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Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV [with accents] 1 Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV [with accents] The Project Gutenberg EBook of Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV, by Francis Parkman #3 in our series by Francis Parkman Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the header without written permission. Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. **Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** **eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** *****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** Title: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV Author: Francis Parkman Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6875] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 6, 2003] Edition: 10 Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK COUNT FRONTENAC AND NEW FRANCE *** Produced by Robert Fite, Tom Allen, David Moynihan, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. [Transcriber's Note: Lengthy footnotes, or those consisting of more than one paragraph, have been numbered and relocated to the end of the chapter in which they occur. They are marked by [1], [2], etc.] COUNT FRONTENAC AND NEW FRANCE Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV [with accents] 2 UNDER LOUIS XIV. BY FRANCIS PARKMAN, AUTHOR OF "PIONEERS OF FRANCE IN THE NEW WORLD," "THE JESUITS IN NORTH AMERICA," "THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT WEST," AND "THE OLD REGIME IN CANADA." PREFACE. The events recounted in this book group themselves in the main about a single figure, that of Count Frontenac, the most remarkable man who ever represented the crown of France in the New World. From strangely unpromising beginnings, he grew with every emergency, and rose equal to every crisis. His whole career was one of conflict, sometimes petty and personal, sometimes of momentous consequence, involving the question of national ascendancy on this continent. Now that this question is put at rest for ever, it is hard to conceive, the anxiety which it wakened in our forefathers. But for one rooted error of French policy, the future of the English-speaking races in America would have been more than endangered. Under the rule of Frontenac occurred the first serious collision of the rival powers, and the opening of the grand scheme of military occupation by which France strove to envelop and hold in check the industrial populations of the English colonies. It was he who made that scheme possible. In "The Old Regime in Canada," I tried to show from what inherent causes this wilderness empire of the Great Monarch fell at last before a foe, superior indeed in numbers, but lacking all the forces that belong to a system of civil and military centralization. The present volume will show how valiantly, and for a time how successfully, New France battled against a fate which her own organic fault made inevitable. Her history is a great and significant drama, enacted among untamed forests, with a distant gleam of courtly splendors and the regal pomp of Versailles. The authorities on which the book rests are drawn chiefly from the manuscript collections of the French government in the Archives Nationales, the Bibliotheque Nationale, and, above all, the vast repositories of the Archives of the Marine and Colonies. Others are from Canadian and American sources. I have, besides, availed myself of the collection of French, English, and Dutch documents published by the State of New York, under the excellent editorship of Dr. O'Callaghan, and of the manuscript collections made in France by the governments of Canada and of Massachusetts. A considerable number of books, contemporary or nearly so with the events described, also help to throw light upon them; and these have all been examined. The citations in the margins represent but a small part of the authorities consulted. This mass of material has been studied with extreme care, and peculiar pains have been taken to secure accuracy of statement. In the preface of "The Old Regime," I wrote: "Some of the results here reached are of a character which I regret, since