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MONTREAL
1535-1914
UNDER THE FRENCH RÉGIME
1535-1760

By
WILLIAM HENRY ATHERTON, Ph. D.

Qui manet in patria et patriam cognoscere temnit
Is mihi non civis, sed peregrinus erit

VOLUME I

ILLUSTRATED

THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY
MONTREAL VANCOUVER CHICAGO
1914

[CHAPTER I]
1535-1542
HOCHELAGA
THE ARRIVAL OF JACQUES CARTIER AT HOCHELAGA ON HIS SECONDVOYAGE TO CANADA—HIS ROYAL COMMISSION—THE FRUITLESS DEVICEOF DONNACONA TO FRIGHTEN CARTIER FROM VISITING HOCHELAGA—THEDIFFICULTY OF CROSSING LAKE ST. PETER—THE ARRIVAL ANDRECEPTION AT HOCHELAGA—JACQUES CARTIER THE FIRST HISTORIAN OFMONTREAL—DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN—CARTIER RECITES THE FIRST CHAPTEROF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL OVER AGOHANNA, THE LORD OF THE COUNTRY—MOUNTROYAL NAMED AND VISITED—CARTIER'S ACCOUNT OF THE VIEW FROM THEMOUNTAIN TOP—CARTIER'S SECOND VISIT IN 1540 TO HOCHELAGA AND TOTUTONAGUY, THE SITE OF THE FUTURE MONTREAL—THE PROBABLE VISIT OFDE ROBERVAL IN 1542. NOTES: THE SITE OF HOCHELAGA—HOCHELAGA'SCIVILIZATION—CANADA—GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MOUNT ROYAL AND THEMONTEREGIAN HILLS.	1
[CHAPTER II]
1516-1627
COLONIZATION
UNDER THE EARLY TRADING COMPANIES OF NEW FRANCE
FRENCH COLONIZATION, A CHRISTIANIZING MOVEMENT—THE CROSSAND CROWN—ROBERVAL'S COMMISSION TO COLONIZE CANADA ANDHOCHELAGA—FEUDALISM PROJECTED—CRIMINALS AND MALEFACTORS TO BESENT AS COLONISTS—JACQUES CARTIER SAILS IN ADVANCE—CHARLESBOURGROYAL, THE FIRST COLONY, STARTED—CARTIER SAILS FOR HOCHELAGA ANDPASSES TUTONAGUY—CARTIER SAILS SECRETLY FOR FRANCE—CHARLESBOURGA FAILURE—DEATH OF CARTIER—HIS GREAT NEPHEW, NOEL, VISITS THEGREAT SAULT IN 1557—THE FIRST PRIVATE MONOPOLY TO NOEL ANDOTHERS—THE FIRST ROYAL TRADE MONOPOLY TO DE LA ROCHE—THE EDICT OFNANTES—CHAUVIN, A HUGUENOT, SECURES A TRADE MONOPOLY—TADOUSSAC,THE COURT OF KING PETAUD—EYMARD DE CHASTES RECEIVES A COMMISSIONAND ENGAGES THE SERVICES OF A ROYAL GEOGRAPHER, SAMUEL DECHAMPLAIN—CHAMPLAIN'S FIRST VISIT TO THE SAULT—DE MONTS, SUCCEEDINGDE CHASTES, RETAINS CHAMPLAIN AS HIS LIEUTENANT—QUEBEC CHOSENBY CHAMPLAIN—CHAMPLAIN BECOMES A COMPANY PROMOTER AND MANAGINGDIRECTOR, THE SHAREHOLDERS BEING MOSTLY HUGUENOTS, THE PRINCE DECONDE, GOVERNOR GENERAL—CHAMPLAIN'S BLUNDER IN ALLYING HIMSELF WITHTHE ALGONQUINS AND HURONS AGAINST THE IROQUOIS, AFTERWARDS THE CAUSEOF IROQUOIS HOSTILITIES AGAINST THE FUTURE MONTREAL—THE COMING OFTHE "RECOLLECTS"—CHAMPLAIN'S ATTEMPT AT A REAL COLONIZING SETTLEMENTAT QUEBEC—THE JESUITS ARRIVE—THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDREDASSOCIATES	23
[CHAPTER III]
1603-1625
THE GREAT SAULT
CHAMPLAIN THE FIRST TRADER
THE HISTORY OF HOCHELAGA AFTER CARTIER'S VISIT—CHAMPLAIN, THEFIRST CARTOGRAPHER OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL—ITS DESCRIPTIONIN 1603—CHAMPLAIN EXPLORES THE NEIGHBORHOOD—PLACE ROYALE IN1611—ST. HELEN'S ISLAND NAMED—THE FIRST TRADING TRANSACTIONRECORDED—CHAMPLAIN SHOOTS THE RAPIDS, 1613—THE EXPLORATIONOF THE OTTAWA VALLEY—1615 THE FIRST MASS IN CANADA AT RIVIEREDES PRAIRIES—1625 THE DROWNING OF VIEL AND AHUNTSIC ATSAULT-AU-RECOLLET—THE INTENTION OF CHAMPLAIN TO MAKE A PERMANENTSETTLEMENT ON THE ISLAND	35
[CHAPTER IV]
1627-1641
COLONIZATION UNDER THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES
THE CHARTER OF THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES THE BASIS OF THE SEIGNEURIALSYSTEM TO BE AFTERWARDS ESTABLISHED AT MONTREAL—THE ENGLISH IN1629 CAPTURE QUEBEC—1632, CANADA AGAIN CEDED TO THE FRENCH—1633,THE COMING OF THE JESUITS—THE RECOLLECTS DO NOT RETURN—THREERIVERS IS ESTABLISHED—DESCRIPTION OF COLONIAL LIFE AT QUEBEC—DEATHOF CHAMPLAIN IN 1635—THE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS TO BE IMITATEDAFTERWARDS AT MONTREAL—THE "RELATIONS DES JESUITES"—THE IROQUOISBEGIN THEIR ATTACKS—THE NEWS OF A REINFORCEMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENTTHAT MONTREAL HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS ITS HEADQUARTERS	49
[CHAPTER V]
1640-1641
MONTREAL
THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL
PREVIOUS COLONIZATION REVIEWED—MONTREAL CEDED TO SIEUR DE CHAUSSEEIN 1636 AND LATER TO DE LAUSON—THE DESIGN OF THE SETTLEMENTOF MONTREAL ENTERS THE MIND OF M. DE LA DAUVERSIERE—THE FIRSTASSOCIATES OF THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL—THE CESSIONOF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL TO THEM IN 1640—THE RELIGIOUS NATURE OFTHE NEW COLONIZING COMPANY—TRADING FACILITIES CRIPPLED—POLITICALDEPENDENCE ON QUEBEC SAFEGUARDED—M. OLIER FOUNDS THE CONGREGATION OFST. SULPICE IN PARIS IN VIEW OF THE MONTREAL MISSION—PREPARATIONSFOR THE FOUNDATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FULLY ORGANIZEDSETTLEMENT OF "VILLA MARIE"—PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE CHOSENAS LOCAL GOVERNOR—THE CALL OF JEANNE MANCE TO FOUND THE HOTELDIEU—THE EXPEDITION STARTS—MAISONNEUVE ARRIVES AT QUEBEC—THE FIRSTCLASH OF THE GOVERNORS—MONTMAGNY OFFERS THE ISLE OF ORLEANS FOR THENEW SETTLEMENT—MAISONNEUVE IS FIRM FOR THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL—THEFIRST FORMAL POSSESSION OF MONTREAL AT PLACE ROYALE—WINTER AT ST.MICHEL AND STE. FOY—FRICTION BETWEEN THE RIVAL GOVERNORS	57
