The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

On the 10th of April, 1725, M. de Vaudreuil closed his useful career. For one-and-twenty years he had discharged his important duties with unswerving loyalty, ability, and vigilance. Good fortune crowned him with well-merited success, and he went to rest from his earthly labors with the blessings of a grateful people, who, under his wise rule, had rapidly progressed to prosperity.

The Marquis de Beauharnois, captain of the marine, succeeded to the government of the now tranquil colony. His anxiety was aroused, however, the year after his accession, by the vigorous efforts of the English to extend their commerce even into the heart of the Canadian territories. Governor Burnet, of New York, had erected a fort and trading post at Oswego, with the view of monopolizing the rich traffic of the Western lakes. To counteract this design, M. de Beauharnois sent the Baron de Longueuil to negotiate with the Indians in the neighborhood of Niagara, for their consent to the erection of a French fort and establishment upon the banks of their magnificent river, where it enters the waters of Ontario. After many difficulties in reconciling the jealousy of the native tribes, the French succeeded in effecting their object. On the other hand, the men of New York strengthened their defenses at Oswego, and increased the garrison. Angry communications then passed between the French and English governors in peremptory demands for its abandonment by the one, and prompt refusals by the other. Each was well aware of the importance of the position: it served as a means of diverting nearly all the Indian trade by Albany and the channel of the Hudson into the British colonies, and also formed a frontier protection to those numerous and flourishing settlements which Anglo-Saxon industry and courage were rapidly forming in the wilderness.

In the vain hope of checking the irrepressible energies of rival colonization, Beauharnois erected a fort at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, commanding its important navigation, and also serving to hold in terror the settlers on the neighboring banks of the Hudson and Connecticut. The English remonstrated without effect against this occupation, and the French remained in peaceable possession of their establishment. The next war that broke out between the mother countries spread rapine and destruction over the colonial frontiers, without any real result beyond mutual injury and embittered hatred. From this fort at Crown Point, and other posts held by the Canadians, marauding parties poured upon the British settlements, and destroyed them with horrid barbarity. A party of French and Indians even penetrated to Saratoga, within forty miles of Albany, attacked and burned the fort, and slew or carried into captivity the unhappy defenders.

For many subsequent years the history of Canada is but a chronicle of the accession of governors and the registration of royal edicts. In comparison with her southern rivals, the progress in material prosperity was very slow. Idleness and drunkenness, with all their attendant evils, were rife to a most injurious extent. The innumerable fêtes, or holidays of the Church, afforded opportunities to the dissolute, and occasioned frequent instances of serious disorders, till the king was urged to interfere: the number of these fête-days was then very much reduced, to the great benefit of the colony. The feudal system of tenure also operated most unfavorably upon the development of agricultural resources, and the forced partition of lands tended to reduce all the landholders to a fraternity of pauperism. The court of France endeavored vainly to remedy these evils, without removing the causes, and passed various edicts to encourage the further clearance of wild land, and to stimulate settlement.

In 1745, the year when the power of France in Europe was exalted by the splendid victory of Fontenoy, a dangerous blow was struck at her sovereignty in America by the capture of Louisburg, and with it the whole island of Cape Breton,395 by the New Englanders under Mr. Pepperel,396 aided by Admiral Warren's squadron. This disaster was no sooner known in Paris397 than an extensive armament was equipped under the command of the Duc d'Anville, an officer of known valor and ability. The wounded pride of the French hurried on rapidly the preparations for this expedition, which they confidently hoped would redeem the tarnished honor of their arms in the Western world. Early in May the fleet was already completely appointed; but the elements did not second these energetic preparations, and contrary winds detained the armament till the 22d of June. Then it at last put to sea, in the formidable strength of eleven ships of the line, thirty smaller vessels of war, and transports containing 3000 regular soldiers. Nova Scotia, the Acadia398 of other days, was their destination. There it was expected that the old French settlers, who had unwillingly submitted to English conquest, would readily range themselves once more under the fleur-de-lys: Canada had already sent her contingent of 1700 men under M. de Ramsay to aid the enterprise, and M. de Conflans, with four ships of the line from the West Indies, was directed to join the squadron.

