France and England in N America, Part V: Count Frontenac, New France, Louis XIV

250

I am unable to discover the foundation of this last charge.

251

The attacking party consisted of some of the Abenakis and Algonquins who had been with Hertel, and who had left the main body after the destruction of Salmon Falls. Several of them were killed in the skirmish, and among the rest their chief, Hopehood, or Wohawa, "that memorable tygre," as Cotton Mather calls him.

252

Summary of Muster Roll, appended to A Journal of the Expedition from Boston against Port Royal, among the papers of George Chalmers in the Library of Harvard College.

253

Relation de la Prise du Port Royal par les Anglois de Baston, pièce anonyme, 27 Mai, 1690.

254

Journal of the Expedition from Boston against Port Royal.

255

Ibid.

256

Relation de Monseignat. Nevertheless, a considerable number seem to have refused the oath, and to have been pillaged. The Relation de la Prise du Port Royal par les Anglois de Baston, written on the spot immediately after the event, says that, except that nobody was killed, the place was treated as if taken by assault. Meneval also says that the inhabitants were pillaged. Meneval au Ministre, 29 Mai, 1690; also Rapport de Champigny, Oct., 1690. Meneval describes the New England men as excessively irritated at the late slaughter of settlers at Salmon Falls and elsewhere.

257

Journal of the Expedition, etc.

258

An Account of the Silver and Effects which Mr. Phips keeps back from Mr. Meneval, in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., I. 115.

Monseignat and La Potherie describe briefly this expedition against Port Royal. In the archives of Massachusetts are various papers concerning it, among which are Governor Bradstreet's instructions to Phips, and a complete invoice of the plunder. Extracts will be found in Professor Bowen's Life of Phips, in Sparks's American Biography, VII. There is also an order of council, "Whereas the French soldiers lately brought to this place from Port Royal did surrender on capitulation," they shall be set at liberty. Meneval, Lettre au Ministre, 29 Mai, 1690, says that there was a capitulation, and that Phips broke it. Perrot, former governor of Acadia, accuses both Meneval and the priest Petit of being in collusion with the English. Perrot à de Chevry, 2 Juin, 1690. The same charge is made as regards Petit in Mémoire sur l'Acadie, 1691.

Charlevoix's account of this affair is inaccurate. He ascribes to Phips acts which took place weeks after his return, such as the capture of Chedabucto.

259

Mémoire présenté à M. de Ponchartrain par M. de Meneval, 6 Avril, 1691.

260

This note, dated 7 Jan., 1691, is cited by Bowen in his Life of Phips, Sparks's American Biography, VII.

261

Mémoire de Meneval.

262

Ibid.

263

An excellent account of Phips will be found in Professor Bowen's biographical notice, already cited. His Life by Cotton Mather is excessively eulogistic.

264

Bradstreet and Council to the Earl of Shrewsbury, 29 Mar., 1690; Danforth to Sir H. Ashurst, 1 April, 1690.

265

Mass. Colonial Records, 12 Mar., 1690; Mather, Life of Phips.

266

Proposals for an Expedition against Canada, in 3 Mass. Hist. Coll., X. 119.

267

Rev. John Emerson to Wait Winthrop, 26 July, 1690. Emerson was the minister of Gloucester. He begs for the release of the impressed men.

268

Mather, Life of Phips, gives an account of the outfit. Compare the Humble Address of Divers of the Gentry, Merchants and others inhabiting in Boston, to the King's Most Excellent Majesty. Two officers of the expedition, Walley and Savage, have left accounts of it, as Phips would probably have done, had his literary acquirements been equal to the task.

269

"M. le Gouverneur luy a répondu qu'il avoit reconnu avec plaisir que la Compagnie (le Conseil) conservoit la considération qu'elle avoit pour son caractère et pour sa personne, et qu'elle pouvoit bien s'assurer qu'encore qu'elle luy eust fait des propositions au delà de ce qu'elle auroit cru devoir faire pour sa reception au Conseil, il ne les auroit pas acceptées, l'honneur de la Compagnie luy estant d'autant plus considérable, qu'en estant le chef, il n'auroit rien voulu souffrir qui peust estre contraire à sa dignité." Registre du Conseil Souverain, séance du 13 Mars, 1690. The affair had occupied the preceding sessions of 20 and 27 February and 6 March. The submission of the councillors did not prevent them from complaining to the minister. Champigny au Ministre, 10 Mai, 1691; Mémoire instructif sur le Canada, 1691.

