1642-1643
VILLE MARIE
FOUNDED BY PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE
THE DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION FROM MONTREAL--THE ARRIVAL
AT PLACE ROYALE--THE "VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS" AND MASS ON THE
"COMMON"--VIMONT'S PROPHECY--ACTIVITIES OF ENCAMPMENT--THE
FIRST REINFORCEMENT--THE FIRST QUASI-PAROCHIAL CHAPEL BUILT IN
WOOD--ALGONQUINS VISIT THE CAMP--FLOODS AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE
MOUNTAIN--PEACEFUL DAYS--PRIMITIVE FERVOUR AND SIMPLICITY--THE
DREADED IROQUOIS AT LAST APPEAR--FIRST ATTACK--THE FIRST
CEMETERY--"CASTLE DANGEROUS"--THE ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND
REINFORCEMENT--_Les Véritables Motifs._ NOTES: THE HURONS,
ALGONQUINS AND IROQUOIS.
During the months of February, March and April, the boat construction
went busily on at Ste. Foy. At length when the ice-bound river
broke up and the last floes had swept past to the gulf beyond, M.
de Maisonneuve's flotilla, loaded with provisions, furniture and
tools, besides little pieces of artillery and ammunition, set sail to
Montreal on May 8th. It consisted of a pinnace, a little vessel with
three masts, a gabarre or flat-bottomed transport barge with sails,
and two barques or chaloupes. On one of these latter M. de Montmagny,
the governor of Quebec, fittingly led the way with M. de Maisonneuve;
with the expedition were several black-robed Jesuits, including Father
Barthélemy Vimont, the superior of the Canadian mission, and Father
Poncet, the first missionary for Ville Marie. There were also M. de
Puiseaux, Madame de la Peltrie, and her maid, Charlotte Barré, Jeanne
Mance, and the rest of the twenty-one colonists, six of whom belonged
to the household of Nicholas Godé, the joiner.
On the 17th, as evening fell, they came in sight of Montreal and
cantiques rent the air. On this day M. Montmagny again[44] put M. de
Maisonneuve formally in possession of the island. Setting sail early
next morning, before daybreak, the rising sun delighted their eyes with
the beautiful meadows smiling with a profusion of flowers of variegated
colours. At last they reached the islet at the mouth of the stream,
which, so long ago, Champlain spoke of as a safe haven, until they
reached hard by the spot named by him, _La Place Royale_. Within this
watered mead, de Maisonneuve had decided to build his settlement and
fort. As he put foot to the soil, inspired by the solemnity of the
moment, lie fell on his knees in thanksgiving to God, and was quickly
followed by all his party. They broke forth into heartfelt psalms
or hymns of joyful gratitude. In the meadow, a spot was chosen for
the mass of thanksgiving. Quickly the altar was arranged under the
direction of Mademoiselle Mance and Madame de la Peltrie. When all were
gathered round it in this open air temple,--the silence only broken
by the twittering of the numerous birds, the flapping of wings of the
wild fowl and their shrill cries as they winged their flight above
the river to the south, the sighing of the trees; the swish of the
meadow plants swaying in the morning breeze and the murmuring of the
little haven-stream on which the chaloupes were tossing; the subdued,
sonorous rush of the water on the mighty St. Lawrence at its mouth,
where the pinnace and gabare were riding at anchor,--the superior of
the missions of Canada, Father Vimont, intoned the grand old solemn
chant of Christian ritual, the _Veni Creator Spiritus_, and the voices
of all joined in with heartfelt unison. Then followed the Grand Mass,
the first that had ever been celebrated at Villa Marie,[45] and all the
while the growing sun shone full upon the slopes of Mount Royal, ever
mounting upward and onward to its wooded peak.
[Illustration: THE COLONISTS' MEMORIAL]
The scene is one of life and colour. The rich hues of the vestments of
the priests, the shining white linen of the altar, the gleaming sacred
ornaments, the picturesque costumes of Montmagny and de Maisonneuve,
the ladies and gentlemen around them, the varied dresses of the
artisans and the arquebusiers, whose weapons glint in the sun, fill in
a picture worthy of the mountain background, such as should inspire any
artist's brush.
And now the action of the Sacrifice was suspended and Father Vimont
broke the sice and earnestly spoke to the worshippers. His words
have become famous, pregnant as they were with prophetic meaning. We
thank Dollier de Casson for having preserved them.
"That which you see, gentlemen, is only a grain of mustard seed, but it
is cast by hands so pious and so animated with faith and religion, that
it must be that God has great designs for it, since He makes use of
such instruments for His work. I doubt not, but that this little grain
may produce a great tree, that it will make wonderful progress some
day, that it will multiply itself, and stretch out on every side."
[Illustration: VIMONT'S PROPHECY. THE FIRST MASS ON THE SITE OF
MONTREAL]
Never was prophecy more true, when we realize the present greatness of
Montreal and remember the distinguished sons and daughters it has sent
over the world. For Montreal has been the home of great discoverers,
religious founders, missionaries and pioneers of civilization, and
captains of industry. It is the mother of the cities of the northwest
and its future is still before it.
The mass ended, the Sacred Host is left exposed throughout the day,
as though the island were a cathedral shrine. For a sanctuary lamp
the women, not having any oil, placed with pious zeal a number of
"fireflies" in a phial, which, as evening stole on, shone like little
clusters of tapers in the vesper gloom.