This formidable fleet was but a short time at sea when the ships separated and fell into hopeless confusion. On the 12th of September, indeed, the Duc d'Anville reached the Western continent in the Northumberland, accompanied by a few other vessels, but there no laurels awaited the gallant admiral: he was suddenly seized with apoplexy, and in four days his body was committed to the deep. The vice admiral immediately proposed returning to France, on account of the absence of the greater part of his force; but other officers strongly opposed this desponding counsel, and urged a bold attack upon Nova Scotia399 rather than an inglorious retreat. The more vigorous course was adopted by a council of war, which threw the vice admiral into such a state of frantic excitement that he ran himself through the body, fancying he had fallen into the hands of the enemy. De la Jonquière succeeded to the command, and, although more than three-score years of age, acted with unimpaired energy. But the elements were again hostile to France; the fleet was dispersed by a violent storm off Cape Sable, and the shattered remnant of the expedition returned ingloriously to their country, without having accomplished any of the objects for which they had been sent forth.

The government at Paris was, however, by no means cast down by these untoward occurrences, and the armament was speedily equipped to renew their efforts against the English colonies. The expedition was prepared at Brest, under the command of M. de la Jonquière, and, at the same time, a squadron under M. de St. George was armed with a view to threaten the coasts of British India.

The English ministry, early informed of all the movements of their opponents, resolved to intercept both these squadrons, which they had been apprised would sail from port at the same time. Admiral Anson and Rear-admiral Warren were ordered upon this enterprise with a formidable fleet, and, taking their departure from Plymouth, steered for Cape Finisterre, on the Gallican coast. On the third of May, 1746, they fell in with the French squadrons of six large men-of-war, as many frigates, four armed East Indiamen, and a valuable convoy of thirty ships. The enemy's heavier vessels immediately formed in order of battle, while the merchantmen made all sail away, under the protection of the frigates. The British were also ready for action, and a severe combat ensued. Before night all the French line of battle ships were captured after a spirited defense, but two thirds of the convoy escaped through the darkness of the night. A considerable quantity of bullion fell into the hands of the victors, and their grateful sovereign rewarded the courage and good fortune of the admirals by raising Anson to the peerage, and decorating Warren with the ribbon of the Bath.

Admiral de la Jonquière, the newly-appointed governor of Canada, was among the numerous captives who graced the triumph of the British fleet. When the news of this event reached Paris, the king appointed to the vacant dignity the Comte de la Galissonière,400 an officer of distinguished merit and ability. The wisdom of this selection was speedily displayed; the new governor no sooner entered upon the duties of office than his active zeal found employment in endeavoring to develop the magnificent resources of his province. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with the face of the country, the climate, population, agriculture, and commerce, and then presented an able statement to the French court of the great importance of the colony, and a system which, had it been adopted in time, might have secured it against English aggression.

The Comte de la Galissonière proposed that M. du Quesne, a skillful engineer, should be appointed to establish a line of fortifications through the interior of the country, and, at the same time, urged the government of France to send out 10,000 peasants to form settlements on the banks of the great lakes and southern rivers. By these means he affirmed that the English colonies would be restricted within the narrow tract lying eastward from the Allegany Mountains, and in time laid open to invasion and ruin. His advice was, however, disregarded, and the splendid province of Canada soon passed forever from under the sway of France.401

Under the impression that the expected peace between the mother countries would render it important to define the boundaries of their colonial possessions, the active governor of Canada dispatched M. de Celeron de Bienville, with 300 men, to traverse the vast wilderness lying from Detroit southeast to the Apalachian Mountains. Assuming this range as the limit of the British colonies, he directed that leaden plates, engraved with the arms of France, should be buried at particular places in the western country, to mark the territories of France, and that the chief of the expedition should endeavor to secure a promise from the Indians to exclude for the future all English traders. At the same time, he gave notice to the governor of Pennsylvania that he was commanded by the King of France to seize all British merchants found in those countries, and to confiscate their goods. De Celeron fulfilled his difficult commission to the best of his powers, but the forms of possession which he executed excited the jealous apprehension of the Indians, who concluded that he designed to subject or even enslave them.