[CHAPTER VI]
1642-1643
VILLE MARIE
FOUNDED BY PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE
THE DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION FROM MONTREAL—THE ARRIVALAT PLACE ROYALE—THE "VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS" AND MASS ON THE"COMMON"—VIMONT'S PROPHECY—ACTIVITIES OF ENCAMPMENT—THEFIRST REINFORCEMENT—THE FIRST QUASI-PAROCHIAL CHAPEL BUILT INWOOD—ALGONQUINS VISIT THE CAMP—FLOODS AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO THEMOUNTAIN—PEACEFUL DAYS—PRIMITIVE FERVOUR AND SIMPLICITY—THEDREADED IROQUOIS AT LAST APPEAR—FIRST ATTACK—THE FIRSTCEMETERY—"CASTLE DANGEROUS"—THE ARRIVAL OF THE SECONDREINFORCEMENT—Les Véritables Motifs. NOTES: THE HURONS,ALGONQUINS AND IROQUOIS	73
[CHAPTER VII]
1644-1651
PROGRESS AND WAR
THE COMPANY OF MONTREAL CONFIRMED BY LOUIS XIV—MAISONNEUVEREAPPOINTED GOVERNOR—A SYNDIC ELECTED; THE FIRST STEP INREPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—THE BUILDING OF THE HOTEL-DIEU—MILITARYHISTORY—PILOT, THE WATCHDOG OF THE FORT—THE EXPLOIT OF PLACED'ARMES—FEAR OF IROQUOIS—LABARRE'S REINFORCEMENT—AGRICULTUREBEGINS—MONTREAL'S FREE TRADE MOVEMENT—THE FIRST IROQUOIS WARIS OVER—MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCE—THE PROMOTION IN PARIS OF ABISHOPRIC FOR MONTREAL—CHARLES LE MOYNE—THE FORTIFICATIONS OF THEFORT—WAR AGAIN—THE SALARIES OF THE GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC, THREE RIVERSAND MONTREAL—THE CAMP VOLANT—FINANCIAL GLOOM IN MONTREAL—MUTUALBENEFIT ASSOCIATION—A PICTURE OF MONTREAL—A TAX PERILOUS, SUDDENAND FREQUENT—THE HOTEL-DIEU A FORTRESS FOR FOUR YEARS—THEABANDONMENT OF THE SETTLEMENT THREATENED—MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCEFOR SUCCOUR—THE SKELETON SOLDIERS—MONTREAL A FORLORN HOPE	87
[CHAPTER VIII]
1652-3
CRITICAL YEARS
LAMBERT CLOSSE, COMMANDANT
MAISONNEUVE'S SUCCESS IN PARIS—MADAME DE BULLION'SDONATIONS—"PARMENDA"—THE EXPLOIT OF LAMBERT CLOSSE—THE PHANTOMSHIP—MONTREAL REPORTED AT QUEBEC TO BE BLOTTED OUT—PROPOSALS OFPEACE FROM THE ONONDAGAS—MARCH OF MOHAWKS ON MONTREAL—CHARLES LEMOYNE AND ANONTAHA TO PARLEY FOR PEACE—A PATCHED UP PEACE—THE ENDOF THE SECOND IROQUOIS WAR	105
[CHAPTER IX]
1653-4
THE SECOND FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL
THE GREAT REINFORCEMENT OF 1653
MAISONNEUVE RETURNS WITH A RELIEF FORCE—THE MONTREAL CONTINGENTTHE SAVIOURS OF CANADA—THE ORIGIN AND TRADES OF THE NEWCOLONISTS—MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, THE FIRST SCHOOLMISTRESS,ARRIVES—HER CALL—SHIP FEVER—ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC—THE GOVERNOROF QUEBEC WOULD RETAIN THE RELIEF CONTINGENT—MAISONNEUVE FIRMFOR MONTREAL—THE WORK OF CONSOLIDATING THE ENLARGED COLONY ATVILLE MARIE—BUILDING ACTIVITIES—AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIALOCCUPATIONS—MARRIAGE CONTRACTS—JEANNE MANCE AND MARGUERITEBOURGEOYS, THE MOTHERS OF THE SETTLEMENT—THE KNIGHTLY MAISONNEUVE, A"Chevalier sans reproche"—THE MILITARY CONFRATERNITY—THEMOUNTAIN CROSS REPLACED—MEDICAL CONTRACTS—THE GOVERNMENT OFMONTREAL—THE ELECTION OF A SYNDIC—THE "NEW" CEMETERY—THE NEW"PARISH" CHURCH—THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES LE MOYNE WITH CATHERINEPRIMOT—A RARE SCANDAL—THE PRIMITIVE FERVOUR STILL MAINTAINED	111
[CHAPTER X]
1654-1657
IROQUOIS AND JESUITS
THE DEPARTURE OF THE JESUITS
RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES IN THE SPRING—PEACE—WAMPUM NECKLACES ANDBELTS—MONTREAL HEADQUARTERS OF PEACE PARLEYS—AUTUMN ATTACKS—"LABARRIQUE"—MONTREAL LEFT SEVERELY ALONE—CHIEF "LA GRANDEARMES"—M. DE LAUSON PERSECUTING MONTREAL—THE COMPLETION OF THEPARISH CHURCH—PENDING ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES IN MONTREAL—NOTES:BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES ON THE EARLY JESUIT MISSIONARIES INMONTREAL—PONCET—JOGUES—LE MOYNE—BUTEAUX—DRUILLETTES—ALBANEL—LEJEUNE—PARKMAN'S ESTIMATE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE JESUIT MISSIONS—DR.GRANT'S APPRECIATION OF THEIR WORK	123
[CHAPTER XI]
1655-1658
THE COMING OF THE SULPICIANS
1657
MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCE—ARRANGES FOR HOSPITALIERES ANDSULPICIANS—BISHOPRIC FOR NEW FRANCE—THE NOMINATIONS OF DEQUEYLUS AND LAVAL—THE APPOINTMENT DELAYED—THE DEATH OF M.OLIER—THE ARRIVAL OF DE QUEYLUS AND MAISONNEUVE AT QUEBEC—TWORIVAL "GRANDS VICAIRES"—DE QUEYLUS GOES TO MONTREAL ANDQUICKLY RETURNS TO RULE THE CHURCH IN QUEBEC—THE INTRUSIONRESENTED—THE SULPICIANS IN MONTREAL—TRIBUTE TO THEM AS CIVICAND RELIGIOUS ADMINISTRATORS—IROQUOIS HOSTILITIES RESUMED—THEHEAD OF JEAN ST. PERE—THE CHURCH IN MONTREAL TAKES ON "PARISH"PRETENSIONS—CHURCH WARDENS AND "LA FABRIQUE"—THE FIRST SCHOOLHOUSE—THE FLIGHT TO MONTREAL FROM ONONDAGA—PRECAUTIONARYORDINANCES BY MAISONNEUVE—FORTIFIED REDOUBTS—THE ECCLESIASTICALDISPUTE SETTLED—DE QUEN "GRAND VICAIRE" OF QUEBEC, DE QUEYLUS OFMONTREAL—BON SECOURS CHURCH DELAYED—JEANNE MANCE AND MARGUERITEBOURGEOYS VISIT FRANCE	137