Next morning the actuaries of an encampment occupied all. Around
the temporary altar, the camp tents were pitched, a chapel of bark
was constructed,[46] and trees were cut down to surround the colony
with an intrenchment of stakes and a ditch, the governor, Montmagny,
felling the first tree, after which he proceeded to Quebec. But Madame
de la Peltrie and M. de Puiseaux remained. On August 15th the first
reinforcement of thirteen men arrived, sent under M. de Repentigny, as
admiral of the Company's vessels by the Associates at Paris, through
the funds collected, as mentioned, on February 2d. With them there came
a most useful man to the colony, the pious and brave carpenter, Gilbert
Barbier, surnamed "Minimus" for his short stature. Altar, furniture
and other valuables arrived, and Gilbert Barbier immediately set about
constructing a worthy chapel of wood, while wings were added to make
the mission settlement house.
Meanwhile, during the summer, the vessels plied between Yule Marie
and St. Michel to bring up the rest of the stores and ammunition left
behind. These reduced the guard to but a score of men, but as yet, the
Iroquois had not got scent of the new settlement. On August 15 the
new chapel was completed and used for service--a framework building
of about ten feet square which did service as a conventual and quasi
parochial chapel till the beginning of 1659.[47]
So passed the happy days unmolested by any foe. A friendly band of
Algonquins visited the camp and after witnessing a religious procession
on Assumption day, 1642, journeyed with the governor to the summit
of Mount Royal. While there, it is related that two of their body,
aged men, told the bystanders that they belonged to the race formerly
inhabiting this island. Stretching out their arms to the slopes on the
west and the south sides of the mountain they exclaimed: "Behold the
places where once there were villages flourishing in numbers, whence
our ancestors were driven by our enemies. Thus it is that this island
became deserted and uninhabited." "My grandfather," said one old man,
"tilled the earth at this place. The Indian corn grew well then." And
taking up the soil in his hands: "See the richness of it," he cried,
"how good it is!" Charmed with this discourse they were pressed to stay
and live happily with their friends, the white men, but the wandering
habits of these forest children finally prevailed.
In the month of December, the safety of the colony was threatened by
the floods of the St. Lawrence which advanced over the low lying lands
towards the fort. With simple faith, M. Maisonneuve planted a cross
over against the invading waters, and the "Relations" of this year,
tell how the floods receded on Christmas day.
In pious gratitude M. Maisonneuve would erect a permanent cross on the
mountain. A trail was blazed and cut, and on the feast of the Epiphany,
January 6, 1643, a procession formed, M. Maisonneuve leading, carrying
the cross on his shoulders and followed by others bearing the wood
for its pedestal. On reaching the summit, Père Duperon had an altar
erected, and celebrated mass after the cross had been blessed and
erected. At this time, there seemed to have been two priests attached
to the mission. This was the origin of the annual pilgrimage, since
discontinued. On the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1643, the main
building, or the Habitation, containing the chapel of Notre Dame, the
stores, and dwelling rooms for sixty persons, was completed. In front
they placed the small pieces of artillery and then celebrated the
occasion with a cannonade.
The life within resembled that of a religious community. For the most
part they lived in common, offering a picture of the fervour and
simplicity of the primitive church. Closed up for nearly eleven years
for mutual safety within the fort, they learned to live a life of
charity and holiness. The days were as yet uneventful, and the round
of work and prayer and recreation bound them together in peace and
comfort. Not only the governor and the leaders of the settlement, but
all the rough soldiers and workmen led a fervent and exemplary life.
The hand of obedience pressed lightly on them, and a willing service
was granted by all. The "Relations" of the annals of this period are
full of praise of the sanctity and peace of these early days. "One
saw," says Sister Morin in the Annales of the Hôtel-Dieu, "no public
sins, nor enmities, nor bitternesses; they were united in charity, ever
full of esteem and affection one for another, and ready to serve one
another on all occasions."
The ideal of the pious Associates of the Company of Notre Dame de
Montreal at Paris was being fulfilled.
The governor, in his apostolic zeal, established confraternities among
the men and women, for the conversion of the savages, for this was the
motive that had inspired the foundation of this far off outpost of
civilization.
The singleness of purpose of the settlers at Montreal was not lost upon
the Hurons, who spoke of it to their different tribes, so that many now
began to arrive. In February of 1643 a band of Algonquin braves came
by, leaving their wives and children in camp while they went forth on
the warpath against their enemies, the Iroquois. A few days later they
were visited by Algonquin hunters, for there was much sport around.
The chief of this band stayed behind with his wife, desirous to live
a civilized life, and the parish register records their baptism and
their Christian marriage, on March 7th, of that year, the first to be
recorded in the marriage book. Soon, this was followed by the baptism
of the wife and children of his uncle, a famous orator among the
Algonquins, who was known as "Borgne de l'Ile." The registers finally
record his baptism and his Christian marriage.
Montreal was soon to experience the effects of the alliance of the
Hurons with the French, as well as some of the disasters prophesied
by Montmagny to Maisonneuve at Quebec, from the war which had been
declared a month before Maisonneuve's arrival. Other parts of the
country had already been suffering. In 1642 Father Vimont in the
"Relations" had written that the Iroquois had sworn a cruel war against
the French. They blocked up all the passage of our great river,
hindering commerce and menacing the whole country with ruin.
