1697-1713
FROM THE TREATY OF RYSWICK TO THE TREATY OF UTRECHT QUEEN ANNE'S WAR
MONTREAL SAVED BY LAND AND WATER
"THE FRENCH HAVE ALWAYS COMMENCED HOSTILITIES IN CANADA"--SAMUEL
VECHT IN MONTREAL--MONTREAL TO BE INVADED BY WOOD
CREEK--NICHOLSON'S ARMY ROUTED BY DYSENTERY--THE "BOSTONNAIS"
PLAN A SECOND DESCENT ON MONTREAL--JEANNE LEBER'S STANDARD--THE
EXPEDITION OF SIR HOVENDER WALKER AGAINST QUEBEC--THE VOW
OF THE MONTREAL LADIES--"OUR LADY OF VICTORIES" BUILT IN
COMMEMORATION--PEACE OF UTRECHT--COMPARISON BETWEEN NEW ENGLAND
AND NEW FRANCE. NOTE: THE CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY.
The peace of Ryswick, signed September 20, 1697, was only a temporary
lull. Queen Anne began to reign in England on March 8, 1702, and
another war with France, that known as Queen Anne's war or the war
of the Spanish succession, was declared on the 4th of May, 1702. But
it can be said that in Canada the English were not always the guilty
causes. The Canadians, even before the declaration, were not adverse
to war, as they considered themselves more warlike, better disciplined
and could rely on their Indian allies since the peace of 1701. They
held the "New Englanders"--a term often applied by them to the British
colonists in general--as an easy mark. In their mind's eye they already
saw themselves in possession of Boston and New York. Even Le Moyne
d'Iberville had such visions and drew up a memoir on the project. On
their side the greater number of the English colonists were not anxious
for hostilities. Certainly not the New York and Albany Dutchmen, who
feared for their trade. Meanwhile the borders of Massachusetts and New
Hampshire were the theatre of war. An interesting light is thrown on
the subject in the abstract of a dispatch, sent by M. de Vaudreuil, now
governor, and M. Beauharnois, November 15, 1703, to be found in the
state documents of New York (Doc. Col. Hist. N. Y., IX, p. 755). The
minister, Pontchartrain, after the French attack on Wells and other
places under Beaubassin, in 1703, has annotated the abstract thus: "It
would have been desirable that this expedition had not taken place. M.
de Vaudreuil was wishing for it in M. de Callières' time, who would
never consent to it. I have a perfect knowledge that the English only
want peace, aware that war is contrary to the interests of all the
colonies; _the French have always commenced hostilities in Canada_."
Yet Pontchartrain later, when the suffering English retaliated by
planning the invasion of Canada, naturally enough was ready to counsel
war parties against them.
In 1705 we find Samuel Vetch in Montreal. He had come on a diplomatic
mission on the part of Massachusetts. He remained at Quebec from August
to the middle of October, having ascended the St. Lawrence to reach
the city and returning the same way. He kept his eyes open, and having
been educated at Utrecht, he probably knew French, so that he likely
discussed Canadian affairs. He boasted afterwards of the completeness
of his knowledge of Canada and he made use of it. "Vetch visited
Montreal and its governor, de Ramezay, wrote to the minister on the
subject, complaining that in Quebec he had been left at liberty to
obtain all the information desired; whereas in Montreal, de Ramezay
himself had taken care that he should always be accompanied by an
officer and an interpreter. There had been old dealings between Vetch
and de Ramezay. Vetch, when engaged in his commercial operations
for years previously, had advanced de Ramezay the amount of his
appointments, paying him in card currency, and had received authority
to draw his money in France. The war broke out and the power to obtain
the money had been given by de Ramezay to another person in France.
It was the object of Vetch in visiting Montreal to be repaid this
advance, but de Ramezay professed himself not in the condition to give
it back, without the approval of the minister."--Kingsford ("History of
Canada"), II, p. 429.