[CHAPTER XII]
1659
THE NEW REINFORCEMENT FOR MONTREAL
THE COMING OF LAVAL
RETROSPECT OF MAISONNEUVE'S JUDICIAL SENTENCES—FIRST DEATHSENTENCE—INJURIOUS LANGUAGE—CALUMNY—BANISHMENT—GAMES OF CHANCE,DRUNKENNESS AND BLASPHEMY, ETC., FORBIDDEN—THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ANDTHE LOCAL GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL—A PESSIMISTIC PICTURE OF MONTREAL IN1659—A BISHOP FOR NEW FRANCE—LAVAL, CONSECRATED BISHOP OF PETREA INARABIA, ARRIVES AT QUEBEC AS VICAR APOSTOLIC—DE QUEYLUS RECALLED TOFRANCE—THE REINFORCEMENT ARRIVES WITH JEANNE MANCE AND MARGUERITEBOURGEOYS—THE STORY OF ITS JOURNEY—DIFFICULTIES AT LA FLECHE—SHIPFEVER ON THE ST. ANDRE—DIFFICULTIES AT QUEBEC—LAVAL WOULD RETAINTHE HOSPITALIERES BROUGHT BY JEANNE MANCE—THEY ARE FINALLY ALLOWEDTO PROCEED TO THE HOTEL-DIEU OF MONTREAL	151
[CHAPTER XIII]
1660
HOW MONTREAL SAVED NEW FRANCE
DOLLARD'S EXPLOIT AT THE LONG SAULT
UNIVERSAL FEAR OF IROQUOIS IN THE COLONY—THE GARRISONOFFICERS AT MONTREAL—ADAM DOLLARD, SIEUR DES ORMEAUX—THEPERMISSION FROM THE GOVERNOR TO LEAD AN ATTACK UP COUNTRY—HISCOMPANIONS—PREPARATIONS—WILLS AND THE SACRAMENTS—THE FLOTILLAOF CANOES—THE LONG SAULT REACHED—THE DILAPIDATED IROQUOIS WARCAMP—ANONTAHA AND MITIWEMEG—THE AMBUSH AND ATTACK—THE RETREATTO THE STOCKADE—THE SIEGE—THIRST—THE ALGONQUINS DESERT—FIVEHUNDRED IROQUOIS ALLIES ARRIVE—THE TERRIBLE ATTACK AND RESISTANCE—AGLORIOUS DEFEAT—RADISSON'S ACCOUNT—THE INVENTORY OF DOLLARD—UNPAIDBILLS—THE NAMES OF THE "COMPANIONS"—NEW FRANCE SAVED—A CONVOY OFBEAVER SKINS REACHES MONTREAL—A REINFORCEMENT OF TROOPS FROM FRANCEASKED FOR TO WIPE OUT THE IROQUOIS	163
[CHAPTER XIV]
1661-1662
HOSTILITIES AND LOSSES
MONTREAL THE THEATRE OF IROQUOIS CARNAGE—THE FIRST SULPICIANSLAUGHTERED, M. LE MAITRE—THE SECOND, M. VIGNAL—THE FIRST VISIT OFLAVAL TO MONTREAL—THE ABBE DE QUEYLUS AGAIN APPEARS—ECCLESIASTICALDISPUTES LEGAL, NOT PERSONAL—THE DEATH OF LAMBERT CLOSSE—THEEXPLOIT OF PICOTE DE BELESTRE—MAISONNEUVE'S ORDINANCE AGAINST SALEOF LIQUOR TO INDIANS—INDIAN ORGIES AND BLOODSHED—THE GOVERNORGENERAL AT QUEBEC DISAPPROVES OF MAISONNEUVE'S ACTION—THE FAMOUSLIQUOR TRAFFIC DISPUTES—JEANNE MANCE LEAVES FOR FRANCE	173
[CHAPTER XV]
1663-1664
THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL AND THE SEIGNEURS OF THE ISLAND
GREAT CHANGES, PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL
MILITIA SQUADS ESTABLISHED—THE FORMATION OF THE CONFRATERNITY OFTHE HOLY FAMILY—THE EARTHQUAKE AT MONTREAL—POLITICAL CHANGES—THERESIGNATION OF THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES—CANADA BECOMESA CROWN COLONY—THE TRANSFER OF THE SEIGNEURY OF THE ISLAND FROMTHE COMPANY OF MONTREAL TO THE "GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY"—ROYALGOVERNMENT—THE APPOINTMENT OF THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL—CHANGEIN THE MONTREAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM—FORMER HOME RULE PRIVILEGESRESCINDED—MONTREAL UNDER QUEBEC—PIERRE BOUCHER'S DESCRIPTIONOF CANADA AND MONTREAL—SOCIAL LIFE OF THE PERIOD—MONTREALSOLDIERY—THE ELECTION OF POLICE JUDGES—ATTEMPT TO SUPPLANTMAISONNEUVE AS LOCAL GOVERNOR—DISCORD IN THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL	181
[CHAPTER XVI]
1665
THE RECALL OF DE MAISONNEUVE
THE GOVERNOR GENERAL DE COURCELLES AND THE INTENDANT TALONARRIVE—THE DUAL REIGN INHARMONIOUS—SIEUR DE TRACY,LIEUTENANT GENERAL OF THE KING FOR NORTH AMERICA, ARRIVES—THECARIGNAN-SALLIERES REGIMENT—CAPTURE OF CHARLES LE MOYNEBY IROQUOIS—BUILDING OF OUTLYING FORTS—PREPARATIONS FORWAR—THE DISMISSAL OF MAISONNEUVE—AN UNRECOGNIZED MAN—HISMONUMENT—MAISONNEUVE IN PARIS—A TRUE CANADIAN	191
[CHAPTER XVII]
1666-1670
THE SUBDUAL OF THE IROQUOIS
THE END OF THE HEROIC AGE
PRIMITIVE EXPEDITIONS UNDER DE COURCELLES, SOREL AND DE TRACY—THEROYAL TROOPS AND THE MONTREAL "BLUE COATS"—DOLLIER DE CASSON, THESOLDIER CHAPLAIN—THE VICTORY OVER THE IROQUOIS—THE HOTEL-DIEU ATMONTREAL RECEIVES THE SICK AND WOUNDED—THE CONFIRMATION OF THEGENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY AS SEIGNEURS—THE LIEUTENANT GENERAL ANDINTENDANT IN MONTREAL—THE "DIME"—THE CENSUS OF 1667—MORE CLERGYNEEDED—THE ABBE DE QUEYLUS RETURNS, WELCOMED BY LAVAL AND MADEVICAR GENERAL—REINFORCEMENT OF SULPICIANS—THEIR FIRST MISSION ATKENTE—THE RETURN OF THE RECOLLECTS—THE ARRIVAL OF PERROT AS LOCALGOVERNOR OF MONTREAL	195
[CHAPTER XVIII]
1671-1672
THE FEUDAL SYSTEM ESTABLISHED
THE SEIGNEURS OF THE MONTREAL DISTRICT
SUBURBAN GROWTH—THE EARLIEST OUTLYING FIEFS—PRAEDIAMILITARIA—MILITARY SEIGNEURIES OF THE MONTREAL DISTRICT—THE FEUDALSYSTEM—THE "NOBLESSE"—THE "PARISHES"—"CENS ET RENTES"—"LODSET VENTES"—TRIBUTE TO THE FEUDALISM OF THE CLERICAL "SEIGNEURSOF MONTREAL"—MUNICIPAL OFFICERS—ORDER IN PROCESSIONS—THECHURCH WARDENS—THE SOLDIER COLONISTS—CATTLE BREEDING, HORSES,ASSES—AGRICULTURE—NEW CONCESSIONS—LAWS REGULATING OPENING UP THELAND—FIRST PUBLIC ROADS AND BRIDGES AT MONTREAL—NOTE: FORTS ANDREDOUBTS	203