On the 2d of August, 1643, at Three Rivers, an attack was made by them
on the fort and they killed or took prisoners a party of twenty-three
to twenty-eight Huron allies, and with them the heroic and saintly
Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, and two young Frenchmen. The saintly Jogues was
subjected to much in treatment. After having cut off the thumb of his
right hand and bitten off one of his fingers, they tore his nails out
with their teeth, and put fire under the extremities of his mutilated
fingers. Having done this they tore off his cassock and clothed him in
the garb of a savage. Though he escaped, he was reserved for a martyr's
death, on October 18, 1646, among the Onondagas. The year previously he
had ministered to the infant church at Montreal.
At the new fort on the Iroquois River, designed by Montmagny, on August
13, 1643, the Iroquois swept down after seven days, and captured some
prisoners whom they told that 700 of them were banding together and
would fall upon the French colony in the beginning of next spring.
Great fear for Montreal, the solitary and most advanced port, was
entertained in the spring at Quebec. Still this concerted attack was
not yet to be realized. Yet the immunity of Montreal was not to last
long.
There was a method in the madness of the Iroquois. They hated the
French because of their alliance with the Christian Hurons and they did
their best to cut off the peltry trade of the Northwest from them and
divert it to Albany and New Amsterdam. This naturally suited the Dutch.
To carry this plan out, the Iroquois, small in numbers but expert
military tacticians, had established an uninterrupted line of lookout
posts from Three Rivers to the portage of the Chaudières (Ottawa).
Starting from this as their working point, they divided their fighting
men into ten sections, two of which remained at this exposed post. The
third section was stationed at the foot of the Long Sault, the fourth
above Montreal, the fifth on the island, the sixth on the Rivière des
Prairies, the seventh on Lac St. Pierre, the eighth not far from Fort
Richelieu on the Sorel, the ninth near Three Rivers, while the tenth
formed a flying squadron to carry devastation when the opportunity
presented itself. Few could break past them in safety. Even Jogues had
not been successful.
Soon the number of baptisms registered for this year reached the number
of seventy or eighty. These were busy days for the few ladies of
Montreal.[48]
The frequent visitations of the savages were a drain on the stores of
the community, and we learn from Dollier de Casson that in the spring
of 1644 more serious efforts were made under d'Ailleboust to raise
wheat. To the delight of all, this was abundantly successful. Up to
1643 only vegetables had been cultivated.
Thus passed the peaceful days along, for though there was much hardship
incidental to a pioneering life in a new country so far removed from
communication with civilization, still, all were happy, since so far
the dreaded Iroquois had not appeared. But in July of that year, 1643,
a friendly troupe of Algonquins passed by. There was great joy in the
camp, for it was the occasion of the baptism of the four-year-old child
of one of the chiefs. M. Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance were happy to be
its godparents. The Indians were invited to return with their families
next spring, and live with them. They promised to do so. No doubt they
told others of their trip, for the colony was again shortly visited.[49]
The Hurons came to be regarded by the Iroquois as the allies of the
hated white men. The establishment of the fort of Montreal was an
additional reason for exterminating the Hurons. In consequence the
register of baptism, for the year of 1644, only records one ceremony.
This is significant, for it marked the presence in the neighbourhood
at last of the dreaded Iroquois, who kept the Hurons from visiting
this year. The circumstance of the presence of the Iroquois in the
neighbourhood became known to this fort one day in 1643, when a
party of ten Algonquins ran terror-stricken into camp, trembling and
afraid of their shadows. Outside the fort were the baffled pursuers
too small in numbers to attack it. One of their tribe had been slain
by the fugitive Algonquins, who had directed their steps to friendly
shelter without being overtaken. From that time forward, there was
dread of Iroquois surprises in the camp. It was now at last discovered;
stealthily and noiselessly the balked enemy reconnoitered the camp and
retired to the woods to spread the news to the tribe and to prepare
for an attack. For, unknown to the fort, the country was infested with
them--sworn to make war upon the French. In June, a party of them were
at Lachine, being joined by a party of unarmed Hurons whom they had
surprised with their canoes laden with peltry. The treacherous Hurons,
who had been in the past kindly received at the fort, to conciliate
their captors, now pointed it out to them for an attack.
Unsuspecting any attack, six men from the fort, cutting wood about two
hundred feet distant, were surprised by forty Iroquois on the 9th of
June. They fought bravely; but three were killed and the rest taken
prisoners. The body of Guillaume Boissier _dit_ Güilling was found that
day and buried but the bodies of Bernard Berté from Lyons and Pierre
Laforest _dit_ L'Auvergnat were not found till later, and were buried
three days after by Father Davost.
The archæologist will be pleased that the place of the first cemetery
is recorded by the chroniclers. At the corner of the angle of the
meadow, where the River St. Pierre joined the St. Lawrence, a little
cemetery was made and fenced around with piles[50] to save the dead from
molestation.
On the day after, some of the treacherous Hurons fled into the camp and
told the awful tale of slaughter committed by the Iroquois during the
night. The Hurons had spent the night insulting the French prisoners
until sleep had closed their eyes, when the Iroquois fell upon them and
slashed to pieces those who could not escape. Then taking the thirteen
Huron canoes they loaded them with peltry; they descended the river
with the three French prisoners in the sight of the onlookers of the
fort, who were too few to pursue them.
What happened to the prisoners was graphically told later when one of
them arrived at the camp.
