1666-1670
THE SUBDUAL OF THE IROQUOIS
THE END OF THE HEROIC AGE
PRIMITIVE EXPEDITIONS UNDER DE COURCELLES, SOREL AND DE TRACY--THE
ROYAL TROOPS AND THE MONTREAL "BLUE COATS"--DOLLIER DE CASSON, THE
SOLDIER CHAPLAIN--THE VICTORY OVER THE IROQUOIS--THE HOTEL-DIEU AT
MONTREAL RECEIVES THE SICK AND WOUNDED--THE CONFIRMATION OF THE
GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY AS SEIGNEURS--THE LIEUTENANT GENERAL AND
INTENDANT IN MONTREAL--THE "DIME"--THE CENSUS OF 1667--MORE CLERGY
NEEDED--THE ABBE DE QUEYLUS RETURNS, WELCOMED BY LAVAL AND MADE
VICAR GENERAL--REINFORCEMENT OF SULPICIANS--THEIR FIRST MISSION
AT KENTE--THE RETURN OF THE RECOLLECTS--THE ARRIVAL OF PERROT AS
LOCAL GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL.
So eager was de Courcelles to carry on the war, for which the troops
had come, that they started from Quebec on January 9th, in the depth of
winter, a rash venture as de Maisonneuve could have told the Europeans.
Yet they marched out, each soldier with his unaccustomed snowshoes and
with twenty to thirty pounds of biscuits and provisions strapped on his
back, crossing the frozen streams and waterfalls, to the number of 300
of the Carignan regiment, and 100 French Canadians. They were joined
by others on the route, among them a party of 106 good Montrealers
under Charles Le Moyne. These latter were de Courcelles' most valued
men, being seasoned woodmen used to wars' alarms. He called them his
"blue coats," and found they served and obeyed him, better than the
rest. The expedition was an utter failure, for not counting the frozen
fingers, noses and limbs, they lost many men, sixty dying from want of
provisions, so that de Courcelles returned to Quebec disconsolate.
A second expedition, under Sorel, started in July. This time there
were only "thirty good Montrealers." When within twenty leagues of the
Iroquois camps, they were met by the famous chief, called the "Flemish
Bastard," with some European captives. He asked for peace, and Sorel,
believing him, marched back to Quebec with the Bastard.
De Tracy led the next expedition with de Courcelles on the feast of
the Exaltation of the Cross, September 14th. Never had so large an
army started out--600 Carignans, 100 friendly Indian allies from the
missions and 600 French Canadians, of which 110 were the "blue coats"
from Montreal under Le Moyne and Picoté de Bélestre, who led the van
to meet the brunt of all disasters as they were chosen to be at the
rear in retreat. The canoes and flat-bottomed boats started from Quebec
crossed Lake Champlain; then, they landed and portaged their boats on
their backs till they launched them again on Lake St. George (then
called Lake St. Sacrament), and proceeded up the narrows to where Fort
William Henry was afterwards built. There were 100 miles of marching
now to be endured, through forests, streams and marshes gleaming in
the Indian summer sun. Marie de l'Incarnation tells some adventures of
this journey. As each one, even the officers, had to carry his knapsack
of provisions, the fair Chevalier de Chaumont got a humour on his
shoulders. Others suffered likewise. General de Tracy was placed in a
dangerous predicament when crossing a ford. "He was one of the biggest
men I have ever seen," says the good sister, "and a Swiss soldier
was trying to carry him. When in the middle, de Tracy found himself
overthrown, but luckily clung to a rock and saved himself. From this
undignified position he was rescued by a hardy Huron, who conveyed him
safely to the other side."
But the character of this journey was the genial chaplain of the
Montreal forces, none other than Dollier de Casson, whom we have
quoted so often. Dollier had arrived in Canada on September 7th. His
venturesome spirit was enlisted at once in this expedition, in which he
was quite at home being, besides a "man of God," a "man of war," having
but ten years ago served and fought, as a cavalry officer under Marshal
de Turenne. He was a very large man, as tall as de Tracy, and stronger.
Grandet, who left a manuscript note on Dollier, says that he had such
extraordinary strength, that he could hold two men seated in his hands.