About 1708 the conquest of Canada was designed as a means of bringing
the struggles of the English colonists of North America in their desire
for supremacy to a close. To the charge of this bold venture Samuel
Vetch was appointed, an energetic, astute and ambitious agent for his
party, who boasted he knew the St. Lawrence and its shores better than
the Canadians themselves. His visit to Montreal had not been in vain.
On March 11, 1709, he sailed from England, whither he had gone from
the general court of Massachusetts to ask for aid from Queen Anne's
government. A squadron bearing five regiments of regular troops was
promised. The colonies, too, had to muster their forces, and the plan
was to attack Montreal, advancing by way of Wood Creek, Lake Champlain
and Chambly on the Richelieu, and to take Quebec by way of the St.
Lawrence. The command of the advance on Montreal was entrusted to Col.
Francis Nicholson, late lieutenant governor of New York, who had sailed
from Portsmouth with Vetch. Nicholson was to proceed to Montreal and
wait there until the promised British squadron should arrive at Boston
about May.
News of his approach to Wood Creek reaching de Vaudreuil, he sent de
Ramezay, the governor of Montreal, with 1,500 Canadians and Indians to
surprise his camp. Montreal and Quebec were meanwhile in the greatest
consternation, brought on by most exaggerated reports. Nothing less
than the total conquest of the colony was feared. The result of the
expedition led by the governor of Montreal may be told by Parkman ("A
Half Century of Conflict," Chapter VII), relying on state documents of
this year, 1709:
"Ramezay's fleet of canoes had reached Lake Champlain and was half way
to the mouth of Wood Creek, when his advance party was discovered by
English scouts, and the French commander began to fear that he should
be surprised in turn; in fact some of his Indians were fired upon from
an ambuscade. All was now doubt, perplexity and confusion. Ramezay
landed at the narrows of the lake, a little south of the place now
called Crown Point. Here in the dense woods, his Indians fired on some
Canadians whom they took for English. This was near producing a panic.
'Every tree seemed an enemy,' writes an officer present. Ramezay lost
himself in the woods and could not find his army. One Deruisseau, who
had gone out as a scout, came back with the report that 900 Englishmen
were close at hand. Seven English canoes did in fact appear, supported,
as the French in their excitement imagined, by a numerous though
invisible army in the forest; but being fired upon, and seeing they
were entering a hornet's nest, the English sheered off, Ramezay having
at last found his army, and order being gradually restored, a council
of war was held, after which the whole force fell back to Chambly,
having accomplished nothing."
Yet the advance on Montreal never went beyond Wood Creek. While waiting
months and weeks for the order from Boston to proceed to Montreal,
Nicholson's little army succumbed to the attacks of pestilence,
probably a malignant dysentery, caused by being long penned up in an
insanitary palisaded camp during the midsummer heat. It is said on the
authority of Charlevoix, that the Iroquois had poisoned the waters of
the creek, by throwing into it, above the camp, the skins and offal
of the animals they had killed in their hunting. Whatever the cause,
when a party of French came later upon the scene they found innumerable
graves. The remnant of Nicholson's army turned back, as the British
squadron was countermanded for Portugal, where British interests needed
it. Thus was Montreal saved and with it Quebec.
In 1711, however, Nicholson was again attempting to move against
Montreal. Again great consternation prevailed in the town, for the news
had reached Canada early in August, when Vaudreuil had been informed
by de Cortebelle, the French commandant at Placentia in Newfoundland,
that English prisoners had reported mighty preparations being made
by the "Bostonnais" against Quebec by water and Montreal by land.
Dismay and confusion seized both towns. Montreal, fortified only by
its palisade of stakes and incapable of resisting the artillery of the
English invaders, believed that it was on the eve of its death throes,
seeing that an army was setting out from New York with 3,000 men with
cannons. In these straits the people turned to God, and the priests
of St. Sulpice preached penitence to them. The chronicles of the time
tell how hearts were moved, how there were penitential processions, in
which all the Montrealers joined barefooted and with cords around their
necks; it was a time of general communions, voluntary fasting and like
mortifications.
