'"OWl^'O'"'^'^^'"'^'^'^! '■:^m '/'^WV-'^ D0EFELL UNIVERSITY LIBEARY. This l)oo]£l^jiot to be'^taken .x** from the ©; ©: ©, w Room Hi;»*'tf^NE WITH, RETURN AT "Dl^C ./" g TO SHELF J^/.-A^^-^ ,0 '©' '0: '■©'; 'M: f©'; r '■ri^.L^..©')©©^®;©^© ©'©© e^u©©;©©©©^0'©' Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028897457 ^^te Due >:^,r^^^ issT"^ ; ~-jz-^ =^, ' •";■„, W'^ "B'l^o-'m =s»-Ji8f \ -^'^ d^*?*-'*' "" Cornell University Library F 1038 H24 olin 3 1924 028 897 457 F |o2)8 THE HISTORY OF ACADIA, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY TO ITS SURRENDER TO ENGLAND BY THE TREATY OF PARIS. BY ST. JOHN, N. B.: PRINTED BY J. & A. McMILLAN. 1879. A. 3 5"q-^5" NIVERSITYI UBRARV ^^ a^- - :ii jm Entered according to; Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year 1879, by '^'.,_, ■■;_. J'AjitB^'HANNAY, ^ ^ -. In-the'dfSce of the Minister of Agriculture. PREFACE, This Book is the result of a resolve formed some fifteen years ago to write a History bf Acadia during the period of its occupation by the French, and up to the time when it was finally surrendered to England by the Treaty of Paris. No doubt I entered upon the undertaking with but a slight con- ception of the labor it would involve ; but that, perhaps, Was a fortunate circumstance, for otherwise I might have been deterred by the magnitude of the task. Owing to the Jack of well equipped libraries in New Brunswick, I had to collect, at great labor and much expense, all the books and publica- tions bearing on the early history of New England and Acadia ; and having collected them, I had the satisfaction of discovering that very few of them were of the slightest value as works of authority. The only use of most of them is to put the inquirer on his guard and to stimulate him to more exhaustive researches into the annals of the period of which he proposes to write. After years spent in collecting books, in preliminary inquiries, in making myself familiar with minute matters of detail, which, perhaps, belong rather to the antiquarian than the historian, and after having to lay aside my work many times, ofl«n for months together, in consequence of the iv PREFACE. demands of a most exacting and laborious profession, this history was to have been published in the Summer of 1877. I was at Oak Point, on the St. John River, whither I had gone to obtain quiet and complete the last chapters of this volume, when one pleasant morning in June a little boy came running across the fields with the tidings that the city of St. John had been burnt down the previous day. Before night I reached the city, and discovered the worst, that my book, then half printed, my library, and the whole of the manuscript in the printing office had been destroyed in the great conflagration, which carried ruin to so many homes. With the exception of about one hundred and eighty pages, of which I had a printed copy, the whole work of writing the history of Acadia had to " be done over again. This has been accomplished, and now the result is before the reader. In this volume I have not adopted the plan which is usual in historical works of original research, of placing the names of the authorities in notes on each page. In cases where it seemed necessary to do so, I have rather chosen to name the auth rity in the text, as the more simple and convenient method. For the discoveries of Champlain and the settlement at Port Royal, the authorities I have mainly relied on are, Champlain's work, Lescarbot, and the first volume of the Jesuit Relations. For the subsequent events, up to the capture of Port Royal by the English in 1654, the work of Denys, Governor Winthrop's Diary, and a vast number of public documents in the volume of the E. and F. Commissioners, Hazard's and Hutchinson's collections and similar works have been consulted. After the surrender of Acadia to France in 1670, the memoirs and despatches obtained by the PREFACE. V several Provincial Governments from the archives of Paris, furnish abundance of historical material down to the taking of Port Royal in 1710. After that period, the public docu- ments of Nova Scotia, some of which have been reprinted by the Government of that Province, serve as the basis of my story. My aim has been to trace every statement to its original source, and to accept no fact from a printed book at second hand where it was possible to avoid doing so. Champlain, Lescarbot, Denys, Winthrop, and one or two other books, I consider nearly of equal authority with documentary evidence, because these authors relate facts which happened in their own time, and which mainly came under their own personal observation. Winthrop, especially, is of great value, and ■without his aid it would have been impossible to give an accurate statement of the singular story of La Tour. The first and principal object I have kept in view has been to tell the simple truth, and for the sake of this I have been willing to sacrifice mere picturesque efiect and all attempts at fine writing. Indeed, the necessarily annalistic character of much of the narrative would prove an effectual barrier against anything more ambitious, and it would be ridiculous to clothe the petty struggles of Acadian history in grandiloquent lan- guage. Up to the capture of Port Royal in 1710, 1 have been very fiiU in my treatment of events in Acadia, but from that date to the end of the period of which the volume treats, I have disregarded everything relative to the mere English Colony of Nova Scotia, which did not properly fall within the scope of my narrative. I have given a good deal of space to the question of the expulsion of the Acadians, and I think vi PREFACE. that very few people, who follow the story to the end, will be prepared to say that it was not a necessary measure of self- preservation on the part of the English authorities in Nova Scotia. When I had made some progress in my researches, the manuscripts of the late Professor Robb, of the University of New Brunswick, who had devoted a good deal of attention to i Acadian history, were placed in my hands. Dr. Eobb had made copious extracts from the manuscripts in the library of Quebec, and I derived much assistance from the result of his labors. I am indebted to Mr. E. Jack of Fredericton for much valuable aid, and to Mr. I. Allen Jack of St. John for manuscripts and maps. Mr. Thomas B. Aikens of Halifax is also entitled to my thanks for assistance courteously and promptly rendered on one occasion. But my thanks are especially due to Miss E. Wagstaff of St. John, whose aid in making translations of difficult French manuscripts has been invaluable. This lady during the great St. John fire let her own property burn while she saved two of the precious volumes of manuscripts copied from the archives of Paris. I cannot close this Preface without paying my tribute of respect to the labors of the late Beamish Murdoch, my prede- cessor in this field, whose history of Nova Scotia is a wonderful monument of industry and research, which will serve as a guide to all future historians to the sources of the history of Acadia. Mr. Murdoch only essayed " the task of collecting and reducing into annals, facts of interest " with reference to the history of his native Province ; had he done more, this book would never have been written. But having paused at that point, I felt that the field was free for me to attempt to PBEFACE. vii weave into a consistent narrative the facts which he had treated in a more fragmentary way. It will be for the reader to say with what measure of success this has been accom- plished. St. John, N. B., March, 1879. HISTORY OF ACADIA, CHAPTER I. EAELY VOYAGES TO THE NORTHERN PARTS OP AMERICA. The 4th of March, 1493, was a day of glad tidings for Europe and for mankind. Yet it was not the witness of any great triumph on the field of arms ; nor the birth day of any man of illustrious name ; nor the date of any royal pageant. But on that day a little bark, leaky, frail, and shattered by the tempest, sought shelter in the port of Lis- bon ; no anxious merchant awaited her arrival ; no salute thundered her a welcome, but she brought to the shores of Europe " the richest freight that ever lay upon the bosom of the deep — the tidings of a new world." For ages before, commerce had languished within the narrow compass of the Mediterranean Sea, and the enterprise of man had been restrained by the stormy Atlantic, now the highway of nations, but which was believed by the men of those days to be a limitless ocean. It took a succession of the boldest Portuguese navigators upwards of seventy years to reach that stormy Cape which marks the southern limit of the continent of Africa, and no man but Columbus had dreamed of passing over that vast waste of water which rolled in untamed majesty to the west. The discovery of America dispelled in a moment the superstitious fears which had enslaved the minds of men for so many centuries, and swept away, so far as geography was concerned, tlie much vaunted wisdom of antiquity. A 2 HISTORY OF ACADIA. Here Avas a field for the enterprise of man suoh as had never before been opened up, and which modern discovery has made it impossible to parallel in these days. Europe was in a great ferment over the event, which disclosed new visions of wealth and power to the enterprising and bold. Every needy adventurer saw in it a means of bettering his fortune, and every monarch recognized in it an easy mode of extending his dominions. The golden lure stimulated national as well as individual cupidity, and thousands were ready to brave the dangers of that same stormy Atlantic which they had considered Columbus a madman for at- tempting to pass. The thirst for gold was as keen in the fifteenth century as it is to-day. Amongst those who turned their eyes towards the new continent was Henry VII. of England, a monarch who combined in a surprising degree, caution, with a spirit of enterprise, and avarice with ambi- tion. He had only been prevented by a narrow chance from becoming the patron of Columbus in his great discov- ery, and had this prudent English King been the first to obtain possession of the rich tropical portions of the western continent, the history of the British Colonies of America, and probably of the mother country also, would have been different. More colonial gold might have flowed into the coffers of England, but a colony planted beneath the equa- tor would have had little in common, either in mental or physical characteristics, with that hardy race of men which seized with iron hand the rugged shores of JSTew England. At the close of the fifteenth century the position of Eng- land as a maritime power was very different from that which she occupied a hundred years later. Her war ships were few ; the first of that long line of illustrious admirals, who have borne her flag in triumph on every sea, had not then been born ; and he would have been a bold man who / HISTORY OF ACADIA. 3 would then have ventured to predict that England would become the first maritime nation in the world, without a rival in commercial enterprise or naval power, unless she found one among the vigorous colonies she planted with her own hand. In consequence of the lack of experienced navigators of English birth, Plenry VII. was obliged to accept the services of foreigners to carry out his plans of discovery. In 1495 there was residing in Bristol a native of "Venice named John Cabot, who in his youth had been a pilot, but who subsequently had embarked in mercantile pursuits. No part of the world was at that period more famous for the skill of its navigators than the Italian Peninsula, and Venice, from its favorable situation in the Mediterranean, and its large commerce, was, above all others, the place from which a bold and skilful mariner might be expected to come. Cabot had caught the enthusiasm which the discovery of America had wrought upon the minds of men, and embraced the idea that by sailing to the north-west a passage to India might be found. He found in the English monarch a wil- ling and eager patron, and on the 6th March, 1495, received from the King a royal commission granting to him and his sons Sebastian, Loui-- and Santius, full authority to sail to all countries and seas of the east, west and north, under the flag of England, for the discovery of the " isles, regions and provinces of the heathen and infidels," with power to set up the banner of England in the newly discovered countries, and to subdue and possess them as lieutenants of the King. Cabot and his sons were to enjoy the privileges of the exclusive trade, but one-fifth of the profit was to go to the King. In the Spring of 1497 Cabot set sail in a ship named the Matthew, provided by the King, and essayed for the 4 HISTOEY OP ACADIA. fii-st time the passage of the North Atlantic. He was ac- companied by his son Sebastian, and in company with their ship, sailed three or four small vessels fitted out by the merchants of Bristol, and laden with goods for the purpose of trading with the natives. On the 24th of June they dis- covered the main land of America, probably the coast of Labrador in the vicinity of the Straits of Belleisle, and on the same day they saw an island lying opposite to the main- land. To the land first discovered Cabot gave the name of Prima Vista, while the island received the name of St. John, probably from the circumstance of the day of its dis- covery being St. John's day. There are good grounds for believing that this island of Cabot's discovery was New- foundland, although, unfortunately, the meagre record of the voyage which has survived, is insufficient to determine the matter with absolute certainty. The inhabitants of this new land were clad in the skins of wild animals, and armed with bows and arrows, spears, darts, slings and wooden clubs. The country was sterile and uncultivated, produc- ing no fruit. White bears, and stags of an unusual height and size, were numerous. The waters around it abounded in fish, especially a kind called by the natives baccalaos, which, during the centuries which have passed since then, has been the means of bringing vast fleets from Europe to gather the rich harvest of this now famous sea.* Salmon were also found in great plenty in the rivers of the new land, and seals were abundant along its shores. It had, likewise, so the chronicle informs us, hawks which were black like ravens, and partridges and eagles with dark plumage. Cabot, after skirting along the coast for some distance, took two of the natives and returned to England, which he * This fish has since then received the less musical name of the cod. HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 5 reached in August. Thus was the continent of America discovered under the auspices of the crown of England, more than a year before Cohimbus reached the coast of South America.* In the following year the King granted a new patent to the Cabots, and gave them authority to engage in another voyage of discovery to the coast of North America. John Cabot, who had been knighted for the discoveries made by him on the former voyage, was unable to accompany this second expedition, and the command of it was given to his son Sebastian. Two ships were provided and fitted out for the voyage, and on board of them embarked three hundred sailors, traders, and adventurers. Early in the summer of 1498 they set sail. The discovery of a north-west passage to India was one of the main objects of this, as it had been of the former voyage, and, accordingly, Cabot, after reach- ing the coast of Newfoundland, turned the bows of his ships towards the north-west. He did not dream then that the solution of the curious geographical problem which he was the first to attempt, would not be attained until more than three centuries and a half had passed, and hundreds of human lives and an untold amount of treasure had been sacrificed in the endeavour, or he would scarcely have ven- tured with his frail ships to brave the dangers of that unknown northern sea. But men, happy in their ignoi'ance of the future, press forward in search of an unattainable goal, and so Cabot, undismayed and without misgiving or doubt, swept on with free sail towards the ice-locked ocean of the North. Cabot as he sailed northward found the shores free from ice, for it was then the month of July, but he was alarmed *Thi3 discovery of Cabot was made the foundation of the English claims to North America. 6 HISTORY OP ACADIA. at the appearance of numerous icebergs seaward, and before many days the field ice became so abundant that he found it impossible to proceed, and was reluctantly obliged to return south. He followed the coast of America, looking for a passage to India, until he reached the coast of Florida ; then he gave up the attempt in despair and returned to England. Cabot subsequently received high honors from the English King, and, during the reign of Edward VI., was made grand pilot of England, and granted a large pension. No nation during the fifteenth century exceeded the Por- tuguese in maritime enterprise. Beginning in 1412, they, with equal perseverance and success, pushed forward the work of exploring the western coast of Africa, which before that time had only Jjeen known to Europeans as far south as Cape Non. Six years later they succeeded in reaching Cape Bojador. In 1420 they discovered Madeira. In 1433 Cape Bojador, which had been so long the limit of their navigation, was doubled, and in 1449 the Cape de Verd Islands were discovered. In 1471 they ventured to cross the equinoctial line, which they — following the absurd teachings of the ancients — had believed to be impassable. Finally, Bartholomew Diaz, in 1486, attained that lofty promontory which he called the Cape of Storms, but which his King re-named the Cape of Good Hope. Thus had the Portuguese, in the course of three quarters of a century, explored the whole west coast of Africa to its southern limit, and showed the way by which India might be reached. It is, therefore not surprising that a peo23le so enterprising and sagacious should have looked with interest, not unmix- ' ed with jealousy, on the discoveries which the English and Spaniards were making in the new world. Of the Portu- guese adventurers who were thus animated by a desire to HISTORY OP ACADIA. 7 make discoveries in- America, there was none more ardent and resolute than Gaspar de Cortereal. He resolved to pursue the track of Cabot to the north and gaiu/imperish- able renown by the discovery of that passage to India which Cabot had been unable to find. In 1500 he set sail from Lisbon with two ships and reached the coast of Labrador, which he named Terra Verde. He entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and it is by no means improbable that he landed on some portion of Acadia. He followed the coast to the north for several hundred miles until, like Cabot, he was compelled by the ice to return. But the most notable circumstance in connection with the voyage of Cortereal was the fact of his capturing fifty-seven of the natives, and taking them to Europe, where they were sold as slaves. The country from which those unfortunates were taken, is described as abounding in iuimense pines, fit for masts, which shows that it could not have been very far to the north. It was thickly peopled, and the natives were attired in the skins of wild animals ; they lived in huts, and used knives, hatchets, and arrow-heads made of stone. They were described as a well-made and robust race, well fitted for labor. This description might very well apply to the Indians of Acadia. Encouraged by the success of his first venture in human blood, Cortereal set out in 1501 on another voyage for tim- ber and slaves.' But the fetters which he had forged for his fellow men were destined never to confine the free-born natives of America. , That shore which he had polluted for the first time with the touch of slavery, he was fated never more to behold. Many months passed without any tidings of the lost adventurer, and his brother, Michael de Cortereal, fitted out two ships and went in search of him. But the same avenging spirit which had overwhelmed the 8 HISTORY OF ACADIA. one, now pursued the other. He also passed away over the trackless ocean, and no friendly gale ever brought back to Europe an intimation of the fate of either. In 1504 the Basque and Breton fishermen first cast their lines on the Banks of Newfoundland, and to the latter the island of Cape Breton owes its name. Then commenced the gathering of that bountiful ocean harvest which has since rewarded the toil of so many generations of fishermen. Never was so rich a mine of wealth opened by the most fortunate adventurer of the south as those ocean plains, and, although untold millions have been taken from the appar- ently inexhaustible store, the deep still yields as rich a return for the labor of man as in the days of those ancient toilers of the sea. The accounts which the fishermen brought back to Eu- rope of the coasts which they had visited in the pursuit of their calling were not so favorable as to tempt many colo- nists to the new world. The pursuit of gold was then the object which mainly engrossed the minds of the adventurers of France and Spain, and, beyond the pursuit of the fish- eries which were 'early recognized as a source of wealth, nothing was done to profit by the discoveries Avhich had been made. In 1524 a native of Florence, named John Verazzano, was sent by Francis I. of France on a voyage of discovery. That monarch had viewed with some degree of jealousy the' progress which Spain and Portugal had made in the explo- ration and settlement of America, the more especially as Pope Alexander VI. had issued a bull bestowing the new world on the Kings of those two countries. The King of France was but little disposed, either to bow submissively to the decrees of Rome, or to acknowledge the right of Spain and' Portugal to the whole of America. Charles V. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 9 of Spain remonstrated with Francis against his founding any colonies in America, an act which he considered an invasion of liis rights, but the French King sarcastically replied that he would like to see the clause in father Adam's will which bequeathed to his royal brother alone, so vast a heritage. Verazzano set sail from a rocky island near Ma- deira on the 17th of January, in a ship named the Dolphin, with a crew of fifty men, and provisions for eight months. After a tempestuous passage to the west he came in sight of a country, up to that time unknown, which was thickly inhabited by a race of friendly savages, who beheld the white strangers with astonishment and delight. The diffi- culty of landing on account of the surf made trading impossiblej- but a bold young sailor who swam ashore was treated by those simple-minded natives with much kindness. This land, according to Verazzano's reckoning, was in thirty-four north latitude, and was doubtless part of North Carolina. Verazzano followed the coast to the northward, landing at many places to barter with the natives, whom he found more savage and less friendly the further north he went. Pie sailed as far as fifty degrees of north latitude, having explored seven hundred leagues of the coast of America. An enterprise of such magnitude entitles Veraz- zano to a high place among the navigators of the sixteenth century, and the record of his voyage, which has been pre- served, shows him to have been a man of much judgment and ability. To the whole of the newly explored region he gave the name of New France, and, after his return to Europe, he propounded a scheme for the further exploration and colo- nization of the new land, ^vhich received the countenance ■ of the King. But this plan was never carried to success, and the subsequent fate of the navigator is at this day a 10 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. matter of doubt. It is related on tlie authority of Ramusio, that he made a subsequent voyage in which iie was killed and devoured by the natives, but other authorities go to show that he was alive after the alleged date of this catas- trophe. Whatever his subsequent adventures or fate may have been, he added nothing more to the world's knowledge in regard to America. In 1527 Master Thomas Thome, a learned and wealthy resident of Bristol, addressed a letter to King Henry VIII., in which he argued that the discovery of the northern parts of America might be carried even as far as the North Pole, and urged the King to assist in the undertaking. Henry VIII., stimulated no doubt by the example of some of the other European nations, accordingly fitted out-+wo ships, oneof them bearing the pious name of Dominus Vobiscum, and in May of the same year they set sail. A Canon of St. Paul's, a man of much wealth, and imbued with an ardent desire for scientific discovery, accompanied the expe- dition. But the voyage was not prosperous, and the adven- turers do not appear to have reached farther north than the Straits of Belleisle, through which they passed ; but they had scarcely entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence when one of their ships was cast away. The other then followed the coast south as far as Cape Breton and Arambec — which Vi^as the name -then given by the English to Acadia — return- ing to England in October of the same year. Francis I. still coi^tinued to cherish the desire to make further discoveries in the new world, and in 1534 two small vessels of sixty tons burthen were fitted out for a voyage to America by his directions. Each vessel carried a comple- ment of sixty-one men, and tlie expedition was placed under the command of Jaques Cartier, a very bold and skilful pilot of St. Malo. He departed from that port on the 20th HISTORY OF ACADIA. H April, 1534, and holding- a due west course,* on the lOtli May came in sight of Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland. He found this Cape so much beset with ice that he was unable to enter the Bay of Bonavista, and was constrained to take refuge in St. Catharine's Haven, five leagues to the south-east. There he remained ten days. From thence, sailing to the northward, he skirted the eastern coast of the island, and passing through the Straits of Belleisle, entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and followed the coast as far south as Cape St. George. He admired the fisheries and harbors of Newfoundland, but speaks very unfavorably of the soil.* He found the inhabitants to be men of good stature, but wild and unruly. Both sexes were clothed with the skins of wild animals. They painted their faces a roan color, and decorated their hair with feathers. They had canoes of birch bark in which they fished and captured seals. He understood from them that they did not reside permanently on the island, but came from hotter countries on the main land to catch seals. Leaving Newfoundland, Cartier sailed to the south-west and visited the Magdalene Islands ; from thence proceeding west, on the 30th June, he came in sight of the coast of Acadia. The Jand first seen by Cartier appears to have been Cape Escurainac at the southern entrance of Mirami- chi Bay.f The next day he landed and found the country to be fertile and well wooded. JEJe there saw a large number of the inhabitants crossing a river^ their canoes. Cartier entered this river, and speaks of it as " a very goodly river * He says, '* If the soil were as good as the harbors are it were a great commodity, but it is not to be called New Land but rather stones and wild crags and a place fit for wild beasts, for in all the North Island I did not see a cart load of good earth. Yet went I on shore in many places. * * To be short I believe that this was the land that God alloted to Cain."— Hakluyt, Vol. 3, p. 268. t Named by the French, Cape Orleans ; it appears to have been known to the French fishermen by that name before Cartier's visit. 12 HISTORY OF ACADIA. but very shallow." It is now difficult to determine which of the many rivers of that portion of the coast of New Brunswick is the one thus described. Cartier was charmed with ithe beauty and fertility of the country, and speaks of it in glowing terms.* The forest trees were principally pines, cedars, white elms, ash, willows and yew trees, and many other kinds with wliicli the navigator was unac- quainted. Where there were no trees the ground was cov- ered with gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries, wild peas and a species of wild corn which resembled rye. The cli- mate was as warm as that of Spain, and the birds were very numerous. The land was level, and the natives manifested a friendly disposition. Such is, in substance, the account which is given of this part of New Brunswick by its first recorded discoverer, who, fresh from the rugged coast and severe climate of Newfoundland, was the better able to ap- preciate its beauties. From Miramichi Bay, Cartier sailed towards the north, and, rounding Point Miscou, entered a fine bay to which, in consequence of the excessive warmth of the climate, he gave the name of Bay Chaleur or Bay of Heat. Crossing to the northern shore of tliis Bay he entered an open haven now known as Port Daniel, and from this point explored the whole of the Bay, going within it a distance of twenty- five leagues, which must have brought him very near the mouth of the Restigoucho River. Singularly enough, the * "Nevertheless we went that dny ashore in four places to see the goodly and sweet smelling trees that were there. We fonnd them to be eedars, ewe trees, pines, white elms, ashes, willows, with many other sorts of trees to us unknown, but without any fruit. The grounds where no wood is are very fair and all full of peason, white and red gooseberries, strawberries, blackberries and wild corn even like unto rye, which seemoth to have been sown and ploughed. The country is of better temperature than any other that can be seen, and very hot. There are many thrushes, stock doves and other birds ; to be short, there wantcth nothing but good harbors." — Hackluyt, 3 Vol., p. 255. HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 13 same evil fortune which caused him to miss the discovery of the Miramichi Eiver, now attended him, and ho turned back without entering tlie Restigouche. In the course of his exploration of the Bay Chaleur, Cartier had frequent and friendly intercourse with the Indians. He visited Bathurst harbor, and there found three hundred Indians, who received him with many demonstrations of joy, and regaled him with the flesh of seals. They were disposed to engage in traffic with the white strangers to the extent of their, limited means, and so brisk was the demand for hat- chets, knives and beads, that most of them sold the very skins with which they were clothed and went away naked. These Indians were of the Souriquois or Micmac tribe.* From their pacific disposition and friendly conduct, Cartier formed the impression that they might easily be converted to the Christian religion. Their habits, he says, Avere mi- gratory, and they lived principally by fishing. Cartier speaks of the great abundance of salmon in the rivers on that coast, a quality for which they are still celebrated. Leaving behind the beautiful and fertile country on the southern shore of the Bay Chaleur and its friendly and hos- pitable inhabitants, Cartier sailed north-east and entered the harbor of Gasp5. The inhabitants were of an entirely distinct tribe from those of Bay Chaleur, speaking a differ- ent language, eating their food almost raw, and having no other dwellings but their canoes. On a point of land which lies at the entrance of this harbor, the French erected a cross thirty feet high, and hung upon it a shield with the * This was established in a very singular manner. When Chan^plain had settled his colony at Port Eoyal in 1605, he was visited by the Micmac Indians, headed by their. chief Membertou, who was nearly one hundred years of age. This aged warrior remembered Cartier's visit to the Bay Chaleur, and was at that time a married man with a family. Membertou became a Christian, and was baptized at Port Eoyal in 1610. He died in the following year. 14 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. arms of France. This typical act of taking possession of the country was ingeniously performed so as to appear to the natives a religious ceremony. After the cross was erected the old Chief seems to have had his suspicions aroused that something more than worship was intended, and he visited the ships to remonstrate with. Cartier. He was however assured that the cross was merely for a land- mark to guide the white visitors to the entrance of the harbor on their next voyage. On the 25th July Cartier departed from Gaspfe, taking with him two sons of- the Chief whom he had seized by stratagem. They were, in some measure, reconciled to their lot by liberal presents of savage finery and promises of being brought back to their own country in the following year. Cartier sailed north as far as the north shore of the St. Lawrence, but, although he was actually within the estuary of that river, he does not appear to have suspected its ex- istence. He was on the verge of a great discovery ; the noblest river in America was open before him, but he was unaware of its presence. The weather suddenly grew stormy and tempestuous ; autumn was approaching. Strong east- erly winds began to prevail, and he feared that if he remained longer they would be obliged to pass the winter in that unknown region. These considerations induced him to resolve on an immediate return to Europe, and, shaping his course once more towards the east, the little' fleet reached St. Malo in safety on the 5th September. The favorable account which Cartier gave of his discov- eries, made the French King eager to found a colony in the new world, and another expedition was accordingly under- taken under the command of the same great navigator. Three ships were fitted out, the largest of one hundred and twenty tons, and the others of sixty and forty tons respec- HISTORY OP ACADL\. J 5 tively. Many gentlemen of means had been indnced to engage in the adventure. The voyage was inaugurated as became so important an undertaking, and before embark- ing, the crews with their commanders repaired to the cathe- dral of St. Malo and received the blessing of the Bishop. On the 19th May, 1535, the expedition set sail from St. Malo. Shortly after their departure a gale sprang up which speedily increased to a tempest, and the ships were in dan- ger of being lost. Cartier's vessel became separated from the other two, but on the 26th July, met them again at the appointed rendezvous in Newfoundland. It was August before they entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Keeping more to the north than he had done on his for- mer voyage, Cartier discovered a large island to which he gave the name of Assumption, but it is known as Anticosti at the present day.* Cartier had on board of his vessel the two Indians taken on his former voyage, and they informed him that they were near the kingdom of Saguenay, and that beyond it was Canada.f Passing up the river St. Law- rence, the adventurers entered the deep and gloomy Sague- nay, where they met four canoe loads of natives, who were timid at first, but came to them when spoken to by Cartier's Indians, who understood their language. The lateness of the season prevented them from exploring the Saguenay, and they continued their voyage up the St. Lawrence. On the 6th September they reached an island which abounded in hazel trees, Avhich in consequence received from Cartier the name Isle an Coudres, which it still bears. On the 7th they came to a large and fertile island of great beauty, Avhich abounded in vines. This Cartier named I«le de Bacchus : * Anticosti is an evident corruption of Natisootec, the name which the Indians gave it. fThe name Canada, which has since been applied to the whole of this region, is an Indian word, and signifies a collection of huts, a town. 16 HISTORY OF ACADIA. it is now called Orleans. There they cast anchor and went ashore, taking the two Indians with them. By their aid, they were at once put on a friendly footing with the natives, and the feeling of distrust with which the savages had re- garded the white visitors was entirely extinguished. On the following day Donnacona, King of the country, came to visit them accompanied by twelve canoes filled with warriors. An interchange of civilities took place, and the Indian King testified by signs his delight at the arrival of the white strangei's. Cartier now advanced up the river to find a secure haven for his vessels, and he found a place in every respect suitable, at the mouth of a small river now known as the St. Charles. Close by, on a high bluff over- looking the St. Lawrence, stood the Indian town of Stada- cona, and beneath the black and frowning precipice the great stream, cramped and confined within a narrow chan- nel, swept swiftly onwards to the sea. To this passage the Indians had given the name of Quebec, which in their lan- guage signifies a strait, — a name destined to become great and glorious in our country's story. It needs not the gilding of romance to invest Quebec with the dignity which belongs to it as the scene of illus- trious deeds and the birth-place of Canadian history. The rock upon -which it stands will not be more enduring than the fame of the achievements which it has witnessed, or the renown of the soldiers who contended for it in wager of battle. The ancient Indian town of Stadacona, which stood upon its site, has long since perished ; the warlike race who made it their home have been driven forth, and are now a feeble and despised tribe ; the great forest which extended on every side like a boundless ocean, has been cut down by the patient industry of man ; all is changed save the beetling cliff which overshadows it; for the frowning battlements HISTORY OF ACADIA. 17 of a walled and fortified city have usurped the place of the fragile homes of the Algonquin race. This city was for a century and a half the capital of the great French empire in America, the heart whose pulsations were felt from the coast of Labrador to the mouth of the Mississippi. Its name has been in times past ominous of disaster and bloodshed to the English race, and it has also yielded our country triumphs which illuminated every city in Britain, and filled the hearts of its people with joy and pride. From it the bloody edicts went forth which gave over the border settlements of New England to the hands of the merciless savage, and which covered her villages with mourning. Over the sea from this barren rock echoed the tidings of that famous victory which gave the vast territory of Canada to the En^ish crown, and in which Wolfe by a soldier's death, immortalized his name. Nor should it be forgotten, that during the war of the Revolution, in a dark hour for England, the strong battlements of Quebec re- sisted the tide of invasion and preserved England's greatest colony. The unsuspecting savages, unconscious of the ruin which the white man's presence would bring upon their race, treated the French with . kindness and hospitality. Their King, Donnaeona, brought them many presents, a good understanding was speedily established, and a league of friendship entered into. But when Cartier proposed to proceed further up the river, the Indians attempted to dis- suade him. The navigation, they told him, was dangerous, the country was barren, and the native tribes warlike and hostile. When such remonstrances failed, Donnaeona at- tempted to terrify the French, and deter them from going up, by dressing three Indians to represent evil spirits who declared that they had been sent by their god Cudruaigny, 18 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. to say that the country up the river was full of ice and snow, and that whoever went there would die. Cartier of course laughed at this attempt to influence him, and told the Indians that Cudruaigny was a fool. Finding all his efforts unavailing, Donnacona ordered the Indian interpreters not to accompany Cartier, and they were obliged to obey the command of their King. Nevertheless, on the 19th September, Cartier started up the river with his pinnace and two boats with a large company of men. The farther they advanced inland the more the country improved ; the forest trees became larger, grape vines were seen hanging with thick clusters of fruit, and the meadows grew broader and more fertile. The natives were every- where friendly, bringing them fish and such articles as they had to sell, but they warned them of the dangers of the navigation farther up. At length, after various adven- tures, Cartier arrived at the Indian town of Hochelaga, the home of the Huron tribe, a race less warlike and more inclined to agriculture than most savages.* Their town was large, situated in the midst of corn fields, and sur- rounded by a triple row of palisades thirty feet high. Like the Indians of Stadacona, the people of Hochelaga were governed by a King or Agouhanna, who, instead of being a great warrior, was a feeble and palsied old man. Cartier visited Hochelaga and was very kindly received, and, as those simple minded savages believed him to be a superior being, all their sick and feeble were brought to him to be healed by the touch of his hand. When he departed they grieved as at the loss of an old and tried friend, and many of them followed him along the bank after he had em- *Tliat these Indians of Hochelaga belonged to the Huron-Iroquois family of tribes is proved by a variety of circumstances, among which may be named the affinities of their language, the character of their towns and defensive works, and of the remains of pipes and pottery dug up at Montreal in 1860. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 19 barked, until, borne rapidly away by a favorable wind and the swift current, he was lost to their sight. Above the town of Hochelaga rose a mountain from whose summit can be seen a vast extent of level country from which the last vestige of the forest has long since disappeared. The territory beneath is rich in all the ma- terial wealth of fine farms, noble orchards and splendid residences. It is rich, too, in historical associations, for it is the great campaign ground of Canada, and its glory is kept fresh in the memory of the French Canadian by the echoes of Chateaugay. Beneath the mountain, on the site of the ancient Hochelaga, lies a great city, where a hundred and fifty thousand people of European origin have their homes, the centre of a vast commerce and of a great railway system,^and widely renowned for its beauty, enterprise and wealth. To the mountain Cartier gave the name of Mount Royal, which it still retains, and thus the city beneath it, and the island upon which it stands re- ceived the name of Montreal. Cartier hastened to Quebec, where he had decided to spend the winter.. But when winter came, the French were found unprepared for its rigors. The almost tropical summer gave them no intimation of that season of Siberian cold which was to follow it. Their ships were hemmed in by thick ice and covered Avith drifting snow, and an un- known sickness, probably the scurvy, broke out among the men. By the middle of March, of one hundred and ten men Avho composed the crews, twenty five had died, and all the others, with three or four exceptions, were affected by the disease. The living were too feeble to bury the dead, and the only resource was to cover them with snow. While in this pitiable condition the ingenuity of Cartier was taxed to the utmost to disguise their real condition 20 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. from the Indians, whose friendship he had good reason to ' doubt. Fortunately for him, the savages were affected by the same malady, and, by pretending that one of his serv- ants who had been with them had taken the disease, he managed to discover the remedy they used, which was to drink the liquor in which the bark and leaves of a certain tree had been boiled. In a few days they used up an entire tree in this way, and in a week every man was cured. Indeed so marvellous were the effects of its use that the old chronicle of the voyage declares, '' If all the physicians of Mountpelier had been there with all the drugs of Alexandria, they could not have done so much in one year as that tree did in six days." This wonderful tree is believed to have been the white pine. When Spring returned, Gartier prepared to depart for France, and he signalised his leave-taking by an act that was alike treacherous and cruel. He invited the King, Donnacona, and four of his principal chiefs to a great feast, and in the midst of the festivities, violated the laws of hospitality by seizing and imprisoning them on board his vessels. He departed amidst the lamentations of the Indians, although he caused Donnacona to tell them that he was going to Europe of his own free will and would return to them in a year. But the promise was never ful- filled, for the Indian King died in the land of his captivity. Cartier reached France on the 8th July, 1536, bearing the tidings of his great discovery, which was thenceforward to be known to the world by the name of Canada. In the spring of 1536, while he was still at Quebec, a number of London merchants sent out two vessels on a trading voyage to the coast of America, under the com- mand of one Master Hore. They spent some time in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and afterwards anchored in a harbor IS HISTORY OP ACABIA. 21 on the western coast of Newfoundland. They found the natives so shy that they were unable to communicate with tliem, and, falling short of provisions, were driven to the necessity of eating such herbs and roots as they could find, although, close to the finest fishery in the world, it is difficult to understand why they should have sufferedfrom hunger. At last, when every other resource was exhausted, they were reduced to the extremity of casting lots to deter- mine who should perish for the sustenance of the remainder. They were finally relieved from their dreadful position by the arrival of a French vessel, which they immediately seized, and which was found to be well stored with pro- visions. The two countries were then at peace, and the Frenchmen complained of the outrage to Henry VIII. The King, on finding the great straits to which his subjects had been reduced, forgave the offence, and generously recompensed the Frenchmen out of his own private purse. . The failure of Cartier to discover gold in the new world, added to the dreadful severity of the winter and the priva- tions his men had suffered, for a time put an end to any further expeditions to Canada, although the arrival of the Indian King at the French "Court produced a profound sensation. But no human enterprise was ever suffered to languish for want of men bold enough to undertake it, and accordingly in 1541, Cartier, in connexion with Francis de la Roche, lord of Roberval, prepared another expedition for the exploration of Canada. King Francis, who had provided most of the funds for the enterprise, conferred the chief command on Roberval, making him his lieutenant general and viceroy in Canada. Cartier was appointed captain general of the fleet. Roberval's intention was to found a colony in Canada, and his preparations were made on so extensive a scale that 22 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. they were still incomplete in the Spring of 1541, when Cartier was ready to depart. The latter accordingly set sail on the 23rd May, without his chief, with five vessels and a large company of gentlemen, soldiers and mariners. He also took with him cattle, goats and hogs for the new, colony. After a tempestuous passage they reached New- foundland, where they awaited the arrival of Roberval, but, after a long delay, despairing of his coming, they sailed for Canada, arriving at Quebec on the 23rd August. The ships were immediately surrounded by an eager multitude of Indians enquiring for their King. Cartier was obliged to tell them that Donnacona was dead. Those savage stoics heard the tidings with apparent indifference, but from that moment they regarded the French as their enemies. Cartier felt that he had not deserved their friendship, and he did not dare to trust it. He selected a spot higher up the river where he laid up three of his vessels under the protection of two small forts which he erected. The remaining two he sent to France to inform the King of his position, and that Eoberval had not arrived. He spent the winter without any serious encoun- ter with the Indians, but he was well aware that they onlj' awaited a favorable opportunity to attack him. He had to be continually on the alert, and in the Spring he became so much disheartened by the difficulties which surrounded him and the continued absence of Eoberval, that he re- solved to return to France. When he arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland, on his return voyage, he found Roberval there with three ships on his way to the new colony. He informed Roberval that he had left Canada because with his small force he was unable to withstand the savages, who went about daily to annoy him. Roberval commanded Cartier to return HISTORY OP ACADIA. 23 with him to Canada, but his ambition as a discoverer was satisfied, and he was unwilling to endure the dangers and privations of another winter in the midst of hostile savages. To avoid an open rupture with his commander, he weighed anchor silently in the night and departed for France. Eoberval proceeded to Canada, took possession of the forts built by Cartier, and there spent the winter. Their provi- sions, however, fell short, and each man was put on a very meagre allowance. The scurvy broke out, and, not having the remedy that Cartier had used, fifty of the colony died before Spring. Roberval's colonists must either have been a very bad lot or he an extremely severe ruler, for during the winter one man was hanged for theft,* several put in irons and many whipped, both men and women, "by which means," as the old chronicle informs us, " they lived in quiet." Roberval's colony was a failure, and next summer he returned to France with what remained of it. In 1549 he organized another expedition, but the hopes that were founded on it were doomed to be blasted. He set sail for Canada accompanied by his brother Achille and a band of brave adventurers, but never reached the shores of the New "World. Their fate is still one of the secrets of the sea. Canada had reason to regret the event, for the loss of that expedition retarded its ' colonization for more than fifty years. For many years after the loss of Roberval's expedition, Canada was almost entirely forgotten by the French. Religious wars and civil dissensions occupied the whole attention of the nation, and a court that was busily engaged in slaughtering its subjects at home, could not be expected *Thi8 was the first civil execution in Canada. Tlie name of tlie offender was Micliael Gallion. One of those kept in irons during the winter was John of Nantes. His offence is not stated. 24 HISTORY OF ACADIA. to take much interest in any scheme for increasing their numbers abroad. A Huguenot colony, which was founded in Florida in 1564, under the auspices of Admiral Coligny, was, after it had been a single year in existence, utterly destroyed by the Spaniards. All the colonists Avere bar- barously murdered, and Ribault, the governor, is said to have been actually flayed, by order of Menendez, the Spanish leader. The corpses of the murdered colonists were hung on trees on which were placed the inscription : " These wretches have not been thus treated because they were Frenchmen, but because they were heretics and enemies of God." There is good reason to believe that the French Court , connived at the destruction of this colony. This was worthy of the perpetrators of the mas- sacre of St. Bartholomew. The unchristianized and unciv- ilized savages of America would have been more humane. England was the next power to engage in the work of colonizing the northern regions of America, and, although late in the field, was destined to eclipse all competitors in the end. Her first venture, however, was far from being encouraging. In 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, an elder brother of Sir Walter Raleigh, set sail for the new world with a fleet of five vessels, for the purpose of founding a colony. No expedition of that day had left the shores of Europe better prepared for the purposes of discovery and colonization. Of the two hundred and sixty men who composed it, many were mechanics, such as shipwrights, masons^ carpenters, blacksmiths, workers in metal and refiners. A large stock of provisions and articles of traffic was also taken, and, indeed, nothing that the skill and ingenuity of that age could devise appears to have been omitted. But Gilbert was unlucky from the very inception of his voyage. He HISTORY OP ACADIA. 25 had only been two days at sea when the Ealeigh, the largest vessel in the fleet, turned back in consequence of a contagious sickness having t)roken out among her crew.* After a foggy and disagreeable passage, the fleet entered the harbor of St. John's, Newfoundland, where were found thirty-six vessels of different nationalities. Gilbert, by virtue of his commission, took possession of the Island in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and enacted and pro- claimed laws for the government of the inhabitants and traders.t Some time was spent there in searching for silver mines, and a quantity of ore was obtained which was believed to be precious. What its real value was can never be known for it was on board the Delight, which was lost with most of her crew on the rocks of Cape Breton. This event and the wishes of his officers induced Gilbert to return to England. He shifted his flag to the Squirrel, the smallest of his fleet, in fact a mere boat of ten tons burthen. When about mid-Atlantic on their way back, a terrific gale arose which placed the vessels in immi- nent danger. The Squirrel during the day labored terribly and was nearly overwhelmed. Gilbert sat calmly in the stern with a book in his hand, and when the Golden Hind approached within hearing, called out to those on board of her : " We are as near Heaven by sea as by land." At midnight the lights of the Squirrel suddenly disap- peared ; the mighty ocean had swallowed up both her and * This vessel was fitted put by Sir Walter Ealeigh. ■f " For a beginning he proposed and delivered three laws to be in force imme- diately. That is to say, the first for religion which in public exercise should be according to the Church of England. The second for maintenance of her majesty's right and possession of those territories against which, if anything were attempted prejudicial, the party ofifendlng should be adjudged and executed as in case of high treason. The third, that if any person should utter words sounding to the dishonor of her majesty, he should lose his ears and have his ship and goods confiscated." — Hackluyt's Voyages, 3 Vol., p. 193. 26 HISTOEY OP ACADIA. her gallant commander. The Golden Hind, the last of this fleet which had left England under such promising auspices a few months before, arrived home late in Septem- ber. The death of Sir Humphrey Gilbert was a sad loss to the ne\y world as well as to the old, for in his ocean grave was buried the hope of Acadia being made a British colony. How different might its history have been had that navigator's designs been carried into effect ! At length, after many years of gloom and misery, France obtained a respite from her religious wars, and Henry IV. was firmly seated on the throne. Then the spirit of adven- ture began to revive, and the attention of the more enter- prising was directed to the new world as a place where they might have scope for their ambition. The office of lieutenant general and viceroy of Canada, which, since the death of Eoberval, had been an empty title, was in 1598 bestowed by Henry IV. on the Marquis de la Koche, together with a commission which gave him very extensive powers in the regions he proposed to colonize. In that year he sailed for America, taking with him forty-eight convicts from the French prisons. He left these unfortu- nate beings on Sable Island, a barren and desolate desert of sand which lies a hundred miles from the coast of Nova Scotia. He then proceeded towards the main land with the avowed object of seeking a suitable place for his colony. He visited the coast of Acadia and was returning to Sable Island when his ship was caught in a tempest and driven back to the coast of France. The wretched convicts were left to their fate. It was five years before Henry IV. heard what had become of them, and then, with that spirit of hu- manity which ever distinguished him, he immediately sent Chedotel, who had been de la Eoche's pilot, with a vessel to ascertain their fate. He found that twelve of them had HISTORY OP ACADIA. 27 survived the terrible hardships of their condition. They had subsisted chiefly on cattle which were running wild on the island, probably the produce of animals which had escaped from wrecked vessels.* They were clothed in seal skins, and their shelter was a rude hut made out of the planks of a wreck. It is a striking illustration of the acquisitive nature of man, that these unfortunates in their forlorn condition had collected a large quantity of valuable furs. They presented themselves before the King on their return, by his desire, attired in their singular dress just as they had been found. He commiserated their condition so much that he immediately granted them their liberty and gave each of them fifty crowns. Their sufferings had indeed been terrible enough to expiate almost any crime. Their faces, in consequence of the hardships they had endured, had assumed a savage and ferocious expression, so that they appeared more like wild animals than civilized men. De la Roche, whose cruelty or neglect had been the cause of their misfortunes, died miserably of a broken heart, harassed by lawsuits and ruined in fortune. While costly expeditions under the patronage of wealthy monarchsM'ere contributing to the sum of human knowledge by trans-atlantic discoveries, a set of humbler adventurers were not less busily engaged in making America known to the people of Europe. The fisheries of Newfoundland and Acadia attracted to their shores large numbers of adventur- ous men, who were equally ready to fish or to trade with the Indians as occasion offered. In this way the whole coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence became well known long before Canada or Acadia contained a single white settler, and the Atlantic coast of Acadia was equally familiar to tliose * The Baron de Lery is believed to have left some horses and cattle on Sable Island in 1518. 