He was cheerful, courtly, courteous and genial. He had a merry and
quick jest to cheer up the "blue coats" and others, in many a tight
corner. He was doubtless the most popular man in camp.[94]
If he had lived in these days, the newspapers would have called him
the "fighting parson." Grandet, in his manuscript note on Dollier,
tells how on one occasion, being at prayer on his knees in an Algonquin
camp, an insolent savage came to interrupt him. Without rising from his
knees, the big burly missioner sent the astonished Indian sprawling
on the ground by a blow from his fist--a proceeding which gained
him admiration from the Algonquins, who exclaimed with pride in his
physical prowess: "This is indeed a man!" Probably this strength helped
him to become the great peacemaker he afterwards became at Montreal.
Dollier says little of himself in his account of the march, speaking
modestly and impersonally of himself. The big man seems to have
suffered hunger very much on the small rations dealt out to him, for he
says that "this priest made a good noviceship under a certain captain
who could be called the Grand Master of Fasting; at least this officer
could have served as novice master in this point to the Fathers of the
Desert." This "ecclesiastic of St. Sulpice," he says, "was strongly
built, but what enfeebled him was hearing the confessions of the men by
night while the others were asleep. He felt the marching pretty badly,
for his wretched pair of shoes gave way, so that having nothing left
but the uppers the sharp stones of the water beds and banks played
havoc with his bare feet. So weak and weary did he become that he could
not save a man drowning in the water into which he had plunged to the
rescue. This man happened to belong to the train of the Jesuits and
Dollier explained that it was hunger that had so enfeebled him, whereat
the good Jesuit took the good Sulpician aside and gave him a piece of
bread, made palatable with two different _sucres_, one of _Madeira_ and
the other of _appétit_."
We cannot pursue the story of the war, as it takes us too far from
Montreal. Suffice it to say that there was a complete victory, the
greatest that had ever been won against the Iroquois. After the capture
of the last stronghold of the Mohawk Iroquois, the warrior priest
chanted a Te Deum and said mass. After that, the cross was planted with
the arms of France and possession was taken of the country in the name
of Louis XIV. "Vive le roi!"
At Quebec, when the news arrived, on November 2d, there were great
rejoicings, and when de Tracy returned on the 5th the Te Deum boomed
out anew. But the army was sorely depleted; many had died from cold,
hunger and the chances of war, as also by accidents on the road,
whereas the Iroquois had lost little else than their birch bark cabins.
After the termination of the expedition, some of the soldiers were
picketed in the new forts. A chaplain was needed for Fort Ste. Anne,
and Dollier de Casson, now returned to Montreal, volunteered, although
he suffered from a swelling on the knee, to cure which he underwent a
severe bleeding at the hands of one of the local medicos of Montreal,
who did it so effectually that the big man fainted. However, he started
out in two days, accompanied by Jacques Leber, Charles Le Moyne and
Migeon de Branssat. At Ste. Anne's, he had busy work, with young
Forestier, a surgeon from Montreal, in attending the sick men who
suffered from famine and scurvy, while eleven died. Though himself sick
the cheery chaplain did good, self-sacrificing service, none the less
excellent, because it was seasoned with a plenteous fund of raillery
and bantering. Among the officers there was La Durantaye, famous
hereafter in Canadian annals. So the winter wore away at Ste. Anne's,
relieved by provisions sent by the good folks of Montreal.
That winter the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal was filled to overflowing with
the sick and wounded, which it had received from the army under de
Courcelles after the terrible war of the early winter. During the next
year it continued its good work, for which Dollier de Casson says it
deserved unspeakable praise, receiving the sick from the forts of Ste.
Anne, St. Louis and St. Jean.
Before closing the narration of the events of this year we must not
forget the joy at Montreal caused by the news spread in September that
the king had settled all doubts of the rights of the Seigneurs of
Montreal by confirming the letters patent of 1644. This confirmation M.
Talon put into practice on September 17th when he received the fealty
and homage of the Seminary for the Seigneurs of Montreal "with high,
low and middle justice," and two days afterwards, in virtue of the
extraordinary powers granted him by the king, ordered the seigneurs to
be maintained in the possession of the administration of justice, thus
supplanting the royal court of the sénéchal already established, as
before mentioned.
The Seminary had right to name its own governor also, but no one was
appointed to the vacant post of Maisonneuve till 1669.
Thus the year closed in a peace to last for twenty years. The king's
arms had battered Iroquois insolence.
But the heroic age was at an end.[95]
After the successful war, de Tracy engaged himself before departing
in May for Montreal, in consolidating the paternal government lately
introduced and in conciliating the habitants on behalf of his royal
master. He came to Montreal to take cognizance of it as a place which
was most commonly resorted to by the savage as the most advanced point
on the river.