He told how the design of his captors had been to descend to a point
whence they could land and cut their way through the woods, to the
place now known as Chambly. But having too heavy a load of beaver skins
to carry, on landing they destroyed their canoes with their axes, as
their custom was to render them useless.
When they were in the woods, some four or five leagues from the place
whence they left the river, their care of their prisoners became less
guarded. He had been set to boil a kettle, and taking the opportunity
of being sent to gather wood for the fire, he had eluded his captors
and had come to the spot where he had landed. Finding one of the canoes
less damaged than the others, he plugged up the dents made by the
Iroquois hatchets, and loading it with a few skins, had then paddled
up to Ville Marie. The soldiers of the fort went for the rest of the
peltries and M. de Maisonneuve distributed them, but kept none fur
himself.[51] The fate of the other two prisoners was told later by a
Huron who escaped from the Iroquois. We are not told their names by the
"Relations" of 1643, but one whose Christian name was Henri, having
seen his companion, as well as two Hurons, burnt at a slow fire, had
escaped, only to be recaptured for the same terrible fate.
For the rest of that year, apprehension of ambuscades kept the colony
within the walls of the fort as far as possible. Even to leave the
threshold of their homes was to risk danger.
"Tant il est vrai," adds M. Dollier de Casson, "que dans ces temps
on était plus en assurance de ce qu'on avait franchi le seuil de sa
porte." From this time begins the history of "Castle Dangerous," as we
may term this period of the _nascent city_, now commencing, when there
began a constant struggle with the daily risks of life. It was during
this early anxiety that good news came to allay some of the alarm, and
this was brought by the governor of Quebec.
For, meanwhile in France, during the winter, the eyes of many were
turned onto the infant colony. Praise and criticism alike were freely
distributed. The great Company, stung by reflections on their own
inactivity, repented of having given their charter to a company which
they feared might prove a rival, and would have revoked it, but for
the ratification it had received from the King. There were many,
however, who in high places strongly approved of the aims and objects
of the Company of Montreal.[52] A letter is extant, from Louis XIII
himself, written at St. Germain-en-Laye, on February 21st, which was
written to M. Montmagny, the agent of the Great Company at Quebec,
bidding him "assist and favour in every way in his power, the Seigneur
de Maisonneuve in such manner that there shall be no trouble or
hindrance." This was one of the last acts of this noble prince, who
died on May 24th following, but his kindness to Montreal will always be
remembered. It was he who gave the Company of Montreal besides presents
of artillery the vessel of 250 tons, which, under the name of Notre
Dame de Montréal, was now crossing the ocean bringing new colonists and
their effects.
In the month of July, 1643, the colony was delighted with the presence
of M. Montmagny, who announced the approaching convoy sent by the
Associates, under the guidance of one who was destined to be an
able lieutenant to M. Maisonneuve. This was M. Louis d'Ailleboust,
Seigneur de Coulonges, a man of an illustrious family that had given
distinguished sons to the church and state. The vessels, bringing
him and his party of colonists for Montreal, arrived at Quebec on
Assumption day, 1643, and soon they reached the fort. Among them,
to the great delight of Jeanne Mance, was his noble lady, Barbe de
Boulogne. Jean de Saint-Père, the first notary, was also with them. For
Jeanne Mance, M. d'Ailleboust brought a message, of which we shall hear
later. M. d'Ailleboust was a skillful engineer, and under his guidance
the wooden stockade was reinforced with two bastions, which the fear of
attacks from the Iroquois had rendered most desirable. This enclosure
now began to be called the "Fort" or the "Château."
The religious care of the colony at this time was that exercised by
the Jesuit Fathers,[53] whose headquarters were at Quebec. As we have
seen, they willingly consented to serve this mission until M. Olier had
prepared for the Associates a succession of secular priests formed by
his hand for the special purpose of Montreal. The time was now come for
M. Olier's company to leave Vaugirard, to which he had gone in 1641,
and to follow him to Paris to the parish of St. Sulpice, where he was
now training in his Seminary of St. Sulpice, a goodly number of young
priests suitable for the Canadian mission of Ville Marie. These were
ready to go, but as yet a technical difficulty of ecclesiastical canon
law stood in the way.
Since the re-occupation of Quebec by the French in 1632, after the
departure of the English under Kerth, the Jesuits had been sent under
the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Rouen, and this see had continued
to claim the Catholics of New France as its diocesans.
To M. Olier it appeared that Canada, being a foreign mission, the
privilege of sending clergy belonged directly to Rome; accordingly the
Associates of Montreal addressed a letter to Pope Urbain VIII, asking
him to authorize the papal nuncio then in Paris to give the ordinary
powers of missioners, to those whom they would send to Ville Marie.
This document, preserved in the archives of Versailles, contains,
in addition to the above request, others asking for certain routine
grants and privileges. The answer from Rome, while granting the
latter, ignored the main request. There seemed to be no desire at
present, at Rome, to conflict with the privileges of Rouen, or with the
prescriptive rights of the Jesuits. Then too there was opposition then
being threatened by the Great Company. Matters, therefore, stood where
they were.
Indeed any other course taken at this time would have been very unwise.
Especially as the state of feeling of unrest reflected in France this
year by the "véritables motifs" was doubtless known at the Vatican
through the papal nuncio, who was at this period in Paris, as we have
seen.
