorely required. To the chief of this band Radisson related
the story, properly garnished, of his exploits, realizing well how
such things appeal to the savage heart. While the Indians were
pondering upon his valour, great was their surprise to behold about
the fort, a number of English, whom Radisson had made prisoners; and
upon learning that there were others at York Factory and Hays' Island,
they very handsomely offered 200 beavers for permission to go thither
and massacre them. This offer Radisson wisely declined; but it seems
clear that he did his best to stir up enmity amongst his Indian
friends against the English. In this he was not entirely successful.
Good news travels fast, too; and the Indians had got wind of Bridgar's
boast that rather than see the trade pass into the hands of the French
it was his intention to offer six axes for a beaver and as much
merchandise in proportion.
They had, besides, reason to believe in the superior generosity of the
English traders as compared with the French.
[Sidenote: Destruction of La Chesnaye's vessels.]
It was now April, 1683. On the 22nd a disaster little foreseen by
Radisson or Groseilliers occurred, which involved the destruction of
their own frail ships. The _St. Pierre_ and the _St. Anne_ had been
hauled into a small stream as far as possible in the woods and there
sheltered by a knoll. At ten o'clock on the night named all at Fort
Bourbon were awakened by a frightful noise, caused by the breaking up
of the ice. The occupants of the fort rushed outside to find the
waters everywhere rising with almost incredible rapidity; and the
masses of ice blocking up the mouth of the creek caused a complete
general submersion. La Chesnaye's two vessels offered no strong
resistance to the flood, and presently began to crack and splinter in
all parts. In a few hours all that remained sound were the bottoms,
clinging fast to the ice and mud.
A similar fate was apprehended for the New England ship, and Radisson
made all haste thither. She was saved only by his adopting the
suggestion of Bridgar, that the ice be carefully cut all about the
_Susan_, as he had heard of Governor Bailey doing on a previous
occasion. The ice once cut, the vessel was only pushed by the strength
of the floes to one side, where she remained aground with little
damage.
The chief concern of the leaders of the French now was to get the
English safely out of the country as soon as possible, before the
arrival of the Company's ships. To this end Radisson and Groseilliers
offered them the hull of the _St. Anne_ which, they believed, could
with industry be patched up with new timber sufficiently well to
withstand a voyage. When the English saw that these were the best
terms they could expect, and that if they were left at the mercy of
the Indians a much worse fate might be in store for them, they set to
work with a will. The labour proved arduous, and they had suffered
terribly. Four had died from cold and hunger, and two had been
poisoned from having rashly drunk of a liquor they had found in the
medicine-room chest, without knowing its nature; another had had his
arm broken quite recently by a musket shot while out hunting. The
Governor felt that his sole hope lay in the expected ships of the
Company. He seems to have always adopted a high tone in dealing with
the French, even to the last. He declared to Radisson that it was only
one of three things that could oblige him to abandon the place, "the
order of his masters, force, or famine." Groseilliers now counselled
burning the island fort, in order to do away with the necessity of
keeping perpetual guard there, and of always taking precautions to
protect themselves against the Governor's intrigues.
This advice was acted upon forthwith; the fort was burned and a small
lodge erected to accommodate such of the New Englanders as had not
been carried to Fort Bourbon, or were not at work on the hull of the
wrecked ship.
[Sidenote: Arrival of the Indians.]
Early in May the Indians began to appear in great numbers.
Bridgar--who, divested of his command and robbed of his stores, was
now allowed at large--heard of their arrival with joy. He seems to
have believed that their chiefs would not repudiate their treaties
with the Company. He hoped in any case to be granted the privilege of
a conference with them, but in this he was quickly undeceived.
Radisson went forward to meet the Indians, who had come well loaded
with peltries and who were much perturbed at discovering the helpless
state of the Governor and the ascendancy of the French. But they
showed no disinclination to trade with the latter, in spite of their
solemn covenant, provided Groseilliers and his brother-in-law would do
so on the same terms as the English. Both the bushrangers, however,
seem to have been determined to put an immediate stop to what they
termed folly. Let the Company give six axes for a beaver if it chose;
for themselves they would countenance no such wantonness; two would
suffice.
The tribe being assembled and having spread out their customary gifts,
consisting of beaver tails, smoked moose tongues and pemmican, one of
the leading braves arose and said:--
"Men who pretend to give us life, do you wish us to die? You know what
beaver is worth and the trouble we have to take it. You call
yourselves our brothers and yet will not give us what those give who
make no such profession. Accept our gifts, and let us barter, or we
will visit you no more. We have but to travel a hundred leagues and we
will encounter the English, whose offers we have heard."
On the conclusion of this harangue, silence reigned for some moments.
All eyes were turned on the two white traders. Feeling that now or
never was the time to exhibit firmness, Radisson, without rising to
his feet, addressed the whole assemblage in haughty accents.
"Whom dost thou wish I should answer? I have heard a dog bark; when a
man shall speak he will see I know how to defend my conduct and my
terms. We love our brothers and we deserve their love in return. For
have we not saved them all from the treachery of the English?"
[Sidenote: Radisson overawes the Indians.]
Uttering these words fearlessly, he leapt to his feet and drew a long
hunting knife from his belt. Seizing by the scalp-lock the chief of
the tribe, who had already adopted him as his son, he asked, "Who art
thou?" To which the chief responded, as was customary, "Thy father."