He left Quebec on May 4th, and two days later Talon, as intendant, set
out to pay his official visit to Montreal. He acquitted himself to the
satisfaction of the settlers on all the côtes "for," says Dollier de
Casson, "he went to the great edification of the public from house to
house, even to the poorest, asking if all were being treated according
to equity and justice, and when pecuniary assistance was needed, it was
forthcoming."
We shall speak later of many of the progressive movements initiated
through M. Talon at this time.
This year the Seigneurs of Montreal were given back the possession of
the storehouse at Quebec, about which there had been much contention.
The question of the "dime" had agitated Montreal as elsewhere.
Originally fixed by Laval at one-thirteenth it had been reduced to
one-twentieth and then to one-twenty-sixth. Even then in view of the
difficulties of a young country it was not payable for five years, to
allow the settler to cultivate his lands more easily. But at the same
time, it was arranged that in the future, better times might allow it
to be increased. This was regulated by an act of the clerk's office
at Montreal of August 23, 1667; but a further act of an assembly,
held on August 12, 1668, shows appreciation on the part of the syndic
and inhabitants of a desire to meet the seigneurs in the upkeep of
the church by fixing the dime at one-twenty-first part for wheat and
one-twenty-sixth for other grains.
The arrangements for the payment of the dime had been made jointly by
de Tracy, de Courcelles and Talon. De Tracy left Quebec on September
28th, to the great regret of Laval and the clergy.
[Illustration: PLAN OF MONTREAL, 1650-1672]
The census of Montreal for this year (1667) is given as 766 souls;
Three Rivers and its dependencies, 666; Côte de Beaupré, 656; Isle of
Orleans, 529; Quebec, 448; other settlements under the government of
Quebec, 1,011; Beauport, 123; Côte de Lauson (south shore), 113. In
this year there were 11,448 arpents under cultivation in New France.
There were 3,107 heads of cattle, besides 85 sheep. These latter
began to be imported in 1665, at the same time as the horses. In the
following year 15,649 arpents were cultivated and the production of
wheat amounted to 130,978 minots.
But more clergy was needed, so this year M. Souart, the curé of
Montreal, went over to France to seek new missioners for the work of
the Sulpicians. He left behind him M. Giles Pérot as curé and MM.
Galinier, Barthélemy and Trouvé. At the Hôtel-Dieu the venerable
superioress, Mother Macé, had five nuns under her direction, and at the
house of the "Congregation" Marguerite Bourgeoys, with three helpers,
continued her good work.
M. Souart brought back a most enthusiastic worker who was none other
than the redoubtable Abbé de Queylus. There was at last no opposition
on the part of Laval. The elements leading to this change of front are
twofold: firstly, the archbishop of Rouen had some time ago renounced
all pretension to jurisdiction in New France, and thus was removed
Laval's contentious attitude against de Queylus, for it was not a
question of persons with him, but of prerogatives. He had looked upon
de Queylus as the representative of a rival authority which might tend
to raise "altar against altar," and lead to schism and so destroy his
policy of church centralization. Secondly, de Queylus had received an
invitation from the king, who had been apprised of his good qualities
through the papal nuncio, Picolomini, now become a cardinal, and the
king's word went with Laval.
Accordingly, when de Queylus arrived in the spring with three
Sulpicians, M. René de Brébant de Galinée, M. François Saturnin
Lascares d'Urfé,[96] and his former secretary, M. Antoine d'Allet, Laval
received them most cordially and gave de Queylus letters patent as his
vicar general, a post held by him in Montreal during all his further
stay.
Laval has described this reception himself in a letter to his
friend, M. Poitevin, the curé of St. Fossé at Paris. Speaking of the
consolation in receiving M. de Queylus and the new workers he says:
"We have embraced them all in the name of Jesus Christ. What gives us
most sensible joy is that we see our clergy disposed, with one heart
and one soul, to procure the glory of God and the salvation of souls,
both French and Indian. The fatherly tenderness which the king has made
apparent to New France and the notable contributions he has made to
make it more numerous and flourishing, furnishes an ample harvest field
for all to employ their zeal and spend their lives for the love of
Jesus Christ, who has given them the first inspirations to consecrate
themselves to Him and His church."
This was not a diplomatic change of attitude with Laval. He was
incapable of dissimulation or subterfuge. He saw the glory of God in
the new situation and thenceforward the Sulpicians had a true friend
and admirer.
On their part the Jesuits were no less cordial in their welcome. The
"Relation" for 1668 speaks of the same powerful reinforcement of
the clergy for Montreal and hoped for much good from "these great
missionaries."