Before passing from the events of 1643, notice must be taken of a
remarkable document which appeared in Paris this year. This was "Les
Véritables Motifs," one of the historical documental sources of this
early period.
It was published in a volume of 127 pages in quarto, very likely having
been printed in Paris, but bearing no names of place, printer or
author. M. l'abbé Faillon, the author of "La Colonie Française," thinks
it was written by a former judge, M. Laisné de la Marguerie, who had
left the world to associate himself with M. Olier. On the contrary,
however, the abbé Verreau thinks that it is the production of M. Olier
himself, for reasons which we prefer to follow.
The full title of the book, "Véritables Motifs de Messieurs et Dames
de la Société de Notre Dame de Montréal, pour la Conversion des
Sauvages," is an indication at once, of an apologia for the erection
of the Montreal mission for the conversion of the infidels. It seems
strange in these days that such self-defence should be necessary.
But the document reveals that there was strong opposition to, and
misunderstanding of, the "raison d'être" of a purely religious colony.
We may suspect that the objections formulated must have been from the
Company of New France in a spirit of jealousy.
The chief objections were (1) That it was contrary to the established
custom of the Catholic church to have lay people, and especially
ladies, enterprising a mission for the conversion of infidels.
(2) That this work was not needed for the salvation of the heathen,
as they argued in the case of infidel peoples in the absence of
revelation, they were invincibly ignorant, and that the light of reason
alone sufficed for their salvation.
(3) That the work of the Associates was a piece of ostentatious piety;
that in the past it had sufficed for pious people to give their alms
secretly to be administered by others for the good of religion. There
was no need to establish a company for the purpose.
(4) That this Company injured the interests of others, viz: the Company
of the Hundred Associates, the Jesuits, who had been given the charge
of the Canadian missions, and finally the poor of France, for charity
begins at home.
(5) That the Association of Montreal, not having any other foundation
but that of Christian charity, it is bound to be a financial failure,
and that the enterprise would fall through, owing to lack of enthusiasm
and consequent shortage of funds.
(6) Finally, that the enterprise was ill considered, badly planned
and rash; that South America would have been a better place for such
a settlement; that Montreal was unfitted for French people to live in
on account of the cruel cold and the excessive length of the winter;
that they would be more exposed than ever to the butcheries of the
Iroquois, who would infallibly cut them into pieces; that a work of
such consequence could only be carried on by the King's government on
account of the enormous expenses entailed, and it was folly for private
persons to dare to tempt God openly.
The answer to these objections is continued in the 127 pages of quarto
alluded to. We will leave them to the imagination. Without giving the
reply we need only refer the reader to the year 1643 and the practical
solution now going on at Montreal in the year of 1914.[54]
On the 2d of February, another scene in the romantic story of Montreal
was enacted in Paris in the Church of Notre Dame. There at six o'clock
in the morning Olier said mass at the altar of the Holy Virgin,
surrounded by the members of the Association of Montreal, who now had
reached as many as thirty-five. The lay members, many of distinguished
rank, (for Jeanne Mance's letter on her departure to M. Dauversière
had helped in this), communicated, while the priests celebrated at
neighbouring altars in the vast cathedral.
They consecrated the Island of Montreal to the Holy Family and placed
it particularly under the protection of Mary, whose name they gave to
the city of "Ville Marie," and from that day the seal of the Associates
bore the Virgin's statue with the legend "Notre Dame de Montréal." On
this day the Associates gave a sum of 40,000 _livres_, to be devoted to
defray the expenses of a new expedition.
[Illustration: THE HOLY FAMILY]
NOTE
THE HURONS, ALGONQUINS AND IROQUOIS
HURONS
The Hurons were the Wendots or Wyandots, and were divided into various
clans or families, such as the Bears, the Rocks, the Cords, etc.
They were the parent stock of the five Iroquois Nations and were
related to the Petuns and Neutrals, their neighbours on Lake Huron,
or Attegouestan, as they called it. They were also connected by blood
with the Undastes or Susquehannas of Pennsylvania. The derivation of
the name of Hurons, as the Wyandots were called by the French, is
fanciful but apparently authentic. When Champlain, in 1609, was visited
at Quebec by a tribe of these Wyandots to sell peltry from the far-off
Northwest regions, the irregular tufts of hair on their half-shaven
heads seemed to the Frenchman to represent bristles (_la hure_) on
the back of an angry boar. "Quelle hure!" they exclaimed, and those
possessing the stock of bristles they called "Hurons."
Their country was eight hundred or nine hundred miles away from Quebec,
around Lake Huron. "Roughly speaking," says the Rev. T. J. Campbell in
his "Pioneer Priests of North America," "the territory of the Hurons
was at the head of Georgian Bay, with Lake Simcoe on the east, the
Severn River and Matchedash Bay on the north, Nottawasaga Bay on the
west, and was separated from the Neutrals on the south by what would
now be a line drawn from the present town of Collingwood over to
Hawkstone on Lake Simcoe. The train for Toronto, north of Midland and
Penetanguishena, runs through the old habitat of the Hurons."
Many of the clergy who served Montreal had laboured among them. In the
beginning the Hurons would not listen to any allusion to Christianity.
Success only began in 1639, and lasted but for ten years, for before
the end of 1650 as a distinct people they had vanished, being
exterminated by their implacable foe, the Iroquois.
