The Relation du voyage des dames religieuses Ursulines de Rouen, etc. (Paris, 1872), with an introduction and notes by Gabriel Gravier, is an exact reprint of a publication at Rouen in 1728 of certain letters of Marie Madeleine Hachard, sœur Saint-Stanislas, to her father. The account of the tedious journey of the nuns from Paris to Orient, and of their perilous voyage to New Orleans, was worth preservation. M. Gravier has performed his part of the work with the evident satisfaction which such a task would afford a bibliophile and an antiquary. His introductory chapter contains a condensed history of Louisiana down to 1727, and is strongly fortified with quotations. He acknowledges himself to be indebted to M. Boimare for a great number of valuable unpublished documents relating to the foundation of New Orleans. Greater familiarity with his subject would have enabled him to escape several errors of date and of statement into which he has been led by authorities whose carelessness he apparently did not suspect. The memorial concerning the Church in Louisiana (note 1, p. 113 et seq.) is a document of great value and interest. M. Gravier (p. lvi) states that the Relation is substantially the same as the Relation du voyage des fondatrices de la Nouvelle Orléans, écrite aux Ursulines de France, par la première supérieure, la mère St. Augustin, which was reprinted by Dr. Shea in an edition of one hundred copies in 1859, under the general title of Relation du voyage des premières Ursulines à la Nouvelle Orléans et de leur établissement en cette ville [1727], par la Rev. Mère St. A. de Tranchepain; avec les lettres circulaires de quelquesunes de ses sœurs, et de la dite mère (62 pp.).
The History of the American Indians, particularly those Nations adjoining to the Mississippi, East and West Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, and Virginia, etc., by James Adair, who was forty years in the country, is a work of great value, showing the relations of the English traders to the Indians, and is of much importance to the student of Indian customs.[104]
The Géologie pratique de la Louisiane, by R. Thomassy (New Orleans and Paris, 1860), contains copies of some rare documents which were first made public in this volume.
The Histoire de la Louisiane[105] by M. Barbé Marbois is so brief in its treatment of the period covered by this chapter that very little can be gained from consulting that portion of the book.
A work entitled De la puissance Américaine, by M. Guillaume-Tell Poussin, was published at Paris in 1843. A translation was printed at Philadelphia in 1851. The writer, from his familiarity with this country, was especially fitted to give a French view of our history. His chapter on Louisiana shows that he had access to the treasures of the Paris Archives. Its value, however, is diminished by the fact that he is inexact in his details.
Daniel Coxe, the son of Dr. Coxe, the claimant of the Carolana grant, published in London in 1722 A Description of the English Province of Carolana, by the Spaniards call’d Florida, and by the French La Louisiane.[106] The body of the text is devoted to a description of the attractions of the province to the emigrant. The preface contains an account of the entrance of the Mississippi by the vessel which was turned back by Bienville. The appendix is an argument in favor of the claimant’s title to the grant, and of England’s title to the Mississippi Valley. It contains a curious story of a Massachusetts expedition to New Mexico in 1678, and a claim that La Salle’s guides were Indians who accompanied that expedition.[107]
The official correspondence concerning the Louisiana boundary question may be found in Waite’s American State Papers and Public Documents (Boston, 1815-1819), vol. xii. The temperate statements of Don Pedro Cevallos are in strong contrast with the extravagant assumptions of Luis de Orris, who even cites as authority the mythical Admiral Fonte.[108] Yoakum, in his History of Texas (New York, 1856), goes over this ground, and publishes in his appendix an interesting document from the archives of Bexar.
Illinois in the Eighteenth Century, by Edward G. Mason (Fergus Historical Series, no. 12), Chicago, 1881, has two papers dealing with the topics of this chapter: “Kaskaskia and its parish records” and “Old Fort Chartres.” The recital of the grants, the marriages, and the christenings at Kaskaskia and St. Anne brings us close to Boisbriant, Artaguette, and the other French leaders whose lives are interwoven with the narrative of events in Illinois. The description of Fort Chartres is by far the best extant. The work of rescuing from oblivion this obscure phase of Illinois history has been faithfully performed.
The following works have been freely used by writers upon the early history of Illinois and the Illinois villages and forts:—