28 HISTOKY OF ACADIA. traders and fishermen. There is no positive proof that they ever entered the Bay of Fundy during the sixteenth century, but the probabilities are strongly in favor of their having done so. Thus slo\^ly but steadily the dim outline of the new world displayed its form to the people of Europe, and the spirit of adventure, no longer confined to the great and wealthy, grew in the breasts of the people. Already a new era of colonization and progress was begin- ning to dawn. Who could have ventured to predict the glory of its meridian splendor ? CHAPTEE II. THE ABORIGINES OF ACADIA. The exploration of America established the fact that it was everywhere inhabited, from the shores of the Arctic Ocean to its extreme southern limit. Even the islands which surrounded it were in most cases found to be peopled, and there M'^as no large extent of territory on the continent without its quota of natives. It then became an interesting question for philosophers to determine from what part of the old world America was peopled, and by what means the ancestors of its inhabitants reached the new continent. Surrounded on both sides by vast oceans, it seemed incredible that savages who had no vessels .larger than a canoe could come to America by sea, and although ingenuity has exhausted itself in conjectures, and modern research thrown all its available light upon the subject, the question of how America was peopled has not yet been satisfactorily determined. It is not to be denied that in" modern times this question has assumed a very different aspect from that which it pre- sented a century ago, when Robertson wrote his history of America. He assumed — and he has been followed in this respect by many subsequent writers — that the inhabitants of the new world were all of one race, and in the partially civilized communities of Mexico and Peru, he recognized only races of people who had improved to some extent on the customs of the rude Tartar ancestors, from whom he conceived them to have sprung. Finding it difficult to make this hypothesis agree with the undoubted progress 30 HISTORY OF ACADIA. they had made in the arts, he cavalierly treated the Spanish accounts of their skill as the exaggerations of a people who desired to augment, as much as possible, the importance of the nations they had subdued. While he did scant justice to the civilization of Mexico and Peru, he ignored altoge- ther the existence of any remains of civilization beyond their limits. It would, of course, be unjust to charge this distinguished historian with any desire to suppress the truth, but it would be equally absurd, at the present day, to adopt him as a guide. Since his day the substantial correctness of the Spanish accounts of the civilization of Mexico and Peru has been fully vindicated. The remains of their temples, pyramids and palaces still bear silent testimony to their former grandeur ; and in other portions of America have been brought to light the remains of cities whose inhabitants, although they have utterly perished and left no record, must have had some pretensions to cultivation and refinement. The archseological remains of America are of so exten- sive a character as to strike any one who pursues the subject for the first time with astonishment. They are naturally divided into two classes, those that appear to have originated among cultivated races, and those that have manifestly belonged to uncivilized peoples. Of the former class Acadia is entirely destitute, and the same remark is true in regard to the whole Atlantic seaboard of the United States, as far south as Florida. But such remains abound from the State of New York along the western slope of the AUeghanies, through Georgia to the southern portion of Florida. Tiiey are very numerous in Kentucky, Illinois and Ohio, and are to be found in great numbers along the margins of all the western rivers, on the head waters and branches of the Mississippi and Missouri, and down to the HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 31 Gulf of Mexico. They are abundant in Mexico, but are found in the greatest numbers and in the highest state of perfection in Central America. A large proportion of the remains of partially civilized races throughout the United States consists of the ruins of fortresses and fortified towns, and tumuli or pyramids of earth. In Onondaga county. New York, was the ruin of a fortified town which covered more than five hundred acres of ground, and there are said to be at least a hundred ruined fortifications of various sizes in that State. In many other States they are still more numerous. In short, throughout the whole extent of country from the AUeghanies to the Rocky Mountains, are found the ruins of a perpetual succession of intrenched camps, and fortresses of earth and stone, constructed on the most gigantic scale, with redoubts, breastworks, ramparts and mounds of observation. Still more stupendous are the tumuli and pyramids which abound throughout the same territory, and which may be numbered by hundreds. One of the largest of these in Illinois, is seven hundred feet in length, five hundred feet wide at the base, and ninety feet in height, and its solid contents may be roughly estimated at twenty million cubic feet. Some of the smaller class of mounds appear to have been used for the purposes of sepul- ture. One near Circleville, Ohio, was found to contain an immense number of human skeletons of every size and age, all laid horizontally with their heads towards the centre of the mound. In a mound near the town of Chillicothe in the same State was found a single human skeleton covered with a mat, and decorated with a stone ornament, a string of bone beads, and a piece of copper made in the shape of a cross. Still more remarkable was the discovery made in one of the sepulchral mounds in Marietta. There the skeleton of a warrior was found with the remains of 32 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. a buckler of copper, overlaid with a thick silver plate, lying across his breast. By his side were several broken pieces of copper tubing filled with iron rust, the remains, it was thought, of his sword and its scabbard. A piece of iron ore was also found with them.* This discovery seems to prove that the use of iron was known to the natives of America at a very remote period, and that this knowledge was subsequently lost, for at the time of the con- quest of Mexico and Peru by the Spaniards, no iron utensils were in use. Implements of copper are very frequently found in these mounds, and specimens of pottery, some of them displaying excellent workmanship and a knowledge of chemistry, are abundant. In some of the mounds bracelets and rings of brass, ornaments of silver and speci- mens of sculpture have been brought to light. Some of these pieces of pottery have been compared in beauty and workmanship to the choicest antique vases of Europe ; others are remarkable for their enormous size. An earthen vessel was discovered in a mound at Lancaster, Ohio, which was eighteen feet long and six feet in width. Such discoveries incontestibly prove the former existence in those regions of a people who were acquainted with many of the arts of civilization, and the ancient character of the ruins is attested by the fact that in many instances a heavy growth of forest trees had arisen above them. But grand and imposing as are those ruined fortresses and pyramids, they are far surpassed by the ancient cities of Central America. Messrs. Stephens and Catherwood, in their wan- derings through Central America, Chiapas and Yucatan, discovered the ruins of no less than fifty-four cities, and there were others of which they heard, but which they had * An interesting account of this discovery will be found in Vol. I. of the collec- tions of the A-merican Antiquarian Society. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 33 not time to visit. They brought back- with them drawings of the principal objects of interest among the ruins, and, in many instances, plans of the cities themselves. One of the most remarkable and probably the most ancient of those cities is Copan, in the State of Honduras. It is situated on a river of the same name, and extends along its banks for upwards of two miles. The principal structure is what has been termed the temple, an oblong enclosure with a front on the river of six hundred and twenty-four feet, built of cut stone, the wall being from sixty to ninety feet in height. But the most interesting features of the ruins are the statues of Indian deities or kings, which are very niunerous. These are executed in bold alto-relievo, on stone columns from eleven to fourteen feet in height, and covered on the back with fantastic hieroglyphics. In front of several of these idols were altars, probably intended for the purposes of sacrifice. One of tliese, made out of a solid block six feet square and four feet high, was ornamented on its side in a remarkable manner in bas-relief, with sixteen figures of men wearing turbans, and sitting cross legged, in Oriental style, while the top of the altar was covered with hieroglyphics. Of the workmanship of these monuments of Copan, Mr. Stephens, himself an Oriental traveller and entitled to speak with authority, declares that it is equal to the finest Egyptian sculpture, and that it would be impossible with the best instruments of modern times to cut stones more perfectly. Yet of the people who executed those great works or of their history we have no record, and tradition has preserved nothing which can aid us in discovering the origin or fate of the inhabitants of this deserted city. The ruins of Palenque are of a still more remarkable character, and consist of temples and palaces, elevated on c 34 HISTORY OF ACADIA. pyramids of earth faced with stone. The priucijDul build- ing is two hundred and twenty-eight feet long and one hundred and eighty feet Avide. The outside walls, which are about twenty-five feet in height and surmounted by a broad projecting cornice of stone, were, at the time of Mr. Stephens' visit, still in an excellent state of preservation, and many of the interior partition walls were entire. This building was of stone, with a mortar of lime and sand, the front covered with stucco and jJainted. Its walls are orna- mented with sculptures in bas-relief, representing human . figures, warriors exacting submission from suppliant enemies, and priests offering sacrifices. One of these sculptures represents a cross, and beside it are two men, who are probably priests, who appear to be engaged in some religious ceremony. All the sculptures are distinguished by a profusion of ornaments, especially in the head dresses of the figures represented. They are all well and firmly drawn, but the profiles of the faces are remarkable for the smallness of the facial angle and the prominence of the nose. Hieroglyphics, similar in character to those found at Copan, cover the walls of the palaces and temples. Everywhere the ruins give evidence of the artistic taste and skill of their former inhabitants. At Uxmal, in Yucatan, are the ruins of a city which differs entirely in many respects from Copan and Palenque. Although neither history nor tradition has preserved any record respecting its existence, its buildings are in a much better state of preservation than any of the other ruined cities of Central America. One enormous building, which was probably a palace, has a front three hundred and twenty feet in length, and, when visited by Stephens thirty- eight years ago, stood with its walls erect, almost as perfect as when deserted by its inhabitants. It stood on three ranges HISTORY OF ACADIA. 35 of terraces, the summit of the upper range being elevated thirty-five feet above tlie ground and the lower range being six hundred feet in length at the base. Stephens says of it : " If it stood at this day on its grand artificial terrace in Hyde Park or the Gardens of the Tuilleries, it would form a new order, I do not say equalling, but not unworthy to stand side by side with the remains of Egyptian, Grecian and Roman Art." In another place he says : " The roof was tight, the apartments were dry, and, to speak under- standingly, a few thousand dollars expended in repairs would have restored it and made it fit for the re-occupation of its royal owners." In one of the apartments the walls were coated with very fine plaster of Paris ; the walls of the other apartments were of smooth polished stone. There were several other buildings at Uxmal in a very perfect condition, one of them still larger than the building above described, and all of them distinguished by one remarkable feature. They were built of plain cut stone to the tops of the doors, above them there was a rich cornice and mould- ing, and from this to the top of the building the whole wall was covered with rich and elaborately sculptured ornaments, differing entirely in character from those of any of the other ruined cities that have been explored in modern times. Stephens says : " The designs were strange and incompre- hensible, very elaborate, sometimes grotesque, but often simple, tasteful and beautiful. Among the intelligible subjects are squares and diamonds, with busts of human beings, heads of leopards, and compositions of leaves and flowers, and the ornament known everywhere as ' greques.' The ornaments which succeed each other are all different; the whole form an extraordinary mass of richness and complexity, and the effect is both grand and curious." * * * "The reader will be able to conceive the 36 HISTORY OF ACADIA. immense time, skill and labor required for carving such a smrface of stone, and the wealth, power and cultivation of the people who could command such skill and labor for the mere decoration of their edifices. Probably all these ornaments have a symbolical meaning ; each stone is part of an allegory or fable hidden from us ; inscrutable under the light of the feeble torch we may burn before it, but which, if ever revealed, will show that the history of the world yet remains to be written." One singular circum- stance in connection with this deserted city is the fact that HO water is to be found near it, so that water must have been brought into it by artificial means. While the former existence of highly civilized commu- nities in America is thus attested, we have the additional evidence which is furnished by the statements of contempo- raneous Spanish writers as to the condition of Mexico and Peru at the time of the conquest. Here were two empires containing large and populous cities, Avitli buildings of lime and stone, painted and sculptured ornaments, idols, courts, strong walls, palaces and lofty temples. At Cholula are still to be seen the ruins of the largest pyramid in Mexico. It covers upwards of twenty-six acres of ground, or double that of the largest Egyptian pyramid, and it is one hundred and seventy-seven feet in height. It was constructed of alternate layers of clay and unburnt brick, divided into four separate stages or stories, and ranged exactly in the direction of the cardinal points. At the time of the Spanish conquest this pyramid was surmounted by a stately temple, and it was only one of many, for every city or populous village had its temple. Bernal Diaz, himself one of the conquerors of Mexico, speaks with enthusiasm of its scenery. Approaching the city, he says : " We could compare it to nothing but the enchanted scenes we had read HISTORY OP ACADIA. 37 of in Amadis de Gaul, from the great towers and temples and other edifices of lime and stone which seemed to rise up out of the water." And again he says: "At the great square we were astonished at the crowds of people and the regularity which prevailed, and the vast quantities of merchandize." He adds that the ascent to the great temple Avas by one hundred and fourteen steps, and that from its summit could be seen the temples of the adjacent cities, built in the form of towers and fortresses, all white- washed and wonderfully brilliant. The noise and bustle of the market-place could be heard almost a league off, and " those who had been at Rome and Constantinople said that for convenience, regularity and population, they had never seen the like." In addition to tlie knowledge of agricul- ture, which the Mexicans possessed, they had the art of working in metal, and their implements of bronze supplied, in a large measure, the want of iron. They had also a considerable knowledge of astronomy, and had a solar year more accurately calculated than that of the Greeks and Romans. It is unnecessary to describe the institutions of the Peruvians or their progress in the arts. They were in some respects a more advanced people than the Mexicans, and the ruins of their cities, temples and highways are wonderful monuments of the power and wealth of the Incas. The second class of ancient remains, such as are mani- festly the production of uncivilized races, has a very wide distribution over the whole continent. Such remains consist generally of axes, hatchets, pipes and arrow and spear heads of stone, exhibiting much mechanical skill, but little or no knowledge of art. They are uniform in their charac- ter throughout the whole of America, and resemble the im- plements belonging to M'hat has been termed the stone age, found in many parts of Europe. Some of them are found 38 HISTORY OF ACADIA. on the surface of the groutid, and some beneath it; but those that belong to a remote age do not appear to be either better or worse in point of workmanship than those of more modern date. They arc just such implements as were found in the hands of the savages of Acadia when they were first visited by Europeans. All along the Atlantic coast of America from Nova Scotia to Florida are shell heaps which mark the camping grounds of the Indians from time immemorial. Some of these shell heaps are upwards of three feet in thickness, cover more than an acre, and many of them are of very great antiquity, for when seen by the first settlers more than two centuries ago they were covered with a heavy growth of forest trees. Most of the shell heaps that have been examined yield implements of bone, such as arrow and spear heads and a variety of other articles of the same material of which the use can only be conjectured. The bones of fish and of various animals which formed the food of the Indians are also found in them, some of them being the bones of animals which are now extinct in the places where the shell heaps are. An examination of these remains of their savage feasts shows pretty clearly that the Indians were not very nice in their choice of food, and that while they relished moose, bear and beaver, they would eat anything from a dog to a rattlesnake, when hungry. Similar shell heaps exist in various parts of Europe, and those of Denmark which have been carefully examined are similar in their contents to those of America. The resemblance is strong enough to be suggestive of a common origin. The traditions of the uncivilized aborigines of America throw no considerable light upon their origin, but those of the more polished races are deserving of more attention.. The Peruvians trace the origin of their empire to a period HISTORY OF ACADIA. 39 four hundred years prior to the Spanish conquest, when, according to their traditions, Manco Capac and his consort appeared among them, and declared themselves to be the children of the Sun, sent by their beneficent parent to instruct them. Under their guidance they became skilled in agriculture and the arts, and from the scattered and barbarous tribes grew a populous and powerful empire; The Aztecs, if their traditions are to be credited, made their journey over from Asia by way of the Aleutian Islands about the eleventh century, and it is well estab- lished that they did not reach Mexico until 1 324. But they were not the first civilized inhabitants of that country. They founded the Mexican Empire on the ruins of that of the Toltecs, who were by far the most civilized and ingenious people in America of which any record has been preserved. They had been in Mexico for a thousand years prior to the arrival of the Aztecs, and the ruined cities of Central America are believed to have been built by them, ^'ew of the uncivilized Indians have any traditions as to their origin ; most of them, the Algonquins among the rest, point to the rising Sun as the direction from which their forefiithers came, but the Quiches alone have any definite account of their route. According to their traditions their ancestors came from the East, making a perilous journey through fields of ice and in protracted darkness. Some have inferred from this that they must have reached America by some Arctic route. Great stress has been laid on the fact of the general similarity which all the natives of America have to each other. It is not to be denied that all the tribes of North American Indians have many points of resemblance, but, that they are all entirely alike is not true. The prairie Indians differ greatly from the forest Indians. The 40 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. Indians of California and British Columbia have scarcely any resemblance to the eastern nations, and it is not diffi- cult to detect points of difference between tribes which are generally believed to be closely allied in their origin. Be that as it may, and without discussing the question of similarity, Avhich is at the best a very uncertain test of origin, tlie crania Avhich an examination of the Indian graves brings to light cvidentlj' belong to different races. In Peru alone an examination of the crania found proves conclusively that three distinct races dwelt there which have been classified as the Chincas, the Aymaraes, and the Huancas. The crania of the latter offer a very rare and characteristic formation, the head being flattened so that the facial angle is very small. It is possible that to some extent this peculiarity may have been caused by artificial pressure, as is the case with some tribes of Indians on the Pacific coast at the present day ; but it has nevertheless been proved that, however this peculiarity may have been exaggerated by art, it was a natural characteristic of the race. Humboldt thought that the origin of such a custom may be traced to the natural inclination of each race to look upon their own personal peculiarities as the standard of beauty. It has been already remarked that in all the sculptured figures of Mexico and Central America the facial angle is very small, for it was natural that a people with this peculiarity, and who regarded it as a standard of beauty, should represent this type of forehead in an exag- gerated form in the statues of their divinities and heroes. No more surprise therefore need be expressed at the extravagant forms of profile in the sculptures of Central America, than at those of the Greek statues of their divini- ties, which were equally untrue to nature, although in the opposite direction. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 41 This digression in regard to the general subject of American Archaeology will aid the general reader to under- stand the bearings of the question of the origin of the Indian races. In most works which profess to speak of the Aborigines, a cursory glance or a passing remark in regard to the antiquarian remains of America, is considered sufficient. It seems to be assumed that every reader has dived deeply into the subject of American Archeology, whereas to many it is entirely new. And the subject is a great one, and well worthy of attentive study. Many works have been written upon it to support particular theories, but as the facts to support the theories propounded have l)een generally selected after the theories were formed, such works are of little .value. It is better to give a general outline of the facts, as has been done here, and let every reader think over the subject for hunself. It must be admitted that it affords a tempting field for conjecture. It seems to be pretty evident that all the American natives can only be said to be of the same race, in the same manner that all men are said to be of the same descent from Adam. It would appear, too, that America has been inhabited from the remotest ages, and that for many centu- ries before its discovery, civilized communities and savage tribes dwelt side by side. That from time to time immi- grants have arrived from Asia by way of Behring's Straits, which are only thirty-six miles in width, or by the Aleutian Islands, which present an almost continuous chain of land from Asia to America. That while an indigenous civilization had grown up in some portions of America, adventurers or castaways from India, or from other portions of Southern Asia, brought to its shores some knowledge of the religion and of the arts of the ancient continent, and that the question — how America was first 42 HISTORY OF ACADIA. peopled — can only be solved by a reference to a condition of aifairs which has long ceased to exist, and is one of the problems which philosophy has as yet left undetermined in connection with the migrations of pre-historic man. The Red Indians of America, instead of being, as has been broadly contended, the broken and scattered remains of nations formerly civilized, appear rather to be a race of men who had attained the highest state of advancement which it was possible for a race of hunters to reach with such imple- ments as they possessed. Although savages in their mode of life, they Avere savages of the highest type, veritable Romans in spirit, eloquent, brave and honorable, with some of the highest qualities and virtues of civilization. Their contact with white men has not improved them in a moral point of view, although it has given them better weapons and more comfortable clothing. Even in the last respect their advance has not been so great as might be supposed. The axe of iron has indeed replaced that of stone ; the rifle has supplanted the bow and arrow ; but modern ingenuity has not been able to devise a better vessel for the uses to which it is applied than the bark canoe, a more effectual means of ranging the winter woods than the snow shoe, or a more comfortable covering for the feet than that most perfect of all shoes, the Indian moccasin. The Indians of North iVmerica inhabiting the region between the Mississippi, the Atlantic, and the country of the Esquimaux, were divided into eight great families, each speaking a language radically distinct from all the others. Of tliese, the Algonquins were by far the most numerous; they occupied nearly half of the territory east of the Mississippi, and extended from Labrador to North Carolina. It is to this family that the Indians of Acadia belong. When the French first visited Acadia they found HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 43 it divided between two tribes who differed considerably in language and in their mode of life. The whole of the Peninsula of Nova Scotia, and the Gulf shore of New Brunswick were occupied by the Souriquois, which was the tribe now known as the Micmacs, while the Etchemins occupied the territory from the River St. John to the Kennebec. The latter tribe are now known- as Malicites, and they call themselves Wabannakai, or men of the East. There is reason to believe that the Etchemins, or Malicites, did not originally occupy any portion of Acadia, but that they intruded themselves into the territorv of the Micmacs about the beginning of the seventeenth century, and gradually spread themselves along the Northern coast of the Bay of Fundy and up the River St. John, pressing the Micmacs back to the gulf and the peninsula of Nova Scotia. The Malicites were a very warlike people, much more so than the Micmacs, and they were generally in league with the Indians of Maine and Canada against the colonists of New England. Although the Indians, from their peculiar mode of warfare and their contempt for peaceful pursuits, were at all times dangerous enemies, there is reason to believe that their numbers have been greatly exaggerated. By the census of 1871, it appeared that there were in New Brunswick 1403 Indians, 1666 in Nova Scotia, and 323 in Prince Edward Island, or 3392 in all. Of these, 503, most of whom reside on the St. John River, may be set down as Malicites, so that the Micmacs of Acadia number nearly three thousand, which would represent a force of six hundred warriors. It is doubtful if their numbers were ever much greater. In 1607, when Membertou assembled all his Micmac warriors, from GaspS to Cape Sable, to make war upon Armouchi- quois at Saco, their whole number amounted only to four 44 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. hundred. In 1694, when the Malicites and Canibas, under Matakando, made their grand raid on Oyster River and the other settlements of New Hampshire, the whole number engaged in tlie expedition was only two hundred and fifty ; and two years later, when Fort Nashwaak was besieged by the English, thirty-six warriors was the whole number that the Indian settlement of Aukpaque could spare for the assistance of the garrison. It appears from a memorandum made in 1726 by Captain Gyles, who had resided many years with the Indians, that the number from sixteen y.ears of age and upwards on the River St. John, was one hundred ; and at Passamaquoddy, thirty. A letter written in 1763 by Governor Hopson to the Lords of Trade states that there were about three hundred families of Micmacs in the country ; but he could not find any person who had been among them who had ever seen two hundred Indians under arms together. From these statements it may be safely inferred that the whole force of the Micmacs and Malicites combined never exceeded seven or eight hundred warriors, and that no material decrease has taken place in their numbers since the first settlement of the country. Excellent reasons existed to prevent the Indians from ever becoming very numerous. An uncultivated country can only support a limited population. The hunter must draw his sustenance from a very wide range of territory, and the life of hardship and privation to which the Indian is exposed, is fatal to all but the strongest and most hardy. The Indians of Acadia were essentially a race of hunters and warriors. Like most Indian tribes, they despised agriculture, and considered it a pursuit only fit for women and slaves. Some of the northern Indians cultivated the ground to a small extent, and it is certain that the Indians of Acadia did so during the French occupation, but their HISTORY OF ACADIA. 45 operations in tillage were on a very limited scale ; and to this day our Indians are averse to the steady labor of the field. They had no domestic animals except the dog, and he was useful only in the chase. During the summer the Micmacs drew a large portion of their subsistence from the sea. Every bay and inlet swarmed with fish, and there they might always reap an unfailing harvest. The Malicites, although living inland, were not without their share of the same kind of food. Fish were abundant in every stream and river, and the salmon was pursued with torch and spear over the shallows by the savage denizens of the St. John. In this way from one to two hundred salmon would be sometimes taken at a time. The Indians also used hooks of bone or shells, and lines and nets made of a coarse kind of hemp. They had weirs, in which they at times captured great quantities of fish; but the torch and spear were their favorite implements of fishing. Notwithstanding the abundance of fish at certain seasons, the savages were at all times principally dependent on the forest for their food. Game is believed to have been much more abundant in Acadia in former times than it is now, and about the time when de la Tour and Charnisay were fight- ing with each other for the possession of the country, as many as three thousand moose skins were collected on the St. John River each year. Wild fowl of all kinds gath- ered in incredible numbers along the siiores, on the marsh lands and up the rivers. Charlevoix states that near St. John geese laid their eggs so abundantly that they alone might have sustained the whole population ; and the same, according to Lescarbot, was true with regard to the St. Croix. Denys speaks of immense flocks of wild pigeons passing his camp on the Miramichi, -every morning and 46 niSTOEY OF ACADIA. evening for eight days together ; and he adds, that it was hardly possible to sleejj for the noise made by the salmon going over the shoals, and the immense flocks of geese and ducks. At Bathurst, and all along the northern shore of New Brunswick, tlieir number was such as almost to exceed belief. The habitations of the Indians were generall}- huts or wigwams, made of poles and covered with bark ; but in some instances they erected dwellings of a more per- manent character, and surrounded them with palisades, so as to form a sort of fort. There were' several structures of this description on the St. John in early times : one at Aukpaque, another at Medoctec and a third at Madawaska. Denys speaks of a fortified dwelling which the chief of Richibucto had erected on the shore of the Gulf, and in which he describes him as receiving strangers, sitting on the ground, looking like an ape with a pipe in his mouth, and preserving his dignity by being very taciturn and getting drunk only in private. The Indians cooked their meat by bi'oiling it on live coals, or roasting it on a sort of spit in front of the fire. But soup was their favorite delicacy ; they boiled it in a capa- cious wooden cauldron made out of the butt of a large tree and hollowed out by fire. As such a vessel was not easily made, they frequently regulated their camping ground, in some measure, by the conveniences for establishing such a soup-kettle. The soup was boiled by dropping red hot stones into the cauldron, which, when cooled, were imme- diately replaced by others hot from the fire, until the meat was cooked. The soup thus made was their great drink, for Denys says " they drank as little water then as now ;" and he adds : " Thus they dined without care, or salt or HISTORY OF ACADIA. 47 pepper, and quaffing" deep draughts of good fat soup, lived long, and multiplied, and were happy." Yet, although at certain seasons they luxuriated in abundance of food, at times they were suTDJect to the great- est privations and on the verge of starvation. Then, no sort of food came amiss to them ; reptiles, dogs, and ani- mals of all sorts, were eagerly sought after and greedily devoured ; roots* of various kinds were in great demand, and, sometimes, they were forced to boil even the bones of their former feasts to appease tlieir hunger. , Wild grapes, also, it appears, formed a portion of the food of the St. John Indians.! This frequent scarcity of food was in part owing to the uncertainty of the chase, but chiefly to the improvident habits of the Indians, who, when they had abundance of food, gorged themselves with it, and never thought of looking for more until it was all gone. This again was the result of another custom, which required all the food obtained, either by hunting or otherwise, to be equally divided ; so that, as the active and indolent shared alike, all incentive to industry was taken away, and no large accumulation of food ever became possible. The St. John Indians were, perhaps, less open to this reflection than most others, and with them there were at times some attempts made to preserve food for future use. They pre- served their meat by taking the flesh from the bones and *Mrs. Kowlandson, who was captured during King Philip's war, says: "Their chief and commonest food was ground nuts. They eat also nuts and acorns, arti- chokes and lily roots and ground beans. . They would pick up old bones and cut them in pieces at the joints, scald them over the fire to make the vermin come out, boil them, and then drink the liquor." t See narrative of John Gyles' captivity. He was taken by the Indians when the Fort at Pemaquid was captured in 1G89, and was a captive on the St. John River nine years — six with the Indians at Medoctec, and three with Louis d'Amours, Sieur de Chauffours at Jemseg. The latter treated him very kindly, and finally gave him his liberty. His narrative, which is the most valuble contribution extant relative to the customs of the Acadian Indians, was published in Drake's Tragedies of the Wilderness, and also with Historical Notes by the author of this History. 48 HISTORY OF ACADIA. drying it in smoke, by which means it was kept sound for months, or even years, without salt. They had a curious Avay of drying corn Avhen in the milk : they boiled it on the ear in large kettles until it became pretty hard ; it was then shelled from the cob with sharp clam shells and dried on bark in the sun. When thoroughly dry the kernels shrivelled to the dimensions of a small pea, and would keep for years. When boiled again they swelled as large as when on the ear, and were said by Gyles to be " incompa- rably sweeter than any other corn." An Indian feast, as made by the savages of Acadia two centuries ago, was quite different from anything to be seen at the present day. The ingredients were iish, flesh, or Indian corn and beans boiled together. Sometimes, when pounded corn was plenty, hasty pudding or porridge was made of it. An Indian boiled a sufficient number of kettles full of food, and sent a messenger to each wigwam door, who exclaimed : " Kah menscoorebah," which means "I come to conduct you to a feast." The invited guest then would demand whether he must take a spoon or a knife in his dish, which was a polite way of iinding out what the bill of fare was to be. When the guests were met at the wigwam of the host, two or three young men were appointed to deal out the food, which was done with the utmost exactness in proportion to the number of each man's family at home. When the guests were done eating, one of the young men stood without the wigwam door, and called out : " Mensecommock," which means " Come and fetch." This was the signal for the squaws to go to their hus- bands, and each squaw took the dish, with what her husband had left, which she carried home and ate with her children. Neither married women nor youths under twenty were allowed to be present, but old widow squaws and HISTORY OF ACADIA. 49 captive men were allowed to sit by the wigwam door. The Indian men continued in the wigwam, relating their warlike and hunting exploits, or telling comical stories. The seniors gave maxims of prudence and grave counsel to the young men, which were always listened to with a degree of respect and attention not always found in assemblies of white men. Each spoke according to his fancy, but rules of order were observed — there was no coughing down of speakers, as in modern Houses of Parliament — and but one spoke at a time. When every man had told his story, one would rise up and sing a feast song, after which others followed alternately, until the company broke up. The taciturn and silent character of the Indians has been so much spoken of as to have become almost proverbial, but it seems to be much less a natural quality with them than is generally supposed. They are decidedly fond of speech-making, and equally fond of telling stories of the prowess either of their ancestors or of themselves. The causes of their taciturnity will be easily understood when it it is remembered how limited is the range of subjects on which they are able to converse. Their hunting or warlike exploits, and a few traditions, are almost the only matters on which they can speak. Unlike civilized men, they know nothing of the news of the world, the teachings of history or philosophy, or the politics and business of life. Their education and pursuits entirely unfit them for the discussion of a thousand questions with which civilized men are familiar, and hence they are silent for lack of having anything to say. But it is as warriors that the Indians have attracted the greatest amount of attention and won the most fame. With the Indians, war was the object that they regarded as most worthy of their efforts, and to be a great warrior was their D 50 HISTORY OF ACADIA. highest ambition. They taught their children that valor, fortitude and skill in war, -vvere the noblest accomplish- ments of a man, in which respect they resembled the people of Sparta; but, unlike them, they did not consider that to attain them it was necessary to sacrifice decency, honesty and truth. In these respects the uncivilized and untaught savages were superior to the polished Greeks. Their false- hood never passed into a proverb. They were distinguished for their honesty. They were still more distinguished for their chastity. There is no instance on record of any insult being otfered to a female captive by any of the Eastern Indians, however cruelly she might otherwise have been treated. It would be pleasant to learn the name of any civilized people of which the same could be said. When we read the tales of Indian atrocities in war, of the murder of infants and mothers, of stealthy- midnight marches and barbarous assassinations, we are struck with horror and indignation at the recital. These are proper and natural feelings which do honor to the sensibilities of mankind. But on turning to the other side of the picture, and reading the bald and often distorted statements which have been recorded of the treatment of Indians by white men, who have themselves been the narrators of their own deeds, our views become greatly modified. In the- course of this work, many tales of Indian cruelty and revenge will be told, and others not less harrowing, of atrocities committed by Englishmen and New Englanders on both the French and the Indians. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth, in 1620, they were visited by Massasoit, the great Sachem or King of the tribes in the vicinity, and a treaty of amity was arranged between his people and the Colonists. During the thirty years following, Massasoit ever remained their constant friend. When he died, his HISTORY OF ACADIA. 51 son, Alexander, renewed the old treaties of friendship with the New Englanders, and all went on harmoniously until the people of Plymouth, on the pretext that he entertained designs unfriendly to them, caused him to be ignominiously arrested, and threatened with instant death if he did not immediately appear before their council. The insult threw him into a burning fever, and two days afterwards he died, probably from natural causes, but the Indians firmly believed that the white men had poisoned him. King Philip, his brother and successor, with a soul rankling with hatred, resolved to avenge the wrong. The great Indian war of 1675 was the result, and few civilized wars have been undertaken for a better cause. Unfortunately for the Indians, their enemies have been their only historians- the records of their cruelties remain, but the wrongs which provoked them are either untold, or are ignored and forgotten. The warlike weapons of the Indians before the white men visited them consisted of bows and arrows, the latter tipped with stone or bone, and battle-axes or tomahawks of stone. The scalping knife was made of a sharpened bone, or the edge of a broken silex ; the knife now used is a later invention, which the manufacturers of Birmingham or Sheffield were kind enough to supply their red brethren for a consideration, in unlimited numbers, to be used on the scalps of their white brethren in America. The introduc- tion of fire-arms quickly supplanted the bow and arrow, and the tomahawk of later times was made of iron and steel. Before they became demoralized by contact with civilization, the Indians, previous to going to war, were in the habit of informing their enemies of the fact by sending some symbol to put them on their guard. When, in 1622, Canonicus proposed to go to war with the Plymouth colony, 52 HISTORY OF ACADIA. he sent his defiance in the shape of a bundle of arrows tied up in the skin of a rattlesnake. Later, it is to be feared, that the sending of a declaration of war was some- times forgotten. Before starting, they always had a feast of dog's flesh, which they believed made them courageous, and a war-dance, at which the older warriors excited and stimulated the others to engage in the proposed enterprise by dancing in a sort of frenzy to the music of a drum, and by the recital of their former deeds in war. Everything being ready, the expedition started. While in friendly ter- ritory they divided into small parties for the convenience of hunting ; but when they reached the enemy's frontier they went in close array, and in silence. To conceal their numbers, sometimes they marched in single file, each one in the track of his predecessor. Every device that their in- genious minds could suggest was employed to outwit and surprise the enemy. They enticed them into ambuscades, or waylaid and scalped them while passing in fancied security.* If no straggling parties of the enemy were met with, they sought one of his principal villages, which they attacked under cover of the darkness ; a general massacre ensued, and those who were so unfortunate as to be taken alive were carried back with them to die by lingering tor- ments. It sometimes happened that captives were not thus treated, but were adopted into the tribe and made to supply the place of some dead warrior. Their fate was deter- mined by a council, and in any case, whether they were to be tortured to death or adopted as brothers, they were * A remarkable instance of Indian strategy was a trick played by the Catawbas on the Caugnawagas early in the last century. They crept near the hunting camps of the latter, and lay in ambush, and, in order to decoy the Caugnawagas out, sent two or three Catawbas in the night past their camp with buffalo hoofs fixed on their feet. In the morning the Caugnawagas followed the track, fell into the snare, and many were killed. HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 53 required to pass through the ordeal. This, with the Iroquois, consisted in the captive running between a double file of the warriors and being beaten by each as he passed. The Acadian Indians had a diiFerent system of torture; the captive was held up in the arms of four Indians, and then allowed to drop on his back on the ground, and in this way tortured until the circuit of the large wigwam, some thirty or forty feet long, was completed. Sometimes he was beaten with whips, or shaken head downwards. The squaws always took a great interest in these proceed- ings, and were more cruel than the men. They seemed to regard the torturing of prisoners as their share in the glory of a victory over the enemy. When a captive was con- demned to death, he was mutilated with knives, tortured in every conceivable way, and burnt at the stake ; but if adopted by the tribe, no distinction was ever made between him and the rest. He became, to all intents and purposes, one of themselves, and shared equally with them, as well in the pleasures and abundance, as in the misfortunes and privations of the tribe. When a young Indian considered his acquirements and worldly possessions would admit of it, he generally began to look for a wife. If he possessed a canoe, gun and am- munition, spear, hatchet, a moonodah, or pouch, looking- glass, paint, pipe, tobacco, and dice bowl, he was looked upon as a man of wealth, and very eligible for a husband. A squaw who could make pouches, birch dishes, snow- shoes, moccasins, string wampum beads, and boil the kettle, was considered a highly accomplished lady. The courtship was extremely simple and short. The lover, after advising with his relations as to the girl he should choose, went to the wigwam where she was, and if he liked her looks, tossed a chip or stick into her lap, which she 54 HISTORY OF ACADIA. would take, and, after looking at it with well-feigned wonder, if she liked her lover's looks, would toss it back to him with a sweet smile. That was the signal that he was accepted. 'But if she desired to reject him, she thsew the chip aside with a frown. The marriage ceremony- varied greatly with different tribes, and with most there was no ceremony at all. It is not known that any special marriage ceremony existed among the Indians of Acadia. The religious views of the Indians of Acadia were of the most vague and indefinite character. Champlain de- clares that tliey had no more religion than the beasts they hunted. But it is certain that they believed in a future state of existence, and that they were in the habit of mak- ing offerings to departed or unseen spirits. Their system of theology was a structure founded on superstition, for the Indians were the most superstitious of men. They placed implicit faith in the incantation of jugglers ; they believed in invisible spirits, some good and some bad, who dwelt in the winds and in the water. But as courage in war and skill in the chase were their standards of virtue, their reli- gious views had little influence on their moral conduct. Their paradise was merely a place of sensual enjoyment, where hunger and fatigue were unknown. There was nothing ennobling or exalted in their system of theology — nothing which appealed to the higher nature of man.* *To illustrate the views which they entertained in regard to objects of devotion, I may mention a circumstance related by Denys. At the time La Tour had his fort at St. John a singular tree, about the thickness of a barrel, "was from time to time visible in the Falls : it floated upright, and sometimes was not seen for several days. This was considered a proper object of worship by the Indians. They called it Manitou, and made ofterings of beaver skins to it, which they fixed on it by means of arrow heads. Denys states that he has seen it, and that La Tour allowed ten of his men to try to drag it out by means of a rope which they attached to it, but were ■ unable to move it. No doubt the ingenious La Tour had anchored the tree there himself, and history is silent in regard to who gathered the beaver skins from the Manitou. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 55 Their funeral ceremoniea were of a touching character. "When the head of a family died there Avas great weeping and sorrowing for three or four days. The faces of the friends were besmeared with soot, which was the common symbol of grief. At the proper time a funeral oration was pronounced, in which the genealogy of the deceased was recited, and the great and good actions of his life, his dinners and feasts, his adventures in war and in the chase recounted. On the third day a feast was held as a recogni- tion of the great satisfaction which the deceased was supposed to feel at rejoining his ancestors. After this the women made a garment, or winding sheet, of birch bark, in w^iich he was wrapped and put away on a sort of scaffold for twelve months to dry. At the end of that time the body was buried in a grave, in which the relatives at the same time threw bows?, arrows, snow-shoes, darts, robes, axes, pots, moccasins and skins. Denys states that he has seen furs to the value of a thousand francs thrown in, which no man dared to touch. Once he^ had a grave on the Gulf shore opened, and he showed the savages that the skins were rotten, and the copper pot all covered with verdigris. They only remarked that the pot was dead too, and that its soul had gone with the soul of their friend, who was now iising it as before. Lescarbot gives an account of the funeral obsequies of Pennoniac, a Micmac chief, who was killed by the Armou- chiquois in 1607. He was first brought back to St. Croix, where the savages wept over his body and embalmed it. They then took it to Port Eoyal, where, for eight days, they howled lustily over his remains. Then they went to his hut and burnt it up with its contents, dogs included, to prevent any quarrelling among his relatives as to the pro- perty. The body was left in the custody of the parents until Spring, when he was bewailed again, and finally laid in a 56 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. new grave near Cape Sable, along with many pipes, knives, axes, otter skins and pots. Before setting forth on any expedition the Indians would hold a pow-wow, at which certain secret ceremonies were performed for the purpose of discovering whether they would meet with success or failure. They had a respect for the devil, which was quite natural, considering the character of some of their actions ; and the fear of ghosts, goblins, and evil spirits, was continually before their eyes. Perhaps their solitary wanderings through the forest were a means of instilling into their minds the extreme dread of the supernatural which infected them. They were in the habit of making sacrifices when in difficulty or danger to ihe spirit or demon which they desired to propitiate. A dog was regarded as the most valuable sacrifice, and if, in crossing a lake, their canoe was in danger of being over- whelmed by the winds and waves a dog was thrown overboard, with its fore paws tied together, to satisfy the hunger of the angry Manitou. They were continually on the watch for omens, and easily deterred from any enter- prise by a sign which they regarded as unfavorable. A hunter M-ould turn back from the most promising expedition at the cry of some wild animal which he thought was an omen of failure in the chase. The same superstitions prevail among them to the present day.* * A good story, in illustration of Indian superstition, is told by Mr. E. Jack, of Fredericton. He was on u surveying journey, and had encamped near Mount Porcupine, in Charlotte County. One of his men, named Smith, had ascended the mountain to look for pine, and on his return told Saugus, an Indian, who was with the party, that he saw an old man on the mountain, twelve feet high, with one eye, who called to him, " Where is Saugus? I want to eat him." Poor Saugus was much terrified at the intelligence. During the night an owl commenced to hoot over the camp, and filled Saugus with such consternation that he woke up Mr. Jack to say that " Smith's old man'' was coming. Next morning, Mr. Jack offered Saugus two dollars to go up to the mountain for a knife which Smith had left stick- ing in a spruce tree, but Saugus was not to be tempted by the bribe to take such a dangerous journey. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 57 The Indians, from their simple mode of life and abund- ant exercise, were not exposed to many diseases which are known to civilized men. But some of their maladies were extremely fatal. Their uncertain means of subsistence, sometimes exposed to starvation, and at other times indulg- ing in great excesses, imdermined their constitutions and' sowed the seeds of disease. Consumption, pleurisy, asthma and pari/lysis, the result of the fatigue and hardships of the chase, also carried off great numbers of them ; and at times, epidemics of an unknown and mysterious nature swept them away by thousands. For three or four years previous to the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers, a deadly pestilence raged along the seaboard from Penobscot to Narraganset Bay. Some tribes were nearly destroyed. The Massachu- setts were reduced from three thousand to three hundred fighting men ; and many districts which had been popu- lous, were left without a single inhabitant. What the disease was which then swept over the land can, of course, never be ascertained. In 1694 another terrible visitation of the same nature swept over Maine and Acadia. At Pentagoet great numbers died of it, and it carried off the Chief of the River Saint John and vast numbers of others. At Medoctec alone, over a hundred persons died, and so great was the terror caused by the plague that the Indians deserted that village entirely and did not settle there again for many years. The symptoms, as described by Gyles, who was an eye witness, were — that a person seemingly in perfect health would commence bleeding at the mouth and nose, turn blue in spots, and die in two or three hours.* Strange to say, the disease was at its worst during the *The symptoms of the plague which prevails in Egypt are somewhat similar. The most fatal symptom is violent bleeding at the nose, and those thus taken are never known to recover. — Bccher^s Albert N' Yansa, p. 333. 58 HISTORY OF ACADIA. winter. No such plague appears to have visited Acadia since that time; yet, unlike all other races, the Indians rather diminish than increase in numbers. Nor is it diffi- cult to ascertain the cause. All over America, whether the white man is a friend or an enemy, the red man fades before him. Peace is not less fatal than war to the savage : in the latter, he is shot down with an unsparing hand ; in the former, he is demoralized and degraded by Vicious customs : exposed to temptations he has no power to resist, which enervate his frame and end in misery and death. Every tree which is felled in the forest reduces the area of the hunting grounds which he inherited from his fathers, and on which his existence depends. Every mill which attests the energy and industry of his white brother is an additional omen of his extincition. Every day he sees the girdle of fields and meadows narrowing the circle of his hopes. Driven back, mile by mile, whither shall he at last retire ? He is a stranger and an alien in his own land — an outcast, robbed of his birthright sby a stronger race. He and his tribe are but a feeble few, and their efforts avail nothing against the ceaseless advance of the pale faced race, who come welded together into a resistless phalanx by the iron hand of civilization. CHAPTEE III. champlain's discoveries, and the island of saint ceoix. Towards the cloge of the sixteenth century France had attained a degree of internal tranquillity which gave the nation some leisure for the pursuit of pacific enterprises. Henry IV. was on the throne, and that large-minded and truly great King Avas doing his utmost to increase the pros- perity of his country by the husbanding of its resources, the improvement of agriculture, and the extension of com- merce. Guided by his strong and vigorous hand, the nation rapidly recovered from the effects of its former misfortunes > trade flourished, wealth increased, and luxury followed in their train. It was at this period that those enterprises for the colonization of North America — which had been aban- doned under the pressure of civil commotion — began to be renewed. Indeed it was necessary for France to be on the alert, for English adventurers were scouring every sea, and the work of planting English colonies was being carried on with vigor under royal auspices. The time had come for the commencement of the great contest between the rival nations for the rich Empire of the west. Yet it would be extremely absurd to suppose that either the English or French colonizers of America had any conception of the grand destiny of the States whose foundations they helped to lay. Extensive colonial empires were things which had not in Europe at that day been recognized as practicable. It was rather to gather the abundance of the land, than to found empires on its soil, that brought Europeans to Ame- 60 HISTORY OF ACADIA. rica, and those who were prepared to make themselves permanent homes in the new world were chiefly men who expatriated themselves in consequence of civil or religious persecution, or because of loss of fortune. The first essay of France towards colonizing North Ame- rica gave little promise of success. In 1599 Pontgrav§, a rich merchant of St. Malo, conceived the plan of obtaining possession of a monopoly of the fur trade on the coast, and fitted out a small bark for a voyage up the St. Lawrence. He induced Chauvin,* a captain in the French navy, who had served in the late wars, and had influential friends at Court, to enter into his schemes, and obtained from the King a patent with the same powers which had formerly been granted to De la Roche. Chauvin set sail for America, and reached Tadoussac, where he attempted to establish a trading post. But his men came near dying of hunger during the winter, and but for the savages, who took com- passion on their sufferings and supplied them with food, all must have perished. Chauvin abandoned Tadoussac in the Spring, but afterwards made another voyage to that placcj in which he was accompanied by Pontgrav^ and other gentlemen. In 1602, while preparing for a third expedi- tion, he suddenly died. After the death of Chauvin, Eymard de Chaste, Cheva- lier of Malta, Commander of Lormetan, Grand Master of the Order of St. Lazarus, and Governor of Dieppe, obtained the same commission which Chauvin had held. To provide for the expense of another expedition, an asso- ciation was formed consisting of many gentlemen and the principal merchants of Eouen, and others. Pontgravfi was chosen to conduct the vessels to Tadoussac, and Samuel * Chauvin was a native of Normandy, and a Huguenot. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 61 Champlain, a captain of approved intelligence and courage, went with him. They set sail in 1603, and ascended the St. Lawrence as far as the Sault St. Louis. It appears that at this period Hochelaga, which had been the residence of the powerful Hurons in Cartier's time, had fallen into such decay that they did not even visit it. Champlain discov- ered, however, that Montreal was an island, and drew a chart of the river, which was presented to the king on his return. In the meantime De Chaste had died. His zeal in the cause of coloni;^ation, and his powerful influence, made his loss a severe blow to the adventurers; but the mantle which had fallen from his shoulders was destined to grace another equally worthy, and the schemes of coloniza- tion, which he had meditated, to be pursued to a successful termination. Among the persons who had accompanied Chauvin and Pontgrav6 to Canada, was a gentleman of the bed-chamber of King Henry IV., named De Monts, a much attached follower of the monarch, and one w^o had done him good service in the wars. He had been struck with the advan- tages which might be derived from a vigorous prosecution of the fur tradie, and still more by the fitness of New France for a Eoyal Colony. Although Tadoussac had a favorable position as a dep6t for the trade, he discerned in Acadia, with its milder climate and more fertile soil, a more suitable place for a colony of farmers, and, with the bold grasp of a man who felt himself equal to the task of establishing the power of his country in America, he re- solved to combine both schemes in one, and to make the peltry trade and the colony mutually assist and support each other. That he was a person in every way fitted to accomplish the object which he proposed, has been admitted by the united voice of contemporary writers. He was 62 HISTORY OF ACADIA. distinguished for his great talents and wide experience. To the accomplishments of a soldier, he added the tact of a statesman. He was ever zealous for the glory of his country, and upright in his views. He was also, what was equally necessary for the founder of a colony, incorruptibly honest and firm in his resolves. That he was a Protestant perhaps detracted something from his influence as the founder of a Catholic colony; but that fact has been so far useful to his reputation by making his just dealing and integrity under trying circumstances the more conspicuous. That he did not succeed in all his undertakings, must be attributed partly to the fact that he was often badly served, partly to inexperience, the result of want of knowledge of the cpuntry, and partly to fortune. Nothing can rob him of the honor of being the founder of the first permanent settlement in the Canadian Dominion, and his name will go down to posterity with that distinction attached to it as long as its people take an interest in their country's early history. He obtained from the King, on the 8th Novem- ber, 1603, a patent constituting him Lieutenant General of the Territory of Acadia, between the 40th and 46th degrees of latitude, with power to take and divide the land, to create offices of war, justice and policy; to prescribe laws and ordinances; to make war and peace; to build forts and towns, and establish garrisons. He was also directed to convert the savages to the Christian religion ; and in fine, to use the words of the commission, "to do generally whatsoever may make for the conquest, peopling, inhabit- ing and preservation of the said land of Acadie." The association formed by his predecessor, De Chaste, being still in existence, De Monts induced many wealthy merchants of Rochelle and other places to join it, and on December 8th, 1603, obtained from the King letters patent granting HISTORY OP ACADIA. 