[CHAPTER XIX]
1666-1672
ECONOMICAL PROGRESS
INDUSTRIES, TRADE AND LABOUR
COMMERCE—MINING—SHIP BUILDING—INDUSTRIES—A "MUNICIPAL"BREWERY—THE FIRST MARKET—PRICES—LABOUR—MEDICAL MEN	213
[CHAPTER XX]
1666-1672
COLONIZATION AND POPULATION
ENCOURAGEMENT OF MARRIAGE—BACHELORS TAXED—"FILLES DUROI"—DOWRIES—PENSIONS FOR LARGE FAMILIES—MONTREAL HEALTHY FORWOMEN—NOTE ON IMMIGRATION	215
[CHAPTER XXI]
1667-1672
EXPEDITIONS FROM MONTREAL
LA SALLE—DOLLIER DE CASSON—DE COURCELLES
A FEUDAL VILLAGE AND ITS YOUNG SEIGNEUR—LA SALLE'S JESUITTRAINING—AN EX-JESUIT—THE SEIGNEURY OF ST. SULPICE—SOLD—THE FEVERFOR EXPLORATION—LA SALLE, DOLLIER DE CASSON AND GALINEE—SOLDIEROUTRAGES ON INDIANS—THE EXPEDITION TO LAKES ERIE AND ONTARIO—LASALLE RETURNS—HIS SEIGNEURY NICKNAMED "LA CHINE"—THE SULPICIANSTAKE POSSESSION OF LAKE ERIE FOR LOUIS XIV—RETURN TO MONTREAL—DEGALINEE'S MAP—THE SUBSEQUENT EXPEDITION OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL, DECOURCELLES	221
[CHAPTER XXII]
1667-1672
EDUCATION
AT QUEBEC: JACQUES LEBER, JEANNE LEBER, CHARLES LE MOYNE (OFLONGUEUIL), LOUIS PRUDHOMME—MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS' SCHOOL ATMONTREAL—"GALLICIZING" INDIAN CHILDREN—GANNENSAGONAS—THESULPICIANS AT GENTILLY—THE JESUITS AT MADELEINE LA PRAIRIE	229
[CHAPTER XXIII]
1666-1672
GARRISON LIFE—SLACKENING MORALS
SIEUR DE LA FREDIERE—LIQUOR TRAFFIC WITH THE INDIANS—SOLDIERSMURDER INDIANS—THE CARION-DE LORMEAU DUEL—THE FIRST BALL INCANADA—LARCENIES, ETC.—A CORNER IN WHEAT—THE "VOLUNTAIRES," ORDAY LABOURERS—THE TAVERNS—A POLICE RAID—"HOTEL" LIFE—BLASPHEMYPUNISHED—THE LORDS' VINEYARDS RUINED	233
[CHAPTER XXIV]
1671-1673
NOTABLE LOSSES
DE QUEYLUS FINALLY LEAVES VILLE MARIE—DE COURCELLES AND TALONRECALLED—TRIBUTE TO THEIR ADMINISTRATION—MGR. DE LAVALABSENT FOR THREE YEARS—THREE DEATHS—MADAME DE PELTRIE—MARIEL'INCARNATION—JEANNE MANGE—HER LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT	239
[CHAPTER XXV]
1672-1675
TOWN PLANNING AND ARCHITECTURE
THE FOUNDATION OF THE PARISH CHURCH AND BON SECOURS CHAPEL
THE FIRST STREET SURVEY—"LOW" TOWN AND "UPPER" TOWN—THE ORIGINOF THE NAMES OF THE STREETS—COMPLAINTS AGAINST CITIZENS STILLCULTIVATING THE STREETS—ORDERS TO BEGIN BUILDING—THE NEW PARISHCHURCH—THE FOUNDATION STONES AND PLAQUES—THE DEMOLITION OF THE FORTFORBIDDEN—THE CHURCH OF BON SECOURS—THE POWDER MAGAZINE IN ITSGARRET—A PICTURE OF MONTREAL	241
[CHAPTER XXVI]
1672-1682
ALTERCATIONS
FRONTENAC'S FIRST TERM OF GOVERNORSHIP
I. THE RIVAL GOVERNORS
II. CHURCH AND STATE
III. THE GOVERNOR, THE INTENDANT AND THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL
I. THE TWO GOVERNORS—PERROT—ILE PERROT—REMONSTRANCES OFCITIZENS—FRONTENAC—A "VICE-ROI"—GENEROUS ATTEMPT TO GRANTREPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT RESTRAINED—FORT FRONTENAC (ORKINGSTON)—CORVEES—THE GOVERNOR GENERAL—EXPEDITION STARTS FORMONTREAL—LA SALLE—THE FRONTENAC-PERROT DUEL COMMENCES—PERROTIMPRISONED—COUREURS DE BOIS—DULUTH—CHICAGO—FRONTENAC RULESMONTREAL
II. THE FRONTENAC-FENELON DUEL—THE EASTER SERMON IN THEHOTEL-DIEU—LA SALLE PRESENT IN THE CHAPEL—M. FENELON RESIGNSFROM THE SULPICIANS—THE TRIAL BEFORE THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL—THEMONTREAL PARTY PRESENT THEIR CASE IN FRANCE—FRONTENAC AND FENELONREPRIMANDED, PERROT IN PRISON—PERROT QUICKLY RELEASED AND SENT BACKAS LOCAL GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL
III. THE MONTREAL COMPLAINTS HAVE A RESULT—THE REARRANGEMENT OFTHE POSITIONS OF HONOUR IN THE SOVEREIGN COUNCIL—THE GOVERNOR ANDTHE INTENDANT, DUCHESNEAU—RIVAL FACTIONS—CENTRALIZATION AND HOMERULE THE CAUSE OF FRENCH FAILURE IN CANADA—PERROT MADE GOVERNOR OFACADIA	247
[CHAPTER XXVII]
1672-1683
TRADE AT MONTREAL UNDER FRONTENAC AND PERROT
WEST INDIA COMPANY SUPPRESSED—MONTREAL HEAD OF FURINDUSTRY—EXPEDITIONS—MARQUETTE—JOLIET—THE ANNUAL FAIRS—LAVALRETURNS—THE "CONGREGATION" CONFIRMED—THE INDIAN MISSIONS—CATHERINETEKAKWITHA—THE "FORT DES MESSIEURS"—EXPLORATIONS—LA SALLE,DULUTH, HENNEPIN—LOUISIANA NAMED—THE GOVERNOR GENERAL ANDTHE INTENDANT—FACTIONS AT MONTREAL, "A PLAGUE ON BOTH YOURHOUSES!"—FRONTENAC AND DUCHESNEAU RECALLED	265
[CHAPTER XXVIII]
1683-1687
WAR AGAIN. THE IROQUOIS. NEW YORK AND HUDSON'S BAY
THE GOVERNMENTS OF DE LA BARRE AND DENONVILLE
GOVERNOR DE LA BARRE OPPOSES LA SALLE—THE POW-WOW IN THE NEWPARISH CHURCH—WAR PREPARATIONS AT MONTREAL—THE DISEASE-STRICKENEXPEDITIONS RETURN—LAVAL LEAVES FOR FRANCE—THE PIONEER PAPERMONEY INVENTED TO PAY THE SOLDIERS—NOTES ON "CARDS" AND CURRENCYDURING FRENCH REGIME—GOVERNOR DENONVILLE AND MGR. DE ST. VALLIERARRIVE—CALLIERES BECOMES GOVERNOR OF MONTREAL—A GLOOMY REPORTON THE "YOUTH" AND DRAMSHOPS—MGR. DE ST. VALLIER'S MANDEMENT OFTHE VANITY OF THE WOMEN—THE FORTIFICATIONS REPAIRED—SALE OF ARMSCONDEMNED—THE STRUGGLE FOR CANADA BY THE ENGLISH OF NEW YORK—THESTRUGGLE FOR HUDSON'S BAY—THE PARTY FROM MONTREAL UNDER THESONS OF CHARLES LE MOYNE—THE DEATH OF LA SALLE—OTHER MONTREALDISCOVERERS—A PSYCHOLOGICAL APPRECIATION OF LA SALLE'S CHARACTER	273
