not only, as Cromwell, great, but in him was serenity. Louis XIV.
was not, perhaps, genius in the master, but genius surrounded him.
This may lessen a king in the eyes of some, but it adds to the glory
of his reign. As for me, as you already know, I love that which is
absolute, which is perfect; and therefore have always a profound
respect for this grave and worthy prince, so well-born, so much loved,
and so well-surrounded; a king in his cradle, a king in the tomb;
true sovereign in every acceptation of the word; central monarch of
civilization; pivot of all Europe, seeing, so to speak, from tour to
tour, eight popes, five sultans, three emperors, two kings in Spain,
three kings of Portugal, four kings and one queen of England, three
kings of Denmark, one queen and two kings of Sweden, four kings of
Poland, and four czars of Muscovy appear, shine forth and disappear
around his throne; polar star of an entire age, who, during seventy-two
years, saw all the constellations majestically perform their evolutions
round him.—V. HUGO. _The Rhine._
III.
THE ENGLISH.
THE BLEAK NORTH-WEST COAST.
"_War with the world and peace with England._"—_Spanish._
We should expect to find a race of sailors pushing discovery on their
own element.
With English mariners of the seventeenth century, the belief in a
North-west Passage to India was an inherited faith. Cabot led discovery
in this direction. It became, almost exclusively, a field for the brave
and adventurous of this nation who, from year to year, spreading their
tattered sails to the frozen blasts of the Polar Sea, grimly fought
their way on from cape to headland, in desperate venture, lured by the
vain hope of finding the open waters of their dreams lying just beyond
them. It is a story of daring and peril unsurpassed. Many a noble
ship and gallant crew have gone down while attempting to solve those
mysteries which the hand of God would seem forever to have sealed up
from the knowledge of man.
Among others the brave and ill-fated Henry Hudson,[1] in 1610, sailed
through the straits leading into the bay now bearing his name, where his
mutinous crew wickedly abandoned him to die of cold or hunger, or both.
Afterward, Hudson's Bay was repeatedly visited by English navigators
whose discoveries all went to confirm the prevailing belief in an open
polar sea. One of them even took a letter from his own king for the
Emperor of Japan. In view of the suffering to which all were alike
subject, these "frost-biting voyages" might be said to show more heroism
than sound practical wisdom, yet with the riches of the Indies spread
out before their fancy, and all England to applaud their deeds, the best
of England's sailors were always ready to peril life and limb for the
prize. All who came back told the same tale,—of seas sheeted in ice,
suns that never set, lands where nothing grew, cold so extreme that
all nature seemed but a mockery of the all-wise design of the Creator
Himself.
[Illustration: ABANDONED HUT, NORTH-WEST COAST.]
Sir Thomas Button followed up Hudson's discoveries in 1612. He wintered
at the mouth of Nelson's River, so named by him, after finding farther
progress to the westward barred by the coast, where he had hoped to find
it opening before him.
It was soon found that the bleak and desolate region enclosing Hudson's
Bay was rich in fur-bearing animals, whose skins bore a great price
in Europe, and the reports brought back from that far-off land gave a
certain Frenchman named Grosselier the idea of planting a fur-trading
colony there. He at once went to the minister with his plan. The
minister, however, would not listen to him. Grosselier then went to
Prince Rupert,[2] who was staying at Paris, to ask for the aid he
wanted. Struck with the scheme, the prince became its patron. A ship was
sent out, with Grosselier, in 1668, which reached the head of James'
Bay,[3] where Fort Charles was built. The next year, Prince Rupert,
and seventeen others, were incorporated into a company, with power
granted them to make settlements and carry on trade in Hudson's Bay.
In this way the since famous Hudson's Bay Company obtained a monopoly
of the fur-trade of all that region, which afterward proved so valuable
to it. Its powers were most ample. It could hold and convey land, fit
out ships, erect forts, or make war with the peoples of that country,
but all this was to be done in its character as a trading-company; and
though it had a resident governor, the central authority was kept in
the company, in London, who continued to direct its affairs.
In the earlier years of its existence the Hudson's Bay Company had
a hard struggle for life. We know that French traders formerly had
dealings with the natives of that dreary inland sea. Jealousy now
prompted them to try to drive the English thence by force, and so get
rid of their rivalry. To this end repeated attacks were made upon the
English factories,[4] which were taken and retaken, first by one and
then by another assailant. Even in time of peace the French had not
scrupled to assault these remote posts, so unwilling were Canadians to
see the English gain a foothold in that quarter.