When M. de la Galissonière failed in his endeavor to obtain the aid of an extensive immigration from France, he turned his thoughts toward the Acadian settlers402 (whom the treaty of Utrecht had transferred to the British crown), with the object of forming a new colony. The readiest expedient to influence this simple and pious people was, obviously, by gaining over their clergy; the Abbé le Loutre was selected as the fittest embassador to induce them to withdraw from allegiance to the English government. This politic and unscrupulous priest appealed to their interests, nationality, and religion as inducements to abandon the conquered country, and to establish themselves under the French crown in a new settlement which he proposed to form on the Canadian side of Acadia. Le Loutre's persuasions influenced many of these primitive people to proceed to the French posts, where every protection and attention was bestowed upon them.

Animated by the success of this measure, and sanguine that large numbers of the Acadians would follow the first seceders, De la Galissonière induced the home government to appoint a considerable sum yearly to carrying out his views; but, in the midst of his patriotic exertions, he was obliged to hand over the reins of government to M. de la Jonquière, who had now arrived to claim the post so ably held by another during his captivity with the English. Galissonière, however, before he sailed for France, magnanimously furnished his successor with the best information on colonial matters, and pointed out the most promising plans for the improvement of the province.403 De la Jonquière unwisely rejected such as related to the Acadian settlements; but the King of France disapproved of his inaction, and reprimanded him for not having continued the course of his predecessor. Instructions were given him to take immediate possession of the neighboring country, to build new forts for its retention, and to occupy it with troops; he was also desired to aid Le Loutre in all his proceedings, and to forward his designs. In obedience to these orders, M. de Boishebert was dispatched with a body of troops and some peasants, to take post near the mouth of the River St. John, which was looked upon as an important post for the defense of the new settlement.

These measures inevitably aroused the jealousy of the English governor of Nova Scotia, who made repeated remonstrances on the subject, but with no other effect than that of causing De la Jonquière to warn his officers to avoid all possible grounds of dispute, as he expected the limits of the rival powers would be speedily arranged.

[1749.] Supplies for the new post at St. John's could only be obtained from Quebec, and transmitted by the long and difficult circuit of the whole Acadian peninsula. M. de Vergor was sent on this mission in an armed sloop, containing military and other stores for the French and Indians. He was ordered to avoid all English vessels, but, if he could no longer shun pursuit, to fight to the last. This stern command was not obeyed, for he surrendered without an effort to Captain Rous, who, apprised of his design, had intercepted him on the coast. On the news of the capture of this sloop, M. de la Jonquière empowered the governor of Louisburg404 to make reprisals upon all English vessels that might enter his port.

General Cornwallis, governor of Halifax,405 sent a detachment of British troops, under Major Lawrence, to watch the movements of La Corne, the French commander, who had been directed to build a fort on the Bay of Fundy, called Beau-sejour.406 As soon as Le Loutre became aware of the arrival of the English, he caused the houses and homesteads of those unfortunate Acadians who remained faithful to England to be burned. Soon after this cruel severity the French and English leaders held a conference, and agreed to erect forts opposite to each other on each side of the River Beau-bassin,407 but to remain at peace till they received further instructions.

While occasions of dispute were thus arising on the Nova Scotia peninsula, a still more dangerous difficulty threatened the cause of peace in the far West. The governors of the British colonies continued to grant license to their merchants to trade on the banks of the Ohio, in contempt of the haughty pretensions of French sovereignty. By the orders of La Jonquière, three of these adventurers were seized, with all their goods, and carried captive to Montreal: after a long examination, however, they were discharged.

END OF VOL. I

1

See Appendix, No. I. (vol. II.)