they cannot be agreeable to persons for whom I have a very cordial regard. The conclusions drawn from the facts may be matter of opinion: but it will be remembered that the facts themselves can be overthrown only by overthrowing the evidence on which they rest, or bringing forward counter-evidence of equal or greater strength; and neither task will be found an easy one." The invitation implied in these words has not been accepted. "The Old Regime" was met by vehement protest in some quarters; but, so far as I know, none of the statements of fact contained in it have been attacked by evidence, or even challenged. The lines just quoted are equally applicable to this volume. Should there be occasion, a collection of documentary proofs will be published more than sufficient to make good the positions taken. Meanwhile, it will, I think, be clear to an impartial reader that the story is told, not in the interest of any race or nationality, but simply in that of historical truth. CHAPTER I 3 When, at the age of eighteen, I formed the purpose of writing on French-American history, I meant at first to limit myself to the great contest which brought that history to a close. It was by an afterthought that the plan was extended to cover the whole field, so that the part of the work, or series of works, first conceived, would, following the sequence of events, be the last executed. As soon as the original scheme was formed, I began to prepare for executing it by examining localities, journeying in forests, visiting Indian tribes, and collecting materials. I have continued to collect them ever since, so that the accumulation is now rather formidable; and, if it is to be used at all, it had better be used at once. Therefore, passing over for the present an intervening period of less decisive importance, I propose to take, as the next subject of this series, "Montcalm and the Fall of New France." BOSTON, 1 Jan., 1877. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I . 1620-1672. COUNT AND COUNTESS FRONTENAC. Mademoiselle de Montpensier and Madame de Frontenac.--Orleans.--The Maréchale de Camp.--Count Frontenac.--Conjugal Disputes.--Early Life of Frontenac.--His Courtship and Marriage.--Estrangement.--Scenes at St. Fargeau.--The Lady of Honor dismissed.--Frontenac as a Soldier.-He is made Governor of New France.--Les Divines. CHAPTER II . 1672-1675. FRONTENAC AT QUEBEC. Arrival.--Bright Prospects.--The Three Estates of New France.--Speech of the Governor.--His Innovations.--Royal Displeasure.--Signs of Storm.--Frontenac and the Priests.--His Attempts to civilize the Indians.--Opposition.--Complaints and Heart-burnings. CHAPTER III . 1673-1675. FRONTENAC AND PERROT. La Salle.--Fort Frontenac.--Perrot.--His Speculations.--His Tyranny.--The Bush-rangers.--Perrot revolts.--Becomes alarmed.-- Dilemma of Frontenac.--Mediation of Fénelon.--Perrot in Prison.--Excitement of the Sulpitians.--Indignation of Fénelon.-- Passion of Frontenac.--Perrot on Trial.--Strange Scenes.--Appeal to the King.--Answers of Louis XIV. And Colbert.--Fénelon rebuked. CHAPTER IV 4 CHAPTER IV . 1675-1682. FRONTENAC AND DUCHESNEAU. Frontenac receives a Colleague.--He opposes the Clergy.--Disputes in the Council.--Royal Intervention.--Frontenac rebuked.--Fresh Outbreaks.--Charges and Countercharges.--The Dispute grows hot.-Duchesneau condemned and Frontenac warned.--The Quarrel continues.--The King loses Patience. More Accusations.--Factions and Feuds.--A Side Quarrel.--The King threatens.--Frontenac denounces the Priests.--The Governor and the Intendant recalled.--Qualities of Frontenac. CHAPTER V . 1682-1684. LE FEBVRE DE LA BARRE. His Arrival at Quebec.--The Great Fire.--A Coming Storm.--Iroquois Policy.--The Danger imminent.--Indian Allies of France.--Frontenac and the Iroquois.--Boasts of La Barre.--His Past Life.--His Speculations.--He takes Alarm.--His Dealings with the Iroquois.--His Illegal Trade.--His Colleague denounces him.--Fruits of his Schemes.--His Anger and his Fears. CHAPTER VI . 1684. LA BARRE AND THE IROQUOIS. Dongan.--New York and its Indian Neighbors.--The Rival Governors.-- Dongan and the Iroquois.--Mission to Onondaga.--An Iroquois Politician.--Warnings of Lamberville.--Iroquois Boldness.