Now, at the very moment this treaty was signed, the French, by the victory of Troyes, were in possession of Fort Albany and the English still held Port Nelson. As the liberty of navigation was not disturbed by the Treaty it would appear that the French retained the right to sail in the Bay.
Commissioners were appointed to consider the carrying out of the treaty, the Sieurs Barillon and Bonrepas acting on behalf of France, and Lords Sutherland, Middleton and Godolphin for James. To these commissioners the Company presented a further memorial, which dwelt upon their grievances "for five years past, in a time of peace and good correspondence between the two crowns."
Impracticability of the Treaty.
These commissioners appear to have done their best to arrange matters satisfactorily; but such a result was impossible under the conditions. They were privately instructed by their respective masters to agree to hold the trade of Port Nelson in common. Such a proposal was extremely impracticable, as that well-informed subject, Denonville, made haste to inform his royal master. The proximity of the English, he declared, in such a remote part would be a certain source of hostility on both sides, and a dangerous temptation for numbers of "libertines," whom the least dissatisfaction would induce to take refuge at Port Nelson.
The "libertines" he thus alluded to were the bushrangers, who were already giving the French great trouble and uneasiness through their wild, undisciplined habits and their freedom from restraint. Denonville added that the Hudson's Bay Company, paying higher prices for beaver than the French could do, would always have a preference, and consequently would almost monopolize the trade. It was therefore better, in his opinion, to effect a compromise in the Bay, restoring the three forts Troyes had taken in exchange for Port Nelson, which, so he stated, was worth more than the other three together for trading purposes. Besides, on the first rupture, it would be very easy to retake them by an overland march, as Troyes had done.
But such proposals on the part of the French were indignantly rejected by the English Company. There was, therefore, nothing for it but a modus vivendi, under which no further encroachments in the Bay were to be made by either party.
But whatever the intent of the negotiations, there was nothing to compel the parties directly interested to observe them. The elated French Company was too much inclined to retain what Troyes had wrested from the English to adhere to sophistries and weak-kneed arguments. It engaged Iberville to return to Fort Albany, upon which establishment it had bestowed the name of St. Anne, and repulse the English should their ships arrive and endeavour to land. Captain Moon, returning from Port Nelson, did make an attempt with twenty-four men to surprise the French. He built a station some eight miles distant; but Iberville heard of it, marched thither with great despatch, and pursued them for twenty miles. He then made preparations for seizing Captain Moon's ship, embarking upwards of forty men in canoes and small boats for this purpose. But those aboard her defeated his intention in the night, by setting her on fire and making their escape to the shore, where they rejoined their companions and made the best of their way overland to New Severn, a fort which had been erected in the previous year as a means of drawing trade away from the French conquerors in the eastern parts of the Bay.
Iberville was not long ignorant of the retreat of those who had escaped him; nor of the prosperity which attended the new factory. He arrived before New Severn in October, 1689, obtained its surrender and took the Company's Governor prisoner.
Amongst the Governor's papers which he seized was a letter from the secretary of the Company, ordering him, on behalf of the partners, to proclaim the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of England, showing that the chief spirits of the Company were not unfriendly to those who precipitated the Revolution.
Glorying in this new exploit, Iberville now returned to Fort St. Anne, just in time to behold the spectacle of two strange ships standing off in the Bay.