[CHAPTER XXIX]
1687-1689
IROQUOIS REVENGE
DENONVILLE'S TREACHERY AND THE MASSACRE OF LACHINE
ST. HELEN'S ISLAND A MILITARY STATION—FORT FRONTENAC—DENONVILLE'STREACHERY—THE FEAST—INDIANS FOR THE GALLEYS OF FRANCE—THEWAR MARCH AGAINST THE SENECAS—THE RETURN—MONTREAL AN INCLOSEDFORTRESS—DE CALLIERES' PLAN FOR THE INVASION OF NEW YORK—THESTRUGGLE FOR TRADE SUPREMACY—MONTREAL BESIEGED—KONDIARONK, THE RAT,KILLS THE PEACE—DENONVILLE RECALLED—CALLIERES' PLAN FAILS—THEMASSACRE AT LACHINE—DENONVILLE'S TREACHERY REVENGED. NOTE: THEEXPLOIT AT THE RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES	285
[CHAPTER XXX]
1689-1698
MONTREAL PROWESS AT HOME AND ABROAD
FRONTENAC'S SECOND TERM OF GOVERNMENT
FRONTENAC RETURNS—REVIEW AT MONTREAL—INDIANS FROM THE GALLEYSSENT WITH PEACE OVERTURES—NEW ENGLAND TO BE ATTACKED—THE MONTREALLEADERS—THREE SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITIONS—RETALIATION MEDITATED BY THEENGLISH—TRADE FLOWING BACK TO MONTREAL—THE GRAND COUNCIL IN THEMARKET—FRONTENAC LEADS THE WAR DANCE—JOHN SCHUYLER'S PARTY AGAINSTMONTREAL RETIRES—SIR WILLIAM PHIPPS SEIZES QUEBEC—THE MONTREALCONTINGENT—PETER SCHUYLER DEFEATED AT LA PRAIRIE—THE COLONY IN DIREDANGER—MADELEINE DE VERCHERES, HER DEED OF ARMES—THE EXPEDITIONVIA CHAMBLY—ARRIVAL OF FURS FROM MICHILLIMACKINAC—FRONTENAC, THESAVIOUR OF THE COUNTRY—MONTREAL PROWESS EAST AND WEST—A PLEIAD OFMONTREAL NAMES—THE LE MOYNE FAMILY—NEWFOUNDLAND—HUDSON'S BAY—FORTFRONTENAC AGAIN—THE DEATH OF FRONTENAC	293
[CHAPTER XXXI]
1688-1698
SOCIAL, CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS PROGRESS
THE PICKET ENCLOSURE—FORTIFICATIONS STRENGTHENED—GARRISONJEALOUSIES—PRESEANCE—THE "CONGREGATION" BURNT DOWN—A POORLAW BOARD—TO QUEBEC ON FOOT—THE CHURCH OF THE "CONGREGATION"ON FIRE—THE ENCLOSING OF A RECLUSE—THE JESUIT RESIDENCE—THERECOLLECTS—THE "PRIE DIEU" INCIDENT—MGR. DE ST. VALLIER'SBENEFACTIONS—THE FRERES CHARON—FIRST GENERAL HOSPITAL—TECHNICALEDUCATION—THE SEMINARY BEING BUILT—SULPICIAN ADMINISTRATION—THEMARKET PLACE. NOTE: THE GENTLEMEN OF THE SEMINARY	305
[CHAPTER XXXII]
1698-1703
THE GREAT INDIAN PEACE SIGNED AT MONTREAL. THE FOUNDATION OF DETROIT
THE GOVERNMENT OF DE CALLIERES
DE CALLIERES—PREPARATIONS FOR PEACE—DEATH OF THE "RAT"—THE GREATPEACE SIGNED AT MONTREAL—LA MOTTE-CARDILLAC—THE FOUNDATION OFDETROIT—THE DEATH OF MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS	315
[CHAPTER XXXIII]
1697-1713
FROM THE TREATY OF RYSWICK TO THE TREATY OF UTRECHT QUEEN ANNE'S WAR
MONTREAL SAVED BY LAND AND WATER
"THE FRENCH HAVE ALWAYS COMMENCED HOSTILITIES IN CANADA"—SAMUELVECHT IN MONTREAL—MONTREAL TO BE INVADED BY WOOD CREEK—NICHOLSON'SARMY ROUTED BY DYSENTERY—THE "BOSTONNAIS" PLAN A SECONDDESCENT ONMONTREAL—JEANNE LEBER'S STANDARD—THE EXPEDITION OF SIR HOVENDERWALKER AGAINST QUEBEC—THE VOW OF THE MONTREAL LADIES—"OUR LADYOF VICTORIES" BUILT IN COMMEMORATION—PEACE OF UTRECHT—COMPARISONBETWEEN NEW ENGLAND AND NEW FRANCE. NOTE: THE CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY	323
[CHAPTER XXXIV]
1700-1721
HALF A CENTURY OF PEACE AND PROGRESS
CIVIC SIDE LIGHTS
I.
THE LONG PEACE—THE TWO GOVERNORS—TAVERN LICENSES—PERMITTO MARRY—CULTIVATION OF HEMP—FIRST ATTEMPT OF THE LACHINECANAL BY THE SEIGNEURS—GEDEON DE CATALOGNE—CHAUSSEGROS DELERY—"SEDITIOUS ASSEMBLIES"—CLAUDE DE RAMEZAY—WAR PRICES—LINENAND CLOTH INDUSTRIES DEVELOPED—AN ORDINANCE AGAINST DIRTYSTREETS—AGAINST PIGS IN THE HOUSES—MARKET REGULATIONS—THE USEOF THE COMMONS—SALE OF LIQUOR TO SAVAGES—THE SEIGNEURS ANDTHE HABITANTS—REGULATIONS CONCERNING TANNERS, SHOEMAKERS ANDBUTCHERS—ENGLISH MERCHANDISE NOT TO BE TOLERATED AT MONTREAL—AMARKET FOR CANADIAN PRODUCTS DESIRED—CONCENTRATION IN THEEAST VERSUS EXPANSION IN THE WEST—CONGES—FAST DRIVING—ROADMAKING—HORSE BREEDING RESTRAINED—PIGS TO BE MUZZLED—LIQUORLICENSES OVERHAULED—SNOW-SHOEING TO BE CULTIVATED—DIVERSE NATIONALORIGINS—A MARBLE QUARRY—THE DEATH OF A RECLUSE—MURDERER BURNT INEFFIGY—CARD MONEY—A "BOURSE" FOR THE MERCHANTS—PATENTS OF NOBILITYTO THE LEBER AND LE MOYNE FAMILIES—PARTRIDGE SHOOTING—A "CURE ALL"PATENT MEDICINE—POSTAL SERVICE—A PICTURE OF MONTREAL ABOUT 1721 BYCHARLEVOIX	331
[CHAPTER XXXV]
1721-1748
SIDE LIGHTS OF CIVIC PROGRESS
II
THE FIRE OF 1721—BUILDING REGULATIONS—STONE ENCOURAGED—TOWNEMBELLISHMENT—CITY PLANNING—THE FORTIFICATIONS—PEWRENTING—CHATEAU DE VAUDREUIL—TRADE WITH NEW ENGLANDFORBIDDEN—ILLICIT LIQUOR TRAFFIC—DEATHS OF DE RAMEZAY AND DEVAUDREUIL—EVEN NATURALIZED STRANGERS FORBIDDEN TO TRADE—DESCRIPTIONOF INDIAN LIFE AT MONTREAL—MONTREAL IS FOLLOWED BY QUEBEC INTHE REFORM OF WEIGHTS AND MEASURES—VERENDRYE'S EXPEDITION FROMMONTREAL—RELIGIOUS ASYLUM FORBIDDEN—FIRST SAILING VESSEL OF LAKESUPERIOR—THE "OUTRAGED CRUCIFIX"—SORCERY, MAGIC AND SACRILEGE—THELEGEND OF THE RED CROSS—PUNISHMENT OF "BREAKING ALIVE" IN THE MARKETPLACE—CARE OF FOUNDLINGS—SULPICIANS FOUND LA PRESENTATION—SKATINGIN THE STREETS; FAST DRIVING. NOTES: THE DISCOVERIES OF LAVERENDRYE—CHATEAU VAUDREUIL	347
[CHAPTER XXXVI]
1749-1755
SIDELIGHTS OF CIVIC PROGRESS
III