"Then," cried Radisson, "if that is so, and thou art my father, speak
for me. Thou art the master of my goods; but as for that dog who has
spoken, what is he doing in this company? Let him go to his brothers,
the English, at the head of the Bay. Or he need not travel so far: he
may, if he chooses, see them starving and helpless on yonder island:
answering to my words of command."
"I know how to speak to my Indian father," continued Radisson, "of the
perils of the woods, of the abandonment of his squaws and children, of
the risks of hunger and the peril of death by foes. All these you
avoid by trading with us here. But although I am mightily angry I will
take pity on this wretch and let him still live. Go," addressing the
brave with his weapon outstretched, "take this as my gift to you, and
depart. When you meet your brothers, the English, tell them my name,
and add that we are soon coming to treat them and their factory yonder
as we have treated this one."
The speaker knew enough of the Indian character, especially in affairs
of trade, to be aware that a point once yielded them is never
recovered. And it is but just to say that the terms he then made of
three axes for a beaver were thereafter adopted, and that his firmness
saved the Company many a cargo of these implements. His harangue
produced an immediate impression upon all save the humiliated brave,
who declared that if the Assiniboines came hither to barter he would
lay in ambush and kill them.
The French trader's reply to this was to the Indian mind a terrible
one.
"I will myself travel into thy country," said he, "and eat sagamite in
thy grandmother's skull."
While the brave and his small circle of friends were livid with fear
and anger, Radisson ordered three fathoms of tobacco to be
distributed; observing, contemptuously, to the hostile minority that
as for them they might go and smoke women's tobacco in the country of
the lynxes. The barter began, and when at nightfall the Indians
departed not a skin was left amongst them.
[Sidenote: Departure of the English.]
It was now time to think of departure. As absent men tell no tales, it
was decided to despatch Bridgar and his companions first. But at the
last moment some trouble seems to have arisen as to which vessel the
English should have to convey them to more hospitable shores. Bridgar
himself would have preferred to go in the ship, and at first his
passage had been arranged for in that craft; but it was at length
settled that he should be carried with the brothers-in-law in their
barque.
After numerous vicissitudes, which would need a volume to describe,
the _St. Anne_ arrived at the mouth of the St. Lawrence.
At Tadoussac was a trading post belonging to the French: and the sight
of it seems to have inspired either one or both of these
conscienceless adventurers with the idea of lightening their load of
furs, which consisted of above two thousand skins, though this cargo
only represented about one-third of the number they had actually
secured by cheating, robbery and intrigue in the country of the Bay.
Having in this nefarious manner disposed of about half of La
Chesnaye's property jointly with themselves, they again set sail and
arrived at Quebec on the 26th of October.
Immediately on their arrival they went to report themselves to M. de
la Barre, the Governor, La Chesnaye being fortunately, or
unfortunately, absent in Montreal. The Governor thought proper to
return the _Susan_ to the New England merchants, with a warning not
to send again to the place from which she had just come, and the
Company's ill-starred Governor, Bridgar, together with young Gillam,
sailed on board her for New England.
"We parted," says Radisson with that matchless audacity of statement
for which his narrative deserves to be famous, "on friendly terms; and
he (Bridgar) could testify that I let him know at the time my
attachment; and yet, that I wished still to act as heartily in the
service of the King and the nation as I wished to do for France."
This hardly tallies with Bridgar's evidence before the Company, that
Radisson was "a cheat, a swindler, and a black-hearted, infamous
scoundrel," and that he was "a born intriguing traitor." As for the
elder Gillam, he was heard to declare, when he had at length arrived
on the frail and half-rotten craft which bore him and his unhappy
comrades to New England, that he would not die happy until his "hangar
had dipped into the blood of the French miscreant, Radisson."
[Sidenote: Radisson and Groseilliers leave Quebec.]
Quebec soon got too hot for both of the brothers-in-law. Between the
unfortunate La Chesnaye, who saw himself some thousand crowns out of
pocket, and the Governor, who had received orders from France to
despatch to the Court the two adventurers who seemed bent on making
trouble between the two crowns, Radisson and Groseilliers decided to
leave Quebec, which they did in about a fortnight after their arrival.
The exact date of their departure was the 11th of November, 1683, and
it was effected on board a French frigate which had brought troops to
the colony. But though the captain of the frigate made all haste, the
frail and shattered _St. Anne_, with Captain Gillam on board, arrived
in Europe before them; and soon England was ringing with his story of
the dastardly encroachment of the French into the realms of the
Company at Port Nelson.[18]
FOOTNOTE:
[18] The material for the two last chapters has been derived chiefly
from a pamphlet entitled "French Villainy in Hudson's Bay"; Radisson's
own narrative, and the "Journal" of Gillam, the elder, supplied to
Dongan. Radisson's narrative, divided into two parts, is written in a
clear, legible character, and evinces that its author was a person of
some education. The first part is in English, and was long the
property of Samuel Pepys. Some years after Pepys' death, the
manuscript was purchased for a trifle by Rawlinson, the bibliophile.
The second part, recounting the voyages to Hudson's Bay in 1682-84, is
half in French and half in English; it is now in the Bodleian library.