63 to him and his associates the exclusive right to trade with the savages in furs and other articles between Cape de Eaze* and the 40th degree of latitude, for ten years. Four ships were then made ready for a voyage to his new gov- ernment, and many gentlemen, induced by curiosity to see the new world, or moved by a desire to make it their home, came forward and volunteered to accompany him. The most distinguished of these was a gentleman of Picar- die, named Jean de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, who wished to remove with his family to Acadia. He was highly esteemed by the King as a brave soldier, and proved a most valuable addition to the colony. Champlain was the person chosen to conduct the vessels to Acadia, and he gladly consented to perform the service. This illustrious man, who has left his name for ever insep- arably connected with the history of Canada, had even then earned a good title to be called an experienced voyager. He was remarkable, not only for his good sense, strong penetration and upright views, but for his activity, daring, firmness, enterprise, and valor. He had a natural gaiety of spirit, which made him at all times a cheerful companion, and no one understood better than he how to make the irksome tediousjiess of a long residence on shipboard endurable for those under his command. His zeal for the interest of his country was ardent and disinterested ; his heart was tender and compassionate, and he was thoroughly unselfish. He was a faithful historian, intelligent and ob- servant as an explorer, and an experienced seaman. But, * Cape de Eaze, no doubt, means Cape Eace. It is so marked on the old maps. This grant seems never to have been seen by Charlevoix, for he describes it as extending from the 40th to the 54th degree. The words are, " Depuis le Cap de Eaze jusqu'au quarantieme degre comprevant toute la cote de I'Acadie, terre et Cap Breton, bale de Saint [illegible], de Chaleur, isles percees Gaspay, Ohichedec, Mesamichi, Lesquemin, Tadoussac et la riviere de Canada, tant d'un cote que d'autre et toutes les bales et rivieres qui entrant au dedans desdites costes." 64 HISTORY OF ACADIA. perhaps, the strongest and noblest feature of his character was his untiring zeal for the propagation of the Christian religion among the savages. To accomplish this end, he was ready to encounter difficulties, dangers, and death. No Jesuit father was ever imbued with a more resolute missionary spirit. It was a common saying of his, " that the salvation of one soul was of more value than the con- quest of an empire," and " that kings ought not to think of extending their authority over idolatrous nations, except for the purpose of subjecting them to Jesus Christ." For thirty years, often with slender resources, but always with untiring energy, he toiled to extend the possessions of his country in America, and to convert the savages; and it has been truly said that " when he died, Canada lost her best friend." Of the four vessels which De Monts and his associates had provided, one was ordered to Tadoussac,- to prosecute the fur trade. Another, under Pontgrav6, whose zeal in voyages to the new world nothing could tame, was sent to Canso, to scour the straits between Cape Breton and the island of St. John, for the purpose of driving those away who might venture to interfere with the fur trade. The other two vessels, under the immediate command of De Monts himself, formed the main expedition, and were for the purpose of conveying the colony which was destined to carry the arts of civilization to the shores of Acadia. The colonists numbered about one huiidred and twenty- persons, consisting of artizans, agriculturists, priests. Huguenot ministers, and gentlemen. They were of both religions — Catholic as well as Protestant — but the former were the more numerous. Champlain believed that in this mixture of religions there would be a source of diffi- culties for the colony, but none of a serious nature arose from this cause. Everything that the ingenuity of that HISTORY OF ACADIA. 65 day could suggest was done to ensure success. Tools of all kinds were provided in abundance, building materials were also taken, and arms and ammunition were supplied in sufficient quantities for any possible contingency. The only thing wanting was knowledge of the difficulties fronT climate and other causes, against which they would require to provide, but that knowledge was only to be gained in the rude school of experience. De Monts set sail from Havre de Grace on the 7th March, 1604, leaving his consort, commanded by Captain Morrel, which contained most of the implements and provisions for the winter, to follow him. The vessels were to meet at Canso, but De Monts made a bad land-fall, was driven too far to the south, and in a month from the day of his departure, found himself off Cape la Have. In the first harbor he entered he found a vessel engaged in trading in violation of his monopoly. This vessel he seized and confiscated, but he perpetuated the name of his victim by calling the harbor where the seizure was made Port Rossignol, after the master of the vessel. Passing to the westward he entered a harbor which he named Port Mouton, to preserve the memory of another victim, an unfortunate sheep which fell from the vessel and was drowned. By this time they had grown weary of life on board a ship, and De Monts landed his company and sent exploring parties east and west, to see if a suitable place for a settlement could be found. In the meantime he had become anxious at the delay in the arrival of his consort, which had not yet appeared. Finally she was discovered near Canso, and her stores brought from her by the aid oi the Indians, with whom he was on excellent terms, and whose families he in the interval fed. Morrel then, 66 HISTORY OF ACADIA. having received his instructions, proceeded with his vessel to Tadoussac. The exploring parties sent out by De Monts having found no suitable place foi" the colony, they again embarked and sailed to the south-west. Following the coast as closely as they could with safety, they passed on, and, rounding Cape Sable, entered the Bay of Fundy. This De Monts named le grand Bale Franpoise, a name which it retained until the English got possession of the country. They next entered St. Mary's Bay, to which De Monts gave the name it still bears, and finding the country pleasant, anchored and sent out exploring parties. There was on board the ship a priest from Paris, named Aubrey, a man of good family, who being an active, intelligent person, and a naturalist of some ability, was in the habit of landing with the exploring parties to examine the productions of the country. While at St. Mary's Bay, he went out as usual with one of the parties, but his companions were dismayed on their return to the vessel to discover that he was still absent. Guns were fired from the vessel to guide him in case he had lost his way, but night came and passed without any sign of his return. For four days the woods were searched in all directions without finding any traces of the wanderer, until hope died, and it was the opinion of all that he was no longer living. Then indeed a horrible suspicion of foul play disturbed, for the first and last time, the harmony of the two religious parties which composed the colony. One of those who had been with him was a Protestant. He and the lost Aubrey had been heard to dispute on religious matters, high words had passed between them, and zealous friends of the missing man searched their memories to recall some word or look of his rival in the controversy, which could be strained into evidence of HISTORY OP ACADIA. 67 revenge and assassination. To the honor of that company, be it said, that though cruelly suspected, no violence was done him, but it was with bitter hearts they sailed out of the Bay of St. Mary. But this gloom was soon dispelled. Scarce a score of miles from the scene of their mournful adventure, they entered a narrow channel, between two lofty hills, and found themselves sailing in a spacious basin some leagues in extent. All around them were vast woods, covering elevations wjiich gradually grew to be mountains as they receded from the sea. Little rivers added their contribu- tion of waters to the great basin, and the wide meadows beyond seemed like a sea bearing a forest on its breast. This noble harbor filled Champlain with admiration, and struck by its spaciousness and security, he gave it the name of Port Eoyal. He found that a large river flowed into the basin from the eastward, and was divided at its en- trance by an island, within which a vessel might anchor in deep water. Champlain ascended it as far as his boats could go, which was fourteen or fifteen leagues, and he gave it the name of Eiver de I'Esquille,* from a fish of * Champlain describes the river thus: — •'! named it Port Eoyal, to which de- scends three streams, one sufficiently large, drawing from the east, called the river ot the Eaquille, which is a little fish the length of a span, which they catch in quantities, also plenty of herring, and many other sorts of fish, which are abundant in their season. This river is almost a quarter of a league wide at its entrance, wherein there is an island which is about half a league in circuit, filled with wood like the rest of the land, as pines, firs, vines, birches, aspens, and some oaks, which are, with the other trees, in small numbers. There are two entrances to the said river, one to the north and the other to the south of the island. That to the north is the best, where vessels may lie at anchor sheltered by the island in 5, 6, 7, 8 and ' 9 fathoms of water, but must take care of some shoals which are joined to the island and the main land, very dangerous if you do not observe the channel. I went 14 or 15 leagues to where the tide flows and could not go further into the interior on account of the navigation. In this place it is 60 paces in width, and has a, fathom and a half of water. * * Within the harbor is another island, distant from the first about two leagues, where there is another small river which goes some distance inland, which I named the river St. Anthony. Its entrance is distant from the head of St. Mary's Bay about four leagues by traversing through the vrooAs."— (Complain, Vol. I, pp. 70, 71, 72. 68 HISTORY OF ACADIA. that name, -with which it abounded. To another river, lower down the basin, he gave the name of St. Anthony. When they landed they found that the fertility of the soil and the variety of its natural productions did not deceive their expectations. The woods were composed of oaks, ash, birches, pines and firs; the basin swarmed with fish, and the meadows were luxuriant with grass. They visited a point of land near the junction of the main river which flowed into the basin and a smaller tributary which entered it from the south, a place long destined to be,memorable as the seat of French power in Acadia.* Poutrincourt was so charmed with the beauty of Port Royal and its sur- roundings that he resolved to make it his home, and requested a grant of it from De Monts, which he received, coupled with the condition that during the ensuing ten years he should bring out to it from France a sufficient number of other families to inhabit and cultivate the place. In 1607 this grant was confirmed by the King. Leaving behind them the beautiful basin of Port Royal, they again set sail in quest of further discoveries and followed the coast towards the east. Champlain's simple and truthful narrative of the voyage makes it possible to follow his track almost with the accuracy of an actual observer of his movements. They came in sight of Cape Chigneoto, which Champlain named the Cape of two Bays, because it was the western extremity of the land which divides Chignecto Bay from the Basin of Mines. They observed the lofty island which lies off from the Cape, and to this, in consequence of its elevation, the name of Isle Haut was given. They landed on its solitary shore, seldom even at the present day profaned by the presence of man, and climbed to its summit. There they found a spring of * This was afterwards the site of the town of Port Royal. HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 69 delightful water, and in another place indications of copper. From this island they went to Advocate Harbor, a natural haven, but dry at low water, and one which seems to have struck Champlain's fancy much, for he has left sailing directions for entering it. At the cliff beyond it, which is now named Cape d'Or, they found anothet copper mine, which has been often explored since but never worked with success. They then sailed eastward as far as Partridge Island, Parrsboro, observed the remarkable rise and fall of the tides, and discovered the river by which the Indians reached the Basin of Mines from Tracadie, Miramichi, and other parts of the Gulf of St. La^vrence.* At Partridge Island Champdore discovered some rude amethysts; one large cluster was divided between De Monts and Poutrin- court, who afterwards set the stones in gold and gave them to the King and Queen. Champlain, notwithstanding the richness of the land in minerals, was discouraged by the forbidding aspect of its rock-bound shore, and he has recorded in his book his unfavorable opinion of its soil. The voyagers then crossed the Bay of Chignecto, and arrived at Quaco, where they landed and found indications of iron, and passing to the westward reached a fine bay which contained three islands and a rock, two bearing a league to the west, and the other at the mouth of a river, the largest and deepest they had yet seen. This Champlain named the Eiver St. John, because they arrived there on the day of St. John the Baptist. By the Indians it was called the Ouygoudy.f It has been generally stated by those who have written on the subject, and accepted as true, that Champlain on this occasion ascended and explored *TMs stream is now called Partridge Island River ; from it, by a short portage, the Indians passed to the river Hebert, which flows into Cumberland Bay. t Wigoudi would probably better express the Indian pronunciation of the name of this river. It means a highway. 70 HISTORY OF ACADIA. the St. John River, but it is quite clear that he did not. No such statement is to be found in his book, and such an important expedition would not have been passed over in silence. Lescarbot states, and his authority cannot be impeached, that the expedition for the exjjloration of the St. John was undertaken in 1608, or four years later. Chaniplain gives a minute account of the Falls at the mouth of the St. John and of the mode of passing them, and also some account of the river above, but the latter was doubtless furnished to him by Champdore, who visited the river in 1608. He states that the Falls being passed, the river enlarged to a league in certain places, and that there were three islands, near which there were a great quantity of meadows and handsome woods, such as oaks, beeches, butternuts, and vines of the wild grape. The inhabitants of the country, he says, went by the river to Tadoussac on the great river St. Lawrence, and had to pass over but little land to reach that place. Shallops could only ascend fifteen leagues on account of the rapids, which could only be navigated by the canoes of the savages. Such an account, though correct enough in some particulars as regards the width of the river, the islands near Oak Point, Avhich are those which are evidently meant, and the wild grapes which they produce is manifestly not the result of Champlain's personal observation. He was too accurate and painstaking to have erred so grossly as to think that the stream was only navigable for fifteen leagues by shallops, in consequence of the rapids. Some less conscientious lieutenant must be credited with the mis- statement. If it were possible to bring together but for a moment the past and the present, and to place the scene as it was viewed by Champlain, and as it is to-day, side by side, we HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 71 should be able to realize more clearly tliau any pen can describe how vastly the face of nature may be changed by the industry of man. Could Champlain, as he gazed on the cedar-clad rocks which surrounded the harbor of St. John, have looked into the future with the eye of prophecy, it would have taken nothing less than a Divine revelation to induce him to believe that his vision would ever come to pass. He would have seen himself surrounded by unheard of scenes and unknown inventions. Here and there a glimpse of the primeval rock might for a moment strengthen his faith that the busy city before him stood on the banks of his own St. John, but the snorting locomotive, the splashing steamboat and the clashing sound of strange machinery would have sadly tried his belief. And if, indeed, he trusted his vision, and saw with complacent eyes the flourishing community which had grown on the place of his discovery, his miud would be embittered by the reflection that his own countrymen had lost the fair heritage to which he had pointed the way, and had been supplanted by an alien race, speaking a strange tongue, who valued little the memory of the man Avho had been the first to tread their shores. n Leaving the River St. John, Champlain sailed to the west, and came in sight of four islands, now called the Wolves, but which he named Isles aux Margos, from the great number of birds which he found on them. The young birds, he says, were as good to eat as pigeons. He saw an island six leagues in extent, which was called by the savages Manthane. He presently found himself sailing among islands, of which the number was so great that he could not count them, many of them very beautiful, and abounding in good harbors. They were all in a cul de sac, which he judged to be fifteen leagues in circuit. The bays 72 HISTORY OF ACADIA. and passages between the islands abounded with fish, and the voyagers caught great numbers of them. But the season was advancing, and De Monts was anxious to find some place where he might settle his colony, now grown weary of the ship, and eager for a more active life. In this beautiful archipelago he saw that, whatever might be their success in agricultural operations, the abundance of fish would always make their means of subsistence sure, and as this was a central point from which he could hold inter- course with the Indians, he sought for a proper place on which to erect a fort and dwelling. He finally fixed upon an island in the St. Croix Eiver, a few miles above St. Andrews, as his head-quarters, and there commenced pre- parations for making it a pei-manent settlement. Looking at his selection now by the light of common experience his choice of a locality seems to have been a most unwise one; but his error may well be excused, considering his want of knowledge of , the countiy and climate. To this island, which is now known on the maps as Doucett's Island, he gave the name of St. Croix. Its position has been the subject of much controversy, but that has only been so because national boundaries depended on the determination of its locality. The description given of it by Champlain and Lescarbot are so full and exact that any stranger taking them in his hand could easily identify it — for it had pecidiarities in shape and surroundings which could scarcely be found in any other island on the coast of Ame- rica, quite independently of its latitude, which is accurately stated by Champlain. De Monts lost no time in commencing the erection of suitable buildings for his colony, and in the mean time an event occurred which caused universal rejoicing. Champ- HISTORY OF ACADIA. 73 dore was ordered to convey Master Simon, a miner, who had been brought with tlie expedition, to examine more carefulh' the ores at St. Mary's Bay. While engaged in their researches at that place their attention was attracted by the signal of a handkerchief attached to a stick on the shore, and immediately landmg, they were overjoyed to find the missing Aubrey, weak, indeed, and perishing of hunger, but still able to speak. For seventeen days he had subsisted on berries and roots, and was sadly emaciated. It appeared that he had strayed from his companions while in search of his sword, which he had left by a broc^k where he stopped to drink. Having found it, he was unable to retrace his steps, and had wandered he knew not Avhither. De Monts and the whole colony were greatly delighted at his safe return, which relieved the little commmiity from the miseryof unjust suspicions. St. Croix Island is oblong in shape, and lies from north to south. It contains probably ten acres of land.* At its southern extremity, lying towards the sea, was a little hill, or islet, severed from the other, where De Monts placed his cannon. At the northerii end of the island he built a fort, so as to command the river up and down. Outside of the fort was a large building which served as a barracks, and around it several smaller structm-es. Within the fort was the residence of De Monts, fitted up, as Lescarbot tells us, with "fair carpentry work," while close by were the resi- dences of Champlain, Ghampdore and d'Orville. There was also a covered gallery for exercise in bad weather. A storehouse, covered with shingles, a large brick oven, and a chapel, completed the structures of the colony on the *St. Croix Island, according to the plan made in 1797 by Thomas Wright, SurveyOT-General of the Island of St. John, is sixteen chains in length and seven in extreme width. 74 HISTORY OF ACADIA. island.* On tlie western shore of the St. Croix a water- mill was commenced for grinding corn, while some of the settlers erected buildings close to the brook on the eastern bank of the river, where the colonists obtained water, and laid out land for a garden. While the colonists were engaged in their various works, Poutrincourt took his departure for France. He had seen the country, and was satisfied with its excellence; he had chosen Port Royal as the place where he should reside, and it only remained for him to return for the purpose of removing his family to their new home. He took with him the best wishes of his friends, who hoped for his speedy return, and he was the bearer to the King of the glad tidings that France had at last founded a colony in the new world. During the course of their explorations the adventurers had found the savages everywhere friendly. They had received the French, not v/ith the distant and cold civility of suspicious strangers, but with the cordiality of old friends. They were eager to trade with them, and had rendered them valuable services on more than one occasion. Thus commenced that friendship and amity between the French and the Indians of Acadia which was never broken or disturbed, which alone enabled the former to maintain a long contest against the powerful colonies of England with some show of equality, and which made the Indians faithful to their memory long after the last vestiges of French power had been swept away. Scarcely had the colonists concluded their labors when *In 1797 tlie stone foundations of these buildings were brought to light by Robert Pagan and others. Five distinct piles of ruins were discovered at the north end of the island, and from the manner in which the work had been done, it was quite evident that a permanent settlement had been intended. The evidence of this discovery was placed before the Commissioners appointed to determine the locality of St. Croix island, and, no doubt, materially influenced their decision. HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 75 the winter came upon them with awful and unexpected severity. They were struck with terror and surprise at the fury of the snow storms and the severity of the frost. The river became a black and chilly tide, covered with masses of floating ice, and the land around them a dreary and frost-bound desert. It soon was painfully apparent that their residence had been unwisely chosen. The island was without water, and. the wood upon it had been exhausted by the erection of the buildings and fort. Both these articles of prime necessity had to be brought from the main land, and this Avas a service arduous and difiicult to men who had been accustomed to the milder temperature of France. To add to their troubles a number of Indians encamped at the foot of the island. Their entire friend- liness was not then so well understood as it afterwards became, and the French were harassed and wearied by continual watching to guard against attack. In the midst of this suffering and anxiety there came upon them a frightful visitation. A strange and unknown disease broke out among them, which proved alarmingly fatal. No medicine seemed to relieve it, and the natives knew of no remedy against its ravages. Out of the small colony of seventy-nine, thirty-five died, and many of the survivors were only saved by the timely arrival of warmer weather. Those who were not attacked were scarcely able to provide for the wants of the sick and to bury the dead.* Many *Champlain describes this disease as follows: — "During the winter a certain disease broke out among many of our people, called the disease of the country, otherwise the scurvy, as I have since heard Ici^rned men say. It originated in the mouth of those who have a large amount of dabby and superfluous flesh, (causing a bad putrefaction,) which increases to such an extent, that they can scarcely take any thing, unless it is almost entirely liquid. The teeth become quite loose, and they can be extracted by the fingers without causing any pain. The superfluity of this flesh requires to be cut away, and this causes a violent bleeding from the mouth. They are afterwards seized with a great pain in the legs and arms, which swell up and become very hard, all marked as if bitten by fleas, and they are unable to walk from the contraction of the nerves, so that they have no strength left, and 76 HISTORY OF ACADIA. a longing eye Avas cast over the pitiless sea -which severed them from their own fair land, which so many of them were fated never to behold again. The return of Spring brought with it brighter skies and better hopes, but De Monts determined to remove his colony from St. Croix Island. As soon as the state of the seas would permit, he fitted out and armed his pinnace, and, accompanied by Champlain, sailed along the coast towards the south-west, with a view to the discovery of a more favorable situation and a more genial climate. They made a careful examination of the whole coast as far as Cape Cod, entered the bay of Penobscot, and at the Kennebec erected a cross. Some of the places which they visited appeared inviting, and suitable for settlement, but the savages were numerous, unfriendly and thievish, and their company being small, it was considered unsafe to settle among them. For these reasons they returned to St. Croix with the intention of removing the colony to Port Royal. In the meantime Pontgravfe, who was quite iudefatigable in his Acadian schemes, had arrived with an accession of forty men and fresh supplies from France, a most Avelcome addition to their diminished numbers and resources. Every- thing portable was removed from St. Croix Island, but the buildings were left standing. The embarkation of the colonists and stores was speedily accomplished under the direction of Pontgravfi, and with mingled feelings of plea- sure and regret they bade farewell to that solitary island suffer the most intolerable pain. They have also pains in the loins, the stomaclb and intestines, a very had cough, and shortness of breath ; in short, they are in such a state that the greater part of those seized with the complaint can neither raise nor move themselves, and if they attempt to stand erect they fall down senseless, so that of seventy-nine of us, thirty-five died, and more than twenty barely escaped death. The greater part of those unaffected with the complaint, ■ complained of slight pains and shortness of breath. We could find no remedy to cure those attaclced "by the complaint, and we could not discover any cause for the disease." HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 77 which had been the scene of so much misery and suffering, but which was still, in a measure, endeared to them because it was their first home in the new world, and the last rest- ing place of so many loved companions and friends. Before they departed, some of the colonists sowed portions of it with rye, and when visited in the autumn, two years later, a heavy crop of grain was found on the island, which the colonists reaped and carried away. Thus suddenly ended the occupation of an island which since that time has never been inhabited by any permanent resident, except the keeper of the light-house, whose beacon warns the voyager on the St. Croix to avoid its rocky shores. CHAPTEE IV. THE COLONY AT POET EOYAL. The place chosen for the residence of the colony at Port Royal was opposite Goat Island, on the north banlv of the river of Port Eoyal,* distant about six miles from the present town of Annapolis. It was a position easily fortified, favorable for traffic with the savages, and beautiful by nature. The land around it, although somewhat stony, was strong and fertile, and the marsh lands, some distance away, were of inexhaustible richness. The climate, too, was milder than that of the greater portion of the peninsula, and well adapted to the cultivation of fruit. Timber of the best quality was abundant, and extensive fisheries were close by. Nothing, it would seem, was wanting that nature could bestow to make Port Royal a flourishing colony. The work of erecting buildings was rapidly advanced, dwellings and storehouses were built, and a small palisaded fort constructed. When this work was' being carried on, De Monts sailed for France to provide for the provisioning of the colony, until crops could be raised, and to attend to his trading interests. He left PontgravS as his lieutenant to govern the colony in his absence, and with him Champlain and Champdore, to assist in the general conduct of affairs, and take charge of any exploring expeditions that might be required. Pontgrav6 was an energetic and active man, zealous in the work of colonization, and equally zealous in the prosecution of trade. While he * Now Annapolis River. It was named by tlie Frencli tlie Dauphin, but popularly known and marked on their maps as the River of Port Royal. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 79 pushed forward the preparations necessary for the comfort- able wintering of the colony, he did not neglect the commercial pursuits, without which the colony could not then subsist. The savages, among whom he was, were of the Souriquois or Micmac tribe, and well disposed towards the whites. For the- purpose of deepening this attachment, and at the same time carrying on a profitable business, he commenced an active trade with them for the skins of moose, otter and beaver. After the winter had set in, this barter became very brisk, and the good disposition of the natives was to the advantage of the French in another way, for they brought them abundance of fresh meat, and enabled them to live through the cold season in comparative comfort. They were quite free from any serious epidemic, such as had proved so fatal at St. Croix, and only _ six died during the winter. Their supplies of breadstuff's were abundant, but the labor of grinding their grain by hand proved most irksome, and Lescarbot gravely states that he believed this had contributed to kill those who died. The Indians, although so liberal with their venison, refused to assist in this severe work, which was not surprising, con- sidering how averse the- savages were to labor of any description. A more probable cause of the mortality was the fact that they had neglected to drain their dwellings, which were consequently damp and uncomfortable. In the Spring of 1606 Pontgravfe made an attempt to find a warmer climate and a better place for his colony in a more southern latitude. He fitted out the barque which had been left with him, and set sail for Cape Cod ; but his venture proved disastrous. Twice he was driven back to Port Eoyal by the violence of the tempest, and on the third essay was so unfortunate as to have his vessel injured on the rocks at the mouth of the port. This deterred him 80 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. from any:' further attempt, which, indeed, could only have been attended with greater disasters ; such was the weakness of his vessel, and so great were the dangers of that tempestu- ous sea. tontgravS then built another barque, or shallop, so that he would not be quite without means of transport in case of accident, or shortness of provisions. The result proved that he had been guided by a wise forethought. The Spring advanced, and provisions began to grow scarce, but there M^as no sign of De Monts' arrival. Summer was ushered in, but still the expected supplies did not come, and PontgravS, now really alarmed for the safety of De Monts, and apprehensive that the colony would soon be without food, determined to embark his people, and run along the coast as far as Canso, in the hope that he might fall in with -some iishing vessel, by which their wants might be relieved, and in which they might obtain a passage to France. Having finally given up all hope of the arrival of the expected succor, Pontgravfe set sail on the 25th July from Port Royal, leaving two men behind, who had volunteered to remain and take charge of the stores. In the meantime De Monts had been hastening to the relief of his colony. On his arrival in France his accounts of Acadia had been coldly received. The expense of the venture had been heavy and the returns small. Many of the merchants who belonged to the company were dissatis- fied, and it appeared equally difficult to fit out ships for the relief of the colony or to get men to embark in them. In this juncture Poutrincourt nobly came to his aid. His presence in France at that time was of vital importance to his own interests in consequence of some lawsuits in which he was engaged; but notwithstanding this position of affairs he agreed to return to Acadia and assist De Monts in placing the colony on a permanent footing. Poutrin- HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 81 court was now more resolute than ever to establish himself there with his family. He also persuaded Lescarbot, an advocate who resided in Paris, to accompany them. After many vexatious delays a vessel of one hundred and fifty tons, named the Jonas, was fitted out at Eochelle, and set sail for Acadia on the 11th May 1606. The voyage was long and tedious from adverse winds, and rendered still more so by visits which were made to various parts of the coast from Canso to Cape Sable. They passed Cape Sable on the 25th July, and reached Port Royal on the 27th with the flood tide, saluting the fort as they entered the basin. They were much surprised to discover -that PontgravS had departed, and that only two men had been left. It seems that they had sailed outside of Brier Island in coming up the bay, while Pontgrave had gone through the Petite pas- sage between Long Island and the main, in consequence of which they had missed each other. PontgravS, however, fell in with a shallop which had been left on the coast by De Monts, and was informed that the Jonas had arrived. With all haste he retraced his course and reached Port Royal on the 31st July, to the great delight of De Monts and his companions. The occasion was celebrated by a festival. Poutrincourt opened a hogshead of wine, and the night was spent in bacchanalian revelry. Poutrincourt lost no time in commencing the cultivation of his territory. Although the season was well advanced, he sowed a variety of vegetables and grain, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing them start from the virgin soil. He would have been content to settle down and make Port Royal his permanent residence, but De Monts, who was about to return to France, besought him to make one eifort more to find a place for the colony farther south. To do this it became necessary for him to give up the superin- F 82 HISTORY OF ACADIA. tendence of his agricultural operations, and the rest of the summer was employed in a fruitless search. He left Port Royal on the 28th August, aceompailied by Champdore, and on the same day the Jonas also put to sea with De Monts and Pontgravfe, who were returning to France. Lescarbot, who was a valuable addition to the colony, was left in charge of the establishment at Port Royal, and directed to keep the colonists in order. Poutrincourt's voyage south began in the midst of difficulty and ended in disaster. The elements were unpro- pitious, and the barque in which he sailed was small and leaky. They were twice forced back by stress of weather before they reached St. Croix Island. There they found the grain ripening, and gathered some of it, which they sent back to Port Royal. They then proceeded south as far as Cape Cod, where, from its more southern latitude, they hoped to find a situation where the cold would be less extreme than at Port Royal ; but their barque became entangled among the shoals, the rudder was broken, and they were obliged to come to anchor three leagues from the land. It took them fifteen days to make the necessary repairs. While some of Poutrincourt's men were ashore they got into collision with the savages, in consequence of some thefts of the latter which they resented. To prevent further difficulty he ordered his men to gci on board the vessel, as from the hostile appearance of the savages, it was evident that bloodshed could not otherwise be prevented. Five of them who neglected to obey this wise order were surprised, two of them killed on the spot and the others wounded, two of them mortally. Poutrincourt immediately went ashore with ten men and buried their dead comrades, over whom they erected a cross, the savages in the mean- while yelling in triumph at a safe distance. When they HISTORY OF ACADIA. 83 returned to their vessel the brutal natives dug up the bodies and tore down the cross, insulting the French by shouts and gestures of defiance. The latter were then unable to return to the shore in consequence of it being low water, but when the tide served they replaced the cross and bodies. After an unsuccessful attempt to pass beyond the Cape, Poutrincourt was forced back to the same harbor where his men had been killed, and while there, some of the natives, who came down on pretence of trading, were captured and put to death. Another attempt was made to sail farther south, but they were again driven back, and — the condition of his wounded men being extremely pre- carious — Poutrincourt bore up for Port Royal, which he reached on the 14th November. He was received with great joy by the colonists, who had despaired of his safety. Lescarbot celebrated his re- turn by a sort of triumph, crowning the gates of the fort with laurel, over which was placed the arms of France. Below were placed the arms of De Monts and of Poutrin- court, also wreathed with laurel, and a song was composed by Lescarbot in honor of the occasion. That indefatigable and light-hearted Frenchman had not been idle during Poutrincourt's absence. With the assistance of Louis Hebert, the apothecary, who had much experience in such matters, he had superintended the preparation of ground for gardens and fields. He also had a ditch dug round the fort, which drained it completely and made it dry and comfortable. He had the buildings more perfectly fitted up by the carpenters • had roads cut through the woods to various points, and charcoal burnt for the forge, which was kept in active operation for the preparation of tools for the -workmen and laborers. And he had accomplished all this without any great strain on the strength of the men, for 84 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. he only required them to work three hours a day. The rest of the time they spent as they pleased — in hunting, fishing, ranging the forest, or in rest. The next winter was passed in comfort and cheerfulness. This was owing to the care which had been taken to make the fort and dwellings dry, and also to an admirable arrangement which had been established at the table of Poutrincourt by Champlain. He organized the guests, fifteen in number, into a society which he called the ordre de bon temps. Each guest in his turn became steward and caterer for the day, during which he wore the collar " of the order and a napkin, and carried a staff." At dinner he marshalled the way to the table at the head of the pro- cession of guests. After supper he resigned the insignia of oiSce to his successor, with the ceremony of drinking to him in a cup of wine. It became a point of honor with each guest, as his day of service came, to have the table well supplied with game, either by his own exertions, or by purchasing from the Indians, and in consequence they fared sumptuously during the whole winter^ so that Lescarbot was enabled to reply with truth to some Parisian epicures, who made' sport of their coarse fare, that they lived as luxuriously as they could have done in the street Aux Ours in Paris, and at a much less cost. It is painful, however, to be obliged to record that, although bread and game were abundant, the wine of those festive Frenchmen fell short, so that before Spring they were reduced from three quarts a man daily to the inconsiderable allowance of a pint. The winter was mild and fair, and only four died, who are described as having been sluggish and fretful. These men died in February and March, and in January it seems that the whole company went two leagues to see their cornfield, and dined cheerfully in the sunshine. People accustomed HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 85 • to the climate may be pardoned for supposing that a few experiments of that description might have a tendency to thin the ranks of the colonists, many of whom might not be the most rugged of men. The Micmacs were their constant visitors throughout the winter, making them presents of venison, and selling the remainder at a fair price. Membertou, their great Sachem — who was chief of the whole tribe from Gasp6 to Cape Sable — and many of their lesser dignitaries were the frequent guests of Poutrincourt. Membertou had been a noted warrior, and was a great friend of the white men. He was very aged, and remembered Carrier's visit to the Bay Chaleur in 1534. In the Spring, Poutrincourt, with his accustomed energy, renewed the work of improvement. He had a water-mill erected for the purpose of grinding grain, which they had previously done with great toil by hand labor. The fisheries were also prosecuted vigorously, two small vessels for coasting voyages built, and all the available land pre- pared for cultivation. Everything promised fair for a busy and prosperous season, when their labors were brought to a sudden termination by an untoward event. One morning, in May, a vessel was observed by the Indians making her way up the Basin. Poutrincourt was immediately informed of the circumstance, and set out in a shallop with Champdore to meet her. She proved to be a small barque from the Jonas, which then lay at Canso, and brought the evil tidings that the company of merchants was broken up, and that no more supplies would be furnished to the colony. This, then, was the inglorious termination of all Poutrincourt's hopes and labors. Just as the community was being put in a position to become self- sustaining, the message came which sealed its fate. As the 86 HISTORY OF ACADIA. vessel brought no sufficient supplies, nothing remained but to leave Port Royal, where so much money and toil had been fruitlessly expended. The cause of so sudden a change in the conduct of the company of merchants was the revocation by the King of the exclusive monopoly of the fur trade, which had been granted to De Monts and his associates for ten years. The grant of this monopoly had provoked great jealousy in France among merchants and traders, who were debarred from this lucrative trade, and their jealousy was not lessened by the knowledge that the Dutch, who cared nothing for De Monts' patent, were prosecuting the trade which Frenchmen were unable to pursue, without violating the laws. It was also urged by the enemies of this monopoly that De Monts, during the three years he had held the patent, had made no converts among the natives. These seem to have been the reasons which influenced the King, and the patent being revoked, the dissolution of the company followed. Accordingly the Jonas was sent out to bring back the colony, and, to defray the expenses of the voyage, was ordered to fish and trade at Canso, while the people were brought round from Port Royal in the smaller vessel. Pourtrincourt, however, had resolved that he would return to Acadia, even if he brouglit with him none but the members of his own family. To enable him to take home with him to France visible tokens of the excellence of the products of the country, it was necessary for him to stay until his corn was ripe, and to accomplish this without sacrificing the interests of the merchants, at whose charge the vessel had been sent, he employed Chevalier, the commander of the barque, to trade with the Indians for beaver at St. John and St. Croix, and went to Mines HISTORY OF ACADIA. 37 himself with the same object. By this means the departure of the colonists was delayed until the end of July. Some time prior to this a war had broken out between the Indians of Acadia and the tribes west of the Penobscot. The whole available force of the Micmacs was called into the field, and Port Royal was the place of rendezvous.* Early in June the Chief, Membertou, took his departure for Saco, with four hundred warriors, to attack the Armou- choquois, who dwelt there. This savage pageant was a novel and interesting sight to the French, as the. great flotilla of canoes swept past the fort and settlement towards the west. Before Poutrincourt departed, Membertou and his warriors returned from their campaign, which had been attended with success, but for several years the warfare between the tribes east and west of the Penobscot continued. It was characterized by revenge, violence and extermina- tion ; the great Bashaba, or Prince of the western tribes, was slain, and his nation totally defeated. His death was followed by. a civil war amongst his now divided tribes ; a fearful pestilence succeeded and swept over the whole coast from Penobscot to Cape Cod. Some tribes were totally exterminated, and others reduced to one-tenth of their former strength in warriors. Such was the tragic termination of this great savage war. On the 30th July most of the colonists left Port Royal in the small barque. Their destination was Canso, where the Jonas was awaiting them to take them to France. On the 11th August, Poutrincourt, finding that his grain was ripe, gathered a quantity of it to take to France as a proof of the excellence of the soil and climate. He also took with him a number of other natural productions of the country. *The cause of the war was the killing of Pennoniac, a Micmac Chief, by the Armouehoquois who dwelt at Choutcoit or Saco. 88 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. He gave Membertou and his people ten hogsheads of meal and all the grain that was left standing. He enjoined them to sow more in the Spring, and, if any of his country- men came there from France, to give them their friendship and assistance. They were deeply grieved at Poutr in court's departure, and promised faithfully to carry out his wishes. A system of mutual forbearance and assistance had endeared those pol ished Frenchmen to the savages of Acadia, and their departure seemed like the loss of old and tried friends. It is an honorable feature in the character of the first colonists of Acadia that they could awaken such sentiments in the breasts of those barbarous warriors. Poutrincourt and his company reached France in the Jonas in the latter part of September, and he immediately waited on the King, to whom he presented wheat, barley and oats, grown in Acadia, and other specimens of its pro- ductions — animal, vegetable and mineral. Among the former were five living wild geese, which had been hatched from eggs found near Port Royal. King Henry was much pleased with those specimens of the natural products of the colony, and encouraged Poutrincourt to continue his efforts in that direction. He ratified the grant of Port Royal, M'hich had been made to him by De Monts. He desired him to procure the services of the Jesuits in the conversion of the Indians of Acadia, and offered to give two thousand livres towards their support. All these inducements coincided with Poutrincourt's resolution to continue the colony, and encouraged him to follow out his plans for that purpose, but time was required to complete them, and for two years Port Royal remained without white inhabitants. All the buildings had, however, been left untouched, and only awaited new occupants. The grain fields also were kept in order by the savages, and HISTORY OF ACADIA. 89 Champdore, who was on the coast in 1608, and visited Port Royal, found the grain growing finely, and was received by Membertou and his people with every demon- stration of welcome. Everything was favorable for a new essay in colonization, which could not fail to be successful, considering the experience of its chief promoter, and that so much had already been accomplished in the way of conciliating the savages and erecting habitations for the people. CHAPTER V. pouteincourt's colony. PouTEiNCOUET was detained in France much longer than he had intended, owing to his relying on the assist- ance of others, who promised to join with him in the settlement of Acadia, but who finally withdrew from the engagements into which they had entered. He at last concluded an arrangement with a merchant named Robin, who was to supply the settlement for five years and provide funds for bartering with the Indians for certain specified profits; and on the 26th February, 1610, he set sail for Port Royal, which he did not reach until June. Poutrin- court, who was a devout Catholic, had entered willingly into the schemes proposed to him for the maintenance of Jesuit missionaries in Acadia, and had brought with him to the colony a priest named Joss6 Flesche, who, however, was not a member of that order. This father prosecuted the work of converting the savages with such good results that on the 24th of June of the same year twenty-five of them were baptized at Port Royal, one of whom was Mem- bertou, their great Sachem. This aged chief Avas so zealous for his new faith, that he offered to make war on all who should refuse to become Christians. This mode of com- pelling conformity of faith was thought rather to savor of the system pursued by Mahomet, and was declined. Pou- trincourt, who was skilful in music, composed tunes for the hymns and chants used by the Indian converts in the ceremonial of the church, and, under his instructions and that of the priest, they soon became devout worshippers. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 91 Early in July he had sent his son, Biencourt, who was a youth of nineteen, to France, to carry the news of the conversion of the natives, and obtain supplies for the winter. He was expected to return within four months, as the colony was greatly in need of provisions. Poutrin- court had with him twenty-three persons for whom he had to provide, and when winter set in, without any appearance of the expected succor, he began to be seriously alarmed. By prudent management, and by the aid of diligent hunting and fishing, they contrived to subsist through the winter without losing any of their number, and it was well that their experience of Acadian life in winter enabled them to depend on their own exertions for sustenance, for had they relied on Biencourt for supplies, they must all have perished. Biencourt's detention was caused neither by want of zeal nor of industry on his part.' He reached Dieppe on the 21st August, 1610, but found on his arrival that many startling changes had taken place in the position of affairs in France. Henry IV. had been assassinated three months^efore, leaving behind him a son and successor, Louis XIII., only nine years of age. The power which Henry had so wisely and firmly wielded for the good of his country had passed into the hands of the queen mother, Mary de Medicis, a woman of strong passions and narrow understanding, who was wholly controlled by Italian favorites. Shortly after his arrival Biencourt presented himself at court, and informed the Queen of the conver- sions that had taken place in Acadia. The ne%vS was gladly received, and she desired him to take two Jesuit missionaries with him on his return. Two members of that order — Fathers Pierre Biard and Enemond Masse — were appointed to accompany him, and the Queen and 92 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. ladies of the court provided liberally for the voyage. The young King gave the missionaries five hundred crowns, and every requisite in the shape of clothing and supplies was provided for their comfort. Biencourt's vessel was to have sailed from Dieppe in the latter part of October, but, on proceeding there to embark, the missionaries were met by a new and unexpected difficulty. Two Huguenot traders, who were engaged in the adventure with Biencourt and Robin, refused to allow any Jesuits to go in the vessel, although they professed their willingness to allow any other priests to go. Biencourt and Robin were obliged to submit, but this illiberal conduct did not succeed in its object. Madame de Guercheville, a lady of the court, quickly succeeded in collecting among her friends sufficient funds to buy out the interest of the obstinate traders, which did not exceed four thousand livres, and the missionaries were allowed to embark. It was also arranged that the sum thus collected should belong to the Jesuit mission, and that they should receive the benefit of it. The vessel in which Biencourt and his company of thirty-six persons were embarked was a small craft'of about sixty tons burthen. It speaks well for his boldness and skill that, with this little barque, he should have essayed a winter voyage to Acadia ; but he had a strong motive to urge him forward, for he knew well the straits to which his father and the colonists would be reduced hy his delay, and he set sail from Dieppe on the 26th January, 1611. They met with very rough weather, and were forced to take shelter in an English port, and their voyage alto- gether lasted about four months. On their way out they fell in with Champlain, who was bound for Quebec, and at one time were in considerable danger from icebergs. They finally reached Port Royal on the 22nd May, but with their HISTORY OP ACADIA. 93 stores sadly diminished in consequence of the extreme length of the passage. Poutrincourt, who had been greatly alarmed for their safety, was proportionally pleased at their arrival, but, as their provisions were nearly exhausted, and the number to be provided for greatly increased, it became necessary for him to look for further supplies. With this view he went to a harbor named La Pierre Blanche, (the white stone),* which lay twenty-two leagues due west from Port Eoyal, and which he knew was frequented by fishermen and traders. Here he found no less than four French vessels, one of which belonged to De Monts and another to Pont- gravS. Poutrincourt expressed his intention of going to France, and made them recognize his son, Biencourt, as vice-admiral in his absence. He also requested them to furnish him with supplies, promising to repay them on his return to France. The necessary supplies were obtained on these terras, and they returned to Port Royal. It then became necessary for Poutrincourt to make ano- ther voyage to France for the purpose of arranging for the regular furnishing of supplies until the colony became self-sustaining. He accordingly left Port Royal in July, leaving Biencourt in command of the colony, which then consisted of twenty-two persons, including the two Jesuit missionaries.. These two fathers, with the zeal which has ever distinguished their order, engaged vigorously in the study of the native languages, and the manners and cus- toms of the aborigines. To forward this as much as pos- sible, father Masse took up his abodS in the Micmac village, which then existed at the mouth of the St. John, where * This must have been at Grand Manan, which is about twenty-two leagues due west from Port Eoyal, and where there is an island which is still called Whitehead Island. 