PETER KALM—THE FIRST SWEDES IN MONTREAL—THE FRENCH WOMEN CONTRASTEDWITH THOSE OF THE AMERICAN COLONIES—DOMESTIC ECONOMY—THE MENEXTREMELY CIVIL—MECHANICAL TRADES BACKWARD—WATCHMAKERS—THE TREATYOF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE CELEBRATED—PAPER MONEY—WAGES—PEN PICTURE OFMONTREAL IN 1749—ITS BUILDINGS AND THEIR PURPOSES—FRIDAY, MARKETDAY—THERMOMETRICAL AND CLIMATIC OBSERVATIONS—NATURAL HISTORYCULTIVATED—MONTREAL THE HEADQUARTERS OF THE INDIAN TRADE—THE GOODSFOR BARTER—THE LADIES MORE POLISHED AND VOLATILE AT QUEBEC BUTMORE MODEST AND INDUSTRIOUS AT MONTREAL—ECONOMIC FACTS—WINE ANDSPRUCE BEER—PRICES AND COST OF LIVING—CONSENTS TO MARRIAGE—SOCIALAND DOMESTIC CUSTOMS—FRANQUET'S JOURNEY FROM QUEBEC TO MONTREALBY RIVER, FIVE DAYS—POUCHOT'S APPRECIATIONS OF CANADIANS—THETRADE SYSTEM OF THE COUNTRY—GOVERNMENTAL MAGAZINES AND UP-COUNTRYFORTS—PRIVATE TRADE AT THE POSTS—ITINERANT PEDDLERS. NOTE: THEDEVELOPMENT OF THE PARISH CHURCH	359
[CHAPTER XXXVII]
EDUCATION—PRIMARY, SECONDARY AND TECHNICAL
A RECORD FROM 1657 TO 1760
FRENCH PRONUNCIATION—SCHOOL FOR GIRLS—THE CONGREGATION—BOARDINGSCHOOLS—SCHOOLS OF DOMESTIC ECONOMY—NORMAL SCHOOLS—SCHOOLSFOR BOYS—ABBE SOUART FIRST SCHOOLMASTER—THE FIRST ASSOCIATIONOF TEACHERS—SCHOOL BOOKS—BOOKS ON PEDAGOGY—LATIN SCHOOLS, THEHIGH SCHOOLS OF THE PERIOD—LATIN BOOKS—ATTEMPT AT A CLASSICALCOLLEGE—FAILURE—TECHNICAL EDUCATION—JEAN FRANÇOIS CHARON—THEGENERAL HOSPITAL—ARTS AND MANUFACTURES—LES FRERES CHARON—A NORMALSCHOOL FOR CANADA AT ROCHELLE PROJECTED—FRERE TURC GOES TO ST.DOMINGO—THE BROTHERS OF THE CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS INVITED TWICE TO COMETO CANADA—BROTHER DENIS AND PACIFICUS IN MONTREAL—THE FRERES CHARONIN EVIL DAYS—THE HOSPITAL TRANSFERRED TO MADAME D'YOUVILLE	377
[CHAPTER XXXVIII]
1747
THE GENERAL HOSPITAL OF MONTREAL UNDER MADAME D'YOUVILLE
MADAME D'YOUVILLE—TIMOTHEE DE SILVAIN—CONFRATERNITY OF THE HOLYFAMILY—"SŒURS GRISES"—PERSEVERANCE THROUGH OPPOSITION—FIRE OF1745—PROVISIONAL CONTROL OF HOSPITAL—ATTEMPT TO ANNEX THE GENERALHOSPITAL TO THAT OF QUEBEC—THE "GREY NUNS" FORMERLY APPROVED AS"SISTERS OF CHARITY"	387
[CHAPTER XXXIX]
MONTREAL, MILITARY HEADQUARTERS
THE FINAL STRUGGLE FOR SUPREMACY—THE SEVEN YEARS, 1756-1763—THECAMPAIGN OF 1756 (OSWEGO)—THE WINTER AT MONTREAL
REVIEW—CELERON DE BIENVILLE—DE VAUDREUIL—MONTCALM—HIS MILITARYAND HOUSEHOLD STAFF—DE LEVIS, BOURLAMAQUE, BOUGAINVILLE—CHATEAUDE VAUDREUIL—THE MEETING OF MONTCALM AND DE VAUDREUIL—MONTCALM'SPOSITION—THE THREE MILITARY ARMS—THE MILITIA, MARINE, REGULARS—THERED ALLIES—CAPITULATION OF OSWEGO—SACKING—TE DEUM IN THE PARISHCHURCH—THE TWO PREJUGES—WINTER IN MONTREAL—GAMING AT QUEBEC—AWINTER WAR PARTY—SOCIAL GAYETIES AT MONTREAL—SCARCITY OFPROVISIONS—SHIPS AWAITED	391
[CHAPTER XL]
THE CAMPAIGN OF 1657
THE SIEGE OF WILLIAM HENRY—WINTER GAYETY AND GAUNT FAMINE
SHIPS ARRIVE—NEWS OF GREAT INTERNATIONAL WAR—RED ALLIES INMONTREAL—STRONG LIQUOR—PREPARATIONS FOR WAR—FORT WILLIAMHENRY FALLS—ARRIVAL OF SAVAGES AND TWO HUNDRED ENGLISHPRISONERS—CANNIBALISM—THE PAPER MONEY—FEAR OF FAMINE—MONTCALM'SLETTER TO TROOPS ON RETRENCHMENT—A SELF-DENYING ORDINANCE—GAMINGAMID SOCIAL MISERY—HORSE FLESH FOR THE SOLDIERS—DE LEVIS PUTS DOWNA REVOLT—THE "HUNGER STRIKE"—THE LETTERS OF MONTCALM—BIGOT AND LAGRANDE SOCIETE—"LA FRIPONNE" AT MONTREAL—MURRAY'S CRITICISM. NOTE:THE PECULATORS	403
[CHAPTER XLI]
1758
THE VICTORY OF CARILLON
A WINTER OF GAYETY AND FOREBODING
SIXTY LEAGUES ON THE ICE—SHIPS ARRIVE—FAMINE CEASES—ENGLISHMOBILIZATION—TICONDEROGA (CARILLON)—MILITARYJEALOUSIES—SAINT-SAUVEUR—RECONCILIATION OF MONTCALM ANDVAUDREUIL—ENMITIES RENEWED—WINTER IN MONTREAL—HIGH COST OFLIVING—THE "ENCYCLOPEDIA"—AVARICE AND GRAFT—MADAME DE VAUDREUIL	415
[CHAPTER XLII]
1759
THE FALL OF QUEBEC
MONTREAL THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT
THE SPRING ICE SHOVE—NEWS FROM FRANCE—MILITARY HONOURS SENT BUTPOOR REINFORCEMENTS—PROJECTED FRENCH INVASION OF ENGLAND—GLOOM INCANADA—THE MONTREAL MILITIA AT THE SIEGE OF QUEBEC—FALL OF QUEBEC,MONTREAL SEAT OF GOVERNMENT—THE WINTER ATTEMPT TO REGAIN QUEBEC—THEEXPECTED FRENCH FLEET NEVER ARRIVES—RETREAT OF FRENCH TO MONTREAL	425
[CHAPTER XLIII]
1760
THE FALL OF MONTREAL
THE CAPITULATION
THE LAST STAND AT MONTREAL—THE APPROACH OF THE BRITISHARMIES—SURRENDER OF ARMS BY FRENCH ON THE ROUTE—PAPER MONEYVALUELESS—MURRAY'S ADVANCE FROM QUEBEC—HAVILAND'S PROGRESS FROMLAKE CHAMPLAIN—AMHERST'S DESCENT FROM OSWEGO—MONTREAL WITHINAND WITHOUT—THE COUNCIL OF WAR IN THE CHATEAU VAUDREUIL—THETERMS OF CAPITULATION—THE NEGOTIATIONS WITH AMHERST—HONOURSOF WAR REFUSED—DE LEVIS' CHAGRIN—THE CAPITULATION SIGNED—THECONDITIONS—FORMAL POSSESSION OF TOWN BY THE BRITISH—THE END OF THEFRENCH REGIME	431
[APPENDIX I]
THE GOVERNMENT OF LA NOUVELLE FRANCE
THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTREAL UNDER LA NOUVELLE FRANCE—ROYALCOMMISSIONS—VICEROYS—GOVERNORS—INTENDANTS—BISHOPS—FRENCH ANDENGLISH SOVEREIGNS—LOCAL GOVERNORS OF MONTREAL—THE SEIGNEURS OF THESEMINARY	441
[APPENDIX II ]
AN INVENTORY OF THE CHARTS AND PLANS OF THE ISLAND AND TOWN OFMONTREAL UP TO 1760	447