270

"Que le lac estoit tout convert de canots." Frontenac au Ministre, 9 et 12 Nov., 1690.

271

La Potherie, III. 94; Monseignat, Relation; Frontenac au Ministre, 9 et 12 Nov., 1690.

272

"Je leur mis moy-mesme la hache à la main en chantant la chanson de guerre pour m'accommoder à leurs façons de faire." Frontenac au Ministre, 9 et 12 Nov., 1690.

"Monsieur de Frontenac commença la Chanson de guerre, la Hache à la main, les principaux Chefs des François se joignant a luy avec de pareilles armes, la chanterent ensemble. Les Iroquois du Saut et de la Montagne, les Hurons et les Nipisiriniens donnerent encore le branle: l'on eut dit, Monsieur, que ces Acteurs étoient des possedez par les gestes et les contorsions qu'ils faisoient. Les Sassakouez, où les cris et les hurlemens que Mr. de Frontenac étoit obligé de faire pour se conformer à leur manière, augmentoit encore la fureur bachique." La Potherie, III. 97.

273

La Potherie, III. 96, 98.

274

On this expedition see the Journal of Major General Winthrop, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IV. 193; Publick Occurrences, 1690, in Historical Magazine, I. 228; and various documents in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 727, 752, and in Doc. Hist. N. Y., II. 266, 288. Compare La Potherie, III. 126, and N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 513. These last are French statements. A Sokoki Indian brought to Canada a greatly exaggerated account of the English forces, and said that disease had been spread among them by boxes of infected clothing, which they themselves had provided in order to poison the Canadians. Bishop Laval, Lettre du 20 Nov., 1690, says that there was a quarrel between the English and their Iroquois allies, who, having plundered a magazine of spoiled provisions, fell ill, and thought that they were poisoned. Colden and other English writers seem to have been strangely ignorant of this expedition. The Jesuit Michel Germain declares that the force of the English alone amounted to four thousand men (Relation de la Défaite des Anglois, 1690). About one tenth of this number seem actually to have taken the field.

275

Journal of Captain John Schuyler, in Doc. Hist. N. Y., II. 285. Compare La Potherie, III. 101, and Relation de Monseignat.

276

Frontenac au Ministre, 9 et 12 Nov., 1690.

277

Relation de Monseignat; Plan de Québec, par Villeneuve, 1690; Relation du Mercure Galant, 1691. The summit of Cape Diamond, which commanded the town, was not fortified till three years later, nor were any guns placed here during the English attack.

278

Diary of Sylvanus Davis, prisoner in Quebec, in Mass. Hist. Coll. 3, I. 101. There is a difference of ten days in the French and English dates, the New Style having been adopted by the former and not by the latter.

279

Journal of Major Walley, in Hutchinson, Hist. Mass., I. 470.

280

"Ils ne profitèrent pas du vent favorable pour nous surprendre comme ils auroient pu faire." Juchereau, 320.

281

"Les Demoiselles Lalande et Joliet." The title of madame was at this time restricted to married women of rank. The wives of the bourgeois, and even of the lesser nobles, were called demoiselles.

282

Juchereau, 323.

283

"Tous ces Officiers s'étoient habillés le plus proprement qu'ils pûrent, les galons d'or et d'argent, les rubans, les plumets, la poudre, et la frisure, rien ne manquoit," etc. Ibid.

284

See the Letter in Mather, Magnalia, I. 186. The French kept a copy of it, which, with an accurate translation, in parallel columns, was sent to Versailles, and is still preserved in the Archives de la Marine. The text answers perfectly to that given by Mather.

285

Lettre de Sir William Phips à M. de Frontenac, avec sa Réponse verbale; Relation de ce qui s'est passé à la Descente des Anglois à Québec au mois d'Octobre, 1690. Compare Monseignat, Relation. The English accounts, though more brief, confirm those of the French.