94 HISTORY OF ACADIA. Louis Merabertou, the son of the old chief, resided, while father Biard devoted himself more particularly to the Indians about Port Eoyal. He also frequently accom- panied Biencourt in the numerous trips which he made to various parts of the Bay of Fundy. While they were absent on one of these occasions, on a visit to St. Croix Island, Membertou was brought from St. Mary's Bay to Port Royal in a dying condition. It soon became apparent that he could live but a little time, and an unseemly dis- pute arose as to where he should be buried. Biencourt wished him to be buried with his own people, agreeably to a promise which he had made to the dying Chief, who desired to be laid with his forefathers. The Jesuits, on the other hand, contended that he should be buried in con- secrated ground, as a proof of the reality of his conversion. Biencourt curtly told them that they might consecrate the Indian burial place, but that he should see Membertou's wishes carried out. The old Chief finally consented to be buried with the Christians, and he was accordingly interred in the burial ground at Port Royal. This, unfortunately, was only the first of a series of disputes between the Jesuits and the young governor, all of which were not so satisfac- torily adjusted. In the meantime the colonists were becoming straitened for provisions, and, as a precaution against absolute want, were put upon short allowance when the first fall of snow came, which was on the 16ch November. As the year closed their prospects looked gloomy enough; but relief speedily came, for on the 23rd January, 1612, a vessel arrived with supplies. This vessel had been sent in pur- suance of an arrangement which Poutrincourt and Robin had made with Madame de Guercheville, who had already exerted herself so strenuously to promote the mission of HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 95 the Jesuits. She advanced a thousand crowns for supplies, but Poutrincourt soon discovered that he had called in an ally who would fain become his master. This ambitious lady had indeed formed the design of establishing in Acadia a sort of spiritual despotism, of which the members of the Order of Jesus should h& the rulers and she the patroness. To carry out this plan, it might be necessary to dispossess Poutrincourt, or, at all events, to obtain possession of the rest of Acadia. She had abundance of influence at court, and the Queen and her adviser, Concini, held views similar to her own. She quickly proceeded to put her plans into operation. Finding that the whole of Acadia, except Port Eoyal, belonged to De Monts, she obtained from him a release of his rights, and immediately obtained a grant of it from the King for herself. She did not doubt that Poutrincourt's necessities, and the burthen of the charge which the Jesuit mission inflicted on the trade of the colony, would speedily compel him to abandon Port Eoyal to her also. He did not purpose at that time to return to Port Royal, but put the vessel which he sent with supplies in charge of one Simon Imbert, who had been a long time his servant, and in whom he had entire confidence. Ma- dame de Guercheville, with equal forethought, sent out another Jesuit, named Gilbert Da Thet, who went in the vessel, ostensibly as a passenger, but in reality as a spy upon Imbert, and to look after her interests. The result of such arrangements nright easily have been foreseen. Scarcely had they landed at Port Royal when a bitter dispute arose between Du Thet and Imbert. The former accused the latter of misappropriating a part of the cargo, and Imbert retorted by accusing the Jesuits of a plot to expel Biencourt and his people from the country and obtain Port Royal for themselves. These recrimina- 96 HISTORY OF ACADIA. tions caused the differences which had formerly existed between Biencourt and the Jesuits to be renewed with fresh animosity and vigor. Fathers Biard and Masse had, on their first arrival, re- fused to administer baptism to the savages without fully instructing them in the doctrines of the Christian religion, and had sent Flesche, the priest, by whom Membertou had been baptized, back to France. This produced remon- strances from Biencourt, who was a hot-headed and deter- mined young man, but little impressed, it is to be feared, with the sacred character of the ordinances which he called upon them to exercise. The dispute had been so warm that the Jesuits had actually obtained a chart of the coast and proposed to leave Port Royal by stealth; but Bien- court discovered the plan, and pointed out to them that they could not leave without the command of the head of their Order, and that it would be highly contrary to the Order of Jesus for them to forsake their posts without any authority to do so, leaving the little colony to which they had been sent without the exercises of religion. These arguments prevailed for the time, but fresh disputes arose. Biencourt resented their attempts to interfere with his authority, and so scandalous did the differences become that they threatened to excommunicate Biencourt, and, Lescar- bot says, actually carried their threats into execution. The governor, on his part, coolly informed them that, however high their spiritual authority might be, he was their gov- ernor on earth, and that he would have obedience from all under him, priests included, even if it required the lash to compel it. These threats had not been forgotten when the mutual accusations of Du Thet and Imbert opened the old wounds. The Jesuits accused Biencourt of carrying on the colony as HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 97 a mere trading speculation for his own profit, and neglect- ing the interests of religion, which he only used as a cover for his schemes of gain. He retorted in terms equally bitter, that the missionaries, instead of attending to their legitimate functions, were seeking to subvert his govern- ment and ruin his colony. In consequence of this last contest, the public exercises of religion were entirely sus- pended for three months. Biard and Masse, who appear to have been entirely innocent of any participation in Madame de Guercheville's schemes, and only sincerely desirous of converting the savages, felt that there was some show of truth in the statements made by Imbert, as it was evident Du Thet had not come out as a missionary, and that his presence, under the circumstances, was a bitter injustice to them and their mission. At length on the 25th June, 1612, a reconciliation took place between them and Biencourt, father Biard administered mass, and then begged of Biencourt that he would send Du Thet back to France, which he did, and the colony was once more tranquil. In August, Biencourt, accompanied by father Biard, went up the Basin of Mines in a shallop to trade with the Indians, and afterwards up Chignecto Bay, where for the first time they beheld that immense tract of marsh which now forms so large a portion of the wealth of two great counties. They gazed with surprise and admiration on the almost boundless expanse of virgin soil, but no thought seems to have entered their minds, of utilizing its fertility. The Indians there, they found to be less migratory in their habits than most others. Game was abundant, and the natives seemed quiet and contented. On their return, the wind continued for a long time contrary, and they were in danger of perishing for want of food. In their extremity, G 98 HISTORY OF ACADIA. father Biard made a vow that if God would grant them a fair wind, he would make the poor savages who accompa- nied them Christians. But they frustrated that good design by deserting the shallop in search of something to eat. Gilbert Du Thet returned to France with the report that there was little hope of the conversion of the savages at Port Royal, and informed Madame de Guercheville that the character of Biencourt afforded no prospect of the influ- ence of the Jesuits becoming predominant in the colony. She therefore resolved to remove them from Port Eoyal and establish a colony of her own. Poutrincourt had, by this time, begun to be aware of the character of his new ally, and serious misunderstandings had, in consequence, arisen between them. The prospect of getting rid of the Jesuits was, therefore, a very agreeable one to him, for although he was a most zealous Roman Catholic, and anxious for the conversion of the savages, he had, like many worthy men of his church, acquired a strong dislike to the members of the Order of Jesus. It was pretended by those who favored the Jesuits — and the statement has been repeated by their partizans — that Poutrincourt's object in establishing the colony at Port Royal was solely to trade with the savages, and that his avowed desire to convert them was only a pretence and a cloak to cover his real design. But it cannot be said that he ever displayed any want of zeal for the propagation of the Christian faith. It was by the missionary whom he brought to Acadia that the first of its savages were converted. The Jesuits, what- ever may have been their religious zeal, were the first to cause dissensions in the colony, and they appeared more disposed to seize the reins of government than to engage in the more humble work of converting the natives to the Christian faith. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 99 Madame de Guercheville fitted out a vessel of a hundred tons burthen at Honfleur, and gave the command of the expedition to M. de La Saussaye, wlio was to be governor of the colony. This vessel was appointed to take out twenty- seven persons and provisions for one year. Amongst others, there went in the vessel tAvo Jesuits, Father Quantin and brother Gilbert-Du Thet, of whom mention has already been made. They were to return to France after the colony was properly established, if fathers Biard and Masse were then alive and able to undertake their mis- sionary duties. The whole company, including sailors, numbered forty-eight persons. The vessel was better provided with stores and implements than any that had gone to Acadia before that time. She carried, also, horses for the cultivation of the fields, and goats to provide the colony with milk. The Queen contributed four tents from the royal stores, and some munitions of war. She also wrote a letter, commanding that fathers Biard and Masse be allowed to leave Port Royal. The ship set sail on the 12th March, 1613, and on the 16th May reached Cape La Have, where they held high mass and erected a cross, on which was placed the arms of the Marchioness de Guercheville, as a symbol that they took possession of the country for her. When they arrived at Port Royal, they only found five persons — fathers Biard and Masse, their servant, the apothecary Hubert, and another. All the rest were absent, either hunting or trading. They shewed the Queen's letter to H6bert, who represented Biencourt in his absence, and taking the two Jesuits, with their servant and luggage aboard, again set sail. It was their intention to establish the colony at Pentagoet, which father Biard had visited the year previous, but when off Grand Manan a thick fog came on, which lasted for two days, and when it 100 "HISTORY OF ACADIA. became clear, they put into a harbor on the eastern side of Mount Desert Island, in Maine. The harbor was deep, secure and commodious, and they judged this would be a favorable site for the colony, and named the place St. Sauveur. All the company were speedily engaged in clearing ground and erecting buildings. La Saussaye was advised by the principal colonists to erect a sufficient forti- fication before commencing to cultivate the soil, but he disregarded this advice, and nothing was completed in the way of defence, except the raising of a small palisaded structure, when a storm burst upon the colony, which was little expected by its founders. In 1607 a company of London merchants had founded a . colony on the James River, in Virginia, where, after suffering greatly from the insalubrity of the climate and want of provisions, they had attained a considerable degree of property. In 1613 they sent a fleet of eleven vessels to fish on the coast of Acadia, convoyed by an armed vessel under the command of Captain Samuel Argal, who had been connected with the colony since 1609. Argal was one of those adventurers formed in the school of Drake, who made a trade of piracy, but confined themselves to the robbery of those who were so unfortunate as not to be their own countrymen. He was a man of good abilities and great resolution, but he was also rapacious, passionate, arbitrary, and cruel, a fit instrument in every way to accomplish the designs of the people of a greedy colony, who, having just barely escaped destruction themselves, were bent upon destroying every one else. When Argal arrived at Mount Desert, he was told by the Indians that the French were there in the harbor with a vessel. Learning that they were not very numerous, he at once resolved to attack them. All the French were HISTOEY OP ACADIA. iQl ashore when Argal approached, except ten men, most of whom were unacquainted with the working of a ship. Argal attacked the French with musketry, and at the second discharge Gilbert Du Thet fell back, mortally wounded ; four others were severely injured, and two young men, named Lemoine and Neveau, jumped overboard and were drowned. Having taken possession of the vessel, Argal went ashore and informed La Saussaye that the place where they were was English territory, and included in the charter of Virginia, and that they must remove ; but, if they could prove to him that they Avere there under a commission from the crown of France, he would treat them tenderly. He then asked La Saussaye to show him his commission ; but, as Argal, with unparalelled indecency, had abstracted it from his chest while the vessel was being plundered by his men, the unhappy governor was of course unable to produce it. Argal then assumed a very lofty tone, accused him of being a freebooter and a pirate — which was precisely what he was himself — and told the French it was only by his clemency they were allowed to escape with their lives. By the intercession of Biard and Masse, he affected to be disposed to deal more leniently with them. It was finally arranged that fifteen of the French, including Flory, the captain of the vessel, Lamotte le Vilin, La Saussaye's lieutenant, fathers Biard and Quantin, and a number of mechanics, should go with Argal to Virginia, where they were to be allowed the free exer- cise of their religion, with liberty to go to France at the expiration of a year. The remainder were to take a shallop and proceed in search of some French fishing vessel, in which to return to France. They accordingly started, and were fortunate enough to fall in with two vessels on the 102 HISTORY OF ACADIA. coast, one of which belonged to Pontgravfe, and reached France after some hardship and suffering. • When Argal arrived in Virginia, he found that his perfidious theft of the French governor's commission wa& likely to cause his prisoners to be treated as pirates. They were' put into prison and in a fair way of being executed, in spite of Argal's remonstrances, until struck with shame and remorse, he produced the commission which he had sa dishonestly filched from thern, and the prisoners were set free. But the production of this document, while it saved the lives of one set of Frenchmen, brought ruin upon all the others who remained in Acadia. The Virginia colo- nists, although utterly unable to people a hundredth part of the State which now bears that name, were too jealous- minded to allow any foreigners to live peaceably within eight hundred miles of them, and resolved to send Argal to destroy all the French settlements in Acadia, and erase all traces of their power. He was furnished with three armed vessels, and was accompanied by the two Jesuit fathers, Biard and Quantin. Argal first visited St. Sau- veur, where he destroyed the cross which the Jesuits had erected and set up another in its place with the name of the King of Great Britain inscribed upon it. He then burnt down all the buildings which the French had built there, and sailed for St. Croix Island, where he found a quantity of salt which had been stored there by the fish- ermen. He burnt down all the buildings at St. Croix, and destroyed the fort. He then crossed to Port Royal, piloted, it is said, by an Indian, but it was shrewdly suspected and generally believed in France, that father Biard was the person who did this favor to the English. At Port Royal he found no person in the fort, all the inhabitants being at work in the fields five miles away. The first intimation HISTORY OP ACADIA. log, they had of the presence of strangers was the smoke of their burning dwellings, which, together with the fort, m -which a great quantity of goods was stored, he completely destroyed. He even effaced with a pick the arms of France and the names of De Monts and other Acadian pioneers, which were engraved on a large siane which stood within the fort. He is said to have spared the mills and barns up the river, but that could only have been because he did not know that they were there. No one acqiiainted with Argal's character could accuse him of such absurd clemency towards a Frenchman. Biencourt made his appearance at this juncture, and requested a conference with Argal. They met in a meadow with a few of their followers. Biard endeavored to persuade the French to abandon the country and seek shelter with the invaders, but his advice was received so badly that he was denounced as a traitor, and was in danger of violence from his countrymen. Biencourt pro- posed a division of the trade of the country, but Argal refused to accede to this, stating that he had been ordered to dispossess him, and that if found there again he would be treated as an enemy. It is related that while they were engaged in this discussion a Micmac savage came up, and in broken language and with suitable gestures, endeavored to mediate a peace, wondering that persons who seemed to be of one race should make war upon each other. If this ever took place, which is very improbable, it would only serve to show that the Indians were as great hypocrites as civilized men, who profess the greatest regard for peace, while cutting each others throats, and invoke the aid of heaven to assist them in their efforts to shed human blood.. When Argal departed from Port Royal, he left that settlement — on which more than a hundred thousand crowns 104 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. had been expended — in ashes, and more dreary and desolate than an uninhabited desert could have been, because its soil was branded with the marks of ungenerous hEftred, unpro- voked enmity, and wanton destruction. The continent was not wide enough, it would seem, for two small colonies to subsist harmoniously upon it, even if their settlements were close upon a thousand miles apart. The only excuse offered for this piratical outrage of Argal — which was committed during a period of profound peace — was the claim which was made by England to the whole continent of North America, founded on the discoveries of the Cabots more than a century before. That claim might, perhaps, have been of some value if followed by immediate occu- pancy, as was the case with the Spaniards in the South, but that not having been done, and the French colony being the oldest, it was entitled to, at least, as much consideration as that of Virginia. Singularly enough, this act produced no remonstrance from France. As has been well said by one of her sons : " The Queen Eegent's court was a focus of intrigues which eventuated in a civil war, and put the inde- pendence of the kingdom in peril." There was no room for patriotism in the hearts of the people who governed France in those days. Poutrincourt, who attributed all his misfortunes to the Jesuits, took no further part in the affairs of Acadia, biit entered into the service of the King, where he distinguished himself, and was killed in the year 1615, at the siege of M6ry-sur-Seine, which he had undertaken to capture for the King. Biencourt, however, refused to abandon the country, but, with a few chosen and faithful companions, maintained himself in it during the remainder of his life. One of the friends who shared his exile and enjoyed his confidence was Charles de La Tour, a name afterwards HISTOEY OF ACADIA, 105 memorable in the annals of Acadia. Sometimes they resided with the savages, at other times they dwelt near Port Eoyal, but of their adventurous life little is known. The trials and sufferings of those who reside in the wilder- ness seldom see the light, unless at the instance of the adventurers themselves. But Biencourt left no record behind him, and La Tour, who might have told the story, was a man of the sword rather than of the pen. CHAPTEE VI. SIR WILLIAM ALEXANDER AND THE LATOURS. While the French were struggling to maintain their Colony in Acadia, in the midst of many adverse influences^ the English had begun to turn their attention to colonizing the coast of New England. In 1606, Captain Weymouth, a navigator of considerable experience, was despatched by the Earl of Southampton, Lord Arundel, of Wardour, and several other English gentlemen, ostensibly to discover a north-west passage, but really to explore a portion of the coast of North America, with the view to the settlement of a colony. Weymouth, instead of keeping well to the north, came in sight of the coast of America, as far south as Cape Cod, and from there sailed towards the north until he reached the mouth of the Kennebec, arid entered the Sagadahock, a river which is now known as the Androscoggin. While on the coast he seized five of the natives and returned with them to England. The favorable description he gave of the country induced sevei'al gentlemen — among whom were the Lord Chief Justice Popham and Sir Fernando Gorges — to form a Company for the purpose of colonizing it. The Crown, on being petitioned, granted a charter for two Colonies, then called the London Company and the Ply- mouth Company, but better known at the present day as the South and North Virginia Company. Both Companies were immediately organized. The establishment of the former colony has already been mentioned ; the latter, in which Gorges and Popham were more immediately inter- HISTOEY OP ACADIA. 107 ested, had for its boundaries the 38th and 45th parallels of latitude. In August, 1606, a ship commanded by Captain Henry Chalounge, was fitted out to go to Saga- dahock with a number of colonists. Two of the natives Weymoutli had captured were on board to pilot the vessel into the river. Chalounge neglected his orders, kept too far to the south, and was captured by a Spanish fleet. A few days after he had sailed, Popham fitted out another vessel, commanded by Captain Pring, and sent by her a few more colonists and additional supplies, with two of the natives as pilots. Pring reached Sagadahock in safety, but found no colony there. After waiting some time for Chalounge's arrival, he concluded that some disaster had happened to him, and returned to England, where he found the Company and the public greatly discouraged at the termination of the enterprise. Pring's favorable account of the country induced the Company to fit out two other vessels in the following year. They arrived at Sagadahock on the 15th of August, 1607, with over one hundred colo- nists. They first landed on an Island, some eight or ten acres in extent, now called Stage Island, and erected some buildings ; but, finding the place unsuitable, they removed to the mainland — to a place now called Hunnewell's Point — where they erected dwellings and a small fort, and con- tinued nearly a year. The winter was very severe, and the colonists were much discouraged at the prospect before them. If tradition is to be credited, they were a sorry lot, and conducted themselves in a very unbecoming manner towards the friendly natives. It is related that — unable to endure their insolence any longer — the savages killed one of them and drove the rest out of their fort. They then opened one of the casks of powder, and, being unac- quainted with its properties, it blew up, destroying nearly 108 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. everything in the fort and killing many of them. Think- ing that this was an evidence of the anger of the -Great Spirit for quarrelling with the whites, they very humbly begged forgiveness, and friendship was restored. When the winter was over the colonists embarked on board their vessels and sailed for England, taking with them the most unfavorable account of the country — its climate, resources and salubrity. They represented it as intolerably cold and sterile, and not inhabitable by the English nation. This unfavorable account of the country, together with the death of Chief Justice Pophara, greatly discouraged all those who had interested themselves in the undertaking, with the ex- ception of Sir Fernando Gorges, who was not to be daunted by any difficulties whatever. Where others saw nothing but sterility and misery, he looked confidently forward to the establishment of a prosperous colony. Read by the light of our present knowledge, his answer to those who ■objected to the coldness of the climate, sounds almost like prophecy. He says: "As for the coldness of the clime, I had had too much experience in the world to be fright- ened with such a blast, as, knowing many great kingdoms and large territories more northerly seated, and by many degrees colder than the clime from whence they came, yet plentifully inhabited, and divers of them stored with no better commodities for trade and commerce than those parts afforded, if like industry, art and labor be used." For several years he employed a vessel on the coast of Maine to trade and make discoveries at his own cost. Richard Vines had charge of this vessel, and he spent one winter with the Indians while the pestilence was raging among them with such destructive effect, that the living could not bury the dead; yet neither he nor any of the white men with him were attacked, though they slept in the same HISTORY OF ACADIA. 109 wigwams with many that died. Though Gorges obtained much useful information from his servants whom he thus employed, in regard to the country and its resources, he found that he could at that time obtain neither colonists to settle the territory, nor capitalists to advance money for such an enterprise. New England had to wait a few years longer for the advent of those indefatigable men who were destined to lay the foundations of that great and prosperous community, whose people now look back with reverence on their much honored "Pilgrim Fathers." For several years after the destruction of Port Royal by Argal, there is a blank in the history of Acadia, and one which it is now impossible to fill. Biencourt still remained in the country, and occasionally resided at Port Royal, and it does not appear that any considerable number of his people returned to France.* A languid possession of Acadia was still maintained, but under such circumstances that little or no improvement in its condition became possible. In 1619, a year of great civil and religious excitement in France, two trading companies were formed for the purpose of developing the resources of Acadia. One company was authorized to carry on the shore fishery, the other to trade with the savages for furs. Both compa- nies appear to have prosecuted their operations with considerable vigor. The fur traders established a post at the River St. John, as the most convenient dep6t for traffic with the savages. The fishery establishment was at Miscou, on the Gulf of St. Lawrence. To provide for the religious wants of the employes of the two companies, and of the colonists, who still remained at Port Royal, three Recollet Missionaries were sent to Acadia, where, in addi- * Louis Egbert, who had been the apothecary at Port Royal, appears to have returned to France, for he took his family to Quebec in 1617. 110 HISTORY OF ACADIA. tion to their stipulated duties, they did good service in the conversion of the natives. On the 9th November, 1620, the Pilgrim Fathers in the Mayflower came in sight of Cape Cod, and, after exploring the coast, concluded to settle their colony at Plymouth Bay. But as it was without the bounds of the charter of the South Virginia Company, from which they had a patent, and symptoms of faction appearing among the servants, they formed an association, by which they agreed to combine for the purpose of mutual protection and the maintenance of order, and submit to such govei'nment and governors as should be made and chosen by common consent. This was the first permanent settlement in New England, and through much hardship and suffering, it speedily attained a wealth and importance which none of the French colonies could boast. In the meantime the work of colonizing Canada had been going on under the direction of De Monts and Cham- plain. The latter took a number of colonists up the river St. Lawrence in July, 1608, and founded Quebec. The first permanent erection raised was a storehouse, and dwell- ings for the colonists were soon added. Champlain spent the winter with the colony of which he had the command, and he may be said to have devoted the remainder of his life to the colonization of Canada. But so slow was the growth of Quebec, that, in 1620, when Champlain erected a small fort there, the colony only numbered sixty souls. After the destruction of Port Eoyal by Argal, the English continued to assert their right to Acadia by virtue of its discovery by Cabot. The French who continued there were merely regarded as interlopers, whose presence, like that of the Indians, was simply tolerated for the time. The fact of a navigator in the service of England having HISTOEY OF ACADIA. HI seen its shores more than a century before, was considered by King James to have established his sovereignty over the country for all time to come. There was at the court of this pedantic monarch a Scottish gentleman, named Sir William Alexander, who claimed to be descended from Somerled, King of the Isles. He was a man of some tal- ents, and like King James himself, was ambitious of being known as an autlior. He had published a quarto volume of plays and poems, which are now utterly forgotten, and desired to turn his attention to the colonization of America. The King, who delighted in long pedigrees and anti-tobacco tracts, in compliance with his wishes, granted him a piece of territory in America, nearly as large as the kingdoms which he himself governed so badly. This grant was made in September, 1621, and embraced the whole of the Pro- vinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and the GaspS Peninsula. The territory granted was to be known by the name of Nova Scotia, and to be held at a quit rent of one penny Scots per year, to be paid on the soil of Nova Scotia on the festival of the nativity of Christ, if demanded. This chapter also endowed the grantee with enormous powers for the regulation and government of his territory, the creation of titles and offices, arid the maintenance of fortifications and fleets. In pursuance of his charter. Sir William Alex- ander, in 1622, equipped a vessel for the purpose of taking a colony to his new possession. By the time they reached Newfoimdland it was late in the season, and they concluded to winter there. In the following Spring they visited the coast of Acadia and entered Port Joli, where they intended to settle, but some unexpected difficulties arising, they re- solved to make discoveries and not to plant a colony ; and after remaining some time on the coast, they returned to Scotland in July. At that time the French were in pes- 112 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. session of Port Royal, and possibly that circumstance may have influenced the determination of the Scottish colonists. However that may be, it is quite certain that on that occasion no permanent settlement was made by Sir William Alexander's people, and for several years that fortunate grantee did nothing for Acadia beyond sending a vessel annually to explore its shores and trade with the Indians. In 1625 James I. died, and Alexander obtained from his son, Charles I., a confirmation of his grant of Nova Scotia, and, for the purpose of facilitating the settlement of a colony, and providing funds for its subsistence, an order of baronets of Nova Scotia was, created. It was to consist of one hundred and fifty gentlemen, who were willing to contribute to the founding of the colony, each of whom was to receive a tract of land, six miles by three, in Nova Scotia, which Alexander released to them in consideration of their aid in the work of colonization. One hundred and seven of these baronets were created between 1625 and 1635, thirty-four of whom had their estates in what is now New Brunswick, fifteen in Nova Scotia, twenty-four in Cape Breton and thirty-four in Anticosti. Creations to this order of baronetage continued to be made up to the time of the union between England and Scotland, the whole number of creations up to that period being upwards of two hundred and eighty, of which about one hundred and fifty still exist. This was a scheme which undoubtedly gave a fair promise of success, and which, if vigorously carried out, would probably have ended in the founding of a strong colony. But while Alexander was still hesitat- ing and confining his exertions merely to sending a vessel to trade on the coast, suddenly a war broke out between England and France. This war, which was undertaken ostensibly for the relief of the French Huguenots, but HISTORY OF ACADIA. II3 • which was in reality brought about by the intrigues and ambitious views of Buckingham, commenced early in 1627. During the same year Cardinal Eichelieu, then at the height of his power, formed an association for the purpose of colonization^ called the Company of New France. It consisted of one hundred gentlemen, many of them persons of much influence. Among the original members of this association were Richelieu himself, De Razilly and Champ- lain. They were bound by the act by which the Company was created to settle two hundred persons the first year, and at the end of fifteen years to augment the number of colonists to four thousand, every settler to be of French birth and a Catholic. Each settlement was to be supplied by them with three ecclesiastics. King Louis XIII., who took an interest in the undertaking, gave the Company two vessels of war, and the favor with which it was regarded by him, and the wealth and influence of its members, seemed almost to ensure its success. Twelve of its principal members received patents of nobility, the Company was allowed to receive and transmit merchandise of all kinds without paying dues, and free entry was given in France to all articles manufactured or produced in Canada. To these privileges were added the monopoly of the fur trade? of hunting, and of the shote fishery, and the power of gov- erning and ruling the country at will, and of declaring peace and war. Such was the organization which the bold and sagacious Eichelieu created for the purpose of engross- ing the trade of New France and creating a strong power there to overawe and check the English colonies. In Europe the war between France and England was conducted in a very languid manner, but more vigor was displayed in America. Indeed, the extreme feebleness of the French colonies exposed them to insult or destruction, H 114 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. and no man saw this more clearly than the person then in command in Acadia, Charles de St. Etienne, afterwards better known as the Sieur de La Tour. This extraordinary man, who is certainly the most notable character in Acadian history, had already experienced vicissitudes such as seldom mark the life of any one individual. His father, Claude St. Etienne Sieur de La Tour, was a French Huguenot, allied to the noble house of Bouillon, who had lost the greater part of his estates in the civil war. He came to Acadia about the year 1609, with his son Charles, who was then only fourteen years of age, to seek in the new world some part of the fortune he had lost in the old. He en- gaged in trading to some extent until the colony at Port Eoyal was broken up by Argal. After that unfortunate event, he erected a fort and trading house at the mouth of the Penobscot River, in Maine, of which he was dispossessed by the English of the Plymouth Colony in 1626. His son Charles allied himself with Bieneourt, who, driven from his colony, found a temporary home with the Indians. The two soon became inseparable friends. Bieneourt made the young Huguenot his lieutfenant, and in 1623, when he died, bequeathed to him his rights in Port Royal, and made him his successor in the government of the colony. It could not have fallen into better hands, for he was a man equally bold, enterprising and prudent. He pos- sessed resolution, activity and sagacity of no ordinary kind, and had that art — the most necessary of any for a leader — the art of winning the confidence of those with whom he was associated. About the year 1625 he married a Hugue- not lady, but of her family, or how she came to Acadia, nothing is known. She was one of the most remarkable women of the age, and lady de La Tour will be re- membered as long as the history of Acadia has any charms for its people. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 115 Shortly after his marriage, Charles de St. Etienne removed from Port Royal, and erected a fort near Cape Sable, at a harbor now known as Port La Tour. This stronghold, which he named Fort St. Louis, seems to have been chosen chiefly on account of its convenience as a dep6t for Indian trade. He was residing there in 1627, when the war broke out, and perceived at once that Acadia was in great danger of being lost to France forever. He addressed a memorial to the King, in which he asked to be appointed commandant of Acadia, and stated that if the colony was to be saved to France, ammunition and arms must be provided at once. He had with him, he said, a small band of Frenchmen, in whom he had entire confi- dence, and the Souriquois, who, to the number of one hundred families, resided near him, were sincerely attached to him, and could be relied on, so that, with their aid, he had no doubt of his ability to defend the colony if arms and ammunition were sent. His father, who then was return- ing to France, was the bearer of this commimication to the King, which was favorabjy received, and several vessels fitted out under the command of Roquemont and La Tour, with cannon, ammunition and stores for Acadia and Quebec. Scarcely had they reached the shores of Acadia when they were captured by an English squadron, under Sir David Kirk. La Tour was sent to England a prisoner, and Kirk, proceeding to Acadia, took possession of Port Royal, leaving a few men there in charge of the works, with instructions to prepare the place for the reception of a colony in the fol- lowing year. The whole number of vessels captured by Kirk at this time amounted to eighteen, with one hundred and thirty-five pieces of ordnance and a vast quantity of ammunition, quite sufficient to have put both Port Royal and Quebec in a respectable state of defence. While at 116 HISTORY OF ACADIA. Tadoussac, in July, 1628, Kirk had sent a summons to Quebec to surrender, but Champlain returned a defiant answer, and Kirk not being aware of its wretched condition postponed attacking it until the following year, contenting himself with cutting off its supplies. Had he attacked it then the place must have fallen immediately, for it 'only contained fifty pounds of powder, and was short of provi- sions. In 1629 Kirk again made his appearance in the St. Lawrence with a strong squadron, and summoned Quebec to surrender. This time there was no thought of resistance. The place was destitute both of provisions and ammunition, and Champlain had no alternative but to accept the favor- able terms offered by Kirk, who took possession of the place on the 29th July, 1629, and carried Champlain to England, leaving his brother, Louis Kirk, in command of Quebec. He was a lenient and popular governor, and most of the French colonists concluded to remain in the country. Early in the same year Lord James Stuart, with three vessels, had taken possession of a fishing craft on the coast, belonging to St. Jean de Luz, which he sent to Port Royal with two of his own, and with the third proceeded to Port aux Baleines* in Cape Breton, where he erected a fort, claiming that the territory belonged to Great Britain. He was, however, not allowed to remain long in peaceable pos- session of his new acquisition. Captain Daniel, who commanded a French war vessel, heard of the English fort, and immediately attacked and captured it, with its garrison. He utterly destroyed the fort, but erected another at the ^Murdoch conjectures this to have been St. Anne's Harbor, but a reference to Charlevoix's map of Isle Royale shows that it was the harbor immediately to the westward of the east point of Cape Breton, and within the island now called Puerto Nuevo Island, which is laid down on the map of Charlevoix " Portenove ou la Baleine." This harbor has now no name on the maps, and it is possible there may be no settlement there. It is about ten miles from Louishurg. HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 117 entrance of the Grand Cibou,* which he armed with eight guns and garrisoned with thirty-eight men. He then sailed for Falmouth, where he landed forty-two of his prisoners, and took the remainder — twenty-one in number, including Lord James Stuart — rto Dieppe. Thus it appears that the English were the first to recognize the vast import- ance of Cape Breton as a position which coinmanded the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but the French improved vastly upon the lesson thus taught them, and it was there that they made their last stand for the preservation of their power in Acadia. While this conflict was going on in America, all hostili- ties between England and France had been put an end to in Europe by a treaty made between those powers at Suza, in Piedmont, in April, 1629. It will thus be seen that Quebec had been captured after peace had been concluded, and that some work was still left for the diplomatists to arrange. Port Eoyal was in the possession of the English, and, with the exception of Fort St. Louis, at Cape Sable, they may be said to have had possession of the entire terri- tory of Acadia. When Charles de St. Etienne found that there was no prospect of help from France, he sum- moned all the French in Acadia into his fort, and put it in as good a posture of defence as his means would permit. He then calmly awaited any attack that might be made, confident that he had left nothing undone that it was in his power to do, to defend his post. La Tour, in the meantime, had been conveyed to Eng- land as a prisoner of war; but he does not appear to have remained long in that position. He became acquainted with 'Sir William Alexander, and was presented at court, *This is what is now called Great Brass d'Or, a corruption of Labrador. Fort Dauphin was afterwards built on the site of Daniel's Fort, or in its vicinity. 118 HISTORY OF ACADIA. where he was received Alpith favor. While in London he iningled much with his Protestant brethren who had fled from France, and no doubt his mind became greatly influ- enced by their strictures on the conduct of the King and Richelieu in breaking faith with the people of Rochelle. Whatever was the cause, he fell away from his allegiance to his native country. He married, while in London, one of the maids of honor to the Queen Henrietta Maria, and from that time he seems to have regarded himself as a subject of Great Britain. An extraordinary degree of favor was shown to him by the King ; he was created a baronet of Nova Scotia, his son received the same honor,* and on the 30th April, 1630, La Tour and his son Charles received from Sir William Alexander a grant of a tract of territory in Acadia, from Yarmouth along the coast to Lunenburg, and fifteen leagues inland towards the north, a grant which may be roughly estimated to contain four thousand five hundred square miles. This territory was to be held under the Crown of Scotland, and to be divided into two baro- nies, which were to be named the barony of St. Etienne and the barony of La Tour. The grantees were also in- vested with the power of building forts and towns, and with the right of admiralty over the whole coast, which was about one hundred and fifty miles in extent. So munificent a gift required some corresponding return on the part of the grantees, and, accordingly. La Tour under- took to plant a colony of Scotch in Acadia and to obtain *Tlie following is a list of baronets created, and of the places where they held, lands, from the creation of de La Tour to his son, inclusive : — 1629— November 30— sir Claude de St. Etienne Seigneur de La Tour, . . Nova Scotia. 1630— March 31— Sir Robert Hannay, of Uochrum, . New Brunswick. " AprilzO— Sir William Forbefl, of New Craigeivar, . . New Brunswick. " " 24— Sir James Stewart, Lord Ochiltree, .... ' New Brunswick " " 24— Sir Peirs Crosbie, . New Brunswick. " " 24— Sir Walter Crosbie, of Crosbie Park, Wicklow, . , . New Brunswick. *' May 12— Sir Charles de St. Etienne, Seigneur de St. Denlscourt, . Nova Scotia- HISTORY OF ACADIA. H9 possession of his son's fort of St. Louis for the King of Great Britain. Accordingly, in 1630, he set sail with a number of colonists in two vessels well provided, and he appears to have had no doubts as to his ability to carry out what he had promised. When the vessels arrived at Port Latour, he landed and visited his son at fort St Louis. But Charles de St. Etienne utterly refused to entertain for a moment the proposition made to him by his father to deliver his fort to the English. "When the latter endeavored to seduce him from his allegiance by relating the high consideration in which he was held at the English court, and the honors and rewards which he would receive if he would come under English rule, he replied that the King of France had confided the defence of the fort to his keeping, and that he was incapable of betraying the confi- dence which had been placed in him ; that however much he might value any honor or title bestowed upon him by a foreign prince, he would regard still more highly the approval of his own sovereign for having faithfully per- formed his duty ; and that he would not be seduced from his allegiance, even at the solicitation of a parent whom he loved. Overwhelmed with mortification, La Tour retired on board of his ship and addressed a letter to his son, couched in the most tender and affectionate language, and setting forth the advantages which they would both derive from pursuing the course which he desired his son to adopt; Finding this produced no effect, he tried to intimidate his son by menaces; and, finding these disregarded, and utterly driven to desperation, he disembarked his soldiers and a number of armed seamen, and tried to carry the fort by assault. The assailants were driven back with loss, and on the second day made another attack, but with no better success. La Tour was urgent for another assault on the 120 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. third day, but the commanding officer would not permit any more of his men to be sacrificed, and retired with them to the ships. La Tour was now in a most pitiable position and knew not which way to turn. He had made himself a traitor to his country, and he had broken his promises to the English. To remain with either was only to take a choice of evils, and the earth was not wide enough to enable him to escape from the anger of both. He, however, believed himself safer with the foreigners, whom he had deceived, than with his own countrymen, whom he had betrayed. He therefore went with the Scotch colonists, who retired to join their countrymen at Port Royal. Great as might have been La Tour's grief at this misadventure on his own account, it could not fail to be much increased by the reflection that he had made the lady who had be- come his wife the innocent sharer of his misfortunes. He told her, in touching language, that he had counted on introducing her in Acadia to a life of happiness and com- fort, but that he was now reduced to beggary, and, if she chose, he would release her from her painful position and allow her to return to her family. She replied in the noble, language of Ruth, telling him that she had not married him to abandon him at the first breath of misfortune, and that, whatever trials and troubles he had to endure, she would be willing to share with him. The colony at Port Royal, in which La Tour found refuge, had been established there in 1620 by a son of Sir William Alexander, and consisted chiefly of natives of Scotland. They had erected a fort on the Granville shore, opposite Goat Island, the site of Chamj)lain's fort. Very little is known of the history of the colony, and the little that has been preserved, is chiefly a record of misfortunes. During the first winter, out of seventy colonists, no less HiSTOEY OF ACADIA. 121 than thirty died, and the survivors seem to have had but little heart to withstand the rigors of another winter. The arrival of the vessels in which La Tour had come, with additions to their numbers and supplies, somewhat revived their drooping spirits; but there were dangers menacing the existence of the colony which neither their prudence nor their industry could avert. The attention of those people in France, who took an interest in the affairs of America, was directed to the capture of Quebec by the English in time of peace, and much indignation was expressed that such an outrage should be permitted. Strong pressure was brought to bear on the King to demand the restitution of this stronghold, and, as Richelieu was favorable to such a demand being made, Louis XIII. was easily induced to accede to their wishes. In the meantime the Company of New France re- solved to preserve what possessions still remained to them in America. Accordingly, in 1630, two vessels were fitted at Bordeaux by M. Tufet, a merchant and citizen of that town, and a member of the Company, with supplies, arms, and ammunition for the new fort at Grand Cibou, in Cape Breton, and for Fort St. Louis at Port La Tour. They had a long and stormy passage, and did not reach Cape Sable until late in the season, which was the more annoy- ing, as they had on board a considerable number of workmen and artizans for the purpose of forming^ a new settlement in Acadia, and three Recollet fathers to perform missionary services. Captain Marot, who had command of this expedition, brought Charles de St. Etienne a letter from M. Tufet, enjoining him to remain steadfast in the King's cause, and expressing the confidence which the Company had in his patriotism and firmness. It also informed him that the vessels contained arms, ammunition. 122 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. supplies and men, which were at his service, to build dwellings and forts wherever he deemed most convenient. St. Etienne was naturally much gratified at this illustration of the favor with which he was regarded in his native country, but he was much troubled on account of the con- duct of his father, who still remained at Port Royal with the Scotch. After consulting with Captain Marot, it was agreed that the best plan was to advise his father of the probability of Port Royal being given up by Great Britain, and to request him to return to Cape Sable, so that they might be informed of the numbers and intentions of the Scotch. La Tour very cheerfully complied with this invitation, and repaired to Cape Sable, where his son had a comfortable dwelling erected for the accommodation of his family and attendants without the walls of the fort. He brought the intelligence that the Port Royal colonists intended to make another attack on Fort St. Louis. A long consultation was then held, in which La Tour, St. Etienne, Captain Marot and the Recollet fathers took part, and the question as to what was the best course to be pursued was discussed in all its bearings. It was finally concluded to erect a strong fort at the mouth of the St. John River, where there was a powerful tribe of Indians, which would serve the double purpose of repelling the intrusions of the English in that direction, and would give the French at the same time command of the whole peltry trade of that vast tract of wilderness, which extended to the River St. Lawrence. La Tour was to superintend the erection of this fort, and continue in command until it was completed, while St. Etienne would still remain at Cape Sable, and resist any attack which might be made upon him by the Scotch. Captain Marot was to convey the workmen. HISTORY OP ACADIA. 123 arti2ans and their supplies to the mouth of the St. John, and the work was to be proceeded with at once. This plan was equally bold and judicious, and no time was lost in carrying it into effect. The workmen were conveyed to the St. John, and operations commenced with vigor, but as the proposed work was to be constructed on an extensive scale, but little could be done towards its accomplishment that season, and when another season had arrived, the political aspect of affairs appeared to render its immediate construction less necessary. The King of Great Britain seemed little disposed to resist the demand that had been made upon him for the restoration of Quebec and Acadia. The value of these possessions had not then been recognized either in England or France, and Charles I. was not willing to risk further difficulty with his most Christian brother, Louis, for the sake of such worthless acquisitions. Although he professed to regard the territory of Acadia as belonging to the Crown of England, and had granted it to one of his subjects who had partially colonized it, he meanly gave it up to France, when threatened that if he did not do so, four hundred thousand crowns of the portion of Queen Henrietta Maria would be retained. In June, 1631, he authorized his ambassador. Sir Isaac Wake, to conclude a treaty with the French King for the purpose of setting at rest all controversies, and in July informed Sir William Alexander, who, the year previous, had been created Earl of Sterling, that Port Royal was to be restored to the French, and the fort destroyed which the Scotch had erected. On the 29th March, 1632, the treaty of St. Ger- main-en-Laye was signed, one of its provisions being that Acadia should be restored to France. In" the meantime Charles de St. Etienne's patriotism and courage were recognized in France by the granting of a 124 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. commission to him, dated 11th February, 1631, by which he was appointed to command as the King's lieutenant- general in Acadia. Great activity was now displayed by the Company of New France, and, while the King invested his loyal subject with dignity and authority, the Company sup- plied him with ammunition and stores, that his commission might not prove a bootless honor, and sent a well-stocked vessel to Fort St. Louis in April 1631, with a letter con- firming, on the part of the Company, the command granted by the King. The fort, at Cape Breton was also supplied at the same time, but things had gone badly there, for Gaude, the commander, had basely murdered Martel, his lieutenant, although there were there two missionaries, fathers Vimont and Vieuxpont, whose teachings and exam- ple seem to have had no effect in bringing this barbarous commander to respect the proprieties of life. Thus ended the year 1631, a year which was remarkable as marking the termination of that period of apathy and neglect which had been so prejudicial to the interest of Canada and Acadia, and which had caused their shores to be comparatively deserted, while New England was being filled up with hardy and industrious colonists. CHAPTEE VII. ISAAC DE EAZILLy's COLONY. Agreeably to the treaty of peace, France proceeded to resume possession of those portions of her North American dominions which had been seized by England. The Com- pany of New France, then strong in wealth and numbers, and strong also in royal favor, had resolved to colonize Acadia, and to accomplish this, neither money nor labor was to be spared ; for the undertaking was not more for the profit of the Company than it was for the honor of the King. Isaac De Eazilly was the person selected to effect the restoration of the country to France. This commander, who had served as a captain in the navy at Eochelle, and who added to his titles as commander of the Isle Bouchard and commodore of Br6tagne, that of Knight Commander of St. John of Jerusalem, had likewise another claim to notice equally strong. He was a relative of the great Car- dinal Eichelieu, and stood high in his favor, at a time when to be the Cardinal's favorite was more than to be a favorite of the King himself. On the 27th March, 1632, De Eazilly entered into an agreement with the Company of New France, by the terms of which he was to receive from the Cardinal a vessel called L'esperance en Dieu, free and in sailing order, ready to receive hei* cargo, armed with her guns, swivels, powder and shot. He was to receive also the sum of ten thousand livres in ready money, in consideration of which he engaged to put the Company of New France in possession of Port Royal, without any further charges. He engaged also to 126 HISTORY OP ACADIA. fit out an armed pinnace of at least one hundred tons, and to carry out to Acadia three Capuchin friars, and such a number of men as the Company of New France should judge to be proper. On the 10th of May he received a commission from the King, authorizing him to cause the Scotch and other subjects of Great Britain to withdraw from Quebec, Port Royal and Cape Breton. A few days later he obtained from the Company of New France a grant of the river and bay of St. Croix, twelve leagues in front and twenty in depth, with the adjacent islands, including the Island of St. Croix, on which De Monts spent his first winter in Acadia. De Razilly was furnished also by the Secretary of State with letters patent of the King of Great Britain, under the great seal of Scotland, for the restitution of Port Royal to the French, and an order of King Charles to his subjects in Port Royal for the demolition and aban- donment of the place. De Razilly likewise carried with him a letter from Sir William Alexander to Captain Andros Forrester, who was commander of the Scotch colony at Port Royal, requiring him to deliver up that place to the French commander. Thus fully armed, with all necessary authority for carrying out his undertaking, De Razilly set sail for Acadia. He took with him a number of peasants and artizans to people the new colony, and in his train were two men, whose names are inseparably linked with early Acadian history. One of these, Charles de Menou, seigneur d'Aul- nay de Charnisay, became the life-long enemy of Charles de St. Etienne; the other, Nicholas Denys, after a life of adventure in Acadia, became its historian, returned to France, and died at a ripe age in the land of his birth. As soon as De Razilly arrived at Port Royal, it was surrendered to him by the Scotch commander, the fort HISTOKY OP ACADIA. 127 having been previously demolished. The Scotch colony was at that time in an extremely feeble state. Nearly half the colonists had died during the first winter, and, although subsequently reinforced, they were much discouraged and in no condition to persevere in the work of settling of Aca- dia. To most of them, therefore, the order for their return to their native land was most welcome. A few, however, decided to remain and cast their lot with the French who were come to occupy the country. These Scotch families who remained in Acadia became entirely lost amid the French population in the course of a generation, and so the name, and almost the memory, of Sir William Alexander's Scotch colony perished. De Eazilly did not settle his colony at Port Royal. Experience had taught the French that, great as were the advantages of that place, there were other points on the coast more favorably situated for the successful prosecution of the fisheries, and that was one of the main objects of the Company of New France. De Eazilly accordingly, after taking formal possession of Port Royal, went to La Have, and ^ere planted his colony. This place had long been known to the French fishermen, and it was admirably situated for carrying on the shore fishery. Its harbor was spacious and easy of access; a considerable river, which flowed into it, supplied a means of communicating with the interior of the peninsula, and the whole shore, to the east and west, abounded in fish. De Razilly's fort was erected at the head of La Have harbor, on its western side, on a little hillock of three or four acres, and was, like all the Acadian forts of that day, merely a palisaded enclosure with bastions at the four corners. Such a stronghold was then considered suflS:cient for all purposes, for the Indians were friendly, and the New England colonists were too 128 HISTORY OF ACADIA. weak to give the French in Acadia any concern. The fort at La Have was, therefore, but a sort of trading house, about which the habitations of the colonists might cluster, and it was entirely overshadowed in importance by the forts of Port Royal and St. John, which afterwards became the scene of so many warlike operations. De Razilly appears to have been moved by a sincere desire to establish a strong French colony in Acadia ; but to accomplish this object was a matter of no small diiBculty. The French, like the other Latin peoples, have never been possessed of that migratory spirit which has spread the Anglo-Saxon race over so large a part of the habitable globe, and they have always made indifferent colonists. It was, however, one of the conditions on which the privileges of the Company of New France had been granted, that it should supply Acadia with colonists, and it was necessary to make some effort to fulfil this part of the obligations imposed on the Company. De Razilly, in the first year of his settlement at La Have brought out to Acadia forty families from France, most of whom were cultivators of the soil, and they were settled about the fort on the indifferent and rocky land which surrounds La Have. There is reason to believe that for some years their main pursuit was the shore fishery, which was found more immediately profitable than the cultivation of the soil. La Have, and the coasts about it, abounded in such fish as cod, sturgeon, halibut, salmon, shad, alewives and herrings, and both De Razilly and Nicholas Denys, at that period, engaged in fishing operations on a large scale. Denys established a fishery at Port Rossignol, a harbor to the westward of La Have, and it would seem that De Razilly was interested in his opera- tions^ No doubt the new French commander in Acadia had discovered that it was more prudent to employ his HISTORY OF ACADIA. 