2

"La sphéricité de la terre étant reconnue, l'ètendue de la terre habitée en longitude déterminé, en même temps la largeur de l'Atlantique entre les côtes occidentales d'Europe et d'Afrique et les côtes orientales d'Asie par différens degrés de latitude. Eratosthène (Strabo, ii., p. 87, Cas.) évalue la circonférence de l'équateur à 252,000 stades, et la largeur de la chlamyde du Cap Sacrè (Cap Saint Vincent) à l'extrémité de la grande ceinture de Taurus, près de Thinæ à 70,000 stades. En prolongeant la distance vers le sud est jusque au cap des Coliaques qui, d'après les idées de Strabon sur la configuration de l'Asie, représente notre Cap Comorin, et avance plus à l'est que la côte de Thinæ, la combinaison des données d'Eratosthène offre 74,600 et même 78,000 stades. Or, en réduisant, par la différence de latitude, le périmètre equatorial au parallèle de Rhodes, des portes Caspiennes et de Thinæ c'est à dire, au parallèle de 36° 0' et non de 36° 21', on trouve 203,872 stades, et pour largeur de la terre habitée, par le parallèle de Rhodes, 67,500 stades. Strabon dit par conséquence avec justesse, dans le fameux passage où il semble prédire l'existence du Nouveau Continent, en parlant de deux terres habitées dans la même zone tempérée boréale que les terres occupent plus du tiers de la circonférence du parallèle qui passe par Thinæ. Par cette supposition la distance de l'Ibèrie aux Indes est au delà de 236° à peu près 240°. Ou peut être surpris de voir que le résultat le plus ancien est aussi le plus exact de tous ceux que nous trouvons en descendant d'Eratosthène par Posidonius aux temps de Marin de Tyr et de Ptolémée. La terre habitée offre effectivement, d'après nos connaissances actuelles, entre les 36° et 37° 130 degrés d'étendue en longitude; il y a par conséquent des côtes de la Chine au Cap Sacré à travers l'océan de l'est à l'ouest 230 degrés. L'accord que je nommerai accidentel de cette vraie distance et de l'évaluation d'Eratosthène atteint done dix degrés en longitude. Posidonius 'soupçonne (c'est l'expression de Strabon, lib. ii., p. 102, Cas.), que la longueur de la terre habitée laquelle est, selon lui, d'environ 70,000 stades, doit former la moitié du cercle entier sur lequel le mesure se prend, et qu' ainsi à partir de l'extrémité occidentale de cette même terre habitée, en naviguant avec un vent d'est continuel l'espace de 70,000 autres stades, ou arriverait dans l'Inde."—Humboldt's Géographie du Nouveau Continent.

3

"La longueur de la terre habitée comprise entre les méridiens des îles Fortunées et de Sera étoit, d'après Marin de Tyr (Ptol., Geogr., lib. i., cap. 11) de 15 heures ou de 225°. C'étoit avancer les côtes de la Chine jusqu'au méridien des îles Sandwich, et réduire l'espace à parcourir des îles Canaries aux côtes orientales de l'Asie à 135°, erreur de 86° en longitude. La grande extension de 23-1/2° que les anciens donnoient à la mer Caspienne, contribuoit également beaucoup à augmenter la largeur de l'Asie. Ptolémée a laisse intacte, dans l'évaluation de la terre habitée, selon Posidonius, la distance des îles Fortunées au passage de l'Euphrate à Hiérapolis. Les reductions de Ptolémée ne portent que sur les distances de l'Euphrate à la Tour de Pierre et de cette tour à la métropole des Seres. Les 225° de Marin de Tyr deviennent, selon l'Almagest (lib. ii., p. 1) 180°, selon la Géographie de Ptolémée (lib. i., p. 12) 177-1/4°. Les côtes des Sinæ[ In opposition to the opinion of Malte Brun and M. de Josselin, Mr. Hugh Murray is considered to have satisfactorily proved the correctness of Ptolemy's assertion that the Seres or Sinæ are identical with the Chinese.—See Trans. of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, vol. viii., p. 171] reculent donc du méridien des îles Sandwich vers celui des Carolines orientales, et l'espace à parcourir par mer en longitude n'étoit plus de 135°, mais de 180° à 182-3/4°. Il étoit dans les intérêts de Christophe Colomb de préférer de beaucoup les calculs de Marin de Tyr à ceux de Ptolémée et a force de conjectures Colomb parvient à restreindre l'espace de l'Océan qui lui restait à traverser des îles du cap Vert au Cathay de l'Asie orientale à 128°" (Vida del Almirante).—Humboldt's Géographie du Nouveau Continent, vol. ii., p. 364.