These invasions were quieted at last by the treaty of Utrecht (1713),
which left the English in possession of what they had battled with foes
of every sort to secure for themselves.
[Illustration: HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY'S HOUSE, LONDON.]
Communication had with the natives, who were nomads, taught the
English how to make distant journeys, and gradually, with their aid,
to penetrate farther and farther into the interior. But to live in the
country at all, they had, in a great measure, to adapt themselves to the
natives' way of life, and to make journeys they had to adopt the rude
conveyances found in use among them.
FOOTNOTES
[1] HENRY HUDSON. The same who discovered and named Hudson
River of New York.
[2] PRINCE RUPERT, of Bavaria, commanded the cavalry of
Charles I. during the Civil War (1642): after the Restoration
he devoted himself to scientific pursuits.
[3] JAMES' BAY. Like Davis, Baffin, Hudson, etc., the name
is that of an arctic navigator. It opens at the bottom of
Hudson's Bay.
[4] THE ENGLISH FACTORIES, at that time, were Forts Nelson,
Albany, Hayes and Rupert.
HUDSON'S BAY TO THE SOUTH SEA.
"_Many a shoal marks this stern coast._"
The Hudson's Bay Company's grant was meant to promote the discovery of
a North-west Passage to India: so the people of England, in giving away
such large privileges, expected this would be done without delay.
But the company, at first, made little or no effort in this direction.
It was chiefly occupied with making money, and making it from the start.
Hence every thing was made to work to that end.
[Illustration: HUDSON'S BAY SLED, LOADED.]
England did not know what she was doing when she created this monopoly.
Ignorance led to delusion, and delusion to the inconsiderate granting
away of an empire. It was thought the company would explore and settle
its grant, and thus England would reap the benefits without spending a
penny. The company, on the other hand, meant to do nothing of the sort,
unless driven to it by popular clamor. Then it would do as little as
it could. Colonization was fatal to the fur-trade, and the company was
an association of fur-traders, nothing else. Hence, given a warehouse
in London, a ship to carry goods back and forth, a port and factory at
Hudson's Bay, a score or more of trading-posts scattered here and there
over a vast extent of territory, to which the hunters could bring furs
and get goods at the company's price, and we have, briefly told, the
whole machinery of this giant monopoly. In dealing with the outside
world it pursued a policy of Spanish exclusion and silence. It was not
making history, but money.
Yet the company was all the time building better than it knew, for even
the coming and going of its own traders gradually enlarged geographical
knowledge of the country, so smoothing the way for the future.
From time to time the natives who came to the factories showed specimens
of copper ore, which they said came from the Far Off Metal River of
the North. The English traders consequently named it the Coppermine.
It became an object with them to find the mine, or mines, whence these
specimens had been taken. The governor accordingly (1769) sent one of
his most trusty men into the unknown wilderness in search of them.
Taking with him some Indian guides, and living as they lived, that is
to say one day fasting and the next feasting, as game was found plenty
or scarce, Samuel Hearne only succeeded in getting to the Coppermine
after making three attempts to do so. His story is a wondrous record
of persevering endurance. He found the sacred character of the calumet
everywhere acknowledged, even by the most degraded tribes. When they had
once smoked together the stranger was as safe from injury or insult as
in his own house, though nothing could exceed the curiosity which his
white skin, blue eyes and light hair, all so different from their own,
caused among the Indians he met in his journey.
The Coppermine was found to run into the Arctic Ocean, instead of
Hudson's Bay, as Hearne supposed it did when he first set out, but no
copper could be discovered worth the taking of such a journey to look
for, as his. Hearne came back (1772) at the end of a year and a half,
having established the shore line of the northern ocean at a point where
land only was supposed to be. This was considered a great geographical
discovery. Thus, year by year, a little was added here and a little
there toward completing an accurate map of the north coast line.