THE ALGONQUINS
The Algonquins are said to derive their name from the word Algonquin,
"the place where they spear the fish," i. e., the front of the canoe.
They were once a great race. Indeed today they number 95,000 of
which 35,000 are in the United States and the rest in Canada. Their
hereditary enemy, the Iroquois, were not so numerous, and thus we
find Champlain allying himself with the Algonquins against the scanty
sixteen or seventeen thousand Iroquois who lived in the New York
territory. But herein lay Champlain's mistake. The Algonquins were
wanderers and not warriors. They were a simple, stupid people, who
neither cultivated the ground nor learned any textile arts and had
no settled habitations. They were all worshipers of the Manitou,
shameless in their immoralities and just as cruel to their captives,
as were the Iroquois. They were, owing to their nomadic life, a prey
to the latter and a difficulty to the few missionaries to Christianize
them adequately, for every group would have necessitated a priest to
follow them in the hunt for game or fish, as they wandered from place
to place.
Yet, portions of them, being less fierce than other tribes of their
race, welcomed the missionaries, who sympathized with them in their
poverty and wretchedness. Thus at Montreal, as at Three Rivers and
Quebec, these were the basis of the Indian converts.
"When the Algonquins were a great nation they claimed," says the author
of the "Pioneer Priests of North America," "as their own, almost all
the upper regions of the North American continent, and even out in the
Atlantic there was no one to dispute Newfoundland with them, except an
inconsiderable and now forgotten people, known as the Beothuken. Cape
Breton, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and all the country from
Labrador to Alaska was theirs, except where the Esquimaux lived in the
East, the Kitunabaus in the far Northwest, and the Hurons, Petuns and
Neutrals in the region near Georgian Bay. In what is now the United
States, New England was counted as their country, and though their
deadly enemy, the Iroquois, had somehow or other seized the greater
portion of New York, yet the strip along the Hudson belonged to the
Algonquins, as also New Jersey, a part of Virginia, and North Carolina,
Kentucky, Illinois and Wisconsin."
Algonquin is the generic name, but its many subdivisions and tribes
have their specific names such as those set down in ethnological tables
as the Abenaakis, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Crees, Delawares, Foxes,
Illinois, Kickapoos, Mohicans, Massachusetts, Menominees, Montagnais,
Mohawks, Narragansetts, Nepinues, Ojibways, Ottawas, Powhattans, Sacs,
Shawnees, Wampanoags, Wappingers, etc.
IROQUOIS
The Iroquois were descendants of the Indians whom Jacques Cartier had
met on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in 1634. But at this time they
had drifted mysteriously to what is now New York territory, their
central seat, that of their confederacy or league of five nations,
being at Onondaga.
They were never numerous but they were very warlike. Although they
lost many in war, by disease and drunkenness, for they were filthy and
immoral in their habits, they recruited their strength by adopting
captives seized in their raids.
They lived in palisaded towns and were more intelligent than the
other races. Their houses, unsanitary and overrun with vermin, were
arched constructions, sometimes of 120 feet in length and were covered
with bark. In the centre of the lodge were the fires of the separate
families, who were divided into stalls. The smoke escaped as best it
could. They did not cultivate the land because they were so often on
the warpath, neither did they devote much energy in cultivating the
textile arts; hence they wore the skins of animals.
They had very vague notions of a Supreme Being, their chief object of
worship being Agreskoué, the God of War, who had to be propitiated
with gifts and even by human sacrifices. Theirs has been described by
General Clark as literally "devil worship." They had no priesthood
as such, but each brave had his _oki_ or _manitou_, adopted after a
protracted period of seclusion and fasting. They had their medicine
men, who seemed to the missionaries to use diabolical arts in their
incantations, spells and dances. Many of their sorcerers, however, were
childish charlatans. They were immoral, thieves, liars, gamblers; they
allowed their children to run wild, their women to grow up depraved
and corrupt from girlhood. They were cruel and cannibals. The orgies
of the dream feasts were unspeakably atrocious, especially after the
introduction of "fire water."
They were called by the French collectively "Iroquois," by the English
the "Five Nations," whereas they styled themselves the _Hodenosaunee_,
a People of the Long House, because of the shape of their lodges. They
were joined by the Tuscaroras about 1721 and from then on they were
called by the English the "Six Nations."
As to their name the Bureau of American Ethnology derives it from an
Algonquin word, "Iriakhoué," meaning "real adders." Charlevoix gives a
descriptive derivation from _hero_, or _hiro_, meaning "I have spoken,"
with which they terminated their discourses with the suffix _que_,
or some equivalent gutteral sound which expressed pain or pleasures,
according to the intonation. Thus the French called them "Iroquois."
The five nations were named as follows:
(English) (French) (Iroquois)
_The Five _Hodenosaunee_
Nations_ _Iroquois_ (People of the Long House)
Mohawks, Agniers, Ganeagono (People of the Flint),
Oneidas, Onneyutus, Oneyotekiano (Granite People),
Onondagas, Onontagués, Onundagono (Hill People),
Cayuga, Gogogouins, Gwengwhehons (Muckland People),
Senecas. Tsonnontouans. Mundawono (Great Hill People).