--La Barre takes the Field.--His Motives.--The March.--Pestilence.--Council at La Famine.--The Iroquois defiant.--Humiliation of La Barre.--The Indian Allies.--Their Rage and Disappointment.--Recall of La Barre. CHAPTER VII . 1685-1687. DENONVILLE AND DONGAN. Troubles of the New Governor.--His Character.--English Rivalry.-- Intrigues of Dongan.--English Claims.--A Diplomatic Duel.--Overt Acts.--Anger of Denonville.--James II. checks Dongan.--Denonville emboldened.--Strife in the North.--Hudson's Bay.--Attempted Pacification.--Artifice of Denonville.--He CHAPTER VII prepares for War. CHAPTER VIII . 1687. DENONVILLE AND THE SENECAS. Treachery of Denonville.--Iroquois Generosity.--The Invading Army.--The Western Allies.--Plunder of English Traders.--Arrival of the Allies.--Scene at the French Camp.--March of Denonville.-Ambuscade.--Battle.--Victory.--The Seneca Babylon.--Imperfect Success. CHAPTER IX . 1687-1689. THE IROQCOIS INVASION. Altercations.--Attitude of Dongan.--Martial Preparation.--Perplexity of Denonville.--Angry Correspondence.--Recall of Dongan.--Sir Edmund Andros.--Humiliation of Denonville.--Distress of Canada.--Appeals for Help.--Iroquois Diplomacy.--A Huron Macchiavel.--The Catastrophe.-- Ferocity of the Victors.--War with England.--Recall of Denonville. CHAPTER X . 1689, 1690. RETURN OF FRONTENAC. Versailles.--Frontenac and the King.--Frontenac sails for Quebec.-- Projected Conquest of New York.--Designs of the King.--Failure.-- Energy of Frontenac.--Fort Frontenac.--Panic.--Negotiations.--The Iroquois in Council.--Chevalier d'Aux.--Taunts of the Indian Allies.--Boldness of Frontenac.--An Iroquois Defeat.--Cruel Policy.--The Stroke parried. CHAPTER XI . 1690. THE THREE WAR-PARTIES. Measures of Frontenac.--Expedition against Schenectady.--The March.--The Dutch Village.--The Surprise.--The Massacre.--Prisoners spared.--Retreat.--The English and their Iroquois Friends.--The Abenaki War.--Revolution at Boston.--Capture of Pemaquid.--Capture of Salmon Falls.--Capture of Fort 5 CHAPTER XI Loyal.--Frontenac and his Prisoner.--The Canadians encouraged. CHAPTER XII . 1690. MASSACHUSETTS ATTACKS QUEBEC. English Schemes.--Capture of Port Royal.--Acadia reduced.--Conduct of Phips.--His History and Character.--Boston in Arms.--A Puritan Crusade.--The March from Albany.--Frontenac and the Council.-Frontenac at Montreal.--His War Dance.--An Abortive Expedition.--An English Raid.--Frontenac at Quebec.--Defences of the Town.--The Enemy arrives. CHAPTER XIII . 1690. DEFENCE OF QUEBEC. Phips on the St. Lawrence.--Phips at Quebec.--A Flag of Truce.--Scene at the Chateau.--The Summons and the Answer.--Plan of Attack.--Landing of the English.--The Cannonade.--The Ships repulsed.--The Land Attack.--Retreat of Phips.--Condition of Quebec.--Rejoicings of the French.--Distress at Boston. CHAPTER XIV . 1690-1694. THE SCOURGE OF CANADA. Iroquois Inroads.--Death of Bienville.--English Attack.--A Desperate Fight.--Miseries of the Colony.--Alarms.--A Winter Expedition.--La Chesnaye burned.--The Heroine of Verehères.--Mission Indians.--The Mohawk Expedition.--Retreat and Pursuit.--Relief arrives.--Frontenac Triumphant. CHAPTER XV . 1691-1695. AN INTERLUDE. Appeal of Frontenac.--His Opponents.--His Services.--Rivalry and Strife.--Bishop Saint-Vallier.--Society at the Chateau.--Private Theatricals.--Alarm of the Clergy.--Tartuffe.--A Singular Bargain.--Mareuil and the Bishop.--Mareuil on Trial.--Zeal of Saint-Vallier.--Scandals at Montreal.--Appeal to the King.--The Strife composed.--Libel against Frontenac. 6 CHAPTER XVI 7 CHAPTER XVI . 1690-1694. THE WAR IN ACADIA. State of that Colony.--The Abenakis.--Acadia and New England.-- Pirates.--Baron de Saint-Castin.--Pentegoet.--The English Frontier.--The French and the Abenakis.--Plan of the War.--Capture of York.--Villebon.--Grand War-party.--Attack of Wells.--Pemaquid rebuilt.--John Nelson.--A Broken Treaty.--Villieu and Thury.--Another War-party.--Massacre at Oyster River. CHAPTER XVII . 1690-1697. NEW FRANCE AND NEW ENGLAND. The Frontier of New England.--Border Warfare.--Motives of the French.--Needless Barbarity.--Who were answerable?--Father Thury.-- The Abenakis waver.--Treachery at Pemaquid.--Capture of Pemaquid.-Projected Attack on Boston.