286

Journal of Major Walley; Savage, Account of the Late Action of the New Englanders (Lond. 1691).

287

Juchereau, 325, 326.

288

"Between 12 and 1,300 men." Walley, Journal. "About 1,200 men." Savage, Account of the Late Action. Savage was second in command of the militia. Mather says, 1,400. Most of the French accounts say, 1,500. Some say, 2,000; and La Hontan raises the number to 3,000.

An enemy of Frontenac writes, "Ce n'est pas sa présence qui fit prendre la fuite aux Anglois, mais le grand nombre de François auxquels ils virent bien que celuy de leurs guerriers n'étoit pas capable de faire tête." Remarques sur l'Oraison Funèbre de feu M. de Frontenac.

289

On this affair, Walley, Journal; Savage, Account of the Late Action (in a letter to his brother); Monseignat, Relation; Relation de la Descente des Anglois; Relation de 1682-1712; La Hontan, I. 213. "M. le comte de Frontenac se trouva avec 3,000 hommes." Belmont, Histoire du Canada, A.D. 1690. The prisoner Captain Sylvanus Davis, in his diary, says, as already mentioned, that on the day before Phips's arrival so many regulars and militia arrived that, with those who came with Frontenac, there were about 2,700. This was before the arrival of Callières, who, according to Davis, brought but 300. Thus the three accounts of the deserter, Belmont, and Davis, tally exactly as to the sum total.

290

La Hontan, I. 216; Juchereau, 326.

291

Père Germain, Relation de la Défaite des Anglois.

292

Besides authorities before cited, Le Clercq, Établissement de la Foy, II. 434; La Potherie, III. 118; Rapport de Champigny, Oct., 1690; Laval, Lettre à—–, 20 Nov., 1690.

293

Frontenac au Ministre, 12 et 19 Nov., 1690.

294

Relation de la Descente des Anglois.

295

The small-pox had left probably less than 2,000 effective men in the fleet when it arrived before Quebec. The number of regular troops in Canada by the roll of 1689 was 1,418. Nothing had since occurred to greatly diminish the number. Callières left about fifty in Montreal, and perhaps also a few in the neighboring forts. The rest were in Quebec.

296

Récit d'une Réligieuse Ursuline, in Les Ursulines de Québec, I. 470.

297

"Il nous ressouvint alors de la fuite de Nostre Seigneur en Égypte." Père Germain, Relation.

298

Ibid.

299

Lettre pastorale pour disposer les Peuples de ce Diocèse à se bien déffendre contre les Anglois (Reg. de l'Évêché de Québec).

300

Laval à–, Nov. 20, 1690.

301

Frontenac au Ministre, 9 et 12 Nov., 1690.

302

Mather, Magnalia, I. 192.

303

The Governor and Council to the Agents of Massachusetts, in Andros Tracts, III. 53.

304

Address of the Gentry, Merchants, and others, Ibid., II. 236.

305

The following is a literal copy of a specimen of this paper money, which varied in value from two shillings to ten pounds:—

No. (2161) 10s

This Indented Bill of Ten Shillings, due from the Massachusetts Colony to the Possessor, shall be in value equal to Money, and shall be accordingly accepted by the Treasurer and Receivers subordinate to him in all Publick Payments, and for any Stock at any time in the Treasury Boston in New England, December the 10th. 1690. By Order of the General Court.

Seal of Masachusetts.

Peter Townsend }

Adam Winthrop } Comtee

Tim. Thornton }

When this paper came into the hands of the treasurer, it was burned. Nevertheless, owing to the temporary character of the provisional government, it fell for a time to the value of from fourteen to sixteen shillings in the pound.

In the Bibliothèque Nationale is the original draft of a remarkable map, by the engineer Villeneuve, of which a fac-simile is before me. It represents in detail the town and fortifications of Quebec, the surrounding country, and the positions of the English fleet and land forces, and is entitled PLAN DE QUÉBEC, et de ses Environs, EN LA NOUVELLE FRANCE, ASSIÉGÉ PAR LES ANGLOIS, le 16 d'Octobre 1690 jusqu'au 22 dud. mois qu'ils s'en allerent, apprès avoir esté bien battus PAR Mr. LE COMTE DE FRONTENAC, gouverneur general du Pays.