Mother Juchereau in the annals of the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec confesses
that "the ladies of Montreal outbid those of Quebec, for the former
obliged themselves not to wear ribbons or laces for a year,"--no small
sacrifice, doubtlessly. Finally, the young "externe" ladies of the
Congregation and others, made a vow that if they were saved from the
evils apprehended, seemingly inevitable, they would build in honour
of the Mother of God a chapel under the name of Our Lady of Victory.
Meanwhile in her self-imposed retirement Jeanne LeBer, the recluse, was
acquainted of the disasters impending, and her prayers were besought on
all hands. Even the Baron de Longueuil, then governor of the town, and
surnamed the "Macchabbeus of Montreal" prevailed on her to compose a
prayer which should be inscribed on his standard, which he would take
with a handful of men, to prepare, in their desperation, an ambuscade
near Chambly, by which Nicholson's men were expected to pass. The
recluse, thus prevailed on by her cousin, wrote this inscription: "_Our
enemies place all their confidence in their arms, but we place ours
under the name of the Queen of Angels, whom we invoke. She is terrible
as an army in battle array; under her protection we hope to conquer our
enemies._" The standard was solemnly blessed and put into the hands of
M. de Longueuil by M. de Belmont, in the parish church of Notre Dame,
whither all the people had gathered for this edifying spectacle.
Bearing this ensign himself, M. de Longueuil set out to encounter
General Nicholson's land force, but the latter now retreated, on
hearing of the disastrous termination of the expedition of the fleet
making for the capture of Quebec. Not finding Nicholson's forces, and
ignorant as yet of the cause of his retreat, the Montrealers journeyed
down to Quebec to assist that town against the attack by water. There
they waited till in the middle of October, when on the 19th the Sieur
de la Valterie, who had come from Labrador in September and had been
sent down the river again by de Vaudreuil to watch for the English
fleet, appeared at Quebec with tidings of joy.
The deposition of François de Marganne, Sieur de la Valterie, before
Paul Dupuy, Esquire, king's councillor, on October 19th, relates that,
"he had descended the St. Lawrence in a canoe, with two Frenchmen and
an Indian, till landing at the Ile aux Oeufs on the 1st of October,
they met two French sailors or fishermen loaded with plunder and
presently discovered the wrecks of seven English ships, with, as they
declared, fifteen or sixteen hundred dead bodies, on the strand hard
by, besides dead horses, sheep, dogs and hens, three or four hundred
large iron-hooped casks, a barrel of wine and a barrel and keg of
brandy, cables, anchors, chains, planks, boards, shovels, picks,
mattocks and piles of old iron three feet high." (Parkman, "A Half
Century of Conflict.") Later visits to the wrecks brought back news
that, though the autumn tides had swept away many corpses, more than
two thousand lay on the rocks, naked and in attitudes of despair. Denys
de la Ronde, writing to the minister on December 30, 1711, says that
nearly one thousand men were drowned, and about two thousand died of
injuries. Whatever there is of exaggeration in this, still Colonel Lee
of the Rhode Island contingent, writing to Governor Cranston, September
12, 1711, says that a day or two after the wreck, he saw "the bodies of
twelve or thirteen hundred brave men, with women and children, lying in
heaps."
So perished the ill-fated expedition under Admiral Sir Hovenden
Walker, that was to have subjugated Canada. The fleet, which set sail
from Boston on July 30th "consisted of nine ships of war and two bomb
ketches with about sixty transports, store ships, hospital ships and
other vessels, British and Provincial. They carried the seven British
regiments, numbering with the artillery train about five thousand five
hundred men, besides 600 marines and 1,500 provincials; counting with
the sailors nearly twelve thousand in all." Samuel Vetch commanded the
provincials--the same who had boasted of his knowledge of the Canadian
coasts; but he was no sailor, and the pilots with the fleet had little
serious knowledge of the St. Lawrence after all.