There were now about fifteen Sulpicians in Montreal when, in the month
of June, 1668, an embassy of Iroquois came from the Bay of Kenté, on
the banks of Lake Ontario, asking for a black robe to instruct their
people in the religion of the white man. Two young priests, M. Fénelon
and M. Trouvé, having offered themselves, on September 15th, Mgr.
Laval gave them letters to establish their mission, and they embarked
at Lachine on October 2d, and arrived at the Bay of Kenté (Quinté) on
October 28th. This was the first mission of the Sulpicians. Their good
work, begun at Montreal, was to stretch far and wide. If we do not
follow them in detail it is because we are sketching only the original
and cradle events of great movements in these annals. In the winter
M. de Queylus sent M. Dollier de Casson and M. Barthélemy to Lake
Nipissing.
The peace with the Iroquois left further opportunity for
self-sacrificing missioners to work among them, so that in 1669 the
clergy were glad to welcome the return of the Recollects. Not only
did Laval welcome them, but the Jesuits, who succeeded them on the
renewal of the French possession, after the occupation by the English
under Kirke, though they are represented by mischief-making historians
as having "supplanted" them, wrote as follows of their joy at their
coming, in the "Relations" of 1670:
"The Reverend Recollect Fathers, who have come from France to be a new
succour to the missionaries in the growth of this church, have given
us an excess of joy and consolation. We have received them as the
first apostles of this country, and in recognition of the obligation
due to them by the French colony, the inhabitants of Quebec have been
delighted to receive these good religious, now established on the same
ground where they dwelt forty years before the French were driven from
Canada by the English."
In fact, arrangements were made by those who had been put into
possession of the Recollects' former estates, held prior to 1629, to
cede them, and the friars now had an estate of ten by ten arpents, for
which the governor general gave them new titles by an act of October
23, 1670.
We have now to record the appointment of a new governor for Montreal,
left officially vacant since de Maisonneuve's departure, three and
a half years ago, although several commandants had represented
the Seigneurs. The choice fell upon M. Marie François Perrot, a
_gentilhomme_ by birth, and captain of an Auvergne regiment, who was
then on the point of crossing over with his regiment to establish
himself with his wife in Canada and doubtless make his fortune.
M. Perrot had married Talon's niece, Madeleine de Laguide, and it was
the former intendant, then about to revisit Canada for a second time,
who solicited the vacant post from M. de Bretonvilliers, the superior
of the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris who granted it by a letter
addressed to M. Perrot on June 13, 1669, being "duly informed of your
good life and character, talents, capacity and good qualities, we
have made choice of your person to fill and exercise the office of
governor ... without you at the same time being able to make pretensions
to any salary or remuneration other than the country has been accustomed
to give."
On the voyage, Perrot, his wife and Talon were shipwrecked, and they
saved their lives on a broken mast by having promised a large sum of
money to the sailors for having assisted them to it. Five hundred
emigrants came with this expedition.
But on Perrot's arrival in Montreal, where he and his wife were well
received, in pity for their shipwreck and out of interest in the
lady governor--for Maisonneuve had been a sorry bachelor--he sought
to have his commission made more certain by letters patent from
the king. Accordingly, this was finally effected through Talon and
Colbert, by letters dated March 14, 1671, and with the consent of M.
Bretonvilliers, whose rights seemed not to be infringed, since it
had been the custom for the governor generals named by the seigneur
companies, also to receive a royal commission.
FOOTNOTES:
[94] M. Jacques Viger, the antiquarian and mayor of Montreal, by
comparing Grandet's notice of Dollier de Casson with the "ecclesiastic"
spoken of in the "Histoire de Montreal," established in 1888 the
identity of Dollier with the "ecclesiastic," the writer and Sulpician
who came in 1666. Hence the "Histoire de Montreal" is now attributed to
Dollier de Casson.
[95] Abridged Family Roll of the Colony of New France--1666:
Quebec 555
Beaupré 678
Beauport 172
Island of Orleans 471
St. Jean, St. François and St. Michel 156
Sillery 217
Notre-Dame des Anges and Rivière St. Charles 118
Côte de Lauson 6
Montreal 584
Trois Rivières 461
----
3418
Number of males between the ages of 16 and 50 years of age, capable
of bearing arms 1344
There are doubtless some omissions in the above roll, which will be
supplied in the coming winter, this year.
(Signed) TALON.
[96] The "_Baie d'Urfé_," in the north of the island, is named after
this missionary, who had an Indian settlement there later.