In 1789, a Scotch trader, named Alexander Mackenzie, had been living
for eight years past at Fort Chipewyan.[1] This was a station nearly
central between Hudson's Bay and the Pacific. Mackenzie was an explorer
by instinct. He determined to cross the continent. Once he had made up
his mind, no thought of hardship could deter him. His course through the
Slave River and lakes led him to the river now bearing his own name,—the
Mackenzie River. Down this stream the intrepid traveller floated in his
frail canoe, to its outlet upon the frozen Arctic Sea.
During his trip, Mackenzie questioned the Indians of this river about
the unknown country lying beyond the great western wall of mountains,
but found they could tell him little except that the people of that
country were so exceeding fierce no stranger durst go among them. But
Mackenzie knew the Pacific was there, and meant to reach it.
He first moved up from Fort Chipewyan to the east foot of the mountains,
so as to get a better start. He wintered here. In the spring (1793),
he was ready to set out again. One large, strong canoe, which held
all the provisions, and which two men could carry with ease, enabled
the travellers to work their slow and toilsome way up the swollen
mountain torrents into the highest defiles, from which they sprung. As
the explorers advanced, the stream they were ascending became more and
more choked up with rocks or fallen trees, and more and more broken by
cascades and rapids. It was often necessary to carry the canoe round or
drag it over these obstructions, though at the cost of such toil that
the men grew disheartened and wished to turn back, thinking the task
a hopeless one. Unsparing of himself, Mackenzie put courage into the
downhearted, and after a short rest all were ready to go on again.
[Illustration: INDIAN MASK, WEST COAST.]
Falling, at length, among the Indians who dwelt among the mountains,
Mackenzie found that the rest of the journey would be much shortened
by leaving his canoes and proceeding by land. He therefore continued
his way by land, constantly meeting with natives who lived sumptuously
on the salmon that the streams everywhere produced in great abundance
and perfection. Mackenzie soon found he had nothing to fear from these
people. They fed and sheltered his men in their villages, and willingly
helped him on his way. The fatigues and anxieties of the journey were
nearly past, for on the 23d of July, 1793, the party of white men
arrived on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, near the Straits of Fuca.
Although, in relating the adventures of Mackenzie, we have gone somewhat
before our story, the doing so is essential to its design, as subsequent
chapters will show.
FOOTNOTE
[1] FORT CHIPEWYAN was at the foot of ATHABASCA LAKE, midway
between the mountains and Hudson's Bay.
THE RUSSIANS IN ALASKA.
"_Heaven is high and the Czar distant._"
Referring to what Drake had done for England, and De Fuca for Spain,
the one tacking a name to the coast here, the other there, we find
little for more than a century going to show that Europeans thought the
discoveries of either worth following up.
What do we then see? Not Spain, not England putting forth a steady hand
to grasp the prize each already claimed as its own, but a new power,
coming not from the East, but from the West. It is a power hardly known
in Europe. It is Russia.
[Illustration: SEALS, ST. PAUL'S ISLAND.]
The Czar Peter, Peter the Great in history, determined to know whether
the two grand continents, Asia and America, were joined in one, or
separated by a northern ocean. Peter died before the orders given
for this purpose could be carried out, but Catherine, his empress and
successor, sent Captain Behring[1] of the royal navy to execute them.
Sailing from Kamschatka (1728), Behring followed the coast of Asia round
to the north-west, finding open water everywhere, and so determining
the separation of the continents. In a second voyage (1741) he put out
to sea, this time falling in with the American coast, discovering Mt.
St. Elias and the Aleutian archipelago.
During this voyage Behring's vessel was thrown upon an island and
wrecked, and he himself died miserably there, but some of his sailors
built themselves a vessel out of the wreck, in which they succeeded
in getting back to Kamschatka, bringing with them the furs of the
sea-otters and foxes they had killed and eaten while living upon the
desert island.
[Illustration: RUSSIAN CHURCH, ALASKA.]
From the time of these discoveries, Russian adventurers, who were
little better than daring freebooters, crossed over the narrow seas to
the Aleutian Isles, to kill the sea-otters for their fur, thus opening
between them and Ochotsk, and between Ochotsk and the Chinese frontier,
next Siberia, by means of caravans, a trade in the valuable furs for
which these islands are so famous.