306

Relation de Bénac, 1691; Relation de ce qui s'est passé de plus considérable en Canada, 1690, 1691; La Potherie, III. 134; Relation de 1682-1712; Champigny au Ministre, 12 May, 1691. The name of Bienville was taken, after his death, by one of his brothers, the founder of New Orleans.

307

Colden, 125, 140.

308

Official Journal of Schuyler, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 800.

309

Relation de Bénac; Relation de 1682-1712.

310

"La débauche fut extrême en toute manière." Belmont.

311

Major Peter Schuyler's Journal of his Expedition to Canada, in N. Y. Col. Docs., III. 800. "Les ennemis enfoncèrent notre embuscade." Belmont.

312

As this fight under Valrenne has been represented as a French victory against overwhelming odds, it may be well to observe the evidence as to the numbers engaged. The French party consisted, according to Bénac, of 160 regulars and Canadians, besides Indians. La Potherie places it at 180 men, and Frontenac at 200 men. These two estimates do not include Indians; for the author of the Relation of 1682-1712, who was an officer on the spot at the time, puts the number at 300 soldiers, Canadians, and savages.

Schuyler's official return shows that his party consisted of 120 whites, 80 Mohawks, and 66 River Indians (Mohegans): 266 in all. The French writer Bénac places the whole at 280, and the intendant Champigny at 300. The other French estimates of the English force are greatly exaggerated. Schuyler's strength was reduced by 27 men left to guard the canoes, and by a number killed or disabled at La Prairie. The force under Valrenne was additional to the 700 or 800 men at La Prairie (Relation, 1682-1712). Schuyler reported his loss in killed at 21 whites, 16 Mohawks, and 6 Mohegans, besides many wounded. The French statements of it are enormously in excess of this, and are irreconcilable with each other.

313

Lettres de Frontenac et de Champigny, 1691, 1692.

314

Frontenac in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 496, 506.

315

Villebon in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 507.

316

The returns show 1,313 regulars in 1691, and 1,120 in 1692.

317

Lettres du Roy et du Ministre, 1690-1694. In 1691, the amount allowed for extraordinaires de guerre was 99,000 livres (francs). In 1692, it was 193,000 livres, a part of which was for fortifications. In the following year, no less than 750,000 livres were drawn for Canada, "ce qui ne se pourroit pas supporter, si cela continuoit de la mesme force," writes the minister. (Le Ministre à Frontenac, 13 Mars, 1694.) This last sum probably included the pay of the troops.

318

"Sa Majesté fait depuis plusieurs années des sacrifices immenses en Canada. L'avantage en demeure presque tout entier au profit des habitans et des marchands qui y resident. Ces dépenses se font pour leur seureté et pour leur conservation. Il est juste que ceux qui sont en estat secourent le public." Mémoire du Roy, 1693. "Les habitans de la colonie ne contribuent en rien à tout ce que Sa Majesté fait pour leur conservation, pendant que ses sujets du Royaume donnent tout ce qu'ils ont pour son service." Le Ministre à Frontenac, 13 Mars, 1694.

319

Lettres du Roy et du Ministre, 1693, 1694. Cape Diamond was now for the first time included within the line of circumvallation at Quebec. A strong stone redoubt, with sixteen cannon, was built upon its summit.

In 1854, in demolishing a part of the old wall between the fort of Quebec and the adjacent "Governor's Garden," a plate of copper was found with a Latin inscription, of which the following is a translation:—

"In the year of Grace, 1693, under the reign of the Most August, Most Invincible, and Most Christian King, Louis the Great, Fourteenth of that name, the Most Excellent and Most Illustrious Lord, Louis de Buade, Count of Frontenac, twice Viceroy of all New France, after having three years before repulsed, routed, and completely conquered the rebellious inhabitants of New England, who besieged this town of Quebec, and who threatened to renew their attack this year, constructed, at the charge of the king, this citadel, with the fortifications therewith connected, for the defence of the country and the safety of the people, and for confounding yet again a people perfidious towards God and towards its lawful king. And he has laid this first stone."