129 colonists in those pursuits Avhich would yield an immediate return for their labor, rather than to engage in the arduous task of developing the agricultural wealth of an unsubdued continent. Whatever may have been De Eazilly's views upon the subject, it is at least certain that his colony of Frenchmen never took any strong root at La; Have during the years of its existence there. But weak as was the La Have colony, and uncertain as was its tenure of the soil on which it was placed, it must have looked strong and imposing to the distant colonists of New England, for it filled them with alarm. Governor Winthrop, in his diary, gives expression to the feelings of apprehension and distrust with which the planting of De Razilly's colony was viewed in Boston ; and he relates how he called the assistants to Boston, and the ministers and captains, and some other chief men, to advise what was best to be done for the safety of New England. At this meet- ing it was agreed that a plantation and fort should be forthwith begun at Natascott, that the fort at Boston should be finished, and that a plantation should be begun at Aga- wam, which was considered the best place in New England for tillage and cattle. Winthrop was apprehensive that if Agawam was left vacant much longer, it might fall into the hands of the French. No doubt there were some grounds for these apprehen- sions, for the French in Acadia often exhibited a capacity to annoy and injure quite out of proportion to their actual strength. In. June 1632, before De Razilly arrived in Acadia, an event took place which gave some indications of the spirit in which the treaty of St. Germain was likely to be interpreted by the subjects of France. A party of French came in a pinnace to Penobscot, where the New Plymouth colonists had established a trading house, after 130 HISTOKY OF ACADIA. La Tour had been dispossessed. The French pretended to have just arrived from sea, that they had lost their reckon- ing, that their vessel was leaky, and that they desired to haul her up and repair her. It happened that the master of the trading house and most of his men had gone to the westward for a supply of goods, leaving only three or four men to protect the fort. The French, seeing the weak state of the garrison, resolved to help themselves to the contents of the trading house, and, having overpowerd the few men in charge, loaded their vessel with their goods, which consisted of three hundred weight of beaver, besides trading stuff, such as coats, rugs, blankets, and biscuit, the whole valued at five hundred pounds sterling. The French did not injure or imprison the Englishmen in charge of the post, but when they had secured their plun- der, set them at liberty, telling them to carry to their master the insolent message, that some gentlemen of the Isle of Rh6 had been there. Governor Bradford, who gives a circumstantial narrative of this transaction, does not furnish the name of the French leader who rifled Penobscot, but states that he had with him a felse Scot, who acted as interpreter. It is highly probable that Claude La Tour was at the head of the party, and that he took this novel method of carrying out the treaty of St. Germain, and at the same time reimbursing himself for his losses at Penobscot, when it was taken from him by the English. It is clear that the treaty of St. Ger- main contemplated the restoration of Penobscot to France, but certainly not by the Corsair-like method adopted by the gentlemen from the Isle of KhL In their case one act of piracy led to others. While returning with the plunder of Penobscot, the French fell in with the shallop of an Englishman named Dixy Bull, who had been engaged in HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 131 trading to the eastward, and robbed him of his goods. Bull seems to have been so much discouraged by the ill success of his attempt to make an honest living by trading that he resolved to turn pirate himself. He gathered together fifteen other vagabond Englishmen, who were scattered about the coast east of Boston, and, seizing some boats, made a raid on Pemaquid, where there had been a small English settlement for some years. Bull rifled the fort there, and plundered the settlers, losing one of his men by a musket shot. He was finally chased away by a hastily organized force under Neale and Hilton from Piscataqua. This bold act of robbery excited great indignation at Boston, and a bark was fitted out with twenty men, under the command of Lieutenant Mason, to capture Bull and his gang. After a two months' cruise, however, they returned without having seen anything of him, and he appears to have escaped to England. This man was the first pirate known on the coast of New England. In the following year Charles La Tour took possession of Machias, where Mr. Allerton of Plymouth and some others had set up a trading wigwam, guarded by five men. La Tour dispossessed them, claiming Machias as French territory. Some resistance being offered, two of the English were killed, and the other three and the goods carried off to La Tour's fort at Cape Sable. Mr. Allerton afterwards sent a pinnace to I^a Tour to obtain the restora- tion of the men and the return of the goods which he had taken from Machias. But La Tour made answer that he took them as lawful prize, and that he had done so under the authority of the King of France, who claimed the whole territory from Cape Sable to Cape Cod. He desired Mr. Allerton's men to take notice, and to inform the rest of the English, that if they traded to the east of Pemaquid, 132 HISTORY OF ACADIA. he would seize them and their vessels. One of the English was imprudent enough to ask La Tour to show his com- mission, and he answered with some heat, that his sword was a sufficient commission where he had strength enough to overcome his enemies, and that, when that failed, it would be time enough for him to show his commission. Both men and goods were sent by La Tour to France, where the men were set at liberty, but the goods were adjudged to be lawful prize. La Tour's conduct in this affair shows that he was not merely acting the part of a freebooter, as some of the New England writers pretend,, but as the lieutenant of the King, and under a claim to territorial rights, which, however extravagant, was probably quite as good as any of the claims under which America was held at that period. This claim of the French King was enforced again in the following year (1635). M. De Razilly sent a ship to Penobscot under the command of his lieutenant, Charni- say, who had come to Acadia with him, three years before. The trading house at Penobscot, which had been despoiled of its goods by the French in 1632, was still kept up by the Plymouth people, and was as little capable of defence as it had been on the former occasion. Charnisay took possession of Penobscot without meeting with any serious resistance, and seized all the goods in the trading house, giving bills for them to the men in charge. He gave the men their liberty, but, before they departed, he shewed them the commission which he had from the French com- mander at La Have to remove all the English from the settlements as far south as the.Pemaquid. He bade them tell their people at the English plantations, that he would come the next year with eight ships and displant them all as far south as the fortieth degree of north latitude. At HISTORY OF ACADIA. 133 the same time he professed all courtesy for the English and n desire to live on the most friendly terms with them. Charnisay then proceeded to occupy the trading post and to strengthen its defences. The sequel showed that his pre- cautions were by no means superfluous. The Plymouth colonists were highly enraged at the insolence of the French and at the loss of their goods, and resolved to recapture Penobscot. They hired- a vessel named the Great Hope from her master, Mr. Girling, who undertook for a pay- ment of two hundred pounds to drive the French out. The Plymouth people also aided him with a bark and about twenty men.. When they reached Penobscot they found the French, who were eighteen in number, so strongly intrenched that, after expending most of their powder and shot in cannonading them, they were unable to make any impression on their works. This unexpected repulse ren- dered a change of policy necessary, and accordingly the Plymouth bark was sent to Boston to obtain assistance, Girling's ship being left to blockade the French in the meantime. The general court assembled at Boston, and agreed to aid the Plymouth people to drive out the French from Penob- scot, which all were satisfied was a measure essential to the comfort and safety of the New England colonies. But when it came to the discussion of details with the Plymouth people, there was found to be a wide difference of opinion as to the terms on which the aid should be granted. Mr. Prence and the redoubtable Captain Miles Standish, who were sent to Boston as commissioners by the Plymouth colony, contended that the removal of the French from Penobscot, was a matter which concerned all the English colonies, and in which they ought all to 'make common cause. They said that the people of Plymouth should only 134 HISTORY OF ACADIA. % be made to contribute their proper share of the cost of the removal of the French. The commissioners for the colony of Massachusetts Bay, on the other hand, refused to have anything to do with the expedition to Penobscot, except in aid of the Plymoutli colonists and at their cost. So material a difference of opinion made it impossible for the represen- tatives of the two colonies to come to terms, and the result was that the conference fell through, and the French were left in undisturbed possession of the mouth of the Penobscot river for many years. There were mutual jealousies, even at that early day between the people of Plymouth and the people of Massachusetts Bay, which prevented them from uniting in an undertaking which concerned both colonies in an equal degree. If one colony was more interested than the other, it certainly was that one which lay nearest to the French at Penobscot, and was, therefore, most likely to receive annoyance from them. Yet it was Massachusetts- which occupied that position, that refused to stir in the matter unless paid by the people of Plymouth. Could the people of New England have looked but a little way into the future, they would not have grudged the cost of an expedition to drive the French to the St. Croix. At this period, however, there was but little of that bit- terness between the people of New England and the French in Acadia which in after years distinguished their contests. Indeed, many acts of kindness on both sides are recorded in the annals of that time, one of which deserves mention, as it brings Charnisay into a more favorable light than he is generally shown in by the old chronicles. A pinnace belonging to Sir Richard Saltonsall, which had been sent out to Connecticut, was, on her return to England, cast away upon the Isle of Sable. The French upon the island treated the shipwrecked company kindly and sent them to HISTORY OF ACADIA. 135 De Razilly at La Have, who used them with great cour- tesy, giving four of their number a passage to France. The others, who preferred to return to New England, he furnished with a shallop to carry them back to Boston. While sailing carefully round the coast with their frail craft, they were obliged to put into Penobscot, which was just then being blockaded by Girling's ship. Charnisay, 'at such a time, might have been excused if he had shown some harshness to the countrymen of the people who were just then attacking him. But he displayed no such feel- ing, merely contenting himself with detaining them until Girling's ship was gone. He then forwarded them on their voyage to Boston, sending by them a letter to the governor of Massachusetts Bay, in which he, in courteous terms, gave expression to his feelings of friendship and esteem. Sir Richard Saltonsall's men were not the first English- men who were so imfortunate as to be cast away on Sable Island. In 1633 Mr. John Rose, a Boston man, lost his vessel, the Mary and Jane, on that inhospitable island de- sert, but made a pinnace out of the wreck in which he and his crew reached the mainland of Acadia. Rose saw more than eight hundred wild cattle on the island, and great numbers of foxes, some of which were black. The account he gave to the French of this island so tempted their cupidity that they resolved to go thither, and seventeen of them embarked in a small vessel for Sable Island, taking Rose with them as pilot. These Frenchmen built them- selves a residence, and proceeded to hunt the wild cattle, foxes and sea-horse, which abounded on the island. Rose returned to New England, but the tidings of his adventures soon spread, and in 1 635 two Boston men, named Graves and Hodges, organized a company to go to Sable Island for sea-horse and wild cattle. They went well provided 136 HISTORY OF ACADIA. with everything necessary for a residence there, carrying a portable house to dwell in, and other necessary articles. They found sixteen Frenchmen on the island, who had wintered there and built a little fort. They had succeeded in killing a few black foxes, but had slaughtered so many of the cattle that not over one hundred and forty were left. The Englishmen only succeeded in killing a few sea-horse, owing to the distance they had to travel in the sand to their haunts, and they were obliged to come away from the island at the very time when sea-horse were beginning to come ashore in the greatest numbers. They returned to Boston on the 26 th August, 1635. Two years later, twenty men went from Boston in a pinnace to kill sea-horse on Sable Island, but after cruising about for six weeks were unable to find it, and returned home. In September 1637, they set out again with more skilful seamen 'to renew their search, with the intention of wintering there. Nothing was heard from them for nearly two years. In March 1639 a bark was sent to Sable Island to bring them back, but was caught iu a tempest and wrecked there, and out of her timbers they made a smaller vessel, in which the men returned to Boston. They reported the island to be very healthful and temperate, not having lost a man in nearly two years, nor had any of them been sick. They had col- lected a great store of seal oil and skins, and some sea-horse teeth, but the loss of their vessel overthrew their hopes of profit from the venture. After this, the people of Boston sent out several companies of adventurers to Sable Island to hunt wild cattle and sea-horses, one company getting there in 1642 goods to the value of one thousand five hun- dred pounds. The wild cattle were soon all killed off under the pressure of so many attacks, and expeditions to Sable Island afterwards became unprofitable. The ances- HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 137 tors of the wild liorses which are still to be found on Sable Island, we may presume, were left there by some of the English or French adventurers who hunted on it during the first half of the seventeenth century. The internal history of Acadia for the four years between 1632 and 1636, does not present many points of particular interest. De Eazilly's colony of farmers and fishermen at La Have, and Charles La Tour's settlement at Cape Sable, were at first the only inhabited places in Acadia, but within these years the settlement at Port Royal was re-established, and, as has already been stated, in 1635 Penobscot was occupied by Charnisay, acting as De Razilly's lieutenant. This last, however, never was anything more than a forti- fied trading post with a small garrison. Several important grants were made by the Company of New France about this time. In 1634 this Company granted to Claude De Razilly, brother of the commander of Acadia, the fort and settlement of Port Royal in Acadia, together with the Isle of Sable and the fort and settlement at La Plave. This Claude De Razilly was largely engaged in the fishing business, and the operations which the French were conducting on Sable Island appear to have been for his benefit. The next grant of importance made in Acadia by the Company was a fitting reward for faithful service and loyalty to the King. Charles de St. Etienne, the sieur de La Tour,* who is described in the grant as lieutenant- general for the King on the coast of Acadia in New France, was granted the fort and habitation of La Tour on the River St. John, v.ith the lands adjacent, having a * Where La Tour is spoken of hereafter in this history, Charles La Tour is meant, Claude, the father, having taken no active part in the affairs of Acadia after the year 1635. 138 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. frontage of five leagues on the river, and extending ten leagues back into the country. The date of this grant was the 15th January, 1635, and during this year La Tour removed part of his establishment from Cape Sable to the Eiver St. John, where a fort had been commenced some years before. This fort was destined in after years to become the scene of some of the most stirring events in Acadian history. The work of the missionaries, which, during the English occupation had been abandoned, was renewed in 1633. In that year the monks of the Order of St. Francis, from the Province of Aquitane, returned to Acadia, and the missions on the St. John and at Miscou were re-established. Those pious fathers continued to retain the possession of this missionary field, and under their ministrations all the savages of Acadia, in the course of time, became Christians, at least in name. Those humble missionary laborers have had no historian to relate their privations and toils, and, unlike the Jesuits, they did not become their own annalists. It surely was not for an earthly reward that they con- demned themselves to spend their days among squalid savages in the deep recesses of the forest, -exposed to all the vicissitudes of savage life, discomfort, disease, hunger, and sometimes starvation. The zeal which could carry men so far in the path of duty, without complaining, must surely have been lighted from some more sacred flame than burns on any earthly altar. In 1636, Isaac De Ilazilly, in the midst of his plans for the colonization of Acadia, suddenly died, leaving the young colony without its leader and head. His death was a peculiarly severe misfortune, happening when it did, for his work was not finished. Had his life been prolonged, Acadia, instead of becoming for years a field of conflict for HISTORY OF ACADIA. 139 rival seigniors, would have settled into a tranquil, prosper- ous and growing colony. What was wanted in Acadia was a peaceful and industrious population, and neither the glitter of arms nor the splendor of titles could supply its place. The fabric of every nation's prosperity rests on the shoulders of the humble sons of toil, but they had nothing to induce them to come to Acadia, where little else was heard for years but the clashing of swords. The result was that during a period of nearly forty years, while New England was being rapidly peopled, scarcely a family was added to the population of Acadia. The English colonies grew daily in strength, and developed into the vigor of manhood, while Acadia remained always cursed with the weakness of a sickly infancy. CHAPTER VIII. CIVIL WAE IN ACADIA. When Isaac De Razilly died, his property and territorial rights in Acadia came into the possession of his brother Claude, who had been associated with him in fishing enter- prises on the coast. Charles La Tour was then settled at the mouth of the river St. John in his new fort, and his father, Claude, was holding for him his old stronghold Fort St. Louis, at Port Latour. The sieur d'Aulnay Char- nisay, was in possession of the fort and trading house at Penobscot,* which he was holding as a lieutenant-general for the King, mainly it would seem, for the purpose of resist- ing the encroachments of the English colonists who were pushing their settlements to the eastward. At that period, as we learn from a letter written in 1636 by Charnisay to the governor of Massachusetts Bay, the French claimed the country as far west as Pemaquid, and substantially the same claim was maintained sixty years later in Villebon's time. Charnisay was a relative of the deceased commander, De Razilly, and he seems to have been permitted by Claude, his brother and heir, to enter into possession of his estates immediately after Isaac De Razilly's death. The actual deed of transfer of Isaac De Razilly's possessions in Acadia was not given to Charnisay until 1642, but this was but the formal recognition of what was already an accomplished fact, for Charnisay long before that had been treating these * Called by the French Pentagoet. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 141 possessions as his own. One of his first acts was to take possession of Port Eoyal and to erect a new fort there, and as soon as this was done, he removed the majority of the La Have colonists to Port Eoyal, giving them lands on the banks of that beautiful river which flows through the gar- den of Acadia. He also brought out from France some twenty additional families of colonists, whom he settled at Port Royal, which thenceforth became the principal settle- ment in Acadia. Charnisay, however, had no desire to see Acadia peopled, and in colonizing Port Royal his motives were purely of a selfish character. Denys charges him with keeping the inhabitants of Port Royal in the condition of slaves, and not allowing them to make any profit from their labor. His great object and aim was to grow wealthy out of the fur trade, and of course, to enable him to maintain the small army of retainers necessary for its prosecution, it was more convenient that he should be able to obtain food for them in Acadia, so that a colony at Port Royal was almost essential to the success of his plans. But beyond that he did not go, and there is too much reason to fear that what his contemporaries said of pharnisay was true, that he was hard and haughty in character, that he was afraid of the country being inhabited, and that he was the means of entirely preventing the settlement of colonists in Acadia fqt many years. Acadia, large as it was, was not large enough for two such ambitious men as Charles La Tour and d'Aulnay Charnisay. The two were entirely dissimilar in disposition and character, and each saw in the other qualities which excited his resentment. La Tour, although trained in the hardest school of adversity, and although he had spent the better part of his boyhood and youth among the Indians, exposed to all the hardships incident to a savage life, had 142 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. all the qualities of a polished courtier and politician. Where he got that wonderful suavity of address which enabled him to gain the favor of all whose aid he sought, is perhaps a useless inquiry, for the school in which he was taught was not one in which such accomplishments were in vogue. Under happier auspices, and in a country where his talents could have had scope, Charles La Tour could scarcely have failed to make a conspicuous figure in hLs nation's history, but in Acadia the rugged might of nature neutralized his talents, and almost reduced him to the level of commoner men. He might, perhaps, have lived and died in obscurity, but for the misfortunes which have linked his name with one of the most romantic chapters in Acadian history. Charles La Tour's fort at the river St. John was a struc- ture of four bastions, one hundred and eighty feet square, and enclosed by palisades, after the fashion of that age. It was placed on the west side of the harbor of St. John, on a point of land opposite Navy Island, commanding at once the harbor to the south of it and a considerable stretch of the river to the northward. Here he dwelt in state, like a feudal baron, with a large number of soldiers and retain- ers in garrison, who, besides their martial occupations, were made useful in the Indian trade which he conducted. Here the painted savages, not only from the St. John and its tributaries, but from the rivers in the interior of Maifte, came to dispose of the furs which were the spoils of the chase. Here the yearly ship from France brought him goods suitable for the Indian trade, supplies of ammuni- tion, and such provisions as the wilderness did not afford. A welcome sight her arrival must have been to those exiled Frenchmen, as she came freighted with guerdons and memories of their native land. HISTOE:^ of ACADIA. 143 A rude abundance reigned at the board around which gathered the defenders of Fort Latour. The wilderness was then a rich preserve of game, where the moose, caribou and red deer roamed in savage freedom. Wild fowl of all kinds abounded along the marsh and intervale lands of the St. John, and the river itself — undisturbed by steamboats and unpolluted by saw mills — swarmed with fish. La Tour, as Denys informs us, had a stake net on the flats below his fort, where he took such abundance of gasperaux as sometimes to break the net, besides catching salmon, shad and bass. And so those soldier-traders lived, on the spoils of forest, ocean and river, a life of careless freedom, undisturbed by the politics of the world, and little crossed by its cares. Within the fort Lady La Tour led a lonely life, with no companions but her domestics and her children, for her lord was often away ranging the woods, cruising on the coast, or perhaps on a voyage to France. She was a devout Huguenot, but, although Claude La Tour had been of the same faith, Charles appears to have professed himself a Roman Catholic about the year 1632. Policy probably had quite as much to do with his profession as conviction, for he seems to have troubled himself little about points of theology, and was more concerned for the profits of the fur trade than the discussion of doctrinal questions. After the fashion of the times, and to show his conformity with the religion of the court and King, he usually kept a couple of ecclesiastics in his fort, one of whom frequently accompa- nied him on voyages along the coast. The difference of religion between the husband and wife, if any sincere difference really existed, seems never to have marred the harmony of their relations. He never attempted to make her conform to his professions of religion ; she remained 144 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. a Huguenot to the last, although the religion of his wife was one of the main charges brought against him by the enemies who sought his ruin. The diiferences between Charles La Tour and Charnisay seem to have commenced very soon after the occupation by the former of Fort La Tour at St. John in 1635. It is not necessary to enter into any minute examination of the causes of the quarrel, for nothing could be more natural than that men, situated as La Tour and Charnisay were, should have disputes. Both held large territories in Acadia ; both had commissions from the King of France as his lieutenants; both were engaged in the same trade. To complicate matters still further, Charnisay's fort at Port Royal was in the middle of the territory which had been placed under the government of La Tour, while the fort of the latter, at the mouth of the St. John, was in the territory which was under the government of Charnisay. Although the territory attached to this fort was only fifty square leagues in extent, it enabled La Tour to command the whole trade of the St. John river, which was then incom- parably the best river in Acadia for the fur trade. In fact, the trader who held the mouth of the St. John river was in a position to do most of the Indian trade from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Penobscot. It was impossible, therefore, that Charnisay could look upon the advantages possessed by his rival without jealousy, and, having some influence at the French court by the favor of Cardinal Eichelieu, he set himself diligently to work to supplant La Tour, who, having spent most of his life in Acadia, was comparatively a stranger in France. The first results of Charnisay's efforts at the French court were not very encouraging. They are embodied in a royal letter addressed to him on the 10th of February, HISTORY OF ACADIA. 145 1638. This document, which was signed by King Louis himself, after setting forth his desire that there should be a good understanding between Charnisay and La Tour, and that the limits of the places where each was to command should not be the subject of controversy between them, declared the will of the King to be that Charnisay should be his lieutenant-general on the coast of the Etchemins, " beginning from the centre of the firm land of the French Bay, thence towards Virginia," and that La Tour should be his lieutenant-general on the coast of Acadia, " from the middle of the French Bay to the Strait of Canso." Charni- say was told that he was not empowered to change any arrangement in the settlement at the River St. John, made by La Tour, who was to direct the economy of his people according to his judgment; and La Tour, on the other hand, was not to attempt to change any thing in the settle- ments of Charnisay at La Have or Port Royal. The fur trade was directed to be conducted in the same maner as in the time of commander Isaac De Razilly. Charnisay was further directed to redouble his care for the preservation of the places within the bounds of his authority, and to permit no foreigners to settle Avithin "the countries aud coasts of New France." This very plain and explicit statement of the wishes of the French king failed entirely in its object, for the very excellent reason that Charnisay's interests were altogether opposed to the arrangement which it contemplated. He soon found means to defeat it. The justice of a cause at that period in France had but little influence on its success or failure, and truth and integrity were of comparatively no account when balanced against that species of pressure which a person high in favor at court could bring against their possessor. Richelieu, although enfeebled with age. 146 '' HISTORY OF ACADIA. was still master of France, and to have influence with him was to be strong indeed. That Charnisay had much influ- ence with the great Cardinal is certain, but at this day it is not so easy to see precisely from whence that influence was derived. It has been conjectured that he was a relative, but that consideration might have had less weight with Richelieu than others which could be suggested. The con- nection of Richelieu with the Company of New France, and Charnisay's purchase of the territorial rights of the Cardinal's relative, Isaac De Razilly, would naturally bring him under his notice, and Charnisay seems to have lacked neither boldness nor perseverance in the pursuit of gain or of revenge. His father, who resided in Paris, and who is styled, in a document which still exists, " Councillor of the King in his state and private councils," no doubt was inti- mate with Richelieu, and probably did much to forward his son's interest at court, while La Tour had no agent at court, and no friends in France, except the men of Rochelle, who were the last sort of people likely to gain Richelieu's ear. It was not so many years before that he had been directing all his energies, backed by all the power of France, to the reduction of that rebellious city, and it was a still shorter time since he had issued the fatal edict which destroyed its independence for ever. The friends of La Tour in Rochelle were all Huguenots, and therefore doubly odious to the man who was the real master of France. La Tour, on his part, seems to have been quite unaware of the plans which Charnisay was laying to destroy him. Had he known that accusations of the gravest character were being preferred against him in France by the agents of Charnisay, he would certainly have taken some pains to set himself right before the government, for, weak as he was at court, Charnisay was no match for him in those HISTORY OF ACADIA. 147 accomplishments which make men successful courtiers. Ha,d La Tour been in France in the year 1640, he would no doubt have been able to maintain himself in the favor of the King, and his doing so at that time might have changed the whole current of Acadian history. But it was not fated so to be. While long and wordy documents, filled with accusations of treason and other crimes against La Tour, were being presented to Eichelieu, the man most vitally interested in those documents was quietly pursuing the ordinary routine of his life in New France. In that year he appears to have been in Quebec, for his name is still to be seen on the registers there as sponsor for the son of a Scotchman named Abraham Martin. The incident would scarcely be worthy of mention were it not for the fact that this Abraham Martin was the owner of the plains of Abraham, and gave his name to one of the most famous battle fields in the history of the world. His son, Charles Amador Martin, La Tour's godson and namesake, became a priest and a canon of the Quebec cathedral.* . In 1641 the long impending blow fell. On the 13th February of that year an order was issued by the King, directed to La Tour, commanding him to embark and return to France immediately, to answer the charges which had been made against him. A letter was likewise sent by the King to Charnisay, directing him that, if La Tour failed to obey the order of the King, he was to seize his person and make an inventory of his eifects. To accom- plish this, Charnisay was ordered to employ all the means and forces at his disposal, and to put La Tour's forts in the,hands of persons well disposed to the King's service. * Abraham Martin was pilot for the King on the St. Lawrence. His wife's name was Margaret L'Anglois. Their sod, Eu.stache, christened 24th October, 1621, was the first child born in Quebec of white parents. 148 HISTORY OF ACADIA. La Tour, in short, was at one blow to be stripped of his property, deprived of his liberty, and sent a prisoner to France. A few days after this order was issued, the King in council revoked the commission of governor which Charles La Tour had held for ten years — a commission which he had honorably won and manfully defended. To facilitate the carrying out of these orders against La Tour, a vessel, named the St. Francis, was sent by the King to Acadia to carry the deposed governor to France. This vessel appears to have reached Acadia early in August, but when the letters she carried were presented to La Tour, he utterly refused to obey them, stating that the orders of the King had been obtained by misrepresentation, which was, no doubt, perfectly true. His fort at St. John was in such a state of defence that Charnisay did not venture to attack it, and he was obliged to content himself with ordering his secretary, Capon, to prepare and forward to France the necessary papers, setting forth La Tour's refusal to embark in the St. Francis, and his disobedience to the King's orders in other respects. These papers were sent to France in the same vessel which was to have borne the proscribed La Tour. The mere disobedience of a royal order in a distant colony, which few people knew anything about, and still fewer cared anything for, would probably have passed with little notice, and might have been in a short time forgotten, but for the persevering conduct of Charnisay. He seems to have had very accurate information of the course of government in France, and he knew also that without assistance from France he could not hope to dispossess La Tour, who would doubtless defy the King's orders as long as he had force enough at his command to enable him to do so. A governor who had been maintaining himself in HISTORY OF ACADIA. 149 Acadia, by the aid of his sword alone, for so many years, was not likely to pay much heed to any of those documents which the legal gentlemen of Paris regarded as all-power- ful, and which, doubtless, were so where there was an army to enforce them. But a writ of ejectment served in Acadia required something more than the King's seal to make it effectual, where the man on whom it was to be served had a strong fort armed with cannon and a garrison of armed retainers at his command. Charnisay, therefore, towards the close of the year 1641, went to France to strengthen himself at court, and to obtain such material assistance as would enable him to effectually destroy his rival La Tour. La Tour was well aware that Charnisay had powerful friends at court and that he was not likely to rest quiet after one defeat, especially where he could make any action forward his own interest which might be taken by the government of France to vindicate its authority. La Tour therefore began to prepare for the struggle which appeared inevitable, and to enable him to do so successfully, it was necessary for him to call in some outside aid. His first thought seems to have been to obtain help from his neighbors of New England, with whom he was on good terms, and who had sufScient force to assist him effectually. Accordingly, in November, 1641, he sent a messenger to Boston to see what could be done there to aid his cause. This messenger, who was a Huguenot named Eochette, from Rochelle, had called at Pemaquid on his way and there left his boats. Mr. Shurt, the principal resident of that place, received him courteously and gave him a letter to Eichard Bellingham, the governor of Masachusetts Bay. Eochette proposed that the people of Massachusetts Bay should enter into a treaty with La Tour. The proposed treaty, as Win- throp informs us, was to embrace three points : first, liberty 150 HISTORY OF ACADIA. of free commerce; pecond, assistance against d'Aulnay Charnisay, with whom he had war ; third, that he might make return of goods out of England by the merchants of Boston. The first condition with reference to trade was immediately granted. The Massachusetts authorities ex- cused themselves from entertaining the other two, on the ground that Rochette had brought with him no letters or commission from La Tour. This might have been an excellent reason for not making any treaty whatever with Rochette, but why such an objection should be applied to two propositions out of three, is not so clear. If Rochette was a competent agent for La Tour as regards one condi- tion, he was certainly a competent agent with respect to the others. But causistry was a thing not unknown in New England at that time. However, Rochette, although he did not obtain all he asked, was most courteously entertained by the people of Boston, and, after remaining with them for some days took his departure again for Fort La Tour.. La Tour was so little discouraged by the refusal to treat with his messenger, Rochette, that in October of the follow- ing year (1642) he sent his lieutenant to Boston with a. shallop and fourteen men. He carried letters from La Tour to John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts. Bay, filled with compliments and desiring assistance from the people of New England against his enemy, Char- nisay. La Tour's people remained about a week in Boston, and were well treated by the hospitable New Englanders, but no measures were taken then to grant the assistance asked for, although there was no question as to the lieuten- ant's authority to treat on behalf of La Tour. "Winthrop records the fact that, although all these Frenchmen were Papists, they attended the Church meetings in Boston, and the lieutenant professed to be greatly affected at what he- HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 151 saw, and at the order which was kept in those solemn assemblies. One of the elders gave him a French testa- ment, with Marlorat's notes,* which he gratefully accepted and promised to read. Altogether, the intercourse between the Frenchmen and the people of Boston was of the most agreeable nature, and they seem to have parted with the best feelings towards each other. La Tour's lieutenant, while in Boston, became acquainted with several mercliants, and made proposals to them with regard to the opening up of a trade mth his master. The Boston merchants of that day were not wanting in enter- prise and boldness, and some of them immediately sent a pinnace to the St. John river, laden with suitable goods, to trade with the French governor. He gave them a very courteous welcome, and their trade seems to have been mutually satisfactory, for it was the beginning of a con- nexion with the Boston merchants which lasted as long as he remained in Acadia. He sent letters by them to Gov- ernor Winthrop, in which he related the state of the controversy between himself and Charnisay, and in which he thanked the people of Boston for the handsome manner in which they had entertained his lieutenant. On their voyage back to Boston the merchants stopped at Pemaquid, which was then a common place of call between Acadia and Boston. There they met Charnisay himself, who, learning that they had come from La Tour at St. John, took great pains to inform them that the latter was a rebel, and exhibited a copy of an order which he had procured in France for his arrest. Charnisay sent a printed copy of this order' of arrest to Governor Winthrop, and accom- *Marlorat was a French Protestant divine, who was executed at Rouen by the orders of Montmorency, after the capture of that city in 1562. Several of his tracts, which were chiefly commentatorial in their character, were translated into English. 152 HISTORY OF ACADIA. panied it with the threat that, if any of the merchants of Boston sent their vessels to trade with La Tour, he would seize them as lawful prize. This order of arrest was the result of Charnisay's voyage to France a few months before. It was dated the 21st of February, 1642, and was substantially a confirmation of the order which had been made just one year previous. It directed Charnisay to seize La Tour's forts ^nd person, and to send him to France as a rebel and traitor to the King. Without an armed force to carry it out, it was merely a dead letter, for La Tour was as little disposed as ever to give up his fort, even at the command of the King. Charnisay, while in France, had gone through the legal formalities of an arrangement which had been substantially executed long before, and secured a transfer to himself of all the estates which the late Isaac De Razilly had pos- sessed in Acadia. The deeds by ^\'hich this transfer was made were executed by Claude De Razilly, and were dated the 16th January, 1642. They conveyed to Charnisay both Isaac De Razilly'.s Acadian property and his rights in the Company of New France, the consideration of the transfer being the sum of fourteen thousand livres, which Charnisay agreed to pay in seven years. This wholly inadequate consideration for the transfer of such an enor- mous property, shows that it was then made for some other purpose than merely to confirm to Charnisay what he already possessed. The fact was, that Charnisay was sadly in need of money to enable him to equip a sufficient force to dispossess La Tour, and to obtain the sum he required, it was necessary that he should have a perfect title to his possessions in Acadia. Then, and at subsequent periods, he obtained on this property large sums from Emmanuel Le Borgne, the sums thus obtained amounting in 1649 to HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 153 the enormous aggregate of two hundred and sixty thousand livres, most of which was wastefully expended in an absurd crusade against a fellow countryman with whom he might have lived in peace ; for Acadia was large enough for both, and both might have been enriched by its trade had Char- nisay chosen to let La Tour alone, M-hereas, as matters turned out, both were ruined. The supreme effort which Charnisay was about to make for the destruction of his rival demanded abundant means, and money must have been liberally supplied, for it enabled him to arm and equip such a force as had seldom before been brought by any one private individual against another. jSTo less than five vessels and five hundred armed men were provided by him for this Acadian war, a force which, humanly speaking, should have been able to sweep everything before it, and to bear down any opposition which La Tour could offer. But while Charnisay was thus preparing for the conflict. La Tour was not idle. He sent Kochette to France to represent at Rochelle the desperate straits in which he was likely to be, and to obtain aid, if possible, to enable him to maintain himself in Acadia. Rochelle, although stricken down and deprived of its ancient privileges, was still the home of an energetic and wealthy Huguenot population, who hated the very name of Richelieu, and who were ready to befriend any who dared to resist his commands. The Rochellois seem to have embraced La Tour's cause with a warmth and heartiness which would be regarded as surpris- ing in modern times among men who have never felt the edge of a sword at their throats on account of their faith. It was enough for them to know that a persecuted brother in Acadia was in distress, and was in danger of being destroyed by an enemy, who was also the enemy of their 154 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. religion. They felt that they could do no less than rush to his rescue. Accordingly, they fitted out a large armed vessel named the Clement, loaded her with ammunition and supplies, and, putting on board of her one hundred and forty armed Eochellois, sent her to the aid of La Tour in Acadia. Thus was the civil war in that distant region fed on both sides from France, and swords were being sharp- ened at Rochelle and in Paris, destined to clash in fratricidal strife, and to be stained with blood needlessly spilt. Darkly and ominously the clouds of fate were gathering over Fort La Tour. CHAPTER IX. THE SIEGES AND CAPTUEE OF FORT LA TOUE. On the 12th June, 1643, the people of Boston were considerably amazed, and not a little frightened, at the sudden appearance of an armed French ship in their har- bor. She came in so unexpectedly and so swiftly that scarcely any one observed her until she passed Castle Island, when she thundered forth a salute which echoed over the little Puritan town. But it was not returned, because the castle was deserted, the General Court having, in a iit of economy, withdrawn the small garrison which had formerly held it, and so this French stranger had Boston at his mercy had his designs been hostile. As the vessel sped up the harbor a boat filled with men was seen to leave her side, and was rowed rapidly to Governor's Island, landing at Governor Winthrop's garden. The Governor and two of his sons came forward to meet the strangers, who proved to be La Tour and a party of his men. The Acadian governor was not long in explaining the cause of his visit. Early in the Spring his enemy, Charnisay, had suddenly made his appearance before Fort La Tour with two ships and a galliot, besides several small craft, manned by five hundred men. Being unable to carry the fort by assault, as he had hoped, he proceeded to blockade it, knowing that want of provisions would eventually compel La Tour to surrender. In the meantime the Clement from Rochelle, laden with supplies for the fort, arrived off St. John, but was unable to enter the harbor owing to the blockade. At ihis juncture La Tour, ever fertile in resources, bethought 156 HISTORY OF ACADIA. him of his Boston friends, whose trade he was beginning to cultivate. Accordingly, he and his wife stole silently out of St. John harbor in a shallop, under cover of the darkness, and boarded the Clement, which immediately set sail for Boston. They had been favored with a fair wind and had made a rapid passage, and they had taken a pilot out of a boat from Boston which they met at sea, leaving a Frenchman to supply his place. La Tour had now come to obtain such aid as M'ould enable him to return to his fort, which was sadly in need of the ammunition and provisions which the Clement contained. Governor Winthrop declined to give any pledge of .assistance, until he had conferred with the other magis- trates, but next day he called together such of them as were at hand, and gave La Tour a hearing before them. The captain of the Clement produced a parchment, dated the previous April, under the hand and seal of the vice- admiral of France, authorizing him to carry supplies to La Tour, who was styled in this document his majesty's lieutenant-general of Acadia. He also produced a letter from the agent of the Company of New France, addressed to La Tour, informing him of the attempts which Charnisay was making against him, and advising him to have a care for his own safety. In this letter, also. La Tour was called lieutenant-general for the King. These documents, being of later date than the order of arrest produced by Charnisay, satisfied Governor Winthrop that La Tour was still regarded in France as the governor of Acadia. The truth was that in France, in April 1643, the government was in a transition state. Richelieu had died four months before, and the sceptre was about to fall from the feeble hand of Louis XIII., who was stricken with a mortal disease. Some confusion in the various departments of the HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 157 administration was the inevitable result of such a state of affairs, and, in view of this the recognition of La Tour as governor of Acadia, even after the proceedings which had been (aken against him, is not so difficult to understand. Governor Winthrop and his associates accepted the docu- ments presented by La Tour as evidence that he stood on good terms with the Company of New France, and also with the French government. Therefore, although they could not grant him aid against Charnisay without the advice of the other commissioners of the New England confederacy, they gave him permission to hire such ships and men as were in Boston, so that he might return to Acadia with force enough to enable him to reach his fort in safety. La Tour, who had many warm friends among the merchants of Boston, lost no time in taking advantage of the permission thus granted to him. However reluctant the General Court might be to give active aid, the traders of Boston were shrewd enough to see the great injury which would result to them from the destruction of La Tour, and an increase in the power and importance of Charnisay. The former was friendly to the people of New England, and both willing and anxious to trade with them. The latter hated the New Englanders cordially, refused to trade with them, and omitted to take advantage of no opportunity of giving them annoyance. All their interests led them to support La Tour's cause, and had they done wisely they would have continued to sustain him to the end, notwith- standing the remonstrances of some very enlightened gentlemen among the Puritans, who were horrified at the idea of extending any assistance to a Papist. La Tour hired from Edward Gibbons and Thomas •Hawkins, of Boston, four vessels— the Seabridge, Philip and Mary, Increase, and Greyhound — with fifty-two men 158 HISTORY OF ACADIA. and thirty-eight pieces of ordnance. He also enlisted ninety-two soldiers to augment the force on board his ves- sels, and provided them with arms and supplies. Two years later La Tour was obliged to mortgage his fort in Acadia to Gibbons and Hawkins for the sum of two thous- and and eighty-four pounds to secure them for the money advanced for supplies in 1643, a large sum for those days, which will convey some idea of the ruinous character pf the strife which Charnisay and La Tour were waging against each other. The terms on which the ships were hired do not seem to have contemplated their participation in any offensive operations. They were required to go as near to La Tour's fort as they could conveniently ride at anchor, and to join with the Clement in the defence of themselves and of La Tour against Charnisay's forces in case they should unjustly assault or oppose La Tour on his way to his fort. Any further assistance was to be a matter of mutual agreement between La Tour and the agent of the owners of the ships, who was to accompany the expedition. No doubt the wily Frenchman thought that, in case of a conflict in which the English vessels took part against Charnisay, they would forget the strict terms of the agree- ment and assist him in annihilating his enemy. The result proved that he was not far wrong in his calculations. But a more formidable danger than even Charnisay's forces menaced La Tour's enterprise in its very inception. The news of the doings at Boston had been spread far and wide throughout New England, and had excited in some quarters great alarm. Thomas Gorges wrote from his home in Piscataqua to warn Governor Winthrop of the danger into which he was leading the colony by taking sides against Charnisay. He represented that the latter had long waited, at a charge of eight hundred pounds a month, to HISTOKY OF ACADIA. 159 destroy La Tour, and that, if his hopes were frustrated by the people of New England, he would seek satisfaction. Mr. Endicott, afterwards Governor of the colony, wrote from Salem ^o express his fears at the Governor having anything to do with "these idolatrous French." Many others, whose names Winthrop does not record, joined in these remonstrances against giving aid to La Tour ; several ministers referred to the matter in their sermons, and one even went so far as to prophecy from his pulpit that because of this alliance with the French governor the streets of Boston would yet run red with blood. It became neces- sary for Governor Winthrop to write and publish the true state of the proceedings between himself and La Tour, which seemed to be much misunderstood. Finally, to give all parties a chance to be heard, the Governor appointed another meeting, to which all the magistrates, deputies and elders were invited, and tlie whole matter was again fully debated. The Puritans regarded the Old Testament as a safe guide in matters of public policy, and the arguments against and in favor of giving aid to La Tour were all drawn from its pages. One party endeavored to show by the examples of Jehoshaphat, Josias and Amaziah, that it was wrong for righteous men to be associated in any way with the ungodly. The other side contended as stoutly that the censure on those kings for aiding the wicked only applied to the par- ticular instances under which it was given, and could not be applied to every case, or it would be unlawful to help any wicked man in any case, even though he were a brother or a father, and in danger of losing his life. These and other arguments — some of which strike the modern reader as being rather sophistical — engaged the attention of the meeting for the better part of a day ; but the friends of La 160 HISTORY OP ACADIA. Tour seem to have had the best of the argument, for the former decision to permit him to hire ships and men in Boston was hot interfered with, and the expedition intended for the relief of his fort was allowed to proceed. La Tour, with his fleet of auxiliaries, set sail from Boston on the evening of the 14th of July, parting on the best of terms with the chief men of the town, who accompanied him to his boat. He had made himself so agreeable to all that he had entirely disarmed those who at first were jealous of his presence, and as he sailed away, he carried with him the best wishes of the people. The quest upon which he had gone was one of danger and difficulty, and, as if to mark it with this character from the very outset, his flotilla sailed out of Broad Sound, where, as Winthrop tells us, no vessels of such tonnage had gone before. But there was reason for haste, for Fort La Tour had all this time been blockaded by the ships of Charnisay, who looked forward to a speedy triumph over his rival. He did not dream that La Tour had escaped from his grasp, and was organ- izing a force to overwhelm him. When La Tour's fleet of five ships and a pinnace came in sight of St. John, Charnisay seems for the first time to have suspected the truth. His vessels were lying beside Partridge Island, but he did not M'ait to measure his strength against his enemy, but hoisted sail and stood right home for Port Royal. La Tour pursued, but Charnisay got his vessels into Port Royal Basin in safety, and ran them aground opposite his mill. He and his men then betook themselves to the shore, and commenced to put the mill in a posture of defence. Captain Hawkins, who com- manded the New Englanders, sent a messenger ashore with a letter which Governor Winthrop had addressed to Char- HISTORY OF ACADIA. 161 nisay. This letter was a sort of apology for the presence of the Boston people in aid of La Tour, and professed a, desire to bring about a reconciliation between him and Charnisay ; but the latter refused to open it because it did not address him as lieutenant-general for the King in Acadia. He exhibited the original of the order of arrest against La Tour, and sent Captain Hawkins a copy of it, but refused to come to any terms of peace. The messenger reported that there was great terror and confusion among the French, but that all, friars included, were putting forth their best efforts to fortify themselves. La Tour, upon this, urged Captain Hawkins to send a force ashore to attack his enemy. Hawkins refused to give any orders to his men, but signified that any who chose tO' go ashore with La Tour might do so. About thirty of the New Englanders took advantage of this permission, and the united force attacked Charnisay's position, driving his men from the mill where they had fortified themselves. Three of Charnisay's men were killed and one prisoner taken in the mill. La Tour had three men wounded, but the New Englanders suffered no loss. The Boston vessels then returned to Fort Latour, which had been so sud- denly freed from its perilous blockade. While they were lying there a pinnace belonging to Charnisay felj into theii' hands. This craft was laden with four hundred moose and four hundred beaver skins, and was, therefore, a valu- able prize. The booty was divided between the crews and owners of the Boston vessels and La Tour — for Captain Hawkins, although unwilling to fight against the enemies of La Tour, was quite ready to rob them where it could be done without danger. When the time for which the ships had been hired was nearly expired, they were paid off by K 162 HISTORY OF ACADIA. La Tour,* and returned to Boston, which they reached on the 20th of August, having been absent but thirty-seven days. They had certainly made good despatch, and their return without loss was fortunate; but the elders were offended and grieved at some of their actions, especially at their piratical, seizure of Charnisay's pinnace. They saw readily enough that such an act would provoke the enmity of the revengeful Frenchman, who was none too well disposed toward the people of Boston at any time, and who would now have a substantial grievance against them. They had, in fact, done either too much or too little. They should either have remained neutral in the war between Charnisay and La Tour, or, having taken any part in it, they should have given the latter such effectual aid as would have enabled him to destroy his rival. As it was, Charnisay was more resolute than ever to com- pass the object upon which he had set his heart. As a preliminary to further proceedings, he commenced the erection of a new fort at Port Royalf which would be capable of making a good defence in case he should again be attacked. As soon as it was fit for occupation he set sail for France, to protect his interests at the French court and to obtain further aid against La Tour. While in France he heard- of the arrival there of the person whom he hated above all others. This was the lady La Tour, who had gone to Rochelle to further her husband's interests there and to procure supplies for the fort. A generous rival would have seen in her a noble and devoted wife *Winthrop says that the pinoace went up the St. John river some twenty leagues and loaded with coal. This statement shows that the coal mines of Queen's County were known and worked at a very early period. t Winthrop is the authority for this statement. Although It is scarcely suscepti- ble of proof, I assume that Charnisay's old fort was on the site of that of Champlain, opposite Goat Island, and that the new fort was huilt on the site of the now ruined fortifications of Annapolis. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 163 -whose heroic constancy deserved his respect ; but Charnisay had nothing generous in his nature to any that bore his great enemy's hated name. He procured'an order for the arrest of the lady La Tour on the ground that she was, equally with her husband, a traitor to the King. Fortu- nately she had friends, who forewarned her of the danger which impended, and before the order could be executed she fled to England, which, even in those days of civil war, was a safer retreat for a Huguenot lady than France. In England she found friends, and by their aid was able to communicate with her husband, and inform him of the danger he was in from Charnisay. As for herself, she lost no time in freighting a ship from Loudon with provisions and munitions of war for Fort Latour, and had the energy of those on whom she relied for service been equal to her own, would doubtless have reached it in time to ward ofi^ any attack which might threaten. La Tour, bereft of his wife's counsel and companionship, and oppressed with the sense of coming disaster, waited wearily by the shores of the St. John for her return. Months passed, but still she came not, and then, almost despairing of her safety, and perplexed by a hundred doubts and fears, he started for Boston, where he arrived in July, 1644. John Endicott was then the Governor of Massachusetts, and La Tour speedily made. known to him the difficulties with which he was surrounded, and besought his aid. The Governor appointed a meeting of the magis- trates and elders of Boston, before which the distressed Frenchman appeared, and made known his case. He was careful to give due prominence to his father's grant of territory in Acadia from Sir William Alexander, and to assert his long possession of that territory and of Fort La- tour. The men of Boston were impressed by the strength 164 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. of his case. Most of the magistrates and some of the elder* were clear that he should be relieved, both on the ground of charity, as a distressed neighbor, and also in point of pru- dence, so as to root out, or at least weaken, such a dangerous- neighbor as Charnisay. But as many of the elders were absent, and, as three or four of the magistrates dissented, it was agreed that the rest of the elders should be called in,, and that another meeting should be held at Salem to discuss the matter further. At this second meeting, after much disputation, it was found that some of the magistrates and elders still remained unwilling to aid La Tour, and the majority who favored him were indisposed to take action without the consent of all. This being so, a third method was suggested, to which, as it involved no risk, all gave a ready assent. This was simply to send a letter of remon- strance to Charnisay. In this letter very little was said about La Tour or his wrongs, but a great deal was said against Chariiisay's interference with the merchants of Boston, who had gone to Fort Latour to trade. Some apologies were made for the coudnct of those who had gone from Boston to aid La Tour the previous year, and satis- faction was demanded for the taking of Penobscot by Charnisay, an event which had occurred eight years before. The grim Frenchman, if he had any sense of humor at all, must have smiled at the perfunctory manner in which La Tour's New England friends were pleading his cause. Such a letter was, in fact, an invitation to him to proceed to all extremities against La Tour, for it showed that the latter had nothing further to hope for from the people of Boston. La Tour, however, had to be satisfied with what he had obtained, and on the 9th September he left Boston, where he had spent two months to very little purpose. It was training day, and all the train bands made a guard for him HISTORY OF ACABIA. 