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

The history now being prepared seems necessary; for we are at a period of great flux and change and progress. The city is being transformed, modernized and enlarged before our very eyes. Old landmarks are daily disappearing and there is a danger of numerous memories of the past passing with them.

We are growing so wonderfully in wealth through the importance of our commerce and in the size of our population by the accretion of newcomers of many national origins and creeds, to whom for the most part the history of the romantic story of Montreal is a sealed books, that a fuller presentation of our development and growth is called for, to supplement previous sketches and to meet the conditions of the hour.

It is hardly needful, therefore, to offer any apology for the present undertaking. For if the continuity of a city's growth and development is to be preserved in the memory of the citizens of each generation, this can only be done through the medium of an historical survey, issued at certain suitable intervals, such as the one now offered, connecting the present with the past, and presenting to the new generation, out of the intricate chain of events and varying vicissitudes that have woven themselves into the texture of the city's organic life, the story of those forces which have moulded its growth and have produced those resultant characteristic features which make it the individualized city of today and none other.

Montreal being a unique city, with a personality of its own, its history, beyond that of any city of the new world, is particularly interesting and fruitful for such a retrospect. Dealing with the fortunes of several peoples, the original inhabitants of Hochelaga visited by Jacques Cartier in 1535, the French colonists from 1642 and the Anglo-Saxons and Gaels from their influx in 1760, together with the steady addition of those of other national origins of later years, the story of Montreal, passing over the greater part of four centuries, is full of romance and colour and quickly moving incidents; of compelling interest to the ordinary student, but how much more so to those who have any way leagued their fortunes with it, and assisted in its progress and in its making!

Such cannot dip into the pages of the history of this ancient and modern city without finding fresh motives for renewed enthusiasm and for deeper pride.

For Montreal is still in the making, with its future before it.

The present work is especially dedicated to those who would realize the duties of good citizenship and it is the hope of the writer that it may serve to deepen the sense of civic pride now happily being cultivated here. To foster this civic pride is the justifying reason why he has been induced by his friends to launch on a long and laborious task, sweetened though it may be by the pleasure anticipated of communion with the scenes and thoughts and deeds of a romantic past and a wonderfully progressive present.

All history is profitable. Perhaps, however, civic history has not been cultivated sufficiently. The present work is an attempt to repair this by interesting Montrealers in their citizenship so that by placing before them the deeds of the doers of the past, they may realize they are dwellers in no mean city. We would hope that something of the spirit of love for their cities, of the Romans, Athenians, or Florentines, might be reincarnated, here in Montreal. Good citizenship would then be thoroughly understood as the outcome of a passionate love of all that is upright, noble and uplifting in human conduct, applied to the life of a city by which it shall be made beautiful and lovable in the sight of God and man. For this purpose the life story of any city that has reached any eminence and has a worthy past should be known by good citizens so that they begin to love it with a personal love.

For like each nation, each city has its own individuality, its own characteristic entity, its own form of life which must be made the most of by art and thoughtful love.

This is not merely true of the physical being of a city from the city planner's point of view. There is also a specific character in the spiritual, artistic, moral and practical life of every city that has grown into virility and made an impress on the world.

Every such city is unique; it has its predominant virtues and failings. You may partially eliminate the latter and enlarge the former, but the city being human—the product of the sum total of the qualities and defects of its inhabitants—it takes on a character, a personality, a mentality all its own.

Civic history then leads us to delve down into the origins of things to find out the causes and sources of that ultimate city character which we see reflected today in such a city as Montreal.

The research is fascinating and satisfactory to the citizen who would know his surroundings, and live in them intelligently with consideration for the diverse view points of those of his fellow citizens who have different national origins and divergent mental outlooks from his own.

Yet while this city character is in a way fixed, still it is not so stable but that it will be susceptible to further development in the times that are to come with new problems and new situations to grapple with.

The peculiar pleasure of the reading of the history of Montreal will be to witness the development of its present character from the earliest date of the small pioneering, religious settlement of French colonists, living simple and uneventful days, but chequered by the constant fear of the forays of Indian marauders on to the "Castle Dangerous" of Ville Marie, through its more mature periods of city formation, then onward through the difficult days of the fusion of the French and English civilization starting in 1760, to the complex life of the great and prosperous cosmopolitan city of today, the port and commercial centre of Canada—the old and new régimes making one harmonious unity, but with its component parts easily discernible. The city's motto is aptly chosen, "Concordia Salus."

Much there will be learned in the history of Montreal of the past that will explain the present and the mentality of its people. Tout savoir, c'est tout pardonner.

A clue to the future will also be afforded beforehand. Certainly it will be seen that Montreal is great and will be greater still, because great thoughts, high ideals, strenuous purposes have been born and fostered within its walls.

The thinking student will witness the law of cause and effect, of action, and reaction, ever at work, and will read design where the undisciplined mind would only see chaos and blind forces at work.

Recognizing that the city is a living organism with a personality of its own, he will watch with ever increasing interest the life emerging from the seed and at work in all the varying stages of its growth and development. He will see the first rude beginning of the city, its struggles for existence, its organized life in its social and municipal aspects, its beginnings of art and learning, the building of its churches, the conscious struggles of its people to realize itself, the troubles of its household, the battle of virtue and vice, its relation to other cities, the story of its attacks from without, the conflicts with opposing ideas, the influx of new elements into the population, the adaptation of the organism to new habits of government and thought, to new methods of business, and the inauguration of untried and new industrial enterprises, the growth of its harbour, and its internal and external commerce, the conception of its own destiny as one of the great cities of the world—all these and more it is the purpose of a history of Montreal to unfold to the thoughtful citizen who would understand the life in which he is playing his part not as a blind factor but as an intelligent co-operator in the intricate and absorbing game of life.

But let it not be thought that while peering into the past we shall become blind to the present. In this "History of Montreal" we shall picture the busy world as we see it round us. Here are heroic and saintly deeds being done today in our midst. The foundations of new and mighty works even surpassing those of the past are being laid in the regions of religion, philanthropy, art, science, commerce, engineering, government and city planning this very hour, and their builders are unconsciously building unto fame.

Besides, therefore, portraying the past, we would wish to present a moving picture of the continued development of Montreal from the beginning, tracing it to the living present from the "mustard seed" so long ago spoken of by Père Vimont in reference to the handful of his fellow pioneers assembled at Mass on the day of the arrival on May 18, 1642, at the historic spot marked today by the monument in Place Royale, to the mighty tree of his prophecy that now has covered the whole Island of Montreal, and by the boldness, foresight and enterprise of Montreal's master builders, has stretched its conquering arms of streams and iron across the mighty continent discovered by Jacques Cartier in 1535.

What Montreal was and is, we know. Its future we can only surmise. But it is bound to be a great one. Its position, with its mountain in the centre and its encircling waterways, with the glorious St. Lawrence at its feet, proclaims it as the ideal location for one of the greatest cities in the world. It is no cause for wonder that Jacques Cartier, visiting it in 1535, after naming the mountain "Mount Royal" in honour of his king, Francis I of France, should have commended it as favourable for a settlement in his description of his voyage to Hochelaga, and that Champlain in 1611 should have made it his trading post and further endorsed it as a suitable place for a permanent settlement, and that Maisonneuve should have carried it into execution in 1642. They had the instinct of the city planner—that is all.

That they did not err, the history of Montreal will abundantly show.

WILLIAM HENRY ATHERTON.

PREFACE

"QUI MANET IN PATRIA ET PATRIAM COGNOSCERE TEMNIT IS MIHI NON CIVIS, SED PEREGRINUS ERIT"

In placing before the public the first volume of the History of Montreal, under the title of "Under the French Régime," I would first dedicate it to a group of prominent lovers of the city, truly deserving the name of good citizens, who originally encouraged me to undertake the historical researches necessary for this work in the view that an orderly narration of the city's origins and gradual development would thereby foster the right spirit of civic pride in those who do not merely dwell in this ancient and new city, but have linked their fortunes with it at least for a while.