320

Champigny au Ministre, 21 Sept., 1692.

321

Relation de 1682-1712.

322

Mémoire du Roy aux Sieurs Frontenac et Champigny, 1693; Frontenac et Champigny au Ministre, 4 Nov., 1693. The bounty on prisoners was reduced in the same proportion, showing that economy was the chief object of the change.

323

La Potherie, III. 156; Relation de ce qui s'est passé de plus considérable en Canada, 1691, 1692; La Hontan, I. 233.

324

Relation, 1682-1712.

325

Relation, 1682-1712.

326

Récit de Mlle. Magdelaine de Verchères, âgée de 14 ans (Collection de l'Abbé Ferland). It appears from Tanguay, Dictionnaire Généalogique, that Marie-Madeleine Jarret de Verchères was born in April, 1678, which corresponds to the age given in the Récit. She married Thomas Tarleu de la Naudière in 1706, and M. de la Perrade, or Prade, in 1722. Her brother Louis was born in 1680, and was therefore, as stated in the Récit, twelve years old in 1692. The birthday of the other, Alexander, is not given. His baptism was registered in 1682. One of the brothers was killed at the attack of Haverhill, in 1708.

Madame de Ponchartrain, wife of the minister, procured a pension for life to Madeleine de Verchères. Two versions of her narrative are before me. There are slight variations between them, but in all essential points they are the same. The following note is appended to one of them: "Ce récit fut fait par ordre de Mr. de Beauharnois, gouverneur du Canada."

327

La Potherie, I. 326.

328

This mission was also called Caghnawaga. The village still exists, at the head of the rapid of St. Louis, or La Chine.

329

Journal de Jacques Le Ber, extract in Faillon, Vie de Mlle. Le Ber, Appendix.

330

On this expedition, Narrative of Military Operations in Canada, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IX. 550; Relation de ce qui s'est passé de plus remarquable en Canada, 1692, 1693; Callières au Ministre, 7 Sept., 1693; La Potherie, III. 169; Relation de 1682-1712; Faillon, Vie de Mlle. Le Ber, 313; Belmont, Hist. du Canada; Beyard and Lodowick, Journal of the Late Actions of the French at Canada; Report of Major Peter Schuyler, in N. Y. Col. Docs., IV. 16; Colden, 142.

The minister wrote to Callières, finding great fault with the conduct of the mission Indians. Ponchartrain à Callières, 8 Mai, 1694.

331

Relation de ce qui s'est passé de plus remarquable en Canada, 1692, 1693. Compare La Potherie, III. 185.

332

Frontenac au Ministre, 20 Oct., 1691.

333

Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Sept., 1692.

334

Ibid., 25 Oct., 1693.

335

Champigny au Ministre, 12 Oct., 1691.

336

Ibid., 4 Nov., 1693.

337

Frontenac au Ministre, 15 Sept., 1692.

338

Ibid., 20 Oct., 1691.

339

"L'iniquité des ecclésiastiques qui commencent à traiter d'impies ceux qui sont obligés de resister à leurs passions et à leurs interêts." Frontenac au Ministre, 20 Oct., 1691.

340

Mémoire du Roy pour Frontenac et Champigny, 1694.

341

Le Ministre à Frontenac, 8 May, 1694; Le Ministre à Champigny, même date.

342

Old Régime, chap. xix.

343

La Motte-Cadillac à–, 28 Sept., 1694.

344

Mandement au Sujet des Comédies, 16 Jan., 1694; Mandement au Sujet de certaines Personnes qui tenoient des Discours impies, même date; Registre du Conseil Souverain.

345

This incident is mentioned by La Motte-Cadillac; by the intendant, who reports it to the minister; by the minister Ponchartrain, who asks Frontenac for an explanation; by Frontenac, who passes it off as a jest; and by several other contemporary writers.

346

Registre du Conseil Souverain, 1 et 8 Fév., 1694.

347

Champigny au Ministre, 27 Oct., 1694.