--Disappointment.--Miseries of the Frontier.--A Captive Amazon. CHAPTER XVIII . 1693-1697. FRENCH AND ENGLISH RIVALRY. Le Moyne d'Iberville.--His Exploits in Newfoundland.--In Hudson's Bay.--The Great Prize.--The Competitors.--Fatal Policy of the King.--The Iroquois Question.--Negotiation.--Firmness of Frontenac.--English Intervention.--War renewed.--State of the West.--Indian Diplomacy.--Cruel Measures.--A Perilous Crisis.-- Audacity of Frontenac. CHAPTER XIX . 1696-1698. FRONTENAC ATTACKS THE ONONDAGAS. March of Frontenac.--Flight of the Enemy.--An Iroquois Stoic.--Relief for the Onondagas.--Boasts of Frontenac.--His Complaints.--His Enemies.--Parties in Canada.--Views of Frontenac and the King.--Frontenac prevails.--Peace of Ryswick.--Frontenac and Bellomont.--Schuyler at Quebec.--Festivities.--A Last Defiance. CHAPTER XX 8 CHAPTER XX . 1698. DEATH OF FEONTENAC. His Last Hours.--His Will.--His Funeral.--His Eulogist and his Critic.--His Disputes with the Clergy.--His Character. CHAPTER XXI . 1699-1701. CONCLUSION. The New Governor.--Attitude of the Iroquois.--Negotiations.--Embassy to Onondaga.--Peace.--The Iroquois and the Allies.--Difficulties.-- Death of the Great Huron.--Funeral Rites.--The Grand Council.--The Work of Frontenac finished.--Results. APPENDIX [Illustration: Map of Canada and Adjacent Countries towards the Close of the 17th century.] CHAPTER I . 1620-1672. COUNT AND COUNTESS FRONTENAC. MADEMOISELLE DE MONTPENSIER AND MADAME DE FRONTENAC.--ORLEANS.--THE MARÉCHALE DE CAMP.--COUNT FRONTENAC.--CONJUGAL DISPUTES.--EARLY LIFE OF FRONTENAC.--HIS COURTSHIP AND MARRIAGE.--ESTRANGEMENT.--SCENES AT ST. FARGEAU.--THE LADY OF HONOR DISMISSED.--FRONTENAC AS A SOLDIER.--HE IS MADE GOVERNOR OF NEW FRANCE.--LES DIVINES. At Versailles there is the portrait of a lady, beautiful and young. She is painted as Minerva, a plumed helmet on her head, and a shield on her arm. In a corner of the canvas is written _Anne de La Grange-Trianon, Comtesse de Frontenac_. This blooming goddess was the wife of the future governor of Canada. Madame de Frontenac, at the age of about twenty, was a favorite companion of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, the grand-daughter of Henry IV. and daughter of the weak and dastardly Gaston, Duke of Orleans. Nothing in French annals has found more readers than the story of the exploit of this spirited princess at Orleans during the civil war of the Fronde. Her cousin Condé, chief of the revolt, had found favor in her eyes; and she had espoused his cause against her cousin, the king. The royal army threatened Orleans. The duke, her father, dared not leave Paris; but he consented that his daughter should go in his place to hold the CHAPTER I 9 city for Condé and the Fronde. The princess entered her carriage and set out on her errand, attended by a small escort. With her were three young married ladies, the Marquise de Bréauté, the Comtesse de Fiesque, and the Comtesse de Frontenac. In two days they reached Orleans. The civic authorities were afraid to declare against the king, and hesitated to open the gates to the daughter of their duke, who, standing in the moat with her three companions, tried persuasion and threats in vain. The prospect was not encouraging, when a crowd of boatmen came up from the river and offered the princess their services. "I accepted them gladly," she writes, "and said a thousand fine things, such as one must say to that sort of people to make them do what one wishes." She gave them money as well as fair words, and begged them to burst open one of the gates. They fell at once to the work; while the guards and officials looked down from the walls, neither aiding nor resisting them. "To animate the boatmen by my presence," she continues, "I mounted a hillock near by. I did not look to see which way I went, but clambered up like a cat, clutching brambles and thorns, and jumping over hedges without hurting myself. Madame de Bréauté, who is the most cowardly creature in the world, began to cry out against me and everybody who followed me; in fact, I do not know if she did not swear in her excitement, which amused me very much." At length, a hole was knocked in the gate; and a gentleman of her