"The Six Nations, Indians in Canada," by J. B. Mackenzie, gives some
modern characteristics of the Iroquois, observed on the Grand River,
after a length of experience and intimate knowledge of the appearance
and manners and racial customs, which may be quoted to illustrate the
life of their ancestors of the period we are now treating. The reserve,
the writer notices, comprises the Township of Tuscarora (about twelve
miles square) with an insignificant strip of territory in the Township
of Onondaga--both of these lying within the County of Brant and a small
portion of the Township of Oneida, in the adjoining County of Haldimand.
The following present-day characteristics are noted: The Indian
maintains a better average as to height than his white brother, say
at about 5 ft. 8-1/2 in. He is straight and is rarely "bowlegged."
The Indian would appear to be built more for fleetness than for
strength; litheness and agility are with him, marked characteristics.
The dignity of chief among the Indians is attained upon the principle
of heredity succession. In case of the death of a chief, this did not
necessarily devolve upon the next of kin. The naming of his successor
with the privilege of determining whether or not he fulfills, in point
of character and capacity, the qualifications requisite to maintain
worthily the position, is confided to the women of the dead chief's
family, whose tribe has been deprived of one of its heads. They are
given a wide latitude in choosing; so long as they recognize through
their appointment the governing, basic theory of kinship to the
deceased ruler, their nomination will be unreservedly approved.
The chiefs are looked upon as the fathers of the tribe. In the earlier
days when the demon of war was about, wisdom and bravery were the chief
requisites.
Oratory is still of supreme importance with the modern Indian. In this
he is well equipped with a deep, powerful voice of rare volume and
resonance. He has great facility of gesture and marvelous control of
facial expression, which becomes the index of his emotions--a perfect
mirror of his imaginative soul. It is no wonder then that, we hear
of chiefs and orators of old haranguing for hours, for, even today,
the undivided, keen attention bestowed on an orator, the unflagging
interest evinced, the genuine and sympathetic appreciation his more
ambitious flights evoke, the liberal applause exhorted by periods, when
denunciation, scorn, or other strong mood that may possess the speaker
is expressed--periods at which he has been aroused to withering, or
flaming invective--all make us vividly realize the powerful oratory
of their predecessors. The contemplative and esthetic bent of the
Indian, living amidst nature's simplicities and deeply impressed by
them, overflowed in the similes and metaphors of his speech. There is
no doubt of his rightful claim to eloquence. The present-day Christian
Indian "believes vaguely in the existence of a Supreme Being, though
his idea of that Being's benignity and consideration relates solely
to an earthly oversight of him, a parental concern for his daily
wants. His conception of future happiness is wholly sensual--bound
up, in many cases, with the theories of an unrestrained indulgence of
animal appetite, and a whole-souled abandonment to riotous diversion.
That estimate of an hereafter, which has gained his unreserved, his
heartfelt approbation--one, in the more complete idealizing of which
these coarser fancies constitute familiar adjuvants--adopts for
cardinal, for constant factor, his thoroughgoing addiction, in some
renovated state of being, to pastimes found congenial and appeasing in
life--their undisturbed enthroning, as it were. Joyously, anticipation
clings to a haunt delectable--happily and charmingly contrived to
embosom spacious parks immure seductive coverts; refreshed soothingly
his spirits by dreams of illimitable, virgin preserves, which should be
stocked with unnumbered game, and where--equipped to perfection for the
chase--he should plunge with satiety into its vehement pursuit."
"It has been said that the Indian, agog for some ample scheme of
ethics, is much more prone to follow the evil than the moral practices
of the whites.... There can be no doubt, I fancy, that were the
Indian to be thrown continuously with a corrupt community amongst the
whites--should he consort freely with a class with whom a lower order
of morality obtains--his acquisition of higher knowledge, instead of
giving him better and finer tastes, must inevitably make him more
skilled in planning works of iniquity."
The writer draws attention to the sardonic delight the humorous Indian
takes in perpetrating some dire practical joke on his victim. The same
trait was shown in this early period, when the brave would calmly smoke
his pipe and grimly watch the Christian missionary's finger forcibly
placed in it, gradually frizzle away.
The modern Iroquois is a supremely indolent creature--fasting stoically
when food does not come easily, but ever ready for unbounded feasting.
The effect of spirituous liquors on him is the same as of old, and
justifies the attempts of the Montreal clergy to suppress its traffic
to the natives. "Intoxicants," says the writer quoted, "when freely
used by the Indian, cloud, often wholly dethrone his reason, annul his
self-control; madly slaying all the gentler, enkindle and set ablaze
all the baser, emotions of his nature, impelling him to acts vile,
inhuman, bestial; with direful transforming power, make the man a
fiend, leave him, in short, the mere sport of demoniac passion. It may
be thought that this is an overdrawn sketch, and that, even if it were
true--which I aver it to be--full exposure of its fearsome aspect, its
sombre outlines, might well have been withheld."
FOOTNOTES:
[44] Dollier de Casson says that Montreal was all handed over on
October 15, 1641. Vimont, who was an eye witness, gives the date as May
17, 1642. See "Relations for 1642." We combine both accounts.
[45] The scene was the angular tongue of low-lying land, known by
Dollier de Casson who came in 1666, on September 7, as "the Common,"
its memory being preserved by Common Street, watered on the south by
the lapping waters of the great St. Lawrence and on the east by the
narrow river St. Peter, long since dried up, which, meandering from the
northwest, skirted the meadow on the north and emptied itself into the
main stream. At this point and up this harbour the flotilla came to
anchor. On the third side of this triangle was a marshy land which was
dried up by Dollier de Casson and became the "domaine des Seigneurs."