How this mighty expedition met disaster at the mercy of the elements
leads us too far from Montreal to tell. Suffice it to say that Quebec
and Montreal were saved.[163]
The dramatic routing of their enemies was regarded by Canadians as
a manifest effect of Divine Providence watching over them. M. de
Vaudreuil, writing to the minister on October 22, and November 6, 1712,
says: "We are going to give thanks to God for the visible protection
which he benignantly granted to this country. All our people, though
well determined to defend themselves, agree that God has granted them
great favours in the destruction of the English fleet, without it
costing a single drop of blood to this colony." In his "Life of Sieur
LeBer," M. de Belmont claimed that the Mother of God obtained for the
Canadians this greatest miracle, "which has happened since the time of
Moses when the Egyptians were swallowed up in the waters of the Red
Sea." At Montreal, in thanksgiving, the ladies set about to procure the
necessary funds to redeem their vows. The Sisters of the Congregation
gave a plot of ground within their enclosure, near to their church,
and in 1718 the foundation stone of the little shrine of "Our Lady of
Victories" was ceremoniously laid.[164]
[Illustration: CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF VICTORY]
Peace for the two great rival nations was obtained by the treaty of
Utrecht on April 13, 1713. But it was not without a pang for the old
King Louis XIV, who lost fair jewels from his crown, in then ceding
to the English, Acadia, Newfoundland, Hudson's Bay and the Iroquois
country. To France was reserved only Prince Edward Island and the
adjoining islands, and Cape Breton. "The treaty of Utrecht," says
Ganneau, "was followed by a period of peace almost without example in
the annals of Canada." The whole colony increased in population, the
Island of Montreal growing from 3,492 souls in 1710 to 7,710 in 1740.
Montreal profited by the peace less advantageously than Quebec and
Three Rivers. Formerly this town was the principal headquarters of the
fur trade, as we have seen. But after the treaty of Utrecht, by the
loss to the French of the Hudson's Bay trade, New York at last gained
considerably over Montreal. Yet none the less, prosperity ruled there.
An interesting comparison of the two great races contending at this
time for the mastery of the north of this continent may be here quoted
from the "Journal d'un voyage en Amérique," Vol. V, published in 1744,
and written by the Jesuit historian of Canada, Charlevoix. He is
describing the condition prevailing about this period. "There reigns
in New England and in the other provinces of the Continent of America,
belonging to the British Empire, an opulence which, it seems, they
do not know how to profit by; while in New France there is poverty
hidden by an appearance of easy circumstances, which appears unstudied;
commerce and cultivation of the plantations strengthen the first, the
industry of the inhabitants sustain the second, and the taste of the
people spreads around infinite comfort. The English colonist amasses
wealth and makes no superfluous expenditure; the Frenchman enjoys what
he has and often makes a parade of what he has not. The former labours
for his heirs, while the latter leaves his in the same necessity in
which he finds himself, allowing them to get out of the situation as
well as they can. The English Americans do not desire war, because they
have much to lose; they do not humour the savages, because they do not
believe they have any need of them. The French youths for contrary
reasons detest peace and live on good terms with the aborigines of the
country, whose esteem they easily secure during periods of war, as well
as their friendship at all times."
NOTE
THE CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY
Claude de Ramezay, eleventh governor of Montreal, appointed 1703, was
born in France, 1657, and came to Canada in 1685, with a number of
other young officers, in the suite of Governor de Denonville. He was
then a lieutenant in de Troye's company of marine troops, which later
took part in the expedition to Hudson's Bay. His promotion was rapid,
being captain in 1687, later colonel, then commandant of troops, and
finally governor of the town and its district.
In 1687 he took part in the expedition against the Iroquois and in
1690, when Phipps appeared before Quebec, he brought over 800 men from
Montreal for the defense of the former town.
History tells of the spirited defense made by Frontenac and his gallant
officers, the latter, no doubt, being encouraged by the bright smiles
of some of Quebec's fair daughters who, it seems, lost no time in
rewarding their brave defenders with their heart and hand. Scarcely
had the last of Phipp's fleet disappeared around Point Levi, than
de Ramezay led to the altar Melle Marie-Charlotte Denys, a daughter
of Denys de la Ronde, one of the wealthiest families of Canada. His
companion in arms, de Vaudreuil, at the same time married Louise,
daughter of Pierre de Joybert de Soulanges. Could they have seen into
the future their happiness would have been clouded by sorrow, for it
was destined that a son of de Ramezay should be the one to open the
gates of Quebec to the English in 1759, and a son of de Vaudreuil
should do likewise, at Montreal, the following year.
