In the following year, another abortive expedition was undertaken by the English against Canada. Intelligence was brought to M. de Vaudreuil that ten ships of war of 50 guns each and upward had arrived from England, and were assembled at Boston, together with 35 transports capable of conveying 3000 men, while a force of provincial militia and Indians of New York, nearly 2000 strong, were collected in that state to assail him by land. The French governor immediately called together the Iroquois deputies, and successfully urged their neutrality in the approaching struggle. He also secured the somewhat doubtful allegiance of the allied tribes, but only accepted the proffered services of a few warriors of each nation, and this more as hostages than for the purpose of increasing his strength.
M. de Vaudreuil then hastened from Montreal to Quebec, where he found that his lieutenant, M. de Boucourt, had effectually executed his orders to strengthen the defenses. The settlements along the coast below that important stronghold were sufficiently guarded to render a hostile debarkation difficult and dangerous. The governor immediately re-ascended the St. Lawrence, and formed a corps of 3000 men under M. de Longueiul, at Chambly, to await the approach of the English. The invading army, however, retreated without coming to action, having received information of a great disaster which had befallen their fleet. The British admiral had neglected the warnings of an experienced French navigator, named Paradis, who accompanied him, and approached too near a small island in the narrow and dangerous channel of the Traverse; a sudden squall from the southeast burst upon him at that critical moment, and his own, with seven other ships of the fleet, were driven on the rocky shore, and utterly destroyed: very few men escaped from these ill-fated vessels.[415]
The generosity and loyalty of the merchants of Quebec furnished the governor with 50,000 crowns, to strengthen the fortifications of their town, on the occasion of a rumor that the English were again preparing an invasion of Canada, in 1712, aided by the Iroquois, to whom they had become reconciled. At the same time, a new enemy entered the field—the fiercest and bravest of the native tribes; this people, called Outagamis or Foxes, joined in a confederacy with the Five Nations, and undertook to burn the French fort at Detroit,[416] and destroy the inhabitants. A large force of their warriors advanced upon the little stronghold, but Du Buisson, the able and gallant commandant, having summoned the neighboring allies to the assistance of his garrison of twenty Frenchmen, defeated the dangerous invaders after a series of conflicts almost unparalleled for obstinacy in Indian war, and destroyed more than a thousand of their best and bravest.[417]
These important successes, however, could not secure to the French an equality in trade with their English rivals; their narrow and injudicious commercial system limited the supply of European goods to be exchanged for the spoils of the Red Man's forests; the fur trade, therefore, fell almost wholly into the hands of British merchants, and even those native tribes in closest alliance with the Canadian governor obtained their scanty clothing from the looms of Yorkshire, and their weapons of the chase from the industrious hands of our colonists.
By the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, Louis the Magnificent ceded away forever, with ignorant indifference, the noble province of Acadia,[418] the inexhaustible fisheries of Newfoundland, and his claims to the vast but almost unknown regions of Hudson's Bay; his nominal sovereignty over the Iroquois was also thrown into the scale,[419] and thus a dearly-purchased peace restored comparative tranquillity to the remnant of his American empire.[420]
The fierce Outagamis, more incensed than weakened by their losses at Detroit, made savage and murderous reprisals upon all the nations allied to the French. Their vindictive vigilance rendered the routes between the distant posts of Canada, and those southward to Louisiana,[421] for many years almost impracticable. At one time, indeed, when overwhelmed by a successful invasion, these implacable savages made a formal cession of their territories to M. de Vaudreuil; but, the moment opportunity offered, they renewed hostilities, and, although beaten in repeated encounters, having united the remnant of their tribe to the powerful Sioux and Chichachas,[423] they continued for a long time to harass the steps of their detested conquerors.
On the 10th of April, 1725, M. de Vaudreuil closed his useful career. For one-and-twenty years he had discharged his important duties with unswerving loyalty, ability, and vigilance. Good fortune crowned him with well-merited success, and he went to rest from his earthly labors with the blessings of a grateful people, who, under his wise rule, had rapidly progressed to prosperity.
The Marquis de Beauharnois, captain of the marine, succeeded to the government of the now tranquil colony. His anxiety was aroused, however, the year after his accession, by the vigorous efforts of the English to extend their commerce even into the heart of the Canadian territories. Governor Burnet, of New York, had erected a fort and trading post at Oswego, with the view of monopolizing the rich traffic of the Western lakes. To counteract this design, M. de Beauharnois sent the Baron de Longueuil to negotiate with the Indians in the neighborhood of Niagara, for their consent to the erection of a French fort and establishment upon the banks of their magnificent river, where it enters the waters of Ontario. After many difficulties in reconciling the jealousy of the native tribes, the French succeeded in effecting their object. On the other hand, the men of New York strengthened their defenses at Oswego, and increased the garrison. Angry communications then passed between the French and English governors in peremptory demands for its abandonment by the one, and prompt refusals by the other. Each was well aware of the importance of the position: it served as a means of diverting nearly all the Indian trade by Albany and the channel of the Hudson into the British colonies, and also formed a frontier protection to those numerous and flourishing settlements which Anglo-Saxon industry and courage were rapidly forming in the wilderness.
In the vain hope of checking the irrepressible energies of rival colonization, Beauharnois erected a fort at Crown Point, on Lake Champlain, commanding its important navigation, and also serving to hold in terror the settlers on the neighboring banks of the Hudson and Connecticut. The English remonstrated without effect against this occupation, and the French remained in peaceable possession of their establishment. The next war that broke out between the mother countries spread rapine and destruction over the colonial frontiers, without any real result beyond mutual injury and embittered hatred. From this fort at Crown Point, and other posts held by the Canadians, marauding parties poured upon the British settlements, and destroyed them with horrid barbarity. A party of French and Indians even penetrated to Saratoga, within forty miles of Albany, attacked and burned the fort, and slew or carried into captivity the unhappy defenders.
For many subsequent years the history of Canada is but a chronicle of the accession of governors and the registration of royal edicts. In comparison with her southern rivals, the progress in material prosperity was very slow. Idleness and drunkenness, with all their attendant evils, were rife to a most injurious extent. The innumerable fêtes, or holidays of the Church, afforded opportunities to the dissolute, and occasioned frequent instances of serious disorders, till the king was urged to interfere: the number of these fête-days was then very much reduced, to the great benefit of the colony. The feudal system of tenure also operated most unfavorably upon the development of agricultural resources, and the forced partition of lands tended to reduce all the landholders to a fraternity of pauperism. The court of France endeavored vainly to remedy these evils, without removing the causes, and passed various edicts to encourage the further clearance of wild land, and to stimulate settlement.