165 to his boat, and as his ship sailed out of the harbor he was saluted by all the English vessels lying at anchor. He was accompanied by a Boston vessel, laden with provisions, and here fortune, which had sometimes proved adverse, favored him, for Charnisay, with an armed ship was cruising off Penobscot, and waiting to capture him. Had La Tour gone forward with the fair wind with which he left port, he would surely have fallen into the hands of his enemy, but he delayed at several places by the way, until Charnisay concluding he had escaped, put into port, and then he passed on unmolested to Fort Latour. Scarcely had the white sails of La Tour's vessels sunk on the eastern horizon when a stout ship from London came sailing into Boston harbor. She had been fitted out by Alderman Berkley and Captain Bailey, and she brought among her passengers Roger Williams, the founder of the Providence plantation. But her chief passenger was that heroic and devoted wife, whose memory will never perish from Acadian history, the lady La Tour. They had left England six months before, and their destination was Fort Latour, for which they had a cargo of goods. But the master of the vessel spent so much time in trading by the way, that they did not reach Cape Sable until September, and as soon as they got into the Bay of Fundy they fell in with one of Charnisay's vessels, which was cruising to intercept and capture them. The master of the ship was forced to hide the lady La Tour and her people in the hold and to conceal the identity of his ship, which he pretended was bound direct to Boston. Charnisay, who little sus- pected how great a prize he had in his hands, let the vessel go, merely contenting himself with sending a civil message to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he professed bis desire to be on good terms with the people of that 166 HISTORY OF ACADIA. colony, and expressed his intention to communicate further with them with regard to his differences with La Tour^ The vessel was therefore obliged to abandon her voyage to Fort Latour and go to Boston instead. This change in the voyage, added to the unreasonable delay which had already taken place, was a great loss and inconvenience to- the lady La Tour, and she sought her remedy by bringing an action on the charter party against the persons who freighted the ship. The cause was tried at a special Court- in Boston before all the magistrates and a jury of the princi- pal men who gave her a verdict of two thousand pounds, damages. On this judgment she seized the cargo of the ship, which was appraised at eleven hundred pounds, and hiring three vessels in Boston to convoy her home, at length arrived safely at Fort Latour, to the indescribable relief of her husband, who had almost despaired of her safety. She had been absent from him more than a year. While the lady La Tour was still in Boston a messenger arrived from Charnisay in the person of Monsieur Marie,, whom the men of Massachusetts supposed to be a friar,, although he was attired like a layman. He was accom- panied by ten men, and brought letters of credence and a. commission from Charnisay. The object of his mission was to prevent the people of New England from giving any further aid to La Tour, and to obtain, if possible, their assistance for his master against the truculent Frenchman who persisted in holding Fort Latour against the mandate of the King himself. Marie had with him a commission from the King, under the great seal of France, with the privy seal annexed, in which the former proceedings against La Tour were verified, and in which he was con- demned as a rebel and a traitor. Attached to this was an order for the apprehension of La Tour and his lady, the HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 167 latter, among her other crimes, being charged with having fled out of France against the special order of the King.* M. Marie, after exhibiting these documents, complained of the aid given to La Tour in the previous year, and proffered terms for a league of peace and amity. He also proposed that the people of Massachusetts should assist Charnisay against La Tour, or, at all events, that they should give the latter no further aid. The magistrates said that some of the ships and many of the men which La Tour had em- ployed to aid him were strangers to them, and that none of them had any commission from them nor any permission to commit any acts of hostility. They urged strongly that Charnisay should become reconciled to La Tour. Marie replied to this that if La Tour would voluntarily submit and come in, he would assure him of his life and liberty, but if he was taken, he was sure to lose his head in France, and, as for his lady, she Avas known to be the cause of his contempt and rebellion, and therefore Charnisay was re- solved to capture her to prevent her from reaching her husband. The end of these negotiations was that an agreement was made between the governor and magistrates of Massachusetts on behalf of the colony, and M. Marie, on behalf of Charnisay, governor and lieutenant-general for the King of France in Acadia. This document, which was signed on the 8th October, 1644, mutually bound tlie people of Massachusetts and Charnisay to keep iirm peace * Among the documeuts preserved by tlie Menou family are letters from Char- nisay, charging lady La Tour with being of low origin and dissolute manners. The most infamous charges are made against La Tour himself. One memoir preserved by the Menou family says: "After the death of Bieneourt La Tour lived a. wandering life in the woods with eighteen or twenty followers, mingling with the Indians, leading licentious and infamous lives, like brutes, without any exercise of religion, not even causing their children, born of Indian women, to be baptized ; on the contrary, abandoning them to their mothers, as they still continue to do." As Charnisay was not in Acadia at the time of which he writes, nor for years afterwards, he probably drew on his imagination for most of his facts. 168 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. with each other. It made it lawful for all persons, both French and English, to trade with each other, the people of Massachusetts reserving the right to trade with any other persons they chose, whether French or not, wherever they dwelt. This agreement, it ^rill be observed, effectually prevented the Massachusetts people from giving any open aid to La Tour, but it did not hinder them from trading with him. The main advantage which most of the magis- trates saw in it was that it freed the colony from the fear that Charnisay would take revenge on them for the harm he had sustained from the force which went from Boston to aid La Tour the year before. Marie, having finished his business with great despatch, left Boston the same evening, two days before the lady La Tour set sail for her fort. No doubt his haste was partly due to the hope of giving Charnisay warning in time to enable him to intercept her; if so, it was a delusive hope, for long before the commis- sioner reached his master, the lady La Tour was safe within her fort at St. John. When Charnisay heard that the' lady La Tour had escaped from Boston and arrived at Fort Latour, his rage was boundless. The treaty of peace which his agent had made with the people of Massachusetts seemed to hirn but a poor equivalent for the escape of his most hated enemy from his vengeance. He wrote a most angry and insulting letter to the governor of Massachusetts, in which he charged the people of that colony with being responsible for her escape, and he wildly threatened them with the vengeance of his master, the King of Franc*. The cheeks of the stern Puritan governor burned with anger as he read this menacing epistle, in which the honor of the magistrates was called in question and the whole colony insulted in their persons. HISTORY OP ACADIA. 169 Charnisay soon had an opportunity of proving in a prac- tical manner how much he was provoked. La Tour had gone to Boston early in the winter for supplies for his fort, and sent forward a small vessel to Fort Latour, laden with provisions. Charnisay — who was cruising off the mouth of the St. John to intercept La Tour — captured this craft, and turned her crew, all of whom were English, upon Partridge Island, in the midst of deep snow, without fire, and with only a sorry wigwam for their shelter. He kept them there ten days, and then gave them an old shallop in which to return home. But he took from them most of their clothes, and refused them either gun or compass, so that they had neither the means to defend themselves nor to navigate the seas in safety. They, however, contrived to reach Boston, where the ill treatment they had received provoked great indignation. A vessel was immediately despatched to Charnisay, with letters from Governor Endi- cott, remonstrating against, the gross breach of the treaty which he had committed, and likewise answering the charges which he had made in his letter, relative to the aid given to the lady La Tour. The Puritan governor de- clared with spirit that his people were not to be coerced by threats, and that, while they did what was right according to their consciences, they did not fear even the vengeance of the King of Prance. For even should he attempt to destroy them, New England had a God who was able to save and who would not forsake His servants. When this pious letter was delivered at Port Royal to Charnisay, he was already in a most unamiable temper, and it added fuel to his anger. He told the messenger, Mr. Allen, that he would return no answer, nor would he permit him even to enter his fort, but he lodged him in his gunner's house without the gate. He, however, treated him 170 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. with no personal discourtesy, for he went daily to dine and sup with him, thereby giving him to understtind that it was simply as the bearer of Governor Endicott's letter that he was unwelcome. At length, after some delay, he wrote an answer to the Massachusetts governor in very high language, requiring satisfaction for the burning of his mill in 1643 by the New England auxiliaries of La Tour, and threaten- ing revenge in case his demands were not granted. Charnisay indeed had some reason to be angry, for he had just met with a most disastrous and humiliating defeat. At the very time when the crew of the Boston vessel, whom he had put on Partridge Island were maintaining an arduous struggle against cold and hunger, two friars hailed his ship from the mainland and asked to be taken on board. The lady La Tour had discovered that these men were plotting against her and in league with Charnisay, and, instead of hanging them as spies and traitors as she might have done, she contented herself with simply turning them out of the fort. When they were received on board Charnisay's vessel they told him that his opportunity for vengeance had come. They said that La Tour was absent, that his fort contained but fifty men, that there was but little powder in the fort, and that little much decayed, and that he might easily capture the place. Filled with high hopes of triumph, Charnisay entered the harbor of St. John and ranged his vessel in front of Fort Latour, in the expectation of seeing the flag which waved above it hauled down at his sum- mons. But he was grievously disappointed. The lady La Tour had an heroic soul, and was not disposed to yield without a struggle. She inspired her little garrison with a spirit equal to her own. From one of the bastions she directed the attack on Charnisay's ship, and a fierce cannon- ade commenced which resulted disastrously to the besiegers. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 171 Their vessel was so vigorously assailed by 'the ordnance of the fort, and so much shattered, that, to keep her from absolutely sinking beneath them, Charnisay's men were obliged to warp her ashore behind a point of land where she was safe from the guns of the fort. Twenty of the besiegers were killed and thirteen wounded in this affair, which terminated in a manner so different from Charnisay's expectations. This repulse took place in February, 1645, and in the following April Charnisay again attacked Fort Latour — this time from the l^nd side. Unfortunately it stood in no better position for defence than it was in before, and La Tour was still absent in Boston, unable to reach his fort owing to the armed cruisers with which Charnisay watched the Bay of Fundy, and denied any aid from the people of New England, who had formerly assisted him; >» Fortune, which for years had alternately frowned and smiled on the proscribed Governor of Acadia, now seemed to avert her face; the shadow of destiny was upon him, and in a little while he was to be deprived of all his possessions, and of those who were far dearer to him than any earthly treas- ures. How strange were the fortunes of this man, whose whole life reads like a romance, who made ordinary men the pliant instruments of his will, whose spirit no adverse fate could subdue, and who, although apparently crushed to the earth, lived to triumph over all his enemies! It was on the 13th April, 1645, that Charnisay began his last attack on Fort Latour. The lady La Tour, although hopeless of making a successful resistance, resolved to defend her fort to the last. For three days and three nights the attack proceeded, but the defence was so well conducted that the besiegers made no progress, and Charnisay was compelled to draw off his forces with loss. 172 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. Treachery finally accomplished what force could not effect. Charnisay found means to bribe a Swiss sentry who formed one of the garrison, and on the fourth day, which was Easter Sunday, while the garrison were at prayers, this traitor permitted the enemy to approach without giving any warning. They were already scaling the walls of the fort before the garrison were aware of their attack. The lady La Tour, in this extremity, opposed the assault at the head of her men, and repulsed the besiegers with so much vigor that Charnisay — who had lost twelve men killed and many wounded — despaired of taking the fort. He therefore proposed terms of capitulation, offering the garrison life and liberty if they would consent to yield. The lady La Tour knew that successful resistance was impossible, and she desired to save the lives of those under her command. She therefore accepted the terms which Charnisay offered, and permitted him to enter the fort. No sooner did he find himself in possession of the place, to the capture of which all his efforts had for years been directed, than he disclosed the full baseness of his nature. He caused all the garrison, both French and English, to be hanged, except one man, to whom he gave his life on the dreadful condi- tion that he became the executioner of his comrades in arms. But even the murder of these poor soldiers did not satisfy Charnisay's desire for vengeance. No doubt he would have assassinated the lady La Tour also, had he only dared, but the court of France, venal as it was, would scarcely have tolerated such an outrage as that. But he did what was almost as bad. He compelled the heroic lady to be present at the execution of her soldiers, with a rope round her neck, like onje who should have been executed also, but who by favor had been reprieved. But it mattered little to her what further plans of vengeance her great HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 173 enemy might design ; they had little power to touch her. Her great heart was broken. She was severed from the husband, to whose fortunes she had been so faithful, and could scarcely hope to see his face again, except as a captive like herself. She felt that her work in life was done, for she was not born for captivity. So she faded away, day by day, until her heroic soul left its earthly tenement, and in three weeks from the time when she witnessed the capture of her fort, she was laid to rest by the banks of the St. John, which she loved so well, and where she had lived for so many years. Thus died the first and greatest of Acadian heroines — a woman whose name is as proudly enshrined in the history of this land as that of any sceptred Queen in European story. As long as the sons and daughters of this new Acadia take an interest in their country's early history, they will read with admiration the noble story of the constancy and heroism of the, lady La Tour. This noble wife and mother left behind her a little child, which was sent to France in the care of one of the lady's gentlewomen. What became of this unfortunate infant is not known, but as no further mention is made of it in the genealogies of the family of La Tour, it probably died young. The booty taken by Charnisay in Fort Latour was very large, and was valued at ten thousand pounds sterlina:, an estimate which will serve to show the extent of the trade which was carried on by La Tour in Acadia, for all this wealth was the result of the Indian trade. The loss of so much property was ruinous to La Tour, whose affairs were already much embarrassed by the cost he had been put to in his warfare with Charnisay. Nor. had the latter, although he had succeeded in ruining his rival, greatly improved his own fortunes. For he had become 174 HISTOEY OP ACADIA. deeply involved in France, in consequence of the Jarge forces he had been obliged to maintain in Acadia, and his success was dearly purchased. The civil war, in which these rivals had engaged, was in fact destructive to both. But for Charnisay's vindictive jealousy and ambition, both might have lived in Acadia in peace, and acquired great wealth by trade. The result of the war was that La Tour lost all, and became an outcast, and almost a beggar, while Charnisay incurred such an enormous indebtedness, as no man could hope to liquidate by trade in Acadia, large and profitable as its trade undoubtedly was. CHAPTEE X. THE DEATH OF CHAENISAY. La Totje was in Boston when the tidings of the capture of his fort and the death of his wife reached him, and the heavy news must have dashed even such a strong spirit as his, for it involved both the breaking up of his domestic hearth and the loss of his estate. But the feelings of the inner heart are seldom inscribed on the pages of a book ; the strongest natures suffer in silence, and therefore we can only conjecture the measure of the grief which oppressed the bereaved and despoiled lord of Acadia. But La Tour had a hopeful spirit and a ready mind to design means for relieving himself from his difficulties. He seems also to have had the faculty of imparting the same confidence in his fortunes to others which he felt himself. No man ever had firmer friends than La Tour made in Boston. Al- though the result of their transactions in some instances involved their own ruin as well as his, they appear never to have doubted him or to have lost faith in his integrity. In his greatest straits he never wanted for money or friends in the capital of New England, and this fact alone is a complete refutation of the calumnies which some New Eng- land writers have heaped upon his memory. The men of Boston, who were his contemporaries, knew La Tour better than those obscure scribes whose attempts to blacken his character were made after he had been dead for a hundred years. On the 13th May, 1645, La Tour gave a mortgage of, his fort and property at St. John to sergeant major Edward 176 HISTORY OF ACADIA. Gibbons of Boston. This instrument was made to secure the payment of the full sum of £2,084 which he owed Gibbons for money and supplies advanced, and the condi- tion was that this sum was to be repaid, with interest, on the 20th February, 1652. As this mortgage was made nearly a month after the capture of Fort Latour, we may presume that event was known in Boston when it was executed, and that it was the iirst act of La Tour towards securing his New England creditors after he had heard" of the great loss which had overtaken him. He probably thought also that the fact of a leading citizen of Boston having a large interest in the property which Charnisay had seized, would force the people of New England out of their neutral attitude and induce them to take an active part against that truculent governor. This very matter was, in fact, brought up before the Commissioners of the United Colonies, who met at Boston in the following August, but they decided that the mortgage having been made after the commission from the King of France to Charnisay was made known, it was of no effect against the latter, especially after the fort had been seized into the hands of the King of France by authority of the said commission. Thus any expectations of aid which La Tour might have formed on that basis were doomed to disap- pointment, the people of New England being more anxious for peace than for money, or even for the maintenance of their own honor. The only warfare M'hich they were dis- posed to wage was that which they constantly maintained against all whose religious views differed from their own, or who felt inclined to protest against the gloomy theo- logical despotism which they had established on the shores of the New World. La Tour, finding that there was no prospect of his HISTORY OP ACADIA. 177 receiving any further help from the authorities of Massa-, chusettts, resolved to go to Newfountlland, where Sir David Kirk was Governor, thinking that he, being almost a Frenchman, would be likely to take a livelier interest in his fortunes than a man of alien race. He accordingly took shipping in a Boston fishing vessel bound to Newfound- land, and on his arrival there, was very courteously received by Kirk, who made him many fair promises ; but he soon discovered that Kirk, even if he had the will, had not the means to aid him effectually, so he returned to Boston in one of Kirk's vessels. He spent most of the following winter in Boston,* but towards Spring a number of the merchants of that place furnished him with supplies to the value of five hundred pounds for a trading voyage to the eastward, and he set forth again in the same little craft in which he had returned from Newfoundland. The master of this vessel was a stranger, and her crew consisted of five of La Tour's Frenchmen and five English of Boston. In May, 1646, the latter returned to their homes with a pitiful story of wrong and suffering. They told that, when La Tour reached Cape Sable, which was in the heart of winter, he conspired with the master and his own Frenchmen, and forced the English sailors out of the vessel, shooting one of them himself in the face with a pistol. They said that, after wandering up and down for fifteen days, they found some Indians, who gave them a shallop and victuals and an Indian pilot, so that they were enabled to reach Boston. It is impossible at this distance of time to determine what degree of credit is to be given to this story, which, if true, would prove La Tour to have been one of the basest of men. It rests on the authority of Governor Winthrop, *Wintlirop says that during the winter La Tour was entertained by Mr. Samuel Maverick, at Nottles Island. L 178 HISTORY OF ACADIA. one of the most faithful and conscientious gentlemen of his age, but he, of course,' had to rely on the statements of the sailors themselves, who alleged tliat they ' had been the victims of La Tour's cruelty. There is nothing to be said in favor of this story, except that it rests on direct evi- dence. Against it may be put the previous character of La Tour, who had so conducted himself during the forty years of his residence in Acadia, that even when he appeared to be absolutely ruined, the merchants with whom he traded in Boston, did not lose confidence in his integrity. Add to that, that for many years after this alleged outrage he lived in Acadia, that he stood so high in the favor of the English government as to receive almost unparalleled gifts at its hands, and we are forced to conclude that this sailors' story of outrage and' piracy, which has given some writers an opportunity of blackening La Tour's character, was merely invented by the sailors to justify their own mutinous con- duct, and to win sympathy for the suiFerings they had brought upon themselves by their own acts. La Tour arrived at Quebec on the 8th August, 1646, and on his landing on the following day was received with great honor by the governor, M. Montmagny. Salutes were fired; he was lodged in the fort, and the Governor gave him precedence, a distinction which he accepted the first day, but afterwards declined. Nothing, perhaps, could better illustrate the looseness'of the French system of administration than the fact that such honors were given by the governor of Canada to a man who, in Acadia, had been declared an outlaw by royal edict. But in France it was not merit, but influence and the use of money, which won the favor of those in authority, and the bastile stood always open to receive men whose only crime was that they HISTORY OF ACADIA. 179 had become distasteful to some great personage with influ- ence enough to obtain an order for their imprisonment. For the next four years La Tour was absent from Acadia, and during two of them at least he was in Canada. We get glimpses of his life from time to time in the journal of the Jesuit Superior,* which has been preserved in the archives of the seminary at Quebec. In one entry he is recorded as accompanying father De Quen to baptize M. de Chavigry's child. In another, he is mentioned as convey- ing father Bailloquet to Montreal in his shallop. He was one of those who took part in the procession of the feast of the Holy Sacrament in 1648. In that year he is also mentioned as having gone forth to engage in the war which was being waged against the Iroquois. Those were exciting years in Canada, and there was abundant scope there for the talents of a man so bold and enterprising as La Tour. He continued to engage in the fur trade, and in the prose- cution of that profitable pursuit he is said to have visited the shores of Hudson's Bay, that vast ocean gulf which afterwards gave its name to the great Company by which for two centuries the fur trade of North America was mainly controlled. Charnisay, having succeeded in driving his rival out of Acadia, may be said to have attained the summit of his hppes. He had the whole of Western Acedia to himself, and with establishments at Port Royal, Penobscot and St. John, could control the entire fur trade of a region nearly half, as large as the kingdom of France. The territory in the possession of Denys was but a narrow strip on the Gulf of St. Lawrence; all the rest of Acadia was Char- nisay's own. The proper occupation and defence of his three forts required him usually to maintain three hundred *Thi3 interesting journal was published in 1871. 180 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. men, and demanded likewise large supplies of food and ammunition. His principal establishment was at Port Royal, where most of the inhabitants, brought out from France by Isaac De Razilly, as well as those brought by Charnisay himself, were settled. There he had built mills for the grinding of grain, and had dyked the marshes to increase theii* fertility by the exclusion of the tide. He had two large farms at Port Royal, which were cultivated on his own account, and he also engaged somewhat in ship- building. During his occupation of Port Royal he built there two vessels of about seventy tons each, besides five pinnaces and several shallops. These were probably the first vessels built in Acadia. These enterprises, together with the care of such small outlying settlements as La Have and St. Anne, must have kept Charnisay fully employed while in Acadia, and made him the very reverse of an idle man. Yet he might have done far more for Acadia than he did, had he only been content to relinquish warlike pursuits and devote himself wholly to the work of trade and colonization. In the Autumn of 1646 Charnisay paid another visit to France, where he carried to the Queen Regent the news of his success in Acadia. He was received by her with great favor, and received from her a letter acknowledging his great zeal in opposing La Tour, who was accused in it of a desire to subvert the King's authority in Acadia. Accompanying it was another letter, purporting to come from the King himself — then a mere child — in which La Tour was charged with a design to deliver up his fort to foreigners. The King ordered a vessel to be equipped to bring Charnisay to Acadia, to which he returned laden with princely favors and cheered by the smiles of royalty. The treaty which the authorities of Massachusetts had HISTOEY OF ACABIA. Igl made in 1644 with M. Marie, Charnisay's agent, had never been ratified by the latter, although it had received the sanction of the Commissioners of the United Colonies. When Captain Bridges was sent by them in 1645 to Char- nisay for his confirmation of the articles of peace — although he entertained the messenger with all state and courtesy — he, refused to. subscribe the articles until certain differences between himself and the people of New England were composed. He accordingly wrote back a letter, in which he accused the Commissioners of desiring to gain time, and said that if their messenger had been furnished with power to have treated with him, he had no doubt that they cou'd have come to an agreement. He, however, added that he would postpone any further action towards redressing his wrongs until the Spring, when he expected to hear from the Commissioners again. When the General Court of Massachusetts next met, they took this answer into con- sideration, and agreed to send the deputy governor, Mr. Dudley, Mr. Hawthorne and Major Denison to meet Charnisay at Penobscot, with full power to' make a treaty which should cover all the points in dispute between them and the governor of Acadia. But when Charnisay was informed by letter of this resolution, he sent back word that he was now convinced the people of New England seriously desired peace, as he did himself, and that he accounted himself highly honored that they should propose to send such principal men of theirs to him. But he desired to spare them that labor, and he would send two or three of his men to Boston in August to make a treaty. This proposal was not ungrateful to Governor Winthrop and the magistrates of Boston, for the deputy governor, Mr. Dud- ley, owing to his advanced age, was scarcely counted fit for the voyage to Penobscot, yet his experience and closeness 182 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. at a bargain were deemed desirable in dealing with Char- nisay. On Monday, the 20th August, 1646, M. Marie, M. Louis and Charnisay's secretary arrived at Boston in a pinnace, and were met at the water side by Major Gibbons, who conducted them to his residence, where they were to lodge. After public worship was over, the Governor sent a guard of musketeers to attend them to his house, where they were entertained with wine and sweetmeats, and he afterwards > accompanied them home to their lodgings. The next morning they repaired to the Governor and delivered him their commission, which was in the form of an open letter delivered to the Governor and magistrates. Although they lodged with Major Gibbons, their diet was provided at the ordinary, where the magistrates were accustomed to eat when attending the court, and the Governor always honored them with his presence at meals. Every morning they called at the house of the Governor, who attended them to the place of meeting, and in the evening either he or one of the commfssioners accompanied them to their lodgings. Thus everything was done with due form and ceremony. It was the third day at noon before the commissioners of the United Colonies could be got together, but from that time to the close of the negotiations the work was carried on with all diligence. Charnisay's representatives laid before them the great injuries which he had sustained from Captain Hawkins and his men when they went to aid La Tour, and sought to make the commissioners responsible for the damage. But they denied that they had given Hawkins any commission, or even permission, to do what he had done. They said they had only given La Tour assistance to conduct his ship home, according to the request contained in the commission of the vice-admiral of France. And, as HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 183 for what Ha-wkins and his men had done beyond their commission, in palliation of that they produced Charnisay's own letter, sent by Captain Bailey, in which he stated that the King of France had laid all the blame on the vice- admiral for those occurrences, and that the King had enjoined him not to break with the people of New England because of what Hawkins had done. The commissioners also pleaded the peace formerly made with M. Marie, without any reservation of these things. The Frenchmen answered that, although the King had remitted his own interest, yet he had not intended to deprive Charnisay of his own private satisfaction. For two days the commis- sioners battled over this point, and it looked at one time as if the negotiations would break off altogether ; but in the end the Puritans proved the better hands at a bargain. The French commissioners at first claimed eight thousand pounds as damages, but afterwards they said they did not stand upon the value. They were willing to accept a very small sum in satisfaction of the claim if the commissioners for New England would acknowledge any guilt on the part of their government. Finally, a compromise was reached, to which both parties were willing to agree. The New England commissioners agreed to accept the French commissioners answer in satisfaction of those things which they had charged upon Charnisay. The French commis- sioners, on their part, accepted the answer of the New England commissioners, so as to clear the government of Massachusetts of what had been charged against them. But, as they could not excuse what Captain Hawkins and the other volunteers from New England had done, the commissioners agreed to send a small present to Charnisay in satisfaction of that, and so all injuries and demands were to be remitted and a final peace to be concluded. 184 HISTORY OF ACADIA. Fortunately for the thrifty Puritans they were not re- quired to disburse any money on this occasion, nor did the present to be given to Charnisay come from the general fund, but from the private estate of Governor Winthrop. Some months before a certain Captain Cromwell, one of those redoubtable rovers of the sea, trained in the school of Drake, had visited Boston. He had just come from a cruise in the Spanish Main, where he had captured several Spanish vessels bound to Spain from Mexico. In one of them was a sedan chair of very elegant make, which the Viceroy of Mexico was sending home to his sister in Spain. Cromwell had presented this chair to Governor Winthrop, and the Governor now offered it to Charnisay's commis- sioners, and it was accepted as a satisfaction of all claims against the people of New England. Winthrop was almost as well pleased to get rid of this chair as M. Marie was to receive it, for it was altogether too fine an article to be of any use to him. The grave Governor of Massachu- setts-would have cut but a sorry figure in a vehicle made for the use of some ancient Spanish duenna. The agreement between the representatives of Charnisay and the commissioners of the United Colonies having been signed by both parties, M. Marie and his companions took their departure under a salute from Boston, Charlestown and Castle Island. They had been treated most courte- ously during their stay, but were glad enough, no doubt, to get away from a place where a man did not dare to appear on the streets on the Sabbath, unless he chanced to be going to public worship. The peace thus concluded was an excellent measure in all respects, and removed any apprehensions of further trouble. It enabled the people of New England to pursue their peaceful avocations without apprehensions of being molested, and it gave Charnisay — HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 185 if he so desired — an opportunity of improving his Acadian possessions in safety. Yet, although the peace was kept, an event took place the very next year which put its continuance in some peril. In March a vessel of eighty tons was fitted out at Boston by one Captain Dobson for a trading voyage to the eastward. Her papers were made out for the Gulf of St. Lawrence, but being caught in a storm, and having lost a boat, they put into harbor at Cape Sable, and commenced to trade with the Indians. Char- nisay heard of their presence, and sent twenty men overland from Port Royal, who succeeded in capturing the vessel and her crew. Both vessel and crew were taken to Port Eoyal. The ship and her cargo, which were worth a thousand pounds, were confiscated, and the men were put into two old shallops and sent home, arriving at Boston in May. The merchants, who had lost by this venture, were very indignant, and complained to the court for redress, offering to fit out an armed ship to attack Charnisay's vessels, but the court thought it neither safe nor expedient to begin war with the French, especially as they could not charge any manifest wrong upon Charnisay, for they had told him that if any New Englanders traded within his territory, they should do so at their own peril. The seizure of the ship was therefore not an unlawful act, but in accordance with the common practice of the times among civilized nations. Besides, Governor Winthrop thought there must be an overruling providence in the affair, otherwise Charnisay could not have seized a ship, so well fitted, for she was double manned, nor could wise men have lost her so foolishly. In February, 1647, Charnisay received another mark of the royal favor. A commission was issued to him under the sign manual of Louis XIV., confirming and re-estab- 186 HISTORY OF ACADIA. lishing him in the office of governor and lieutenant-general for the King in Acadia. This . commission recites the services of Charnisay in Acadia, stating that he had for fourteen years been employed in the conversion of the Indians and in the establishing of tlie royal authority. It credits him with having built a seminary, carried out Capu- chins from France to teach the Indian children, and with expelling foreign religionists from the fort of Penobscot, and with recovering by force of arms and placing under obedience the fort of the River St. John, which La Tour had occupied, and, by open rebellion, was striving to retain against the royal will. This commission, besides making him governor of Acadia from the St. Lawrence to Vir- ginia,* gave him the exclusive privilege of the fur trade over all that vast territory, and the use of the mines and minerals to him and his heirs. Thus Charnisay, after his long struggle with his enemies, stood the undisputed master of Acadia, both by possession and by the highest docu- mentary title which his King could give him. He was more absolutely a ruler in Acadia than even the French King was in his own dominions, for he had no council to trouble him with advice, no Mazarin to govern him, no Queen Mother to impose her wishes upon him. Well may his breast have swelled with pride as he contemplated his own sudden rise to fame, fortune and authority. Only one thing more was needed to complete the work he had begun, and that was the expulsion of Nicholas Denys from Acadia. Denys had come to Acadia in 1632 with Isaac De Razilly, and for some time had been engaged in the shore fishery at La Have. When Isaac De Razilly * Virginia in this commission meant the British possessions in North America generally. The territory between 34 and 45 north latitude was all termed Virginia Inthe grants made by King James I. to the North and South Virginia Companies in 160G. HISTOKY OF ACADIA. Jg? died he was nominated by the Company of New France Governor of the whole coast of the Bay of St. Lawrence and the isles adjacent, from Cape Canso to Cape Rosiers. Being a man of much enterprise and business capacity, he speedily built up a profitable fishing business and erected two small forts, one at Chedabucto and the other at St. Peter's, in the Island of Cape Breton. He also had a fishing establishment at Miscou, at the entrance of the Bay Chaleur, where the Jesuits had established a mission in 1635. Charnisay, armed with his new commission from the King, captured Denys' forts, seized his goods, broke up his fishing establishments, and ruined his settlers. Denys and his family had to leave the country, and seek refuge in Quebec. He deserved better treatment at the hands of Charnisay, for they had been companions in youth and friends. But all those early associations were forgotten. Any one who ventured to carry on trade in Acadia, Char- nisay counted an enemy, and treated him as such, and so La Tour, Denys and the New England colonists necessarily fell under his displeasure, and felt the weight of his resentment. But there is one enemy which no man can escape, and that is Death. The most formidable walls and battlements will not keep him out. His footsteps are sometimes heard, even in the palaces of Kings, and the sword falls from the hand of earth's greatest conquerors when he appears. And so Charnisay, the victor in the struggle against his mortal enemies, was vanquished at length by a mightier hand than his own. In 1650 he was drowned in tj;ie river of Port Royal. Neither history nor tradition give us any further particulars of his fate than is contained in these few words. But if it is true, as some say, that a man who goes down to death through the dark waters sees before him in an instan- 188 HISTOKY OF ACADIA. taneous mental vision a panorama of his whole life, then surely deep anguish must have smitten the soul of the dying Charnisay — for he had been hard and cruel and revengeful. He had shown himself to be destitute of pity for his kind. No generous thought for his enemies had ever found a place in his heart. And above the shadowy forms of those he had wronged and murdered, the face of one victim must have impressed him with a deeper remorse than all the rest, that of the heroic, noble and faithful lady La Tour. If Charnisay had any friends when living, none of them were to be found after his death. Most men like to speak gently of the dead, but no one had anything but evil to tell of him. Denys, his contemporary — who knew him well — only speaks of his rapacity, tyranny and cruelty. His influence at the French court, which must have been great, rested on such a slender foundation of merit that it did not survive him for a single day. He who had stood so high in the royal favor was, a few months after his death, branded as a false accuser in an official document signed by" the King's own hand. The whole fruits of his life-long contentions and schemes were either wasted or were gathered by his enemies. CHAPTER XI. LA TOUE EETUKNS TO ACADIA. The news of Charnisay's death seems to have reached La Tour very soon after the event took place, and the exiled lord of Acadia lost no time in taking advantage of an occurrence which again placed wealth and honor within his grasp. He made all haste to reach France, where for so many years he had not dared to show his face, and went vigorously to work to undo all that his dead rival had done in regard to the aiFairs of Acadia. At the French court in these days a living man with a good cause was not always certain of success; but La Tour, no doubt, wisely judged that such a man ranged against a dead rival, whose cause was bad, could scarcely fail. Nor was he deceived, for he speedily obtained from the "French government an acquittal of the charges which had been preferred against him by Charnisay, and, what was of more value, he obtained a new commission as governor and lieutenant-general for the King in Acadia. This document, which was in the form of letters patent from the King of France, was dated the 25th February, 1651. It recited that La Tour had been appointed and established governor by Louis XIII., and had for forty-two years devoted himself there to the con- version of the savages, and the establishment of the royal authority ; that he had constructed two forts, and contributed to the extent of his power to the instruction of the savages, had by his courage and valor driven the foreign sectaries from these forts, which they had taken possession of to the 190 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. prejudice of the rights and authority of the Crown, and ■would have continued to do so had lie not bten hindered by Charles De Menou, Sieur d'Aulnay Charnisay, who had favored his enemies in accusations and pretences, which they had not been able to verify, and of which the said La Tour had been absolved. The commission then proceeded to confirm to him the government of Acadia and all his territorial rights in it. It gave him power to appoint officers, to enact laws and ordinances, and to make peace and war. It gave him all the mines and minerals in the country, reserving only a royalty to the Crown, and gave him also the exclusive right to the fur trade. Finally, it empowered him to seize and confiscate to his own use the vessels and merchandise of any who sought to infringe upon his exclusive privileges. Thus, with his character cleared of the clouds which had rested upon it, and endowed with the amplest powers that his sovereign could bestow. La Tour stood once more the absolute master of Acadia. Armed with this patent, La Tour returned to Acadia, and in September, 1651, took possession of his old fort at the mouth of the St. John, and resumed the trade with the Indians, which had been so profitable in former years. The widow of Charnisay was still living in Acadia with her children, and she seems to have made no opposition to La Tour's re-occupation of his fort, but it was impossible that she could view without alarm his pretensions to the govern- ship of the whole Province. In June, 1651, the King had issued a letter and commission to the Sieur de La Fosse, authorizing him to administer the property and government of Charnisay, but his widow seems to have thought that some more powerful protector was necessary, in order to enable her to enjoy her estates in peace. Accordingly, in February, 1652, she entered into an arrangement with the HISTOEY OF ACADIA. jgj Duke De Vendome,* grand master and superintendent of the navigation and commerce of France, by which she sought to enlist his rank and influence in her cause. By this it was agreed that Vendome should aid in recovering her forts from La Tour, Denys and others, who had usurped possession of her territory, and, in consideration of the expense to which he would be put in carrying out this arrangement, she agreed that Vendome, his heirs and assigns should be co-seigniors of Acadia with her and her children. This agreement was confirmed by the King by letters patent, dated December, 1652, but as Vendome never paid anything under it, the claims of his heir to terri- torial rights in Acadia were set aside by a judgment of the French Council of State in 1703. In fact, almost before this agreement was completed — certainly before there was any opportunity of it becoming operative — another arrangement had been made which rendered the interposition of Vendome wholly unnecessary. On the 24th February, 1653, a document was. signed at the fort of Port Royal which put an end at once and forever to the strife between the families of La Tour and Char- nisay in Acadia. This was a marriage contract which was entered into between Charnisay's widow and La Tour, the end and principal design of the intended marriage being, as the contract expressed it, " The peace and tranquillity of the country, and concord and union between the two fami- lies." This contract was drawn with elaborate care, as was fitting in a document which was intended to reconcile and settle so many conflicting claims and interests, for both parties to this marriage had children by their former mar- * Caesar Due de Vendome was &. reputed son of Henry IV. by his mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrees. He was born in 1694, and in 1598, on his betrothal to FranQoise de Lorraine, daughter and heiress of the Due de MerCEeur, ^\as made legitimate and created Due de Vendome. 192 HISTORY OF ACADIA. riages.* The creditors and associates of Charnisay had to be provided for, and the children which might be the result of the new union had also to be taken into account. La Tour endowed his future wife, for her lifetime, with his fort and habitation on the Eiver St. John, and also gave her for a marriage present the sum of thirty thousand livres tournois, which circumstance shows that he was then in easy circumstances, and turning his monopoly of the fur trade in Acadia to profitable account. The marriage con- tract was witnessed by father Leonard de Charteres, vice- prefect and custos of the mission, by brother Jean Desnouse and by three other witnesses, so that no formality seems to have been wanting to give the alliance that solemn character which the importance of the interests involved appeared to demand. Thus, after so many years of conflict, the two families, whose feuds had been so disastrous to Acadia, were united, and their differences disposed of in such a way that it was impossible they should ever again become occasion for strife. La Tour had then passed his sixtieth year, and after a life of much viscissitudes must have rejoiced at the prospect of peace, which his changed circumstances seemed to offer. But fortune had still something left in store for him as surprising as anything that he had before experienced at her hands. Hitherto the wars in Acadia had been conducted by soldiers who, whatever their other qualities, were at least at *La Tour had two or more sons by his first marriage, but they seem to have been educated in France, and they never took any part in Acadian affairs. La Tour's oldest daughter was born in 1626, so that these sons were probably grown up at the time of his second marriage. We may presume that they were brought up by the Huguenot relatives of their mother at Bochelle, and that, as by the marriage contract their father's property in France was especially set apart for them, they lived and died in that country. Charnisay's eldest son was Joseph de Menou, who was born in 1636, and was killed in the service of the King .prior to 1686. Charnisay was twice married. HISTOEY OF ACABIA. 193 home in the tented field and accustomed to the sounds of battle. La Tour and Charnisay had contended against each other like nobles of the medieval times, with hundreds of armed retainers and for a princely prize. But it was reserved for this period to see a new element introduced into the wars of Acadia, and to behold a man who, without warlike experience or the courage of a soldier, undertook to paralyze the might o£ the sword by writs of ejectment, and to expel the bold nobles who occupied the forts of Acadia by the efforts of catchpoles and constables. Such attempts would have been ridiculous a few years before, when the sword was in -every man's hand, and when even a royal mandate was of no effect unless backed by sufficient force to compel its execution. But the times had changed since those brave days, and a long exemption from the evils of civil war had produced its effects even on the bold and vigilant La Tour. His fort at St. John had become merely a trading post, and he himself a merchant. ' Port Royal was similarly held by La Verdure on behalf of the children of the deceased Charnisay, and trading posts were main- tained by La Tour at Penobscot and Cape Sable. It was at this period that Emmanuel Le Borgne first appeared in Acadia. He had been a merchant of Rochelle, and had made advances to Charnisay to the extent of two hundred and sixty thousand livres prior to 1650. He appears to have obtained judgment from the Courts in his favor for that sum, and, armed with this authority, came out to Acadia in 1653 to take possession of Charnisay's estate. When he arrived at Port Royal he appears to have became impressed with the idea that he might seize the whole of Acadia, Charnisay having claimed nothing less. Filled with this design, he commenced active operations against Nicholas Denys, who was carrying on the shore M 194 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. fishery at La Have. Denys in that same year had obtained a grant from the Company of New France of all the territory from Canso to Cape Rosiers. By virtue of the authority contained in this grant he was busily engaged in founding a settlement at St. Peter's, in the Island of Cape Breton, when Le Borgne attacked him. Denys states that his people were then on shore clearing land, but that he himself had gone to St. Anne's to see the harbor, when sixty of Le Borgne's men landed and made his people at St. Peter's all prisoners. They also took possession of his vessel, and of all it contained. Then twenty-five of Le Borgne's men were sent to lie in ambush on the road, which Denys would take on coming from St. Anne's. Denys, who had only three unarmed men with him, was captured by this detachment and carried to Port Royal. As they passed La Have, on their return with their booty and prisoners, Le Borgne's men burnt down the establish- ment which M. Denys had there, not even sparing the chapel, which, with the fort and buildings, was destroyed. Denys was placed in irons and confined in a dungeon at Port Royal; but he was liberated before the end of the year, and returned to France, to complain of the outrages of which he had been made the victim. On the 30th January, 1654, he received a commission from the King, confirming him in the grants made to him by the Company of New France, and appointing him King's governor and lieutenant-general " in all the country, territory, coasts and confines of the great Bay of St. Lawrence, beginning from Cape Canso unto Cape Rosiers, the Islands of Newfound- land, of Cape Breton, St. John and other islands adjacent." In the Spring of 1654 Denys returned to St. Peter's, where he found his fort in charge of an officer, whom Le Borgne had placed there a short time before, and this person quietly HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 195 surrendered it to Denys on the King's commission and the grant of the Company being produced. Denys then sent these documents by a trusty messenger to Port Royal, so that Le Borgne might be informed of their contents and govern himself accordingly. Le Borgne, while these things were passing at St Peter's, had his mind fixed on another exploit — no less than the capture of Fort Latour. La Tour himself — whose trade relations were rather with New England than with France — had been considerably embarrassed by a prqjiibition of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1653 against the trans- port of provisions either to the French or Dutch. La Tour complained of this prohibition being applied to him, and the order was so far relaxed in his favor that a small vessel was allowed to go from Boston with flour and provisions for his fort at St. John. In the summer of 1654 he was again short of provisions, and his supplies from Boston had not arrived. Of this fact Le Borgne was aware, and he conceived the idea of making the necessities of La Tour the means of capturing his fort. He went to Fort Latour with two vessels filled with men, intending to seize that place, under pretence of carrying La Tour provisions. But before he had been enabled to put this nefarious design into execution a shallop arrived from Port Royal in hot haste to inform him of what Denys had been doing at St. Anne's. Le Borgne was utterly confounded by this intelligence, and, learning that the messenger of Denys was still at Port Royal with the original grant and commission in his posses- sion, he resolved at once to return and rob him of them by force, so that Denys might have no authority to show for his presence at St. Anne's when he next went to attack him, which he proposed to do at once. Such was the plan which Le Borgne conceived for the purpose of circumvent- 196 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. ing M. Denys, and an attempt would, no doubt, have been made to carry it out had not the French in Acadia, in the midst of their petty quarrels, been suddenly summoned to face the greatest danger that had ever menaced their colony. On the very next day after the departure of Le Borgne from Fort Latour, an English fleet appeared in front of it, and summoned it to surrender. Two years before, the English Parliament had declared war against the Dutch, and the first blow was struck by Blake at the naval power of Holland, ^he jealousies between the English colonists of Massachusetts and the Dutch of New York, suggested the idea of transferring the scene of warfare from the Old World to the New, and the lord protector, Oliver Crom- well, sent out four armed vessels to Boston, with a view to organize an expedition against the Dutch of Manhattan Island. These vessels did not arrive at Boston until the beginning of June, 1654^ and a few days later news came that peace had been concluded between England and Hol- land. Preparations had, however, by that time been well advanced, and five hundred men enlisted in Massachusetts, under the command of Major Robert Sedgwick, of Charleston, a military officer of some reputation in the colony. Those who had the expedition in charge thought that it would be a pity to let so fine an armament go to waste for want of employment, and where could such a force be employed to better advantage than against the French in Acadia ? The men of Massachusetts were not \ long in deciding that it was their duty to dispossess their I Popish neighbors to the north-east, and Sedgwick and the \ commander of the fleet readily fell in with their plans. This was the reason why the English fleet so suddenly appeared before Fort Latour. La Tour had already received so many buffets from for- HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 197 tune, that even his patience must have been exhausted by this last blow. But he accepted the inevitable with dignity and firmness ; his fort was entirely unprepared for an attack; he was short of provisions, and so he yielded gracefully to his fate and surrendered the stronghold which he could not defend. Almost before Le Borgne's ships had reached Port Royal the English flag was waving over Fort Latour. Le Borgne, in the midst of his plans for the recapture of Denys, was suddenly startled by the appearance of the English fleet in Port Royal Basin. To a real soldier the prospect of an encounter with an enemy, however superior in strength, is seldom unwelcome, but to a man like Le Botgne, who was waging war by writs and ejectments, and undertaking the capture of fortresses on commercial princi- ples, such a sight was sufficiently alarming. Still, when summoned to surrender, he replied with a boldness which he could scarcely have felt, and placed the English under the necessity of attacking him. The men that he sent out against them were repulsed and put to flight, and Le Borgne, finding that his vocation was not that of a soldier, resolved to capitulate. Advances to that end were made on the 15th August; on the 16th the articles were completed and signed on board the Admiral's ship, Auguste, and on the following day Port Royal was surrendered. Le Borgne's ship, the Chateauford, had been lying in the Basin when the English appeared, and was promptly cap- tured. Her armament made it impossible to mistake her character, yet in the articles of capitulation, Le Borgne, who, before and afterwards, claimed the lordship of all Acadia, sought to appear merely as a private citizen and merchant, and in that capacity endeavoured to obtain the restoration of his ship and property. Sedgwick was not to be so easily imposed upon, and, although he promised to take 198 HISTORY OF ACADIA. the matter into consideration, he restored Le Borgne nothing. La Verdure, by whom the capitulation was made as commandant for the King, obtained honorable terms for his soldiers and transportation for them to France. He also received favorable consideration for the children of Charnisay, who had much property at Port Royal. The inhabitants were permitted to remain, with liberty of conscience, and to enjoy their property, or to sell it, and return to France. The missionary priests were also permitted to remain in the country, if they chose, provided they lived two or three leagues from the fort. Most of the inhabitants appear to have availed themselves of this per- mission to remain in Acadia, which now, with all its forts, passed into the hands of the English. Sedgwick returned to Massachusetts with his booty, leaving Captain John Leverett at Port Royal as governor and commander of the forts of St. John, Port Royal and Penobscot. CHAPTER XII. THE ENGLISH IN ACADIA. The seizure of Acadia was very gratifying to the people of New England, who had looked with alarm on the growth of a foreign power on their northern borders, and their consciences do not seem to have been troubled by the fact that there was no state of war existing between Eng- land and France at the time to justify the act. Cromwell, who was then in the zenith of his power, seems to have approved the measure, and the officers by whom it had been accomplished appear to have been filled with a zealous desire to make Acadia a permanent English colony. A government had been promptly organized for the new Province, one of its first regulations being that no one should trade with the savages but such as were deputed to do so by those in authority, it being considered that those who enjoyed this trade should pay enough for the privilege to maintain the garrison. The General Court of Massa- chusetts was asked to enforce this law, so that persons convicted of any breach of it should be punished in Massa- chusetts, as if they had been taken in Acadia. It was also asked to pledge itself to furnish assistance to the English in Acadia, in case they were attacked and needed help. At this time Cardinal Mazarin, then the virtual ruler of France, was endeavoring to conclude a treaty of commerce with England, and such a treaty was made at Westminster on the 2nd November, 1655. The twenty-fifth article of this treaty stated that the forts of Penobscot, St. John, Port Royal, and La Have were claimed by France as forts 200 HISTORY OF ACADIA. in Acadia, and the matter was referred to the consideration of commissioners whose appointment was authorized by the treaty. No commissioners were named under this author- ity until 1662. La Tour, in the mean time, finding himself at the age of sixty-two without a home in Acadia, bethought himself of a bold move for the purpose of retrieving his fortunes. He hastened to England, and with all the plausibility and address of which he was master, laid his case before Crom- well, showing that as co-grantee and heir of his father he was entitled to a large territory in Acadia under the Eng- lish Crown, through Sir William Alexander. The result was a triumphant success for the Acadian diplomatist. On the 9th August, 1656, La Tour in conjunction with Thomas Temple and William Crowne, received from Cromwell a grant of an immense tract of territory in Acadia, extending from what is now known as Lunenburg in Nova Scotia, to the River St. George in Maine, including the whole coast of the Bay of Fundy on both sides and one hundred leagues inland, a territory considerably larger than the island of Great Britain.