train, who had directed the attack, beckoned her to come on. "As it was very muddy, a man took me and carried me forward, and thrust me in at this hole, where my head was no sooner through than the drums beat to salute me. I gave my hand to the captain of the guard. The shouts redoubled. Two men took me and put me in a wooden chair. I do not know whether I was seated in it or on their arms, for I was beside myself with joy. Everybody was kissing my hands, and I almost died with laughing to see myself in such an odd position." There was no resisting the enthusiasm of the people and the soldiers. Orleans was won for the Fronde. [Footnote: _Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, I. 358-363 (ed. 1859).] The young Countesses of Frontenac and Fiesque had constantly followed her, and climbed after her through the hole in the gate. Her father wrote to compliment them on their prowess, and addressed his letter _à Mesdames les Comtesses, Maréchales de Camp dans l'armee de ma fille contre le Mazarin_. Officers and soldiers took part in the pleasantry; and, as Madame de Frontenac passed on horseback before the troops, they saluted her with the honors paid to a brigadier. When the king, or Cardinal Mazarin who controlled him, had triumphed over the revolting princes, Mademoiselle de Montpensier paid the penalty of her exploit by a temporary banishment from the court. She roamed from place to place, with a little court of her own, of which Madame de Frontenac was a conspicuous member. During the war, Count Frontenac had been dangerously ill of a fever in Paris; and his wife had been absent for a time, attending him. She soon rejoined the princess, who was at her chateau of St. Fargeau, three days' journey from Paris, when an incident occurred which placed the married life of her fair companion in an unexpected light. "The Duchesse de Sully came to see me, and brought with her M. d'Herbault and M. de Frontenac. Frontenac had stopped here once before, but it was only for a week, when he still had the fever, and took great care of himself like a man who had been at the door of death. This time he was in high health. His arrival had not been expected, and his wife was so much surprised that everybody observed it, especially as the surprise seemed to be not at all a pleasant one. Instead of going to talk with her husband, she went off and hid herself, crying and screaming because he had said that he would like to have her company that evening. I was very much astonished, especially as I had never before perceived her aversion to him. The elder Comtesse de Fiesque remonstrated with her; but she only cried the more. Madame de Fiesque then brought books to show her her duty as a wife; but it did no good, and at last she got into such a state that we sent for the curé with holy water to exorcise her." [Footnote: _Memoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, II. 265. The curé's holy water, or his exhortations, were at last successful.] Count Frontenac came of an ancient and noble race, said to have been of Basque origin. His father held a high post in the household of Louis XIII., who became the child's god-father, and gave him his own name. At the age of fifteen, the young Louis showed an incontrollable passion for the life of a soldier. He was sent to the seat of war in Holland, to serve under the Prince of Orange. At the age of nineteen, he was a volunteer at the CHAPTER I 10 siege of Hesdin; in the next year, he was at Arras, where he distinguished himself during a sortie of the garrison; in the next, he took part in the siege of Aire; and, in the next, in those of Callioure and Perpignan. At the age of twenty-three, he was made colonel of the regiment of Normandy, which he commanded in repeated battles and sieges of the Italian campaign. He was several times wounded, and in 1646 he had an arm broken at the siege of Orbitello. In the same year, when twenty-six years old, he was raised to the rank of marechal de camp., equivalent to that of brigadier-general. A year or two later, we find him at Paris, at the house of his father, on the Quai des Celestins. [Footnote: Pinard, _Chronologie Historique-militaire_, VI; _Table de la Gazette de France_; Jul, _Dictionnaire