4

That the vast waters of the Atlantic were regarded with "awe and wonder, seeming to bound the world as with a chaos," needs no greater proof than the description given of it by Xerif al Edrizi, an eminent Arabian writer, whose countrymen were the boldest navigators of the Middle Ages, and possessed all that was then known of geography. "The ocean," he observes, "encircles the ultimate bounds of the inhabited earth, and all beyond it is unknown. No one has been able to verify any thing concerning it, on account of its difficult and perilous navigation, its great obscurity, its profound depth, and frequent tempests; through fear of its mighty fishes and its haughty winds; yet there are many islands in it, some peopled, others uninhabited. There is no mariner who dares to enter into its deep waters; or if any have done so, they have merely kept along its coasts, fearful of departing from them. The waves of this ocean, though they roll as high as mountains, yet maintain themselves without breaking; for if they broke it would be impossible for ship to plow them."—Description of Spain, by Xerif al Edrizi: Condé's Spanish translation. Madrid, 1799.—Quoted by Washington Irving.

5

Aristotle, Strabo, Pliny, and Seneca arrived at this conclusion. The idea, however, of an intervening continent never appears to have suggested itself.—Humboldt's Cosmos.

6

In the Atlantic Ocean, over against the Pillars of Hercules, lay an island larger than Asia and Africa taken together, and in its vicinity were other islands. The ocean in which these islands were situated was surrounded on every side by main-land; and the Mediterranean, compared with it, resembled a mere harbor or narrow entrance. Nine thousand years before the time of Plato this island of Atlantis was both thickly settled and very powerful. Its sway extended over Africa as far as Egypt, and over Europe as far as the Tyrrhenian Sea. The further progress of its conquests, however, was checked by the Athenians, who, partly with the other Greeks, partly by themselves, succeeded in defeating these powerful invaders, the natives of Atlantis. After this a violent earthquake, which lasted for the space of a day and a night, and was accompanied with inundations of the sea, caused the islands to sink; and for a long period subsequent to this, the sea in that quarter was impassable by reason of the slime and shoals.—Plato, Tim., 24-29, 296; Crit., 108-110, 39, 43. The learned Gessner is of opinion that the Isle of Ceres, spoken of in a poem of very high antiquity, attributed to Orpheus, was a fragment of Atlantis. Kircher, in his "Mundus Subterraneus," and Beckman, in his "History of Islands," suppose the Atlantis to have been an island extending from the Canaries to the Azores; that it was really ingulfed in one of the convulsions of the globe, and that those small islands are mere fragments of it. Gosselin, in his able research into the voyages of the ancients, supposes the Atlantis of Plato to have been nothing more nor less than one of the nearest of the Canaries, viz, Fortaventura or Lancerote. Carli and many others find America in the Atlantis, and adduce many plausible arguments in support of their assertion.—Carli, Letters Amer.; Fr. transl., ii., 180. M. Bailly, in his "Letters sur l'Atlantide de Platon," maintains the existence of the Atlantides, and their island Atlantis, by the authorities of Homer, Sanchoniathon, and Diodorus Siculus, in addition to that of Plato. Manheim maintains very strenuously that Plato's Atlantis is Sweden and Norway. M. Bailly, after citing many ancient testimonies, which concur in placing this famous isle in the north, quotes that of Plutarch, who confirms these testimonies by a circumstantial description of the Isle of Ogygia, or the Atlantis, which he represents as situated in the north of Europe. The following is the theory of Buffon: after citing the passage relating to the Atlantis, from Plato's "Timæus," he adds, "This ancient tradition is not devoid of probability. The lands swallowed up by the waters were, perhaps, those which united Ireland to the Azores, and the Azores to the Continent of America; for in Ireland there are the same fossils, the same shells, and the same sea bodies as appear in America, and some of them are found in no other part of Europe."—Buffon's Nat. Hist., by Smellie, vol. i., p. 507.

7

The first authentic description of the Mar di Sargasso of Aristotle is due to Columbus. It spreads out between the nineteenth and thirty-fourth degrees of north latitude. Its chief axis lies about seven degrees to the westward of the Island of Corvo. The smaller bank, on the other hand, lies between the Bermudas and Bahamas. The winds and partial currents in different years slightly affect the position and extent of these Atlantic "sea-weed meadows." No other sea in either hemisphere displays a similar extent of surface covered by plants collected in this way. These meadows of the ocean present the wonderful spectacle of a collection of plants covering a space nearly seven times as large as France.—Humboldt's Cosmos.