* As the language of this grant seemed to make a distinction between the boundaries of Acadia and Nova Scotia, it opened the way to a,ll the dis- putes which followed as to the proper limits of that Province. In making this grant, Cromwell seems to have had in view the restoration to La Tour of the very territory *The words of the grant are as follows ;— " The country and territory called Aca- dia and part of the country called Noya Scotia, from Merliguesche on the east coast to the port and Cape of Laheve, along the sea coast to Cape Sable, and from thence to a certain port called Port Latour, and now named Port L'Esmeron, and from thence along the coasts and Islands to Cape Forchu, and from thence to the Cape and River St. Mary along the sea coast to Port Royal, and from thence along the coast to the head of the Bay, and from thence along the said Bay to the fort of St. John, and from thence all along the coast of Pentagoet and the River St. George in Mescourus on the confines of New England on the west coast, and one hundred leagues inward." HISTORY OF ACADIA. 201 granted to him and his deceased father by Sir William Alexander, and while he was able thus to avail himself of La Tour's knowledge of the cjountry to advance its settle- ment, he was also free to reward Temple and Crowne for their services to his cause.* The only consideration exacted from the grantees in. return for so rich a heritage was the payment of a small annual rental in beaver skins. The grantees had the absolute control of the whole trade of the country, and might confiscate all vessels found trading without their permission. No person could be appointed governor of a fort who had not been approved by the Protector, and none but Protestants were to be permitted to reside in the territory granted. This last provision seems never to have been enforced against the French Acadians. Temple received the appointment of governor of the forts at St. John and Penobscot, and early in 1657 arrived in Acadia with an order to Captain Leverett for their delivery to him. Temple then commenced those large expenditures for the improvement of his territory, which involved him so deeply that they ended in his ruin. La Tour sold out his rights in Acadia to Temple and Crowne and retired into private life, leaving to other shoulders the burthen of an authority which he had borne so long. No doubt he was sagacious enough to foresee that serious disputes were certain to arise between England and France with regard to the possession of Acadia. The first movement came from the Company of New France, which was deeply interested in the question. In January, 1658, they sent Le Borgne to England to urge the immediate restoration of Acadia, and King Louis wrote *Temple was a Colonel in the army. In the Memoirs of Thomas Hollis he is called a brother to Sir William Temple, but I doubt the statement. Crowne was a minister, and the father of John Crowne the Dramatist, who was born in Acadia. 202 HISTORY OF ACADIA. to Bourdeaux, his Ambassador in London, requesting him to support this demand. The time seemed propitious for such a step, for in the previous March, France and England had concluded an alliance against Spain. But Cromwell "would not listen to any proposal to surrender Acadia, and the negotiations fell to the ground. But Le Borgne did not trust to negotiation alone. In February, 1658, he sent his son Emmanuel to Acadia with fifty men, with orders to occupy La Have and rebuild the fort there. With young Le Borgne went one Guilbaut, a trader of Rochelle, who was his partner in business. They reached La Have safely, and in a short time constructed a small palisaded fort. But the English soon got notice of their arrival, and a force was sent to dislodge them. Le Borgne, who seems to have resembled his father in char- acter, fled to the woods panic stricken, and left his partner to bear the brunt of the English attack. Guilbaut, how- ever, speedily became conscious that the fort could not be held, and offered to surrender it and leave Acadia on condition that he and his men should be allowed to carry off their property. Soon after this agreement was carried out, Le Borgne was constrained by hunger to emerge from the woods and surrender himself to the English. They carried him off to Boston, and from thence to London. The King of France, through his ambassador, complained of the treatment Le Borgne had received, and demanded his release and reparation for the injury done to him. Before this remonstrance reached England, the Lord Pro- tector ha;d breathed his last. Le Borgne was released and permitted to return to France, but his, goods were not restored. Temple made the fort at Penobscot his headquarters in Acadia, but maintained garrisons at St. John and Port HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 203 Eioyal. Fort Latour, at St. John, seems to have been abandoned at this time, and a smaller fort erected at Jemseg, up the St. John River, that position being regarded as more convenient for the Indian trade. The peltry trade of Acadia was then very large and profitable, and a large amount was also obtained for fishing, and trading licen.ses on the coast. No doubt his speculations in Acadia would have turned out well, had the life of Cromwell been spared ; but his death involved him in no end of trouble. Charles II. was restored to the throne in May 1660, and Temple's possessions in Acadia were at once made the subject of attack by two sets of claimants — the Crown of France and private parties in England. The most dangerous of the latter was one Thomas Elliot, whose claims to Acadia were reported on by the Council of State in 1661, and with him Temple was finally obliged to compromise by an annual payment of six hundred pounds. He was obliged, also, to go to England to defend his interests, one Captain Breedon being appointed governor of the Province in December, 1661. We have a glimpse of Breedon's administration in the report of a meeting of the Commis- sioners of the United Colonies, of New England at Boston in September, 1662. He made his appearance before them and exhibited a complaint against certain Mohawk Indians for killing some of his trading Indians and taking others captive, to the number of about eighty persons, and also for killing tlie cattle and robbing the storehouses of the colonists. He asked the commissioners for aid against such outrages, and they permitted him to enlist such a number of volunteers as might be necessary to enable him to obtain satisfaction. Breedon's term of government was brief, for the same year Temple returned to Acadia with the commission of the 204 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. governor of Nova Scotia in his possession. On that visit he also obtained what was of considerably less value, the title of knight baronet. He appears to have received these favors from the weak and worthless Charles, more by reason of his wit than from the justice of his claims. A very characteristic anecdote of the intercourse of Temple with the King is told in the Memoirs of the venerable Thomas Hollis, whose name will be ever dear to the students of Harvard. During the Protectorate, the Massa- chusetts authorities had coined a quantity of silver money —the well known pine-tree shillings. Charles was highly incensed at this invasion of his prerogative, and in the course of a conversation with Temple on the affairs of Massachusetts, abused the colonists roundly. Temple presented some of the money to the King, who, observing the device of the pine-tree on the coin, asked him what tree it was. Temple wittily replied that it was the Royal Oak, which had preserved his majesty's life. This explana- tion quite mollified the King, and he dismissed the affair, calling his presumptuous subjects in Massachusetts "a parcel of honest dogs." In 1661 the French King renewed his demands for the restoration of Acadia. In the following year M. d'Estrates, the French Ambassador in London, desired that commis- sioners might be named, agreeably to the 25th article of the treaty of 1655, to discuss the title to Acadia, and this was done, but no immediate result was attained. The people of New England were bitterly opposed to the restora- tion of Acadia, and used all their influence to prevent such a result. Negotiations on the subject of Acadia were still in progress between the two Crowns in 1665, when the war between England and Holland commenced, which was shortly followed by a war with France. HISTORY OP ACADIA. 205 In 1664, while these negotiations were going on, Charles II. granted to his brother, the Duke of York, all the terri- tory from the St. Croix westward to Pemaquid, and from the head of the river of that name northward by way of the Kennebec to the St. Lawrence. This grant, which was termed the " Duke of York's property," or " the terri- tory of Sagadahock," was a serious infringement on the rights of Temple- and Crowne, whose territory extended westward to the River St. George. As matters turned out, the making of this grant had no practical effect on Temple's rights, but the circumstance must have warned him how little he could depend on the good faith of the English King. The Company of New France, which, as we have seen, had been founded by Richelieu in 1627, had by this time fallen into decay. The results it had achieved bore no sort of proportion to the magnificent promises with which it had commenced its work. More than half of the original hundred partners were dead, and it was evident that those that survived were not in a position to do much for New France. For these reasons M. d'Avaugour, Governor of Canada, persuaded the King to dissolve the Company of New France. Accordingly, in February, 1663, the Com- pany surrendered all its rights and property in New France to the King, while he, by an edict made the same year, revoked all grants made by the Company of lands which had not been cleared, or should remain uncleared, six months from the date of the edict. ' But while one huge monopoly was thus got rid of, another far more powerful and dangerous was brought into existence. This was the Company of the West Indies, which was established by a royal edict of the 24th May, 1664. Its domains extended over both hemispheres, and 206 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. included Acadia and the whole of New France. It had a monopoly of trade granted to it for forty years, and was endowed with most of the privileges of sovereignty, in- cluding the power to wage war and to make peace. A singular instance of the rights assumed by this powerful Company is furnished by the fact that, in 1666, it under- took to arrange with the English West India Company and the proprietors of lands in America- for the liberty of trade and neutrality during the war between the two Crowns. In this year, 1666, Charles La Tour breathed his last.* He had reached the ripe age of seventy-two, and after much hardship and many changes of fortune, he had enjoyed a period of prosperous tranquillity in his declining years^ He died and was buried in that beloved Acadia which had been his home from boyhood. The inglorious war which England was waging with France and Holland, was brought to a close by the treaty of Breda, whitih was signed July 31st, 1667. By this treaty it was agreed that the English half of the Island of St. Christopher, of which they had been dispossessed by the French, should be restored, and that England in return should give up Acadia to France. Thus was one of the richest pieces of territory on the American continent bar- tered for one half of a paltry island containing an area scarce a thousandth part as great as that of the country so inconsiderately surrendered. *La Tour had five children by his second wife, Madame Cbarnisay, viz., Marie, born in 1654, and married to Alexander Le Borgne de Belleisle ; Jacques, born in 1661, married to Anne Melangon ; Charles, born in 1664: Anne, also born in 1664, married to Jacques Muis, sieur de Poubomcou; Marguerite, born in 1665, mar- ried to Abraham Muis. The D'Entrements, who are atiil numerous in the western part of Nova Scotia, are many of them the descendants of Anne and Marguerite ha. Tour. There are several other families, both in Nova Scotia and New Bruns- wick, that have some of, the blood of La Tour in their veins, such as tlie Girourds, Porliers and Landrys. HISTORY OF ACADIA. 207 The French were in great haste to resume possession of their restored Province, the West India Company taking the lead in the steps necessary for that purpose. In the summer of 1668 they sent Morillon Du Bourg to Acadia. He carried with him a commission from the King of France, an order from the King of England to Temple to deliver up Acadia to Du Bourg, and very ample instruc- tions as to the arrangements he was to make for the restitution of the Province. He was accompanied to Acadia by Alexander Le Borgne, a son of the soldier- merchant whose career in Acadia had been so unfortunate. This son, who was then but twenty-four years of age, had assumed the title of Belleisle, and from this period until his death, he figures prominently in Acadian history. Du Bourg, instead of proceeding direct to Boston, where Temple was residing, followed the whole length of the coast of Acadia, beginning at La Have, and visited all the places marked in his instructions. At Port Royal he left Belleisle, investing him with authority to act as governor, and finally reached Boston late in October. The order of Charles II. to Temple for the surrender of Acadia, was in the same terms as the Act of Surrender of February, 1 668, and required him to deliver up " all that country called Acadia," specifying "the forts and habitations of Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, Laheve, and Cape Sable." Temple on being served with this order, took the ground that several of the places specified were in Nova Scotia and not in Acadia, and that His Majesty must have granted the order under a misapprehension as to the facts of the case. He maintained that of all the places named in the order only Laheve and Cape Sable were in Acadia, the rest of the places named, viz: Port Royal, St. John and Pentagoet being m Nova Scotia. He, therefore, 208 HISTORY OF ACADIA. signified his resolve to hold on to these places until His Majesty's intentions were further known. He also objected that St. Christopher had not been restored to England, and that Du Bourg had invaded Acadia in a hostile manner. Four days after Temple had communicated this determina- tion to Du Bourg, and while the latter was still detained in Boston, a ship arrived from England bearing an important letter from King Charles to Temple, in which he was com- manded not to deliver up Acadia until His Majesty's further pleasure was known. Why this order was sent can now only be conjectured, but it was probably the result of some representations previously made by Temple to the King. Temple having communicated this last order to Du Bourg, the latter took his departue for St. Christopher. In the meantime Temple sent an armed force to Port Boyal to drive Belleisle -from that place. Temple, in subsequent letters to the Lords of Trade and to the Earl of Arlington, endeavoured to strengthen his position relative to Acadia, and to induce the King to retain the country. He pathe- tically pleads his old age, his poverty, the great expense at which he has been to preserve and improve the territory, and the ruin which must follow in case he is dispossessed of it. None of these arguments, however, moved King Charles. He was too much under the influence of the French Monarch to have any consideration for his own subjects where their interests clashed. By an order of 8th March, 1669, subsequently confirmed by a second order made in the following August, he ordered Temple peremp- torily to deliver up Pentagoet, St. John, Port Royal, Cape Sable, and La Have to the person appointed by the French King to receive them. This order was delivered to Temple in Boston in July, 1670, by Hubert d'Andigny, Chevalier de Grand-fontaine, who bore a commission from Louis HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 209 XIV., dated the previous July, empowering him to receive possession of Acadia. Temple at once obeyed this order, and being unable to carry it out personally in consequence of ill-health, issued his order to Captain Richard Walker, his deputy-governor, then actually present in Acadia, to surrender it to Grand-fontaine. Accordingly, the fort at Penobscot was surrendered on the 5th August, Jemseg, on the St. John River, on the 27th of the same month, and Port Royal, September 2nd. The small post at Port Latour was immediately afterwai'ds delivered up under an order from Walker to Rinedon, who was in command there. Grand-fontaine received the surrender of Penobscot in person, and at once established himself there. The task of taking possession of the other posts and forts in Acadia was entrusted to his lieutenant, Soulanges. A careful inventory was taken of the forts and their contents, with a view, it would seem, of establishing a claim for indemnity on Temple's behalf. He estimated his expenditures in Acadia at £16,000, but neither he nor his heirs were ever able to recover any part of this large sum from the English Crown. Thus Acadia passed once more into the possession of France. CHAPTER XIII. FEOM GRAND-FONTAINE TO MENNEVAL. Gband-fontaine, as we have seen, had established himself at Penobscot in August, 1670, as commandant for the King of France in Acadia. He was not wanting in zeal for the service of the King, and he required it all in order to rise superior to the depressing influences by which he was surrounded. The fort which he had made his residence was a paltry work', 'incapable of resisting any serious attack, and only fit to be used as an Indian trading station. Its garrison numbered but twenty-five, all told. But bad as it was, it was the only fortification in Acadia, with the exception of the fort at Jemseg, which was still more contemptible in its armament. Fort Latour had been long abandoned, the fortifications at Port Royal had crumbled away. Fort St. Louis, at Port Latour, had de- generated into a mere fishing station, the fort at La Have had no other tenants but the wild beasts from the forest which surrounded it. Such was the military aspect of Acadia. Its civil con- dition was, if possible, worse. Grand-fontaine had a census of the Province taken in 1671, which exhibits in a striking manner its poverty and weakness. The total number of people in Acadia was but four hundred and forty-one, including the twenty-five soldiers which garrisoned the fort at Penobscot. At Port Royal were sixty-eight families, numbering three hundred and sixty-three souls, of whom two hundred were under twenty years of age. At Pubnico there were fourteen persons, and the same number at Cape HISTORY OF ACADIA. 211 Negro. At Musquodoboit there were thirteen souls ; at St. Peter's, in Cape Breton, seven, and three at Riviere aux Rochelois. In all Acadia there were but four hundred and thirty-nine arpents of land under cultivation, and the live stock of the colony consisted of eight hundred and sixty-six horned cattle, four hundred and seven sheep, and thirty-six goats. This was a small result for so many years of colo- nization and such vast expenditures to yield. At this period, however, a greater degree of vigor was infused into the work of colonizing Canada, and Acadia shared in the benefits of it. Colbert, the French minister of that day, was a man of great ability, and he interested himself in the work of peopling the French possessions in North America. Courcelles, the Governor of- New France, and Talon, the Intendant, were filled with zeal for the advancement of the colony, and spared no efforts to that end. Talon appears to have had views of public affairs far in advance of his age, and even in advance of those of Colbert. He pointed out to the latter the great injury which was likely to be done to New France by giving the West India Company a monopoly of its trade, and the revocation of the privileges of the Company in 1674 may be largely traced to his influence. In 1671 a vessel named L'Oranger brought sixty pas- sengers to Acadia, five of whom were females. Talon desired to open communication with Penobscot by way of the head waters of the Penobscot river, and some of the new colonists were intended to settle on that interior line of communication with Canada, but most of them were sent to Port Royal. In the letter in which Grand-fontaine informs the French minister of the arrival of these colo- nists, we get some glimpses of the routine of his duties as commandant in Acadia, and of the difficulties which he 212 HISTORY OF ACADIA. had to face. He was then about to send his ensign to the River St. John, to establish Fort Latour and guard it until he could have the cannon brought down from the fprt at Jemseg. The same ensign was charged with the duty of telling the people at Port Eoyal to live in peace until some one could be sent to command them. It would seem that there had been much disorder at that place in consequence of Belleisle attempting to exercise authority over the inhabitants. Belleisle and Molin, the priest, had been carrying matters with a high hand, having caused a negro to be hung without any trial, killed an Indian, and banished three inhabitants. Grand-fontaine had also been obliged to put his lieutenant, De Marson, under arrest for disrespect to himself. He was embarrassed for want of officers fit to command, and desired the minister to send him half-pay officers to put in charge of the trading posts and fishing stations in his territory. He pointed out the de- sirability of occupying the River St. George, which bounded the English settlements. He stated that if the King could obtain from the Duke of York the restitution of Kennebec and Pemaquid, the English settlers of these places would be contented, as they did not wish to recognize the authority of the Massachusetts government, and only asked for liberty of conscience. It is remarkable that in the course of this same year the Massachusetts authorities ordered another survey to be made of the eastern limits of their patent, and the new surveyor succeeded in satisfying his employers so well that he advanced the frontier of Massachusetts as far east as Penobscot Bay, within a few miles of the French fort at Penobscot. Evidently the question of boundaries between Acadia and Massachusetts was soon likely to reach a more interesting stage. During Grand-fontaine's administration, one more was HISTORY OP ACADIA. 213 added to the settlements of Acadia. Jacob Bourgeois, a resident of Port Eoyal, took a few colonists to Chignecto, where an enormous area of marsh land awaited but the care of man to yield its riches. He was followed soon afterwards by Pierre Arsenault, who took more settlers to , the colony, and thus the beginnings were made of what afterwards became a large and flourishing settlement. These marsh lands had been known to the French as early as the year 1612, when they were visited by Biencourt and father Biard. A few years later a settlement was commenced at Mines. Its principal founder was a rich inhabitant of Port Royal, named Piere Theriot, and Claude and Antoine Landry and E6n6 LeBlanc were associated with him. This settlement became a favorite outlet for the surplus young men of Port Eoyal, and finally grew to be the richest and most populous in Acadia. Grand-fontaine did not remain long in Acadia, being recalled to France in May, 1673, Chambly, who had been an officer of the Carignan Sali6res regiment, being appointed commandant in Acadia in his stead. One morning, in 1674, as Chambly and his little garrison of thirty men were engaged in their usual duties about the fort at Penobscot, they were startled by the appearance of a Dutch war vessel in the river. Louis XIV. was then engaged in a war with Holland, and while his generals were winning glory for him in Europe, the Dutch thought that they might safely attack the ill-guarded Provinces of France in America. The Hollander carried one hundred and ten men, and was heavily armed, while Chambly was in no condition to defend the place successfully. But a soldier, who had fought against the Turks, could not be expected to yield without bloodshed, and so Chambly 214 HISTORY OF ACADIA. undertook the hopeless task of driving off his assailants, but after several of his men had been killed, and he him- self shot through the body, he was obliged to retire, and the fort was surrenderd at discretion. The commander of the Hollanders at once sent a detachment to the St. John River, where De Marson was in command at Jemseg with a few soldiers. He was speedily captured, and the fort ruined. The amount of plunder as the result of this expe- dition was not large, and the Dutchman made no attempt to hold on to the forts which he had so easily captured. But it had one important result ; the French government from that time made no further attempts to oc(4upy the fort at Penobscot, and it fell into decay. In December, 1674, the French West India Company, which had been created ten years before, was dissolved by royal edict, and the lands, which had been granted to it, reverted to the Crown of France. This was an act of wise statesmanship, and had it been followed up by entire liberty of trade on the coasts of Acadia, the consequences would have been most important. But, unfortunately, neither Louis XIV. nor his minister seemed capable of understanding that, any sort of commerce could benefit Acadia which was not a monopoly. In May, 1676, Chambly received a new commission from the King appointing him Governor of Acadia. In this document he was directed to uphold the arms of his majesty in the way of aggression as well as of defence ; to maintain good order and discipline among the soldiers who were to be given him for the defence of the fort; to urge the Colonists to trade in skins and devote themselves to com- merce, and to allow entire freedom to the French merchants to trade in Acadia, in virtue of the passports from his majesty, of which they were the bearers. These manifold HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 215 duties were quite out of proportion to Cbambly's means of carrying them out, for he was without soldiers or ships, and was merely living in Acadia on sufferance. A curious proof of the defenceless state of the country is furnished by the fact that the Dutch at this time again occupied Penob- scot, and undertook to restore and garrison the fort. The French were in no condition to resist this second invasion of their territory, but the English colonists who had just succeeded in getting rid of the Dutch Province to the south of them, were not disposed to see a Dutch colony established on their northern borders. Accordingly, two or three, vessels were sent from Boston, and the Dutch driven from Penobscot, the English, with incredible generosity, leaving the fort unoccupied as soon as they had dispossessed the intruders from the Netherlands. Pentagoet, as the Penobscot fort was called, was however not suffered to remain long without a tenant, but was immediately occupied by the Baron de St. Castin, one of the most picturesque characters in Acadian history. Cas- tin was a native of Oloron in the Basses Pyrenees and had been an officer of the Carignan Saliferes. When that famous regiment was disbanded he threw himself among the savages of Acadia, whose language he speedily learned. He mar- ried a daughter of Matakando,* the principal chief of the Penobscot Indians, and soon became more influential in their councils than any of their natural leaders. He acquired an immense fortune by trading with them, and was thus able to attain the attachment of his savage allies by hand- some presents, as Avell as by the ties of affection. His presence at Penobscot was eminently useful to the French in Acadia, for it kept the savages of all that coast faithful *The English called this chief Madoekawando, while the Freucli called him Matakando. I spare the reader the extra syllable. 216 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. to their cause and prevented them from making peace with the English. There was no man of his day that the border settlers of New England were less disposed to quarrel with than the Baron St. Castin. But Castin was not the only member of the Noblesse who came from Canada to Acadia. In 1676 Michael Le Neuf sieur de La Valliire, a scion of the Potheri6 family, arrived from Quebec. The same year he obtained a large grant of territory at Chignecto, and established a fishing station at St. John. Soon after his arrival Chambly left Acadia to assume the government of Grenada, and Soulan- ges, who was appointed to command in Chambly's place, died before he had held that commission very long. The latter was grantee of two extensive seigniorial estates on the St. John, Nashwaak, and Jemseg. His death threw the appointment of Commandant in Acadia into the hands of La ValiiSre, who received a commission from Count Fron- tenac, then Governor of Canada, dated the 16th July, 1678. La Villi6re had come to Acadia mainly for the purpose of making money, and he was disposed to view his new office as a ready means of attiiining that end. Evidently there was an opportunity for a thrifty commander to better his fortunes without doing the King any great injury. He was a fisherman and trader ; the English who came upon the coast were fishermen and traders also, and he saw a way of making such arrangements with them as would be mutually advantageous. Former commanders had vainly endeavoured to prevent the English from fishing oia the coast ; he recognized at once the fruitlessness of such efforts, and permitted all to fish, provided they paid him a license fee of five pistoles for each vessel. Former commanders had also endeavoured to prevent the English from trading on the coast. He was willing they should trade as much HISTORY OF ACADIA. 217 as they pleased, provided they traded with him. So La Valligre encouraged the English to come to the coast of Acadia, and for several years they came and went, and fished and traded as much as they wished. This, however, was too good to last. A merchant from Eochelle, named Bergier, came to Acadia, and saw at once its immense resources and the profitable use to which they might be put He allied with him three citizens of Paris, named Gautier, Boucher and De Majntes, and formed a Company for the prosecution of the shore fishery in Acadia. In February, 1682, the King made a grant to these per- sons of such lands as they might find suitable along the «oast of Acadi'a and on the St. John River, for the purpose ■of forming an establishment for the inshore fishery, extend- ing six leagues round the settlements they should make. They had also permission to engage in trade with the French islands of America and in ^e\v France in fish, oil, timber and other goods. Under this authority they com- menced operations by erecting a small fort and fishing establishment at the head of Chedabucto Bay, on the site of the present town of Guysborough, and brought out a number of men from France to fish and cultivate the soil. From that time there was no peace in Acadia. La Val- li6re's interests claslied with those of the fishing company, and Bergier and his associates were incessant and clamorous in their complaints against him. They accused him not only of permitting the English to fish and trade on the coast, but of robbing the Indians, and of other acts of rapacity. They also represented that he was a poor man, with but a small settlement of eight or ten men, with no force sufScient to enforce the authority of the King, and therefore obliged to trade with the English for a living. All this and much more was said of the commandant in 218 HISTORY OF ACADIA. nupjerous memorials, which were supported by elaborate documents in proof of the statements advanced. The same memorials which contained these accusations against La Valli6re, were also filled with complaints of the conduct of the English of Boston and Salem, who were accused of acts of piracy on the coast. The people of Port Royal had fitted out six small fishing vessels, and these were captured by some freebooters, whom Bergier speaks of as English, one Carter of Salem being the instigator of this outrage. At this period, and for twenty years afterwards, acts of piracy were frequent on the coast of Acadia, and caused great annoyance and loss to the inhabitants. Although many of these outlaws were English, many also were French, but no government was willing to be made re- sponsible for their acts because of their nationality. The Governor of Massachusetts, to whom Bergier complained of these outrages, promised to punish the parties who com- mitted them if they fell into his hands, and told Bergier to do the same. The latter actually succeeded in capturing a man named Tailer, who had piloted the buccaneers that captured the Port Royal vessels, but instead of hftoging him promptly, detained him a long time in his fort, with a view to sending him to Quebec for trial. The representations of Bergier -and others were so far successful that the appointment of La VilliSre was can- celled by the King, almost at the very time when he was on the point of being promoted to the office of Governor. He had made himself so acceptable to Count Frontenac and his successor, La Barre, that, on their representations, I the King, in August 1683, sent La Barre a despatch signi- fying his intention of appointing La Villifire Governor. But before he received this commission, Louis had changed his mind, and in April, 1684, M. Perrot was appointed HISTORY OF ACADIA. 219 Governor of Acadia, and Bergier was commissioned as lieutenant of the King under Perrot. La Villi6re was at the same time strictly forbidden to act as commandant in Acadia, or to grant fishing licenses to foreigners. Perrot at the time he received this appointment was Governor of Montreal. A more unsuitable man for Governor of Acadia could scarcely have been found, for all the bad qualities of which La Valli6re had been accused were exaggerated in him. His conduct at Montreal had been so scandalous that it had caused his imprisonment in Quebec for nearly a year, and in the Bastile for a shorter term. That he was reinstated as Governor of Montreal and afterwards made Governor of Acadia must be attributed to the fact that he was related to Talon, the former Intendant, who was high in favor at the court of the King. Perrot conducted himself in Acadia precisely as he had done at Montreal. He engaged in illicit trade, sold brandy to the Indians, and attempted to monopolize the whole peltry traffic of the country. He also continued the practice, for which La Valli6re had been so much censured, of allowing the English to fish on the coast. Fortunately for the shore Fishery Company, Perrot did not arrive in Acadia for some time after his appointment, and in the meantime Bergier proceeded to carry out his instructions with the zeal of a man, whose self-interest coincided with his duty. In the course of the summer he captured eight English vessels for fishing and trading on the coast of Acada, and sent them to France to be con- demned. Even this achievement was not without its drawbacks, for two of the vessels taken had licenses from La Valli^re, and Bergier was obliged to restore them and to indemnify their owners. La Valli6re, who had retired to his farm at Chignecto, continued to give the Fishery 220 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. Company much trouble. He entirely disregarded Bergier's commission, and on one occasion went so far as to send a force to attack Bergier, who was then trading on the coast of Cape Breton. Beaubassin, La Valli6re's son, who was the leader in this attack, entered Bergier's cabin in the night with a party of armed men, bound his servants, and robbed him of all his goods. ' Bergier considered himself lucky in escaping with his life. An unfortunate Indian, who was on his way to Chedabucto with a canoe load of skins, was also captured by Beaubassin and robbed of the whole. These outrages were duly complained of to the minister, but the booty was never returned, and neither La Vallifire nor his son received any punishment for their piratical conduct. At this period there was a strong disposition on the part of many of the Acadians to become rangers of the woods (coureurs de bois) rather than cultivators of the soil. This was an evil which had reached enormous proportions in Canada, and against which the most stringent laws had been enacted, the penalty for bush-ranging being no less than death. The fascinations of forest life must have been strong, indeed, when men would brave such risks for their sake, but a coureur de bois, as he sat by his camp fire in the wilderness, could feel that he was, at least for the time, a free man, and pity his too much governed brothers in the settlements. Freedom is of some value after all, even if it can only be gained by flying from civilization. Several of the most noted bush-rangers of Canada had come to Acadia. Among them were four sons of Councillor D'Amours, of Quebec, who had been arrested for bush- ranging in Canada. Three of them received grants of land iu Acadia in 1684, and they commenced a trade with the Indians of the St. John River, giving them brandy and HISTORY OF ACADIA. 221 French goods for their furs. The vast unsettled wilder- ness through which this river flowed was a paradise to the coureur de bois. When Perrot arrived in Acadia he was dismayed to find that coureurs de bois were doing most of the trade of the Province. This cut him to the soul. True, when Gov- ernor of Montreal, he had done his best to encourage bush-ranging, but he took care to reap the profits of the illicit trade which he encouraged. He was the more angry because he was utterly powerless to prevent other traders from participating in the profits of a traffic which, as Governor, he thought should have been wholly his own. He had thirty soldiers in Port Koyal quartered on the inhabitants, but they could not aid him much in his attempt to make himself the only merchant in Acadia. St. Castin, who did the largest trade of any private person in the Province, was, for that reason, more detested by Perrot than any other man in Acadia, and was made the subject of many complaints in his despatches to the Minister. Perrot also looked with jealousy on the operations of the Fishing Company at Chedabucto, and desired to erect a rival establish meiit at La Have, of which he requested a grant, with a frontage of twelve leagues on the sea coast and ten leagues in depth inland. In order to enable him to settle his proposed seigniory, he demanded fifty soldiers in addition to the thirty already in garrison, a corvette of ten guns, and a large supply of tools and material for re-building the fort. He also asked for authority to seize the inhabitants who were not engaged in cultivating the soil, or who had not settled establishments, so that he could compel them to work for him at La Have. These and a number of other requests equally modest are contained in a memorial which he forwarded to the Minister in 1686, but 222 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. they received no attention. Indeed, by the time his memo- rial reached France, the resolution to replace him by a more honest Governor had already been taken. At this period we get an interesting view of tlie state of Acadia from the census taken by De Meulles, the Intendant of Canada, which visited all the Acadian settlements in 1685 and 1686, and prepared a memorial on the state of the Province and a census of its inhabitants. Their total number at this period, exclusive of soldiers, was 851, the population having more than doubled since the enumera- tion of fifteen years before. Port Royal, although it had in the meantime established new settlements at Chignecto and Mines, had increased its population from 363 to 592. At Chignecto there was a settlement of 127 persons and 67 at Mines. The progress of the latter settlement had been retarded by the claims made by La Valli6re to seignorial rights there. But Belleisle who was seignior of Port Royal and who claimed Mines also, succeeded in having his rival's pretensions set aside by the Intendant, and from that time Mines prospered rapidly in population. After making the largest allowance for natural increase it is evident that a considerable proportion of the gain in population between 1671 and 1686 must have been due to immigration, and as a further proof of this, the number of surnames in the colony had doubled in the interval. In another chapter I purpose to deal more at length with this matter of Aca- dian population. In April, 1687, M. DeMenneval was appointed Governor of Acadia, and Perrot was ordered to return to France, an order which he totally disregarded. Before Menneval arrived to replace him he had an opportunity of taking a petty revenge on St. Castin, his hated rival in trade. Castin was visiting Port Royal and seems to have com- HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 223 mitted some act of imprudence in the way of gallantry for which Perrot kept him under arrest for seven weeks, long enough to interfere seriously with Castin's trading arrange- ments for that season. He was naturally disgusted at this trick of his rival, and in a letter to Governor Denonville, complaining of his arrest, he gives a most unflattering description of Perrot's doings in Acadia, even accusing him of selling brandy by the pint and half-pint before strangers in his own house. Perrot was not the last governor of Acadia against whom similar charges were made. Menneval, on succeeding to the government, was furnished with a letter of instruction which contained elaborate directions for liis guidance in the conduct of affairs. He was informed that the principal object of the King was the propagation of the Catholic faith, and there- fore he was ordered to maintain the observances of religion among the inhabitants and repress all licentiousness and immorality. He was to prevent the inhabitants from going into the woods under pretence of trading, and to restore to the royal dominions those granted lands which had not been occupied. Inhabitants guilty of excesses, or • who refused to conform to the laws against bush-ranging, were to be sent back to France. He was also ordered to prevent foreigners from fishing or trading on the coast, and to aid him in this he was supplied with a frigate — La Fripoune — under tiie command of M. De Beauregard. Thirty additional soldiers were also to be sent to him, and he was instructed, with their help, to rebuild the fort at Port Royal, which he was to make his principal place of residence. Finally, he was told that the prohibition against licentiousness and bush-ranging applied like- wise to St. Castin, who was to be given to understand that he must give up the vagabond life he was leading 224 HISTORY OF ACADIA. with the savages, and the trade which he carried on with the English, and commence without delay a substantial settlement. He was further to be told that if he did as he was commanded and acted as became a gentleman, the King would give him tokens of his favor. Lest Louis XIV. should be accused of hypocrisy in thus rating St. Castin for his immoral conduct, it should be remembered that the King, after spending all his youth and strength in licentiousness, had reformed at the age of forty-seven, married Madame De Maintenon, become extremely pious, and was then engaged in the task of wholly extirpating heresy from his dominions. Perrot had represented to the Minister that Boudrot, the Judge at Port Royal, was so old as to be unfit for duty, and that D'Entremont, Procureur du Eoi (Attorney Gene- ral) was an ignorant man. Both were displaced in 1688, Des Goutitis being appointed Judge, and Du Breuil Attorney General. The directions to the former show the paternal interest which the King was taking in Acadia.. He was to discourage lawsuits and act rather as an arbi- trator than as a Judge. He was told to examine into the resources of the colony, to report where new settlements might be made, to give an account of the land fit for cultivation, and the best fishing stations, and to ascertain the number of inhabitants who might find a subsistence in the colony. He was to encourage the inhabitants to sow all sorts of grain, and to plant all kinds of trees brought from France, in order that those which were the most useful and profitable might be selected. Amongst his other duties was the preparation and transmission to France of an annual census of the colony. The nature of these directions shows what a lively interest Louis and his minister were taking in colonial affairs. It was well that HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 225 such a spirit was abroad, for the colonies of France ^ve^e threatened by enormous dangers, and events of dreadful import to France were about to transpire in Europe. Louis, who had kept England his subservient ally for twenty years, by making pensioners of two of her Kings, was soon to see the resources of England employed against him by his life long enemy, William of Orange. The position of St. Castin at Penobscot was one which exposed hira to peculiar dangers, for it was a debatable land which was claimed by both nations. James II. of England regarded it as a part of his ducal territory under his grant of 1664, and in 1686 Messrs. Palmer and West, the Commissioners appointed by Dongan, Governor of New York, to superintend the affairs of the ducal province of Sagadahoc, were directed to lay claim to the country as far west as the St. Croix. In pursuance of this claim they seized a cargo of wine which had been landed at Penobscot, and confiscated it for non-payment of duties, on the ground that it should have been entered and paid duty at the Custom House at Pemaquid, their head-quarters. This act gave offence both to the French and the people of Massashusetts, for the wine belonged to Mr. John Nelson, a popular young gentleman of Boston, nephew of Sir Thomas Temple, and the people of Boston looked with no sort of favor on the erection of such a Province to the eastward of them. However, for the present, the dispute was settled amicably, for after some correspondence on the subject the wine was restored. The difficulty was revived in 1688 when Andros became royal governor of New England, under a conunission from James II. He resolved to seize upon Penobscot, and went there in the Rose frigate in the course of the Spring of that year. The frigate anchored opposite Castin;e's residence o 226 HISTORY OF ACADIA. and Andros sent a lieutenant ashore to inform the Baron that he desired to see him on board his vessel. St. Castin, who had not a very high idea of the good faith of Ahdroa declined the interview, and retired with his family to the woods, leaving most of his goods and household effects behind him. Andros landed with a party of oiEcers and entered Castin's dwelling, which they robbed of a quantity of arms, ammunition, iron kettles and cloth. They even carried off his chairs, and Andros claimed great credit for his generosity for not interfering with the altar and the pictures and ornaments attached to it. Andros returned to Pemaquid in triumph with his booty, but it proved a costly prize, for it was the means of bringing on another Indian war. The Indians commenced hostilities in the following August, and no one doubts that they were urged persons, five hundred of whom were to be sent to North Carolina, one thousand to Virginia, and five hundred to Maryland. After the people were shipped, he was ordered to march overland to Annapolis with a strong detachment to assist Major Handfield ia, removing the inhabitants of that river. Handfield's instructions were similar to those of "Winslow, and he was informed that vessels sufficient to transport one thousand persons would be sent to Annapolis. Of these, three hundred were to be sent to Philadelphia, two hundred to New York, three hundred to Connecticut, and two hun- dred to Boston. Each master of a transport was furnished by Governor Lawrence with a circular letter to the Gov- ernor of the colony to which he was destined. This circu- lar letter contained Governor Lawrence's justification for the extreme step which he was taking in removing a whole people from their homes, and therefore I give it entire. It was as follows : — " The success which has attended His Majesty's arms in driving the French from the encroachments they had made 402 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. in this Province, presented me with a favorable opportu- nity of reducing the French inhabitants of this colony to a proper obedience to His Majesty's government, or forcing thera to quit the country. These inhabitants -were per- mitted to remain in quiet possession of their lands upon condition they would take the oath of allegiance to the King within one year after the treaty of Utrecht, by which this Province was ceded to Great Britain. With this con- dition they have ever refused to comply, without having at the same time from the Governor an assurance in writing that they should not be called upon to bear arms in defence of the Province, and with this General Phillips did comply, of which step His Majesty disapproved; and the inhabitants pretending therefrom to be in a state of neutrality between His Majesty and his enemies, have con- tinually furnished the French and Indians with intelli- gence, quarters, provisions and assistance in annoying the Government, and while one part have abetted the French encroachments by their treachery, the other have counte- nanced them by open rebellion, and three hundred of them were actually found in arms in the French fort at Beausfe- jour when it surrendered. "Notwithstanding all their former bad behavior, as His Majesty was pleased to allow me to extend still further his royal grace to such as would return to their duty, I offered such of them as had not been openly in arms against us a continuance of the possession of their lands, if they would take the oath of allegiance unqualified with any reservation whatsoever ; but this they have most audaciously as well as unanimously refused, and if they would presume to do this when there is a large fleet of ships of war in the harbor and a considerable land force in the Province, what might we not expect from them when the approaching winter HISTOKY OF ACADIA. 403 deprives us of the former, and when the troops, which are only hired from New England occasionally and for a small time, have returned home ? "As by this behavior the inhabitants have forfeited all title to their lands and any further favor from the Govern- ment, I called together His Majesty's Council, at which the Hon. Vice-Admiral Boscawen and Rear-Admiral Mostyn assisted, to consider by what means we could with the greatest security and effecit rid ourselves of a set of people who would forever have been an obstruction to the inten- tion of settling this colony, and that it was now, from their refusal of. the oath, absolutely incumbent on us to remove. " As their numbers amount to near seven thousand per- sons, the driving them off, with leave to go whither they pleased, would have doubtless strengthened Canada with so considerable a number of inhabitants ; and, as they have no cleared land to give them at present, such as are able to tear arms must have been immediately employed in annoy- ing this and the neighboring colonies. To prevent such an inconvenience it was judged a necessary and the only prac- ticable measure to divide them among the colonies, where they may be of some use, as most of them are healthy, strong people ; and as they cannot easily collect themselves together again, it will be out of their power to do any mis- chief, and they may become profitable and, it is possible, in time, faithful subjects. "As this step was indispensably necessary to the security of this colony, upon whose preservation from French encroachments the prosperity of North America is esteemed in a great measure dependent, I have not the least reason to doubt of your Excellency's colicurrence, and that you will receive the inhabitants I now send, and dispose of 404 HISTORY OF ACADIA. them in such manner as may best answer our design in preventing their reunion." The work of removing the Acadians met with no success at ChignectOj where the population was large and compara- tively warlike. Boishebert, after being driven from the St. John, had betaken himself to Shediac, and from there he directed the movements of the Acadians of the Isthmus. When the English tried to collect the inhabitants for the purpose of removing them-, they found that they had fled to the shelter of the woods, and when they attempted to follow them, they were met by the most determined resist- ance. On the 2nd September, Major Frye was sent with two hundred men from the garrison at Fort Cumberland to burn the villages of Shepody,Petitcodiac and Memramcook. At Shepody they burnt one hundred and eighty-one build- ings, but found no inhabitants, except twenty-three women and children, whom they sent on board the vessel they had with them. They sailed up the Petitcodiac River on the following day and burnt the buildings on both sides of it for miles. At length the vessel was brought to anchor, and fifty men were sent on shore to burn the chapel and some other buildings near it, when suddenly they were attacked by three hundred French and Indians under Boishebert, and compelled to retreat with a loss of twenty- three men killed and wounded, including Dr. March, who was killed, and Lieutenant Billings dangerously wounded. Boishebert was found to be too strong to be attacked even with the aid of the main body of troops under Major Frye, so the party had to return to Fort Cumberland, after hav- ing destroyed in all two hundred and fifty-three buildings and a large quantity of wheat and flax. At Mines, Lieutenant-Colonel Winslow succeeded in accomplishing his unpleasant duty without resistance. On HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 405 the 2nd September he issued an order to the inhabitants of the districts of Grand Pr§, Mines, River Canard and vicinity, commanding all the males from ten years upwards to attend at the church in Grand Pr6 on the following Friday, the 5th September, to hear what His Majesty had authorized him to communicate to them. The inhabitants attended in obedience to this summons to the number of upwards of four hundred, and were informed by Winslow that, in consequence of their disobedience, their lands and tenements, cattle, live stock and all their effects, except their money and household goods, were forfeited to the Crown, and they themselves were to be removed from the Province. He told them, however, that he would take in the vessels with them as large a portion of their household effects as could be carried, and that families would not be separated, but conveyed in the same vessel. Finally, he told them that they should remain prisoners at the church until the time came for them to embark. At Piziquid, Captain Murray collected the male inhabitants in the same way to the number of nearly two hundred, and kept them in confinement. Considering the situation in which they were placed, they manifested but little emotion, and offered no resistance worthy of the name. The task of getting so many families together, and embarking them with their household effects, proved tedious, but finally it was accom- plished, and the inhabitants of Mines and Piziquid, to the number of more than nineteen hundred persons, were got on board the transports, and carried away from their homes in Acadia to lands of which they knew nothing, and where their presence was not desired. At Annapolis many families took the alarm when the transports arrived, and fled to the woods for safety, and much difficulty was experienced in collecting them. 406 HISTOKY OF ACADIA. Hunger finally compelled most of them to surrender them- selves, and upwards of eleven hundred were placed on board the vessels and sent away. One vessel with two hundred and twenty-six Acadians on board was seized by them in the Bay of Fundy, and taken into St. John, and the passengers she carried were not afterwards recaptured. The total number removed from Acadia in 1755 was somewhat in excess of three thousand souls. Some of them were taken to Massachusetts, some to Pennsylvania, some to Virginia, some to Maryland, to North and South Caro- lina, and some even to the British West Indies. Wherever they were taken they became for the time a public charge on the colony, and were the occasion of much correspond- ence between the Governments which were obliged to maintain them, and that of Nova Scotia. Many of those who went to Georgia and South Carolina hired small vessels, and set out to return to Acadia, and the Governors of these colonies were very glad to facilitate their move- ments northward by giving them passes to voyage along^ their coasts. Several hundred of those who landed in Virginia were sent by the. Government" of - that colony to England, where, they retnained for seven years, finally taking 'the oath of allegiance, and many of them returning' to Acadia. A number of these people went from Virginia" to the French West Indies, where th^y died in large num- bers. The great bulk of the Acadians, however, finally succeeded in returning to the land of their birth. Some got back in the course of a few months, others did not suc- ceed in returning until many years had elapsed, yet they succeeded, nevertheless, and the ultimate loss of population by their enforced emigration in 1755 was much less than would be supposed. A work of no less authority than the Census of Canada HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 407 has put forth some very inexcusable statements relative to the loss of population by the enforced emigration of the Aca- dians." According to it the Acadian population was reduced by 10,000 between 1755 and 1771, "without taking into account the absorption by death of a number of victims equal to the whole of the births." The Acadian population in the Peninsula is put down at 13,000 in 1749, and the total Acadian population, including Isle Royale, St. John Island and the northern portion of Acadia, is given at 16,000. In 1755, before the expulsion of the Acadians, the Acadian population is given at 18,500, of which 8,200 were in the Peninsula, 3,000 in Isle Royale, 3,500 in St. John Island, 3,500 in the district of Shediac, 500 on the shores of the Gulf, and 200 on St. John River. The absurdity of this statement lies in the fact that there could not possibly have been more than 8,000 Acadians, descendants of those who acquired rights under the Treaty of Utrecht, in the year 1755. In 1714 the two settlements of Mines and Annapo- lis contained but 1,773 persons ; and the population of Chignecto, which had but 245 inhabitants in 1703, could not have swelled the total population of Acadia in 1714 to more than 2,500. All the authorities admit that the nor- mal rate of increase among the Acadian population was 2-5 per annum. This would give a population of less than 8,000 souls in 1755, and that agrees pretty closely with the estimate of Governor Lawrence. The population of Isle Royale, which came direct from France, and mainly returned to France after the fall of Louisbourg, has no right to be counted as part of the population of Acadia, nor are its movements to be considered as connected with those of the Acadian people. Assuming that there were between 8,000 and 9,000 Acadians in the Province and in the Island of St. John in the beginning of 1765, at least 408 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 5,000 of these were inhabitants who had been enticed away by the French from the settlements in the Peninsula or from Chignecto, or who had originally resided north of the Misseguash. Of the remainder, about 3,000 were forcibly removed by the English, but at least two-thirds of them eventually returned to Acadia. CHAPTER XXIII. THE SEVEN YEARS WAE. , The Acadians of the Peninsula no longer remained to disquiet the Government at Halifax, but those of the main land, now grown to be a numerous and powerful body, were more resolute than ever not to submit to English authority. Boishebert, who was entrusted by the Gov- ernor of Canada with the work of keeping the Acadians and Indians in a state of active hostility to the English, did his work well, and gave Governor Lawrence no end of anxiety and trouble. When the latter sent a detachment to the River St. John to attempt to re- capture the transport which had been carried there by , some of the Acadians, the French very deliberately burnt the vessel and fired on the party that went to recover her. The attempt of a detachment from Fort Cumberland to surprise Boishebert at Shediac was equally unfortunate, and resulted in a repulse. An armed trading schooner, with provisions for the garrion of Annapolis, which put into Passamaquoddy, was captured by the Indians there, an artillery officer of that garrison being one of her pas- sengers. Even Annapolis was not considered secure from attack, and to make matters worse, the New England troops who' had been enlisted for the capture of Beausfijour, were clamoring for their discharge, their term having expired. The Acadians at Cape Sable and Port Latour, who had not been removed the previous year, had proved very troublesome, and Major Prebble was sent in April to cap- 410 HISTOBY OF ACADIA. ture as many of them as he could catch and take them to Boston. This measure rendered Annapolis in a manner secure ; but a few days later bad news arrived at Halifax from Baie Verte. The fort there, which had been re- named Fort Monckton, was beset by the Indians, and thirty men who had gone out of it to bring in wood, were attacked and nine of them scalped. Lieutenant-Colonel Scott reinforced the garrison from Fort Cumberland, but even the latter was so closely watched, that soldiers who ventured any distance from the fort alone were almost certain to be carried off. To check this sort of warfare a company of Eangers was formed to hunt down the Indians, and a reward of thirty pounds was offered by the Govern- ment for every male Indian prisoner above the age of sixteen, or twenty-five pounds for his scalp. Twenty-five pounds was also offered for every Indian woman or child brought in alive. The killing of several private English settlers at this time by the Micmacs made it necessary for the Government to offer such high rewards for their capture or destruction. During the summer of this year the Acadians to the number of thirty-five hundred had retired to the Mira- michi, and they forwarded a memorial to Vaudreuil, the Governor of Canada, begging him to send them provisions and arms. In this document they boast greatly of their loyalty to the Kitig of France, and attribute all their misfortunes to their attachment to that monarch. They endeavor to excuse themselves for the lack of military qualities which they displayed at Beausfejour, but announce their strong desire to avenge themselves on the English. Siijgularly enough they express a want of confidence in the Micmacs and in their missionary, Manach. The former they characterize as thieves and idlers, and they leave a HISTORY OF ACADIA. 