[46] Later this chapel gave place to another 25 feet long by 26 broad,
the former room now becoming a "parloir." The new meeting place in the
fort is sometimes spoken of as the chapel or the church. The abbé,
Louis Bertrand de la Tour, says there was a _church_ in 1645. We may
thus put it earlier.--"Annales des Hospitalières par la Soeur Morin."
[47] "The house of the fort," says Sister Morin in her Annals, "existed
till 1682 or 1683, when they finished demolishing it, although it was
only of wood, where is at present the house of M. de Callières, our
governor today." On July 2nd, 1688, de Callières obtained a concession
of the land occupied by the fort. The land book (_livre terrier_) of
the Seminary has the description: "_Quinze perches et demie de front
sur le fleuve, à continuer à pareille larguer jusqu'au bord de la
petite rivière; en superficie 1882 1/2 touses, avec droit de passage,
sur la pointe en avant, appartenant aux Seigneurs._" This point was the
original cemetery till 1654. From Callières' building the Place Royale
began to be spoken of as the Pointe à Callières. Jacques Viger, one
of the fathers of historical researches in Montreal, said that in his
early days he had seen the ruins of de Callières' house.
[48] The parish register has frequent records of their names as
sponsors for the baptized Indian children. They were proud of the
honour. Among the names frequently occurring in the following few
years are Madame d'Ailleboust, Jeanne Mance, Philipine de Boulogne,
Charlotte Barré, Catherine Lezeau and Madame de la Peltrie. Next year,
1644, there is only one baptism recorded; the Iroquois were on the
warpath and had driven the Hurons away. The godmother on this occasion
was Madame de la Peltrie. The date, January 21, 1644, in the parish
register fixing this, shows that she had spent the winter of 1643-4
in Montreal. She left, when the river opened in the spring, to return
to the Ursulines of Quebec, whose establishment she had founded and
with whom she resided till her death. Her stay in Montreal had been
prolonged by her interest in the new foundation, and by her desire to
help it in its early struggles. Her departure was deeply regretted by
the colony, and by none more than by Jeanne Mance, for there were all
too few ladies to help in the devoted work. M. de Puiseaux left at
the same time. Madame de la Peltrie's character has been frequently
discussed. Kingsford in his "History of Canada" devotes two pages to
her. As Montreal only had her presence for less than two years we have
given this note as the impression left of her by all the Montreal
chroniclers. Kingsford says, Vol. I, p. 165: "Much romance has been
thrown over a somewhat commonplace character. Her portraits remain.
A more coquettish, heartless form of beauty is seldom to be found,
either under the adornment of fashion or the hood and veil of the
devotee." Madame de la Peltrie never became a nun. It is to be feared
that Kingsford theorized on matters of Catholic custom through lack of
adequate knowledge, or appreciation.
[49] In the parish church of Notre Dame there is still preserved the
first register of the births, marriages and deaths. It is a manuscript
volume in quarto composed of five note-books. The earliest entries
are in Latin and are ratified by either Père Poncet or Père Duperon,
who served the mission. The first registers were probably written on
fly sheets in 1646 and afterwards copied, for until June 24th the
handwriting appears to be that of a copyist. There are certain blanks
as if the names had been forgotten. The baptismal book appears to start
with an error. The first baptism, that of an Indian child, is put
down for April 28, 1642 (this is probably the date of Father Poncet's
appointment), whereas Père Vimont in his "Relations" for 1642, says it
was on July 1st. The second baptism took place on October 9th. Several
other baptisms are marked down for the month of March, 1643, but the
copyist, better informed, has written "August" between the lines. In
those days handwriting and spelling were not "de rigueur."
[50] This spot, named Pointe à Callières, "ad confluxium magni et
parvi fluminis," was at the junction of the River St. Peter and the
St. Lawrence opposite Ile Normandin, and took its name from the house
of the governor, then Chevalier Hector de Callières, built there in
1668. It is now occupied by the custom house (1914). The plans of the
Château Callières are preserved in the plans of Montreal, 1723, by M.
de Catalogne, and in those of 1761 by M. P. Labrosse. This remained a
cemetery till 1654, when, owing to the inundations, the burials were
transferred to a plot occupied in part today by that Place d'Armes,
which, being in the neighbourhood of the hospital, was called in the
act of burial of 1654 the "new hospital cemetery." The bodies were
not removed, out of respect, till 1793, when the land had been ceded
by the seigneurs to Louis Guy, notary, by an act passed before Joseph
Papineau, November 22, 1749. The Hôtel-Dieu ground was used as the
cemetery for twenty-five years.
[51] Dollier de Casson tells this story, which he had from
eye-witnesses; de Maisonneuve was a very generous and unselfish man.
[52] The more so, as the publication of the "véritables motifs,"
issued by the Associates of the Company of Montreal in defense
of the settlement in clearly stating its aims and justifying the
singlemindedness of its promoters, had gained it many friends, among
whom were many in high places.
[53] The Jesuits had charge of the mission from April 28, 1643, and
continued it up to August 12, 1657. The Sulpicians then took it over,
their first act recorded in the first registers of births, marriages
and sepultures being on August 28, 1657.
[54] One value of the "Motifs" for modern day readers is that it gives
the foundation of Montreal the note of inspiration which is a mark not
claimed by many other cities.