De Ramezay was one of the most prominent men of this time, occupying
an official position in Canada for a term exceeding forty years. He
was Seigneur de la Gesse, de Montigny, et Boisfleurent in France,
and in Canada was Seigneur de Monnoir and de Ramezay, Knight of the
Military Order of St. Louis, governor of Montreal, and commandant
of all the militia in the country, and was administrator of the
governor-generalship during the two years' absence of de Vaudreuil in
France.
The château was built in 1705. It is a long, low, cottage-built
building, standing quaintly out of date before the city hall. The
neighborhood was then the fashionable part of the town, and was
occupied by the Baron de Longueuil, the Contrecoeurs, d'Eschambaults,
d'Aillebousts and Madame de Portneuf, the widow of Baron Becancourt.
Situated on a hill, and opposite to the magnificent garden of the
Jesuits, this plain unembellished house had an open view to the river
front. The vaults were of ancient castle construction. Even the attic
floors were of stone slabs.
[Illustration: KITCHEN OF CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY]
[Illustration: FRONT VAULT]
[Illustration: CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY]
[Illustration: ORIGINAL FIREPLACE WITH MANTEL TAKEN FROM THE BECANCOURT
HOUSE]
[Illustration: ORIGINAL MANTEL PIECE]
Under de Ramezay's régime, 1703 to 1724, this venerable edifice was
the hall of entertainment of the illustrious of the country. The many
expeditions to the distant fur fields, the voyages of discovery of new
lands, the councils of war, the military expeditions, the conferences
with the Indians, the annual fairs and fur trading market, attracted to
the shores of Montreal not only the governor general, the intendant,
and their suites, but a considerable number of the most important
people of the country, including all classes of society. To one and all
the portals of this hospitable mansion were ever open. To the lowly
Indian and his squaw, and to the exalted nobleman and his consort, the
noble and beneficent Ramezay and his family showed equal attention.
Fearless to the Indian or enemy, his bravery and charity were equally
exemplified in the personal care and attention he and his family gave
to the suffering citizens of Montreal during the pest which devastated
the town in 1721.
De Ramezay died in 1724, and his family sold the château to the
_Compagnie des Indes_ in 1745. The latter retained possession until the
cession in 1763, when it was bought by William Grant, who, in turn,
disposed of it to the English government for the sum of 2,000 guineas.
It thus became again the residence of the governors, and remained such
up to 1849.
In 1775-6 the château was the headquarters for the Continental Army
under Montgomery, and in the spring of 1776 there came Benjamin
Franklin, Carroll of Carrollton, and Samuel Chase, envoys sent by
Congress to influence the French Canadians to join the colonies in the
revolt against British rule. Then came Benedict Arnold, who occupied
the château for several weeks. The mark of the old reception dias is
still seen on the salon walls.
Lord Metcalfe was the last resident governor, but for some years after
his establishment in a new government house the château was used for
departmental offices. When the government was withdrawn from Montreal,
the château served several purposes. For some years courts were held
here, and later the normal school, then courts again.
In 1894 the château was sold by the Provincial government and purchased
by the Corporation of the City of Montreal for the Numismatic and
Antiquarian Society, which in 1895 obtained the building for the
purpose of founding their historical portrait gallery and museum.
Next to the Château de Ramezay on the west stood the house of the Baron
de Becancourt, built at the beginning of the 18th century. It also
passed into the hands of the _Compagnie des Indes_, and became their
_commissariat_. In 1800 this building came into the possession of the
McGill family and was long known as the "Old McGill House."
FOOTNOTES:
[163] The account of this disaster may be found in Parkman's "Half
Century of Conflict," pp. 163-4-5-6-7.
[164] This chapel of "Notre Dame de la Victoire" was burned on April
11, 1768, but was rebuilt in the same year and opened for service on
December 7th. It was demolished about 1808.