411 very strong impressiou that they regarded the latter as a' rogue. It would have been a shameful thing for the Gov- ernor of Canada to have disregarded this prg,yer, nor was it disregarded, for the Acadians at Miramiehi and Bale Chaleur were kept supplied with provisions from Quebec until the end of the war. They became, in fact, in a large measure, a part of the combatant force with which France was striving to defend her American possessions from the English. One of them named Brossard fitted out a cap- tured trading vessel as a privateer, and took several English vessels in -the Bay of Fundy. A strong party continued to watch iFort Monckton at Baie Verte, and the losses incurred in keeping up that post became so serious that in- the autumn of 1756 the English abandoned and burnt it. Meanwhile, the war in other portions of America was going against the English. Shirley, who was Commander- in-Chief of the forces, and whose zeal, activity and know- ledge would have been of the greatest service, was removed from the Governorship of Massachiisetts in consequence of the partizan representations of a faction in New York, and greatly to the disgust of the people of New England, who knew his worth. He was succeeded as Commander-in- Chief in America by the Earl of Loudon, one of those titled incapables who have cost England so dear in wasted' treasure, and in the blood of her sons. Loudon was de- scribed to Dr. Franklin as like St. George on the signs,, "always on horseback, but neVer riding forward." He was wholly without decision of character, and entirely defi- cient in the requisites of a military leader. While the British armies in America were under such a man, Montcalm, one of the best and bravest officers of France, had arrived in Canada; with him came Levis, Bouganville and Bourlamaque, all officers of great ability. 412 HISTORY OF ACADIA. and worthy to serve under such a leader. The French soon began to display much activity, while the English remained almost wholly inactive. Montcalm's principal achievement in 1756 was the capture of Oswego, which he attacked in August with three thousand men. It was defended by Colonel Mercer and eighteen hundred men, but, although well supplied with provisions and heavily armed, it only held out a few days. A large amount of booty fell into the hands of the French ; and to conciliate the Indians, to whom they had been a great annoyance, the fortifications of Ofewego were destroyed. Thus the English lost their hold on Lake Ontario, and likewise, to a large extent, their influence with the Indians, who were always ready to side with the strongest party. The consequences of the fall of Oswego were widely felt, and while the French were filled with joy and hope, the English were so much depressed that many began to despair of the ultimate success of the operations against Canada. The military operations of 1757 were still more disas- trous to the English than those of the previous year. Possibly, if Montcalm's advice had been followed, Acadia would have again passed into the hands of France, for he strongly advocated a diversion in Acadia with a squadron, a corps of French regulars, and two thousand five hundred Canadians. His plans were, however, overruled, and those of Vaudreuil for the reduction of Fort Edward and Fort William Henry adopted. In January a conference of Colonial Governors was held in New York, at the call of Lord Loudon. It was decided to stand on the defensive merely on the Candian frontier during the next campaign, but to make an effort to capture Louisbourg, with the aid of a powerful fleet, six regiments of regulars, and a contin- gent of Colonial troops. On the 30th June, Loudon arrived HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 413 at Halifax from. New York with a fleet of transports laden with troops, and a few days later Admiral Holborne came in with eleven ships of the line and six thousand soldiers. De la Mothe was at that time lying in Louisbourg with a powerful French fleet, and Loudon did not deem it prudent to attack the place, which, according to the tales of deserters, was strongly garrisoned. The whole summer was spent in useless councils of war, and the enterprise against Louisbourg was finally abandoned. Loudon returned to New York, and Holborne cruised with fifteen ships of the line in the vicinity of Louisbourg until late in September, when his fleet was scattered by a tempest, and one of his vessels driven ashore and lost on the Island of Cape Breton, most of her crew falling into the hands of the French. While Loudon was in Halifax, Montcalm took advan- tage of his absence to attack Fort William Henry on Lake George with a force of eight thousand men and a powerful train of artillery. The place was defended by Colonel Munroe and twenty-five hundred men, part in the fort and part in an intrenched camp. It fell after a siege of six days, — General Webb, who had four thousand men at Fort Edward, being unable or unwilling to send any aid to the beleagured garrison. By the terms of surrender, the garrison were to return to the English colonies, not to serve again duringthe war. These terms were shamefully broken. The English, instead of being escorted in safety to Fort Edward, were attacked by the Indians as soon as they left the fort, and indiscriminately slaughtered, the French making no attempt to prevent the massacre. Six hundred escaped, half naked, and found their way to Fort Edward. Five hundred fled back to Fort William Henry, from which they were afterwards forwarded to Fort Edward by Mont- 414 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. calm. Two hundred were carried off by the Indians into captivity, and more than twelve hundred, including one hundred women, were murdered on the spot. Montcalm made a great pretence of regret at this occurrence, but it is not probable that he was sincere, for he had six thousand white troops at his command, and could easily have prevented the massacre. This deplorable event, however, hadone good effeet; it stimulated the English to still greater efforts, and made them more resolute than before to compass the destruction of French power in America. From this period the reign of incapacity in America may be said to have ceased. Notwithstanding one or two reverses, England continued steadily to gain ground from the beginning of 1758, and the French in America only sought to conduct a defensive war. The elder Pitt, the greatest war minister that ever England had, was now at the head of affairs, and by his vigor and spirit was inspir- ing every branch of the military and naval services with an enthusiasm equal to his own. Every soldier and every sailor was taught to feel that the honor of his country was in tis keeping, and that he was expected to presefcve and maintain it. The capture of Louisbourg was the first object pssayed by Pitt, and he selected men for that enterprise that he knew would not repeat the tactics of Loudon and Holborne. The command of the land forces was given to General Jefirey Amherst, a man of singular ability, bravery and discretion, whose fame has been somewhat eclipsed by that of the hero of Quebec, but whose services to his country cannot be too highly estimated. Under him were three able Brigadiers, Wolfe, Lawrence and Whitmore, the land forces amounting to twelve thousand men. The fleet was under the command of Admiral Boscawen, an officer of HISTOBY OF ACADIA. 41 5 distinguished courage, and consisted of twenty-three ships of the line and eighteen frigates. The fleet which, in- cluding transports, numbered one hundred and fifty-seven sail, left Halifax on the 28th May, 1758, and a part of it arrived in Gabarus Bay, near Louisbourg, on the 2nd June. The surf and fog made it impossible to effect a landing until the Sth June. The French, who had fortified the line of coast, made a stout resistance, but the heroism of Wolfe, and the courage of the soldiers whom he led, broke their line of defence and seized the key of the position, so that they were obliged to retreat. A landing having been effected, the operations of the siege were carried on with great vigor. The French , aban- doned the Royal battery at the head of the harbor and the Light House battery which lay opposite Louisbourg, and General "Wolfe took possession of the latter battery on the 12th with twelve hundred men. There he mounted guns from which he destroyed the shipping in the harbor and silenced the Island battery. Meanwhile, approaches were made and batteries erected against Louisbourg on the land side. The city was surrounded by a girdle of fire, and day by day the fortifications crumbled away. Of the five war vessels in the harbor, three were destroyed by the fire of the besiegers, and on the night of the 25th July a detach- ment from the fleet, under the command of Captains Laforey and Balfour, entered the harbor of Louisbourg, burnt one of the remaining war-ships and towed out the other. Next day articles of capitulation were signed, and on the 27th July Louisbourg was surrendered. The capitu- lation included the whole Island of Cape Breton and the Island of St. John. •The garrison, consisting of three thousand and thirty-one soldiers and two thousand six hundred and six sailors, 416 HISTORY OP ACADIA. were sent to England as prisoners of war. A detachment was sent to take possession of the Island of St. John, where the inhabitants, to the number of four thousand one hundred, submitted and surrendered their arms. Of the two thousand four hundred inhabitants of Cape Breton, one thousand seven hundred were sent to France at their OM'n request. The rest remained on the Island and submit- ted to English rule. The Acadians soon felt the loss of their protector, Louisbourg. A squadron was sent to Miramichi and to Gasp6 to destroy the settlements they had made there, and returned, after inflicting as much damage as possible upon them. Colonel Monckton was sent with a detachment of the Colonial Highlanders and Colonel Howe's light infantry to the St. John Eiver to drive the French from the fort at its mouth. The fort, which had only two small cannon in position, was carried by assault oh the land side, and a good many of the French killed. The remainder escaped up the river in boats and canoes, and the Province sloop Ulysses, which attempted to chase them, got carried into the Falls, and was wrecked. The French made their way to St. Anne's, the site of the present city of Fredericton. A strong English garrison was placed in the fort at St. John, which now received the name of Fort Frederick. While success thus attended the enterprises of the Eng- lish in Cape Breton and Acadia, the war was conducted with varied fortune on the Canadian border. Major Gen- eral Abercrombie, who had succeeded the incapable Loudon as Commander-in-Chief, made an attempt on Fort Ticonde- roga. He had fifteen thousand men under his command, while Montcalm, who defended it, had but four thousand ; but the latter were very strongly posted behind a line of works, and the British commander made no attempt to HISTORY OF ACADIA. 417 resort to strategy. After sacrificing two thousand of his best troops in a hopeless assault, he retired to his camp on Lake George. To balance this disaster, the British could show two successes — the capture of Fort Duquesne by an army under General Forbes, and the taking of Fort Fron- tenac on the St. Lawrence by a force under Colonel Brad- street. Fori Duquesne, which was burnt by the retiring French, was rg-named Pittsburgh by Forbes, in honor of England's great War Minister. Fort Frontenae was also destroyed by Bradstreet, and, like Fort Duquesne, it has since become the site of a city, Kingston, once the capital of Upper Canada. The year 1759, the most memorable in the history of Canada, opened with great preparations for the complete conquest of the French dominions in America. The financial strain was already beginning to tell on France, and while her means for the defence of her great colony were crippled, England responded freely to the demands of Pitt for men and money to carry on the war. It was resolved to make one supreme effort to plant the flag of England on the ramparts of Quebec, which had so long defied all attack, and where so raaqy enterprises against British power had been planned. Abercromby was removed from the chief command, and replaced by General Amherst, whose conduct at tlie siege of Louisbourg had won him the thanks of Parliament. The plan of operations which he arranged was thought to be such as could scarcely fail of success. A fleet and array, under General Wolfe, were to ascend the St. Lawrence to Quebec, and besiege that stronghold. An army, under Amherst himself, was to force its way down Lake Champlain, and go by the Richelieu and St. Lawrence to Quebec to effect a junction with Wolfe's army. General Prideaux, with an army of AA 418 HISTORY OF ACADIA. regulars, Provincials and Indians, was to capture Fort Niagara, and, descending Lake Ontario and the St. Law- rence, take Montreal, and, leaving a garrison there, join Amherst and Wolfe under the walls of Quebec. A fourth corps, under Colonel Stanwix, was to clear the shores of Lake Ontario of the enemy. These great preparations called forth corresponding efforts on the part of the French in Canada. The whole available force of the colony was embodied into militia battalions, and all the male inhabitants, capable of bearing arms, were brought into the field. The French, occupying a safe interior line of communication by the St. Lawrence, awaited with anxiety, but yet not without confidence, the approach of enemies that they had often before baffled. General Prideaux, who had a mixed force of regulars, Provincials and Indians, the latter under Sir William Johnson, advanced to Oswego, where he left a strong de- tachment, and early in July reached Fort Niagara and commenced to besiege it. Prideaux was killed in the trenches a few days later, and Johnson assumed com- mand of the army. On the 24th July he defeated a relieving force which the French had gathered from the garrisons to the westward, and next day Fort Niagara was surrendered. Amherst, who had an army of twelve thousand men and a considerable artillery, moved with caution towards Lake Champlain. The French, unable to detect any weakness in his dispositions, and having no force capable of making a successful resistance, evacuated Ticonderoga and Crown Point, as he advanced, and retreated to Isle- Aux-Noix. Amherst spent two months in strengthening these places, and in building two vessels, to enable him to attack the armed craft which the French had on Lake Champlain, and when his preparations for a further advance HISTOEY OF ACADIA. 419 ■were completed, the lateness of the season and the unfavor- able state of the weather compelled him to put his army into winter quarters. He had gained substantial advan- tages, although his progress had been slow, but his inability to reach the St. Lawrence that season had placed on Wolfe the whole burthen of the campaign. Wolfe's force, which was to have been reinforced by two other armies, had to undertake the siege of Quebec alone. The French have been trying for more than a liundred years to explain why Quebec was taken, but they have succeeded very indifferently in their self-imposed task. Although Admiral Saunders had a powerful fleet, Wglfe's land force was far too weak for the operation he had under- taken. He had but seven thousand soldiers and one thou- sand marines, while Montcalm had more than tliirteen thousand men, regulars and Canadians, behind the in- trenchments which protected the ancient capital. Fortu- nately, Wolfe was not the man to enter into nice calculations or comparisons between his own inadequate force and that of the enemy, and his Brigadiers Monckton, Townshend and Murray, were men of like spirit with himself. When, on the morning of the 13th September, he carried a little army of five thousand men up the precipitous heights above the St. Lawrence to the Plains of Abraham, he virtually achieved the conquest of Canada. He staked all upon the venture, — his reputation, the existence of his army, and the honor of his country ; but he won, for his genius and dar- ing carried him to victory. Montcalm, distrusting the strength of his defences, resolved to drive the English from the heights before they had time to establish themselves, and marched out against them. In the battle which fol- lowed, both leaders fell, Wolfe dying literally in the arms of victory, and Montcalm lingering but long enough to be aware of the ruin of the cause for which he fought. Five 420 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. days latei', Quebec surrendered, and tlie British flag waved over it for the first time for one hundred and twenty-seven years. The same flag waves over it still in defiance of the eflbrts of all England's foes, and there never was a time when it seemed less likely to be replaced by any other national banner. England's empire in Canada no longer depends on the strength of her battalions, or the might of her fleets. In all the vast region between Halifax and the shores of the Pacific there is not a single British soldier, nor a single cannon or fortress over which England claims control, yet her influence in her great colony was never so powerful before. The people of Canada, whether of Erench or English origin, are animated by the same sentiments of loyalty, and British interests are as secure in their keeping as in that of the peoiile of the Metropolitan State. Such are the legitimate fruits of freedom and justice. Quebec was surrendered to tiie British on the 1 8th Sep- tember, 1759; a year later, 8th September, 1760, Montreal was also given up, and thus Canada finally passed under British rule. It forms no part of my plan to relate the details of the operations which led to this result, which, indeed, would require a volume to do them justice. The French Canadian still tells with pride of the gallant eiforts of Levis to make headway against British power, after France had abandoned Canada to its fate, of his victory at Ste. Foy, and the courage with which he struggled against adverse fortune. All men delight in the recital of heroic deeds. But no courage could have saved Canada to France, for that country was at the end of her resources,, and was reaping the fruits of a century's disregard of the interests of her subjects. East and west she was being stripped of her colonies. All the fruits of the courage, ability and devotion of her sons were falling into the hands of England. CHAPTER XXIV. THE TREATY OF PARIS. BoiSHEBERT, who had been at the head of the French and Indians in Northern Acadia for several years, was in 1758 engaged in defensive operations near Louisbourg, and in tiie following year assisted in the defence of Quebec. His absence did not prevent the French and Indians from continuing to annoy and harass the English, settlements, and even to fit out privateers for the purpose of capturing English vessels. In 1759, they captured no less than seventeen vessels on the coast, and murdered many persons. Five soldiers were killed and scalped near Fort Cumber- land, five settlers were killed near Halifax, three were killed at the St. John River, and several near Annapolis. These are but samples of many similar otitrages committed at this time. A party of Acadians and Indians invested the fort at Piziquid for several days, a number of the Oerman settlers at Lunenburg were wantonly murdered by them about the same time, and a party of committee men from New England, who went to Cape Sable to view the land, were fired on by one hundred French and Indians. The gentle-mannered Acadians had certainly no quarrel ■with the German settlers, however much they may have hated the English, yet they killed them all the same. The Cape Sable attack caused the Government to send a vessel there to remove the inhabitants, and they were taken, to the number of one hundred and fifty-one, and conveyed to Halifax, from which they were shipped to England. "When Quebec fell, the source of supply on which the Acadians had relied was cut ofij and they began to feel the 422 HISTORY OF ACADIA. pinch of hunger. Many of the inhabitants residing near Quebec liad been very prompt to take the oath of allegiance, and a large number of the French inhabitants of the upper St. John went to Quebec and took the oath. In November, about two hundred of these people and twO' priests came down the River St. John to Colonel Arbuth- iiot, who commanded at Fort Frederick, and presented a paper signed by Captain Cramahe, Deputy Judge Advo- cate, at Quebec, stating that they had taken the oath of allegiance, and that in consequence of their having done so Brigadier Monckton had given them liberty to return tO' their habitations. The Council, to whom the matter was referred, decided that, as it was evident the certificates had. been granted on the supposition that the St. John was some river of that name in Canada, they should not be per- mitted to remain on their lands there, as that would be an acknowledgment of the French claim that the St. John was a dependency of Canada. They were ordered to be removed to Halifax, with a view to being ultimately sent to England. In the course of the same month, Alexander Brusard,, Simon Martin, Jean Bass and Joseph Brusard arrived at Fort Cumberland, under a flag of truce, as deputies for one hundred and ninety Acadians, men, women and child- ren, residing at Petitcodiac and Memramcook, to surrender themselves to the Government. They informed Colonel Frye, the commandant, that they had not sufficient pro- visions to last them until Spring, and begged to be allowed some to keep them from starving. Frye agreed to keep- one-third of them until Spring, and gave them permission to occupy the vacant houses in their settlements, from which the inhabitants had fled. Two days later, Peter Suretz, and John and Michael Burk arrived with a flag of truce as deputies for seven hundred inhabitants of Miramichi^ HISTORY OF ACADIxV. 423 Richibucto and Bnctouche. They were also short of pro- visions, and Frye agreed to provide for two hundred and thirty of them during the inclement season. These people had no less than twelve vessels, which were taken from the English during the summer. All these inhabitants were ordered to rendezvous at Fort Cumberland and Baie Verte in the Spring, when they were to be informed of the disposition that was to be made of them. The Council agreed to ratify what they had done, to accept the sub- mission of these people, and to supply them with provisions. Yet these Acadians, now so submissive, had been among the most deadly enemies of the English, and had taken part in every enterprise that was calculated to annoy and distress them. A large number of these Acadians submitted in the Spring, agreeably to their promise, and were sent to Hali- fax; but the majority of them still remained outside the pale of English influence. They were not without hope of the recapture of Quebec, and therefore not disposed to yield until the last chance of success had been tried. Those of them who dwelt on the shores of the Bay Chaleur were fated soon to be taught in a practical way how hopeless was the contest in which France was engaged. In the Spring of ] 760 the French Government attempt- ed to send supplies to the relief of Levis, who was still holding Montreal. A number of store ships were de- spatched to Canada under the protection of a strong convoy, but when the French reached the St. Lawrence, they learned that an English fleet had already gone up that river. This induced the French Admiral to take shelter in the Baie Chaleur, and he commenced erecting batteries on its shores. Commodore Byron, who was in command of a squadron at Louisbourg, heard of the presence of the French and hastened to dispossess them. He took with 424 IIISTOKY OF ACADIA. him the Fame, seventy-four, his own ship, the Dorsetshire, Achilles, Scarborough, and Repulse. He captured one of the French ships, La Catherine, in GaspS Bay, and another near Caraquet. On entering the Restigouche River, Byron discovered the rest of the fleet, consisting of Le Marehault (thirty-two), L'Esperance (thirty), Le Bienfaisant (twenty- two), and Le Marquis de Marloze (eighteen), besides twenty-two schooners, sloops and small privateers. On observing the approach of the English, the French squad- ron made all sail up river, and anchored under the batteries at Petit Rochelle, on^ the Quebec side, a little below the modern village of Campbellton. The batteries offered but a feeble resistance, and on being silenced a naval engagement took place, in which the French armed vessels were all destroyed or captured. The towu of Petit Ro- chelle, which consisted of two hundred h(iuses, and the two batteries near it, were reduced to ruins. Some of the French unarmed vessels which escaped during the engage- ment were taken by another British squadron off Port Daniel. This naval battle took place on the 8th July, 1760, just two mouths before the surrender of Montreal. This year the fortifications of Louisbourg were ordered to be destroyed, and the material and munitions of war stored there were removed to Halifax. That visible sign of French power was thus obliterated and rendered incapable of ever again becoming a menace to the English. The enormous sums which it had cost the French Government, and the blood and treasure which the English had expended in its capture had yielded no better return than a heap of ruins. Governor Lawrence, who had administered the affairs of Acadia for six years, died in October, 1760. His death was a serious loss to the Province, for his strong, resolute character was an excellent guarantee of its safety in any emergency that might arise. By his death the administra- HISTORY OF ACADIA. 425 tion of the Government devolved upon Jonathan Belcher, the senior member of the Council. At this time the atti- tude of the Acadians was a great cause of concern to the Council. A large number of them had surrendered, and were living about Halifax and other settlements, working for the English inhabitants at good wages, but they were no more submissive than they had been in the days of French ascendancy, and at every rumor of French success in any part of the world their insolence became alarming. A large number of them were still at large in the Penin- sula, living in places not readily accessible, and a still larger number resided on the River St. John, the Bay Chaleur, Miramichi and the other rivers flowing into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They lived mainly by hunting and fishing. The Acadians at the Bale Chaleur fitted out privateers, and committed many depredations on English vessels in the Gulf and River St. Lawrence. Belcher, to _ check them, sent a detachment to the Gulf, under the command of Cap- tain Roderick McKenzie, of Montgomery's Highlanders, in two snaall vessels. He surprised their settlement on the Bay Chaleur in October, 1761, and captured seven hundred and eighty-seven persons — men, women and children. He brought away three hundred and tliirty-five of them to Halifax, and the remainder promised to come in when called on. Belcher soon learned that he had gained but little by the removal of those profoundly disaffected and turbulent people. France was stricken down and well nigh destroyed ; but in Europe a gleam of hope appeared. George II. was dead, and his successor, George III., a tyrant of mean capacity and worse education, had resolved on the destruc- tion of the great war minister who had carried the country to such a height of glory. Pitt was a great man, the idol of the people, and therefore the small-minded King hated 426 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. him with all the force of his petty and malignant nature. He succeeded in compelling him to resign, but England paid a fearful price in after years for the sacrifice. That price included the loss of her English Colonies in America, and a legacy of hate from what has become the most pow- erful branch of the Anglo-Saxon race ; innumerable wars, which laid on the country the burthen of an enormous indebtedness ; and, worse than all, a return to the despotic methods of ancient times, the suppression of freedom of speech, the passage of iniquitous repressive laws, and a thousand other evils which have only been wholly removed during the present century. Pitt's resignation was forced in October, 1761. It arose out of a difference between him and Newcastle, who was supported by the King, with regard to the "proposals for a peace made by France, which was using the new compact with Spain, as a means of demanding better terms from England. Pitt rejected these overtures, and proposed to his colleagues to anticipate the attack of Spain by the seizure of her treasure fleet from the Indies, by the occupation of the Isthmus of Panama, and by attacking the Spanish Do- minions in the New "World. Unable to carry those vigor- ous measures in the Cabinet, Pitt resigned, and Newcastle, who had been used merely as a cat's-paw for the humilia- tion of Pitt, was soon afterwards driven from office. The Marquis of Bute, a Scotch adventurer, with the abilities of a gentleman usher, became Prime Minister of England. The foresight of Pitt was vindicated by a declaration of war against England by Spain three weeks after his retire- ment. Fortunately for the country the impulse of conquest which England had received from Pitt's vigorous hand, was not easily stayed. War was declared against Spain, and before the year had passed, Cuba was in the hands of HISTORY OF ACADIA. 427 the English, the Philippines were seized, and Spain was humiliated and beaten. The alliance of Spain with France gave the Acadians a fresh opportunity of displaying their desire for the humilia- tion of England ; and the English settlers, for whom they worked, soon began to experience their insolence. They told them that they would soon regain possession of their lands, and cut the throats of all the English in the Prov- ince. In June, a French detachment seized St. John's, N. F., which was very weakly guarded, and this petty triumph filled the Acadians with so much elation and the English in Acadia with such alarm, that many of the latter left the Province altogether. The people of King's County marched the Acadians of their district into Halifax under a guard, and consigned them to the care of the Military authorities. Nothing less than a general rising of the Acadians was expected. Under the pressure of this alarm the Council met on the 26th July, and resolved that it was absolutely necessary for the public safety to remove the Acadians in Halifax and its vicinity from the Province. Several communications on the subject of their removal had during the previous year passed between Lieutenant-Governor Belcher and General Amherst, the latter being strongly opposed to the measure, because he believed the Acadians could be made useful to the Province, and that, Canada being conquered, there was nothing more to be feared from their animosity. Now, however, the Government of Nova Scotia were reso- lute to get rid of them ; so, in August, all the Acadians about Halifax were put on board a fleet of transports and sent to Boston. Unfortunately for the success of this plan, the authorities of Massachusetts had not been consulted with respect to it, and the Legislature of that Province 428 HISTORY OF ACADIA. passed a resolution requesting the Governor not to permit the Acadians to land. After lying for some time in Boston harbor, the transports were obliged to return to tialifax with their unwelcome freight. In this emergency Lieutenant-Governor Belcher applied to the Lords of Trade in England for sympathy and advice, but by the time his letter reached them the war was over, and their Lordships informed him that however expedient the removal of the Acadians might have been at a time when the enterprises of the enemy threatened danger to the Province, now that hostilities had ceased, it was neither necessary nor politic to remove them. The Aca- dians therefore remained, receiving provisions from the Government on the military list, in proportion to their age and the number in each family. They supplied themselves with clothing by the wages they got for their work. But Governor Montague Wilmot states in a letter to Lord Halifax that they were far from being an industrious or laborious people, and that the price they demanded for their labor was so high, and their day's work so much less than that of the settlers, that few persons could afford to employ them. The preliminaries of peace had been signed at Fontaine- bleau on the -Srd November, 1762, between England, France and Spain, and a definitive treaty was concluded in Paris on the lOth February, 1763. Considering the straits to which France was reduced by the war, the treaty was much less advantageous to England than it would have been had Pitt been at the head of aifairs. But so far as North America was concerned, it could scarcely have been more sweeping in its terms, for there Prance yielded every- thing, except the petty Islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon. Canada, Acadia, and all their dependencies, as well as the Island of Cape Breton and all the other Islands in the Gulf HISTORY OF ACADIA. 429 and River St. Lawrence, were given up to England. Louisiana was cerled to Spain in exchange for Florida and the Bay of Pensacoia, which the Si)aniards ceded to Great Britain to recover Cuba and the Philippines. Of all the va.st Empire which France had founded in America, noth- ing remained. In the latter part of 1763, a correspondence took place between the British and French Governments relative to the Acadians. It arose out of an attempt which was said to have been made by one Rochette, a clerk to the Duke of Niv6rnois, to induce the Acadians to return to France. The attempt was repudiated, and the French Government informed that of England that they did not pretend in any degree to interfere on behalf of the Acadians, but entirely acquiesced in tiie right of the King of England to dispose of them as he pleased. Even this did not dampen the loyalty of the Acadians. In a memorial of 12th May, 1764, which was presented to the Governor by Belonis Roy and seventy-five other heads of families, they declared that they acknowledged no other Sovereign but the King of France, and begged the Government to send them to France or to some French colony. Of course, this modest request was refused. The Governor of St. Pierre and the Governor-General of the French Leeward Islands in the West Indies circulated papers among the Acadians for the purpose of persuading them to emigrate to these French colonies. A large number of Acadians went to St. Pierre in the Spring of 1764, built up a town, and established an important fishery, and towards the close of that year upwards of six Imridred embarked for the French West Indies. The Government made no attempt to prevent them from emigrating, although at this period measures had been perfected for securing their continued residence in the Province. These 430 HISTOEY OF ACADIA. measures, which were suggested by the Earl of Halifax, and which were sanctioned by the Government in October agreeably to instructions from England, seem to have been both wise and just. The Acadians, on taking the oath of allegiance, were to receive fifty acres of land for each head of a family, and ten acres more for each member of his household. Fourteen different places were selected for their settlement, the object of this arrangement being that their strength might be scattered, so that they could not again combine for any attta,ck on the English. The Aca- dians frustrated this well-meant effort to benefit them and tranquilize the Province, by peremptorily refusing to take the oath required, and soon afterwards commenced to emigrate to the West Indies, as already stated. It was not until the year 1767 that these obstinate people commenced to yield to the force of events, and consented to take the oath of allegiance as British subjects. The Aca- dians of the Eiver St. John, who were hemmed in by a powerful English colony, were the first to make their sub- mission, and their example was speedily followed by the people of other districts. The Acadians, who had emi- grated to St. Pierre and Miquelon, soon became disgusted with French rule, and during the year 1767 began to arrive by hundreds on the eastern coast of Nova Scotia, from which they spread themselves all over the Province. They were ready enough to take the oath of allfgiauce, which they had before refused, for the cherished illusions of their youth had been rudely dispelled, and the contrast which they drew between the easy rule of the British colony and the tyrannical system of the French Governors was very unflattering to the latter. The Acadians every- where listened to their story, and profited by their experi- ence. They were now as eager to take the oath as they had before been determined in refusing it, and the Governor of HISTORY OF ACADIA. 431 the Proviuce, Michael Francklin, met them in a liberal and kindly spirit, so as to remove from their submission any appearance of humiliation. They received grants of lands as fast as they took the oath at the rate of eighty acres to each head of a family, and forty acres to each additional member of it. By the end of 1768 nearly all had submit- ted to the Government, and from that timei they gave no reason for any complaints of their want of loyalty. Sir John Wentworthj Governor of Nova Scotia, writing in 1796, was able to state that the Acadians in feeling were "wholly British subjects, and entirely changed from their former sentiments," and that they were then " among the most faithful and happy subjects of His Majesty." They had been faithful to the King of France while any hope remained of the restoration of his rule over them; when they transferred their allegiance to the King of Eng- land, they were no less faithful to their new Sovereign, for loyalty is a characteristic of the race. The fidelity of the Acadians to their King, great as it was, was not greater than their attachment to their native land. They struggled hard to keep Acadia a part of the dominions of France, but, having failed, most of them re- garded it is a lesser evil to dwell under a foreign flag rather than to part from their beloved Acadia. Their banishment in 1755 was almost immediately followed by the return of a large number of those who had been forcibly removed from Acadia, and twenty years later Acadians were still coming back to the land of their birth. Even many of those who went to France finally returned to Acadia. With the treaty of Paris and the submission of the French inhabitants, the History of Acadia ends. The results of the discoveries of Champlain, the labors of Pou- trincourt, the struggles of Charnisay and La Tour, and the efforts of a succession of able commandants and Governors 432 lilSTOBY OF ACADIA. were all lost to France when the reluctant hand of De Choiseul signed the treaty of Paris. Lost, too, was the allegiance of a people who in fidelity have never been • surpassed — whose devotion to a fallen cause was carried to the verge of folly. Even the name of Acadia disappeared from the maps of the world, and in the clash and clamor of greater wars, the strife of which it had been the scene j)assed ont of memory. Acadia as a feeble English colony, although once counted a prize worthy the efforts of fleets and armies, became of small moment in the titanic struggles that were going on in both hemispheres during a half century after its final surrender to England. Yet through all these evil years a new iicadia was growing up, which, now in its vigorous youth, gives promise of greater things in the future than ever entered into the dreams of the pioneer settlers of this land. Here the descendants of the two great races who fought so long for Empire in America, toil amicably side by side for the advancement of their common country. Here new hopes and aspirations have supplanted the dreams of conquest, and the triumphs of peace are counted of more value than the trophies of war. Yet, while we rejoice in the present, we cannot afford to disregard the past, nor should we omit to pay our tribute of respect to the memory of those who here bore "the burthen and heat of the day," and braved the savage forces of nature long centuries ago. INDEX. A. Acadia, probably visited by Corte- real, 7 ; visited by Cartier, 11 ; his praises of its soil, 12 ; visited by De M6 : the Acadians, 357, 358, 359, 362, 363 ; his speech to the Acadians, 365-66. Chanibly, commandant in Acadia, 213; attacked by Dutch, 214; leaves Acadia, 216. Champdore, in Acadia, 69 ; discov- ers Aubrey, 73. INDEX. 435 Champlain, Samuel de, first voyage to -the St. Lawrence, 61; accom- panies De Monts to Acadia, 63 ; winters at St. Croix Island, 75 ; at Port EOyal, 84 ; founds Que- bec, 110. Charles I. of England, confirms Sir W.Alexander's grant, 112; re- stores Acadia to France, 123. Charles II. of England, 25 ; orders Temple to surrender Acadia, 207, 208. Charnisay, IVAulnay, 126 ; at Pe- nobscot, 132, 140 ; quarrels with La Tour, 141, 145, 148, 151 ; at- tacks fort Latour, 155 j beaten ofi^ 160 ; his hatred of Lady La Tour, 162; treaty with Massachusetts, 167; his anger, 168 ; defeated by Lady La Tour, 170; massacres garrison of Fort Latour, 172; in France, 180 ; treatv at Boston, 184 ; favored by King, 186 ; at- tacks Denys, 187 ; drowned, 187 ; his bad reputation, 188. Charnisay, Madame, married to La Tour, 191. Ciiauvin, voyage to Tadoussac, 60. Cortereal, Gaspar de, voyages to America, 7. Couriers de bois, 220; prohibited 223. Cumberland, Fort (see Baus6jour), 381. Crowne, John, dramatist, born in Acadia, 201. Crowne, William, grantee of Aca- dia, 200-1. ». D'Amours, the, their grants in Aca- dia, 220; at Fort Nash waak, 255. Daniel, Capt., 116, 117. D'Anville, Due de, fate of his fleet, 346-47. De Chaste, 60. De La Roche, his colony on Sable Island, 26. De Monts, 61 ; voyage to Acadia, 64 ; winters at St. Croix Island, 75 ; second voyage to Acadia, 81; at Quebec, 110. D'Entremont, Prscureur dii Koi, rsmovGd 224 Denys, Nicholas", 126, 128, 187, 193. Des Goutins, Judge of Port Koyal, 224; quarrels with Menneval, 228 ; consults with Villebon, 235; quarrels with Villebon, 258 ; har tred of Brouillan, 264, 266. De Villiers, his expedition to Grand Pre, 349 ; attacks English detach- ment, 350 ; captures them, 351. Diaz, Bartholomew, 6. D'Iberville, 230, 240; captures Pe- maquid, 252. Donnacona, Indian King, 16 ; taken to France, 20. Du Bourg Morillon, comes to Aca- dia, 207 ; at Boston, 208. Da Breuil, Procureur du Eoi, 224. Dudley, Governor of Massachusetts, his attempt on Port Eoyal, 267. Du Thet, Gilbert, Jesuit father, 95 ; killed at St. Saveur, 101. Du Vivier, great grandson of La Tour, 328 ; captures Canso, 331 ; attempt on Annapolis, 335. E. Endicot, John, 159 ; Governor of Massachusetts, 163. English colonizaticm, 100, 106, 107, 110. F. Fishing Company of Acadia, 217, 221, 244, 246. Flesche, Joss^, missionary in Aca- dia, 90. Francis I. of France, patron of Ver^ azzano, 8 ; schemes of coloniza^ tion, 8 ; sends Cartier to America, . 10. Franquet, M., engineer officer, 362 ; visits Acadia, 372. Frontenac,Governorof New France 218, 229. Frye, Major, defeated by Boishe- 436 INDEX. bert, 404; Acadians submit to, 422. Fundy, Bay of, visited by De Monts, 66. G. Gaspfi, Cartier erects a cross at, 13. Gaspereaux Fort, at Baie Verte, 369 ; taken, 380 ; re-nained Fort Monckton, 410. Gibbons, Edward, 157-58, 175. Gilbert, Sir Humphrey, voyage to America, 24 ; lost at sea, 25. Gorges, Sir Fernando, 106, 108, 109. Gorges, Thomas, 158. Grand-fontaine, Chevalier, in com- mand in Acadia, 209 ; takes cen- sus of Province, 210 ; recalled to France, 213. Grand PrS, English attacked at, 340.' Guercheville, Madame de, 92 ; her religious zeal, 94; establishes a colony at Mount Desert, 100. Gyles, John, his account of the In- dians, 47 ; taken at Pemaquid, 227. H. Halifax, founded, 356. Hanfield, Capt., occupies Mines, 360. JIawkins, Thomas, 167, 160-61. Hawthorne, Colonel, supersedes Church, 254 ; attacks Port Nash- waak, 256. Henry IV. of France, patron of De la Boche, 26 ; grants patents to Pontgravd, 60; patent to De Monts, 62; interest in Acadia, 88 ; assassinated, 91. Henry VII. of England, 2 ; sends the Cabots to America, 3, 4, 5. Henry VIII. of England, patron of Thome, 10. Eochelaga, site of Montreal, visited . by Cartier, 18. Hopson, Governor of Nova Scotia, 373. Hore, voyage to the St. Lawrence, 20. How, Edward, Capt., taken .prison- er at Mines, 351, murdered by Indians, 371. Indians of Acadia (See Micmacs and Malicites), described by Car- tier, 13 ; number of, 43 ; mode of living, 45 ; habitations and food, 46 ; feasts, 48 ; as warriors, 49 ; weapons, 51 ; torture of prisoners, 53 ; religion, 54 ; funerals, 55 ; superstitions, 56 ; diseases, 57 ; converted to Christianity, 90 ; at war with the English, 226, destroy Dover, 227 ; attack Fal- mouth, 230 ; at Wells, 237 ; at Pemaquid, 240; attack Dover, 243; stricken by plague, 244; capture Pemaquid, 252; end of the war, 257 ; renew the war, 262 ; assist in attack on Annapolis, 279 ; new war with English, 315 ; attack Annapolis, 332-34 ; .their hostility, 360 ; controlled by La Loutre, 362; attack Dartmouth, 371; at BeausSjoir, 378; beset fort Monckton, 410. James I. of England grants Acadia to Sir Wm. Alexander, 111. Jemseg, fort at, erected by Temple,, 203; surrendered to Grand-fon- taine, 209 ; destroyed by Dutch, 214; occupied by Villebon, 237 ; abandoned, 240. Jesuits, sail for Acadia with Brien- court, 92; quarrels with Brien- court, 94, 96 ; colony at St. Sav- eur,_100; colony destroyed, 101. Jonquiere, Governor of Canada,. 347 ; his fleet defeated, 352. K. Kirk, Sir David, 115 ; takes Que- bec, 116; Govem'r of Newfound- land, 177. INDEX. 437 Labrador, discovered, 7. La Corne, sent from Quebec to hold Chignecto, 359; erects BeausS- joir, 369. La Have, settled by DeEazilly, 127; French colonists at, 128 ; remov- al of colonists to Port Eoyal, 141 ; burnt by Le Borgne, 194 ; taken by English, 202, 233. La Loutre, Abb6, missionary, 332 ; collects the Indians, 337 ; his character, 361 ; influences the In- dians, 362, 370, 371, 374, 375 ; opposed to surrender Beus6jour, 379 ; escapes to Quebec, 380. La Saussaye, establishes St. Saveur colony, 100. * La Tour, Charles de La, 104, 114 ; his fort near Oape Sable, 115, 117 ; grant from Alexander, 118 ; defends his fort against English, 119; at Maehias, 131; grant of St. John, 137 ; his fort at St. John, 142 ; differences with Charnisay, 144, 146; ordered to France, 147; commission revoked, 148 ; sends for aid to Eochelle, 149 ; goes to Boston, 156 ; obtains aid in New England, 157 ; defeats Charni- say, 160 ; in Boston, 163 ; his fort taken, 172; goes to Newfound- land, 177 ; at Quebec, 178 ; re- Stored to his governorship, 179 ; returns to Acadia, 190 ; marries Madame Charnisay, 191 ; Le Borgne's designs against him, 195 ; fort taken by the English, 197 ; receives grant of Acadia from Cromwell, 200 ; death, 206. La Tour, Claude deLa, 114-15, 117 ; grant from Alexander, 118; at- tacks his son's fort, 119 ; at Fort Eoyal, 120 ; at Cape Sable, 122 ; at Penobsoot, 130. La Tour, Lady de La, 114, 143 ; goes to France, 162; escapes to England, 163 ; in Boston, 165 ; defends her fort against Chami- gav, 170-71 ; her heroism, 172 ; death, 173. Latour, Fort, 123, 138, 142, 155, 170, 171(; taken by Charnisay, 172; mortgaged, 175; taken by the English, 197 ; restored to the French, 209; a ruin, 210 ; rebuilt by Villebon, 257 ; re-occupied, 258 ; abandoned and demolished, 260. La Valli^re, commandant in Aca- dia, 216 ; permits English to fish and trade, 217 ; appointment can- celled, 218 ; attacks Bergier, 220. La Verdure, 193 ; surrenders Port Eoyal, 198. Lawrence, Col., sent to Chignecto, 363 ; establishes fort there, 368 ; Lieut. -Governor, 375 ; and the Acadians, 390-92 ; removes the Acadians, 400, 406 ; death, 424. Lawrence, Fort, established at Chig- necto, 368. Le Borgne, Alexander, Sieur de Belleisle, comes to Acadia, 207 ; at Port Eoyal, 208 ; lawless con- duct, 212 ; Seignior of Mines, 222. Le* Borgne, Emmanuel, creditor of Charnisay, 152; arrives in Aca- dia, 193; beaten at Port Eoyal, 197. Le Borgne, Emmanuel, Jr., captur- ed at La Have, 203. Lescarbot, 70 ; visits Acadia, 81 ; his diligence, 83. Leverett, Capt. John, commander of Port Eoyal, 198. Lous XIII., 91 ; aids Company of New France, 113, 145 ; Letter to La Tour, 145, 147 ; death, 156. Louis XIV. King of France, 185 ; commission to La Tour, 189 ; in- terest in Acadian affairs, 224. Louisbourg, 307 ; its great strength, 337 ; captured by New England- ers, 342 ; restored to France, 354 ; taken by the English, 415 ; de- molished, 424. M. Maehias, English driven from, 131. Malicites, of Acadia, 43 (see In- dians). 438 INDEX. Marie, M., commissioner of Char- nisay, 166-67, 182. Marin, His attack on Annapolis, 337 ; recalled to Louisbourg, 344j joins Eamezay, 345 ; heads party of Indians, 353. Marot, Capt., 121-22. Martin, Abraham, Heights of Ab- raham named after him, 147. Mascerene, Paul, Lieut.-Governor, 327-28 ; defends Annapolis, 332, 334-36, 348; his advice to the Acadians, 353. Masse, Enemond, Jesuit father, 91 ; at the St. John, 93 ; quarrels with Biencourt, 94, 96; leaves Port Royal, 99. Matakando, Chief of Penobscot In- dians, 215 ; at Falmouth, 230 ; at Quebec, 240 ; made Chief of St. John Eiver, 247. Mazarin, Cardinal, treaty with En- gland, 199. Membertou, Micmac Chief, 85 ; quarrel about his place of burial, 94. Menneval, M. De, appointed Gov- ernor of Acadia, 222 ; directions from the King, 223; quarrels with des Gautens, 228; surrenders Port Eoyal, 233. MeuUes, M. De, Intendant of Cana- da, visits Acadia, 222. Mexicans, traditions of origin, 39. Mexico, its ancient civilization, 36. Micmacs of Acadia, 43 ; at Port Eoyal, 79; friendship of, 85; (see Indians.) Mines, settlement established, 213 ; population in 1686, 222. Miramichi, visited by Cartier, 11 ; Acadians at, 410. Miscou, mission at, 109 ; re-estab- lished, 138. Monckton, Col., lakes Beaus6jour, 377 ; occupies St. John, 416. Musquodoboit, 211. Ji. Nashwaak, fort erected by Villebon, 240; attacked by the English, 256 ; abandoned, 257 ; demolish- ed, 260. Nelson, John, nephew of Sir T. Temple, 225; prisoner at Que- bec, 240. Newfoundland, discovered by Ca- bot, 4 ; Basque and Breton fish- ermen at, 8 ; visited by Cartier, 11 ; Eoberval at, 22 ; visited by- Gilbert, 25. North West Passage, attempted by- Cabot, 5. O. Ouygoudy, Indian name of St. John, 69. P. Palenque, ruins of, 33. Pemaquid, English at, 149, 225; fort taken by Indians, 227 ; Fort William Henry built, 239 ; I^Ib- erville at, 240 ; captured and de- molished, 253. Peunoniac, Micmac Chief, 55. Penobscot, or Pentagoet, La Tour's fort there, 114; English trading house plundered, 129 ; seized by Charnisay, 132; Charnisay at, 140 ; Temple at, 202 ; Grand- fontaine occupies fort, 210 ; taken by Dutch, 214-15 ; settled by St. Castin, 215; seized by Andros, 226 ; ravaged by Church, 263. Peppereli, Gen'l, 339; commands expedition against Louisbourg, 340. Perrot, M., Governor of Acadia, 218; hischaracter, 219; jealousy of St. Castin, 221 ; imprisons him, 222 ; ordered to return to France, 222 ; robbed, 233 , at Port Eoy- al, 235 ; captured by pirates, 235. Peruvians, traditions of their ori- gin, 38. Phillips, General, Governor of No- va Scotia, 311-13 ; tries to con- ciliate the Indians, 314 ; returns INDEX. 439 to Acadia, 323; Acadians take the oath from him, 323. Phips, Sir William, 231 ; captures Port Royal, 232; unsuccessful attack on Quebec, 236 ; builds fort William Henry at Pema- quid, 239. Piracy, in Acadia, 218, 235. Pitt, William, his measures to cap- ture Canada, 414. Pontgravfe, 60 ; sails for Acadia, 64 ; returns to Acadia, 76; voyages south, 79. Porteneuf, his attack on Falmouth, 231. Port Latonr, La Tour's fort there, 115. Port Royal, named by Champlain, 67 ; colony settled at, 78 ; rejoic- ings at, 83 ; abandoned, 87 ; re- settled by Poutrineourt, 90 ; de- stroyed by Argal, 102; Sir Wil- liam Alexander's colony, 120 ; 123; restored to France, 126; colonists sent to, 141 ; Charnisay at, 160,180; taken by English, 198; restored to France, 209; taken by Phips, 233; captured by pi- rates, 235 ; re-occupied by Bruil- lon, 261 ; menaced by Church, 263 ; attacked by Colonel March, 267 ; by Wain w right, 269 ; cap- tured by Nicholson, 274; name changed to Annapblis Royal, 275. Portuguese, their cliscoveries, 6. Poutrineourt, Jean de, sails for Acadia, 63; at Port Royal, 68; second voyage to Acadia, 81 ; his voyage southward, 82; third visit to Acadia, 90 ; return to France, 93 ; death, 104. Pring, Capt., his voyage, 107. Quebec, site visited by Cartier, 16; founded by Champlain, 110; taken by Kirk, 116; restored to France, 121 ; attacked by Phips, 236; captured by Wolfe, 419, 420. Ralle, father, .Jesuit missionary, 315; murdered by the English, 320. Ramezay, commands expedition against Annapolis, 315, 348. Razilly, Claude de, 137, 140. Razilly, Isaac de, comes to Acadia, 125 ; settles colonists at La Have, 127 ; dies, 138. RecoUet missionaries in Acadia, 109,138. Richelieu, Cardinal, founds Com- pany of New France, 113, 145; death, 156. Roberval, expedition to Canada, 21, deserted by Cartier, 23. Rochette, La Tour's lieutenant, 149,' 150-51, 153. Rossignol, Port, named by De Monta, 65. S. Sable Island, De la Roche's colo- nists, 26; shipwrecks there, 134, 135; killing cattle in, 136. Saeardie, engineer officer, 234 ; tak- en by pirates, 235. St. Castin, Baron de, account of him, 215, imprisoned by Perrot, 223 ; censured in the King's letter, 224; damages of his residence, 225; robbed by Andros, 226; with the Indians at Falmouth, 230; attempt to capture him, 239 ; at Pemaquid, 252 ; death, 275. St. Castin, Anselrae, Baron, 268 ; goes to Quebec, 275 ; attacks An- napolis, 278 ; his marriage, 294. St. Croix Island, French colony at, 72; sufferings of colonists, 75; abandoned, 76. St. John River, named by Cham- plain, 69 ; father Masse's mission there, 93 ; La Tour's fort erected, 123; Villebon at, 237; claimed as French territory, 326. St. Saveur, Jesuit colony establish- 440 INDEX. ed there, 100 ; destroyed by Ar- gal, 101. Sedgwick, Major, captured Port Eoyal, 197. Shirley, Will'm, Governor of Mas- sachusetts, 333 ; sends help to Annapolis, 335 ; organizes attack on Louisbourg, 339 ; projects con- quest of Canada, 345 ; for settling Acadia, 356 ; for reducing Beau- s6jour, 376 ; at Oswego, 382 ; re- moved, 411. Simon, father, missionary, on St. John Biver, 255, 257. Soulanges, D'marsom, Sieurde, 212, captured by Dutch, 214; Com- mandant in Acadia, 216 ; death, 216. Stadacona, Indian town on site of Quebec, 16. Stewart, Lord James, in Cape Bre- ton, 116-17. Subercase, M. de, Governor of Aca- dia, 265 ; repulses the English, 267-69 ; his diligence and ener- gy, 270; weakness of his garrison, 273 ; surrenders Port Koyal, 274. T. Talon, Intendant of Canada, 211. Temple, Sir Thomas, grant of Aca- dia, 200 ; made Governor, 201 ; at Penobscot, 202 ; troubles in England, 203; interview with Charles II., refuses to give up Acadia, 207, 208 ; surrenders it to Grand-fontaine, 209. Thorne, Thomas, voyage to Gulf of St. Lawrence, 10. Thury, father, priest at Penobscot, 228, 237, 242, 243. II. Uxmal, ruins of, 34. Vendome, Duke de, arrangement with Madame Chamisay, 191. Verazzano, John, 9 ; voyage to Am- erica, 9. Verger, commander of BeausSjour, surrenders it, 379. Vetch, Col., 271-72 ; in command of Annapolis, 275,296. Villebon, at Port Koyal, 234 ; col- lects the Indians, 235 ; appointed command in Acadia, 236; atJem- seg, 237 ; organizes the Indians against the English, 238; atNash- waak, 240; incites the Indians, 242 ; his diary, 245 ; treaty with Indians, 247 ; proposes to capture Boston, 249; attacked by Eng- lish, 255 ; removes to fort Latour, 258 ; death and character, 259. Villieu, officer of marines, 242 ; leads the Indians, 243, 252 ; de- molishes fort Nashwaak, 260. Vines, Richard, 108. W. Waldron, Major, killed by Indians at Dover, 227. Weymouth, Capt., his voyage, 106. Williams, Rogpr, 165. Winslow, Lieut.-Col., at reduction of Bousfejour, 376, 380 ; removes the Acadians from Mines, 401, 404. Winthrop, Governor of Massachu- setts, 129, 150, 151 ; meets La Tour, 155, 156, 184. Wolfe, General, at Louisbourg, 415; death at Quebec, 419.