In time, these roving traders were followed by a few actual colonists,
who were brought over from Siberia or Kamschatka to aid in establishing
permanent trading-posts[2] at suitable points. But the country
possessed no other resources except its fur-trade. The early traders
had cruelly oppressed the natives, hence the first colonists were looked
upon as enemies, and treated as such by them. Some missionaries of the
Greek Church were also sent over to care for the souls of these poor
people, who before had no knowledge of Christianity.
There were no elements of thrift in this colony, consequently it could
never make healthy progress. At best the people were little better than
vassals, while the Indians were hardly more than slaves. The land is
too cold for agriculture. The people have but one occupation, that of
seal-hunting.
The fur-trade was at first conducted by private persons, but eventually
the control passed to one large company, sanctioned by the crown under
the form of The Russian American Company, with headquarters first at
Kodiak and then at Sitka.[3]
This company claimed the whole coast of America, on the Pacific, with
the adjacent islands, from Behring Straits southward to, and beyond,
the mouth of the Columbia River.
FOOTNOTES
[1] BEHRING STRAITS, and Sea, take their name from this
navigator,—Vitus Behring, or Bering. According to a map
published by the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg, Behring
touched his farthest southerly point on our coast closely
under the sixtieth parallel, at what is called, on some maps,
Admiralty or Behring's Bay. His consort Tchirikow's track
is extended to 55° 36´. In the narrowest part of Behring's
Straits it is only thirty-six miles from Asia to America,
showing how slight were the obstacles to communication, as
compared with the three thousand miles separating America from
Europe.
[2] PERMANENT TRADING-POSTS were begun on Oonalaska about
1773, and Kodiak 1783. In 1789 there were eight of these
posts, with two hundred and fifty Russians. A Russian post
was also established at St. Michael's, Norton Sound.
[3] SITKA was founded to check the encroachments of the
Hudson's Bay Company. Alaska was purchased by the United
States in 1867, during the presidency of Andrew Johnson.
ENGLAND ON THE PACIFIC.
"_Ye mariners of England!_"—_Campbell_.
England's conquest of Canada[1] (1763) put a wholly new face upon the
situation in America. She was now, beyond dispute, the foremost power
of this continent.
Hardly had the echoes of this conflict died away, when a new power
arose to contend with England for what she had just torn from the
grasp of France. This was her own American colonies, whose people had
now been driven to take up arms (1775) against the mother country, in
defence of their dearest political rights. So England gained Canada,
but lost her own colonies. She wrested power from France, only to see
it snatched from her own grasp in the moment of victory, though, after
all, it was no less a victory for the English-speaking race over all
her Latin-speaking rivals. It must be seen that events like these would
have far-reaching effects in shaping our history.
Yet while the conflict with her colonies was going on, and both parties
were in the thick of the actual fighting, England was putting forth
efforts to control the commerce of the North-west Coast.
For this purpose it would be essential to have accurate surveys of
all important harbors and sounds, in order to select sites for future
settlements, and above all of any navigable rivers flowing from the
east out upon the coast, that might afford a practicable route into the
interior, and so connect this coast with the settlements of the Hudson's
Bay Company.
With this end in view, two discovery ships were sent out (1776), in
command of Captain James Cook,[2] with orders to search the coast of
New Albion for any navigable river north of the forty-fifth parallel.
England clearly meant to re-assert her claim to sovereignty,[3] set
up so long ago in her behalf by Sir Francis Drake.
On board Cook's ship were two persons with whom our story will have to
deal. One was Midshipman Vancouver, the other Corporal Ledyard of the
marines.
[Illustration: SNOW SPECTACLES, ALASKA.]
Cook first discovered and named the Sandwich Islands.[4] Shaping his
course thence for the American coast, he fell in with (1778) and named
Cape Flattery.[5] Steering now northward with the coast always in
sight, Cook at length found a broad basin, which the Indians called
Nootka, and which has since been known as Nootka Sound.[6] The ships
lay here all the month of April, refitting, and getting ready for the
coming cruise in the arctic seas, which Cook was instructed to explore
for the wished-for passage into Hudson's Bay.
[Illustration: INDIAN CARVING.]
Except for their propensity to steal, which nothing could control,
Cook found the natives of Nootka a friendly people, though they were
no longer abashed in the presence of white men, or afraid of their
loud-roaring cannon, as in the time of Drake. Many wore brass or silver
trinkets. Most of them had tools of iron which they had made for
themselves, and could use with skill. Passing ships would therefore
seem to have brought these tribes into unfrequent communication with
Europeans, so that Cook's coming neither surprised nor intimidated them;
while the articles in their possession acquainted him with the fact
that other navigators had passed that way before him, perhaps with views
similar to his own.