Critique, Biographique, et d'Histoire_, art. "Frontenac;" Goyer, Oraison Funebre du Comte de Frontenac.] In the same neighborhood lived La Grange-Trianon, Sieur de Neuville, a widower of fifty, with one child, a daughter of sixteen, whom he had placed in the charge of his relative, Madame de Bouthillier. Frontenac fell in love with her. Madame de Bouthillier opposed the match, and told La Grange that he might do better for his daughter than to marry her to a man who, say what he might, had but twenty thousand francs a year. La Grange was weak and vacillating: sometimes he listened to his prudent kinswoman, and sometimes to the eager suitor; treated him as a son-in-law, carried love messages from him to his daughter, and ended by refusing him her hand, and ordering her to renounce him on pain of being immured in a convent. Neither Frontenac nor his mistress was of a pliant temper. In the neighborhood was the little church of St. Pierre aux Boeufs, which had the privilege of uniting couples without the consent of their parents; and here, on a Wednesday in October, 1648, the lovers were married in presence of a number of Frontenac's relatives. La Grange was furious at the discovery; but his anger soon cooled, and complete reconciliation followed. [Footnote: _Historiettes de Tallemant des Réaux_, IX. 214 (ed. Monmerqué); Jal, _Dictionnaire Critique_, etc.] The happiness of the newly wedded pair was short. Love soon changed to aversion, at least on the part of the bride. She was not of a tender nature; her temper was imperious, and she had a restless craving for excitement. Frontenac, on his part, was the most wayward and headstrong of men. She bore him a son; but maternal cares were not to her liking. The infant, François Louis, was placed in the keeping of a nurse at the village of Clion; and his young mother left her husband, to follow the fortunes of Mademoiselle de Montpensier, who for a time pronounced her charming, praised her wit and beauty, and made her one of her ladies of honor. Very curious and amusing are some of the incidents recounted by the princess, in which Madame de Frontenac bore part; but what is more to our purpose are the sketches traced here and there by the same sharp pen, in which one may discern the traits of the destined saviour of New France. Thus, in the following, we see him at St. Fargeau in the same attitude in which we shall often see him at Quebec. The princess and the duke her father had a dispute touching her property. Frontenac had lately been at Blois, where the duke had possessed him with his own views of the questions at issue. Accordingly, on arriving at St. Fargeau, he seemed disposed to assume the character of mediator. "He wanted," says the princess, "to discuss my affairs with me: I listened to his preaching, and he also spoke about these matters to Préfontaine (_her man of business_). I returned to the house after our promenade, and we went to dance in the great hall. While we were dancing, I saw Préfontaine walking at the farther end with Frontenac, who was talking and gesticulating. This continued for a long time. Madame de Sully noticed it also, and seemed disturbed by it, as I was myself. I said, 'Have we not danced enough?' Madame de Sully assented, and we went out. I called Préfontaine, and asked him, 'What was Frontenac saying to you?' He answered: 'He was scolding me. I never saw such an impertinent man in my life.' I went to my room, and Madame de Sully and Madame de Fiesque followed. Madame de Sully said to Préfontaine: 'I was very much disturbed to see you talking with so much warmth to Monsieur de Frontenac; for he came here in such ill-humor that I was afraid he would quarrel with you. Yesterday, when we were in the carriage, he was ready to eat us.' The Comtesse de Fiesque said, 'This morning he came to see my mother-in-law, and scolded at her.' Préfontaine answered: 'He wanted to throttle me. I never saw a man so crazy and absurd.' We all four began to pity poor Madame de Frontenac for having such a husband, and to think her right in not wanting to go with him." [Footnote: _Mémoires de Mademoiselle de Montpensier_, II. 267.] Frontenac owned the estate of Isle Savary, on the Indre, not far from Blois; and