Upon again setting sail, Cook was blown off the coast by contrary winds.
When he again saw it, he was far to the north of Nootka. He saw and
named Mt. Edgecumbe as he sailed; then Mt. St. Elias rose in solitary
grandeur before them, giving Cook notice that he was now crossing the
track of the Russian discoverers.
[Illustration: INDIAN GRAVE, NORTH-WEST COAST.]
The ships continued to skirt the coast until its westward trend forced
them to put about, and steer south-west, along the shores of the Alaskan
peninsula. Cook had missed both the Columbia River and the Straits of
Fuca, thus losing his one chance for making known to the world the great
water systems of the north Pacific.
Getting clear of Alaska, Cook came to Oonalaska, of the Aleutian group,
which he doubled. Then, finding the coast beyond him to bend in the
desired direction, again he sailed on through Behring's Straits into
the Arctic Ocean as far as Icy Cape (70° 29´), at which point his ships
were stopped by ice. Finding he could go no farther, he put about and
returned to Oonalaska, where, in October, he anchored.
From this anchorage Corporal Ledyard was sent on shore in search of
the Russian traders, then known to be living on the island, whom he
found, and brought back with him to the ships. Getting little from
these people, for want of interpreters, Cook sailed back to the Sandwich
Islands, where the natives of Owyhee treacherously killed him while he
was on shore.
The furs which Cook's sailors obtained from the natives of Nootka, in
exchange for knives, buttons and other trifles, were sold at Canton,
China, for more than ten thousand dollars. This was the beginning of a
trade between Nootka and Canton, which, during the next decade, was the
means of bringing many British vessels to the North-west Coast.
It is instructive to remember that, at the very time when the American
colonies were throwing off their allegiance, Cook was quietly exploring
the North-west Coast, in the interests of peaceful expansion, which, in
the end, was to inure to the benefit of those colonies.
FOOTNOTES
[1] CONQUEST OF CANADA was the result of the Seven Years'
War in Europe. Nearly all the powers were involved in it. When
peace was made, all that France held east of the Mississippi
River, under the names Louisiana or Canada, except New
Orleans, was given up to England. New Orleans, with all that
France claimed west of the Mississippi, had already (1762)
been privately ceded by France to Spain.
[2] JAMES COOK entered the navy as a cabin boy. He stood
at the head of English navigators since Drake. The government
kept his discoveries secret till after the close of the war.
To their honor, all the belligerents gave orders that he
should not be molested by their forces.
[3] HER CLAIM TO SOVEREIGNTY. It was known in England,
before Cook sailed, that Spanish navigators were again working
their way up the coast. (See voyages of Juan Perez 1774, Bruno
Hector and Bodega 1775, in Bancroft.) The Spaniards knew the
value of the fur seal in commerce.
[4] SANDWICH ISLANDS, so named for the Earl of Sandwich,
then first lord of the Admiralty.
[5] CAPE FLATTERY, on the mainland, at the south entrance
to the Straits of Fuca, and landmark of those straits.
[6] NOOTKA SOUND, Vancouver Island. Taken possession
of by Spain, 1789. The English navigators Cook, Meares
and Vancouver, being unable to find another good harbor
between Cape Mendocino and Cape Flattery, hit upon Nootka
as possessing the requirements of a port for their nation.
Upon this a quarrel arose with Spain, which claimed Nootka
in virtue of prior discovery. In the end Spain was obliged
to relinquish Nootka to England. VANCOUVER, who gave his
name to the large island to which Nootka Sound belongs,
reached the coast April, 1792, near Cape Mendocino, but
strangely missed the Columbia River, though he carefully
looked for any opening in the coast line, which he declared
to be unbroken from Mendocino to Cape Flattery. Vancouver's
surveys were to fill the gap left open by Cook when he was
blown off the coast. His passage through the Straits of Fuca
had been anticipated by Captain Kendrick, of the American
sloop "Washington," in 1790, thus first verifying the
long-disputed fact of the existence of those straits.
QUEEN ELIZABETH.