Secondly, it is dedicated to those who endorsed the above invitation by subscribing for copies, thus making publication possible.

Thirdly, it is dedicated to all good citizens of Montreal, whether by birth or adoption, who will welcome this attempt to interest them in their citizenship.

Further, it is offered to all students of the civic life and progress of our Canadian cities through the medium of the historical method. May it encourage a healthy Canadian civic consciousness begotten of the records of the doings of the early makers of our Canadian cities.

May it encourage the careful keeping of early historical documents, especially among those new municipalities now growing up in the new Canada of today.

I wish to take this opportunity of thanking those who have especially made my way easy in this first volume by affording me access to books or documents. Among these are: Mr. W. D. Lighthall, president of the Numismatic and Antiquarian Society of Montreal, who was also the first to encourage this present work, Dr. A. Doughty, Mr. C. H. Gould, of the McGill University Library, Mr. Crevecœur, of the Fraser Institute, and to other representatives of public and private libraries. To Mr. E. Z. Massicotte, the careful archivist of the district of Montreal, I am especially indebted for much courteous and valuable assistance of which the following pages will give many indications. In general, the sources consulted are sufficiently indicated in the text or foot notes. They will be seen to be the best available.

I beg to thank those who have helped me to illustrate the work and particularly Mr. Edgar Gariépy, who has keenly aided me.

September, 1914.

WILLIAM HENRY ATHERTON.

[HISTORY OF MONTREAL]

CHAPTER I

1535-1542

HOCHELAGA

THE ARRIVAL OF JACQUES CARTIER AT HOCHELAGA ON HIS SECOND VOYAGE TO CANADA—HIS ROYAL COMMISSION—THE FRUITLESS DEVICE OF DONNACONA TO FRIGHTEN CARTIER FROM VISITING HOCHELAGA—THE DIFFICULTY OF CROSSING LAKE ST. PETER—THE ARRIVAL AND RECEPTION AT HOCHELAGA—JACQUES CARTIER THE FIRST HISTORIAN OF MONTREAL—DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN—CARTIER RECITES THE FIRST CHAPTER OF ST. JOHN'S GOSPEL OVER AGOHANNA, THE LORD OF THE COUNTRY—MOUNT ROYAL NAMED AND VISITED—CARTIER'S ACCOUNT OF THE VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP—CARTIER'S SECOND VISIT IN 1540 TO HOCHELAGA AND TO TUTONAGUY, THE SITE OF THE FUTURE MONTREAL—THE PROBABLE VISIT OF DE ROBERVAL IN 1542. NOTES: THE SITE OF HOCHELAGA—HOCHELAGA'S CIVILIZATION—CANADA—GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MOUNT ROYAL AND THE MONTEREGIAN HILLS.

The story of Montreal, as far as authentic historical documents are concerned, begins with Saturday, October 2, 1535. On that day, the Indian natives of Hochelaga had been quickly apprised that two strange large vessels containing many palefaced wanderers, wonderfully attired and speaking an unknown tongue, had come up the river, and were now lying off its sloping margin. The people immediately prepare quickly to receive them with a hospitality of which we shall hear. The women busy themselves in preparing their presents while the men hurriedly run down the hill slope to the water's edge, to be soon also followed by the women and children. There they found a good gathering of swarthy and bronzed men of the sea, mariners from St. Malo, to the number of twenty-eight, simple men, but adored by the natives as superior beings. All hail to them! Would that of the seventy-four [1] names we have preserved to us, of those who sailed from St. Malo, we had those of them who were privileged to come up to Hochelaga, as we must yet call it.

Besides the sailors, there are, however, six whose dress and bearing mark them out as men of some distinction, as indeed they are; for one is Claude du Pont Briand, cup bearer to My Lord the Dauphin; the second and third, gentlemen adventurers of some rank, Charles de la Pommeraye and Jehan Gouion; the fourth and fifth are the bronzed and rugged captains of the small fleet lying down the river at Lake St. Peter, Guillaume le Breton, captain of the Emerillon, and Marc Jalobert, captain of the Petite Hermine, brother-in-law of the sixth. This last, a firm set man of forty-five years, and of commanding appearance, is none other than Jacques Cartier, captain of the Grande Hermine, pilot and captain general of the fleet, and he has come with a royal commission [2] explore new seas and lands for his sovereign maste Francis I of France, whose flags proudly wave from the prows of either vessel now tossing in the Hochelagan waters.

Jacques Cartier claims notice, for he is at once the discoverer and the first historian of Montreal. He is a mariner, of a dignified profession, and was born in 1491, though De Costa and others say, in 1494, at the seaport of St. Malo in Brittany, the fertile cradle of many hardy daring corsairs and adventurers on the waters. Early the young son of Jamet Cartier and Geseline Jansart seems to have turned his thoughts to a seafaring life as he met the bronzed mariners arriving at the wharves of St. Malo, and telling strange stories of their perils and triumphs. On the 2d of May, 1519, being now a master pilot, he married Catherine des Granches, the daughter of the high constable of the city.

JACQUES CARTIER
(After a traditional drawing)

MANOR HOUSE OF CARTIER AT LIMOILOU NEAR ST. MALO
(Interior View)

We know only imperfectly of his wanderings on the sea after this. He seems to have gone to Brazil. But he probably joined the band of those Norman ships going to Newfoundland on their fishing expeditions, and became well acquainted with the waters thereabout, and able to pilot them to some good purpose.

How Cartier became interested in discovering the passage to the Northwest we do not know; though it was the dream of so many navigators at that time to find a way to China and the east ports of India. To the man who should find it there would be undying fame, and many there were who strove for it. Probably Cartier believed that he should find the long expected route to India through one of the openings in the coast in the vicinity of Newfoundland, then thought to be but a projection of the eastern coast of Asia! At any rate, in 1533, we find him being introduced to Francis I of France by the high admiral of France, Phillipe Chabot, Sieur de Brion, to endeavour to persuade the king to allow him the means to secure the western passage for his royal master and the flag of France. The permission was granted, the vice admiral, the Sieur de Meilleraye personally undertaking to supervise the equipment of the vessels, and Cartier now is to be ranked among those others whose names have come down to us as leaders of expeditions.

This wooden medallion, 20 inches in diameter, bears on the back the deeply carved date 1704 and the initials J. C. It was found between outer and inner "skins" of an ancient house in the French fishing village of Cape des Roziers at the mouth of the St. Lawrence River, November, 1908, and was the stern shield of some French vessel wrecked on that coast. The face is alleged to be that of Jacques Cartier, the discoverer of Canada, and is the oldest known portrait of him. The claim is made by Dr. John M. Clarke of Albany, state geologist of New York.

We next find him armed with the Royal Commission, preparing to fit his vessels, and seeking for St. Malo men to man them in the service of the king. He had his difficulties in meeting the obstructions and jealousies that stood in his way. But on the 20th of April, 1534, he sailed with pilots, masters and seamen to the number of sixty, who were solemnly sworn by the vice admiral, Sieur de Meilleraye. It is not the purpose of this book to describe the discovery of Canada which Cartier made on this first voyage although the task is a fascinating one, since we have his own recital to follow. On July 24th, having planted on the coast of Gaspé a cross of the length of thirty feet bearing a shield adorned with the fleur-de-lys and inscribed "Vive le Roi de France," he made preparations for the return home, reaching St. Malo on September 5th.

But he had not, as yet, stumbled upon the discovery of the mouth of the St. Lawrence, up which the kingdom of the Hochelagans lay, on which we are to fix our gaze. The news of his discoveries were received with enthusiasm, and on the Friday in Pentecost week, May 19, 1535, we find Jacques Cartier and his men sailing away from St. Malo, after having confessed themselves and received the benedictions of the archbishop and the godspeeds of their friends. The names of those accompanying Cartier—"pilots, masters and seamen, and others"—are preserved in the archives of St. Malo, numbering seventy-four, of whom several were of some distinction and twelve at least were related to him by blood or marriage, some led thither perhaps by the hope of trade. Two of the names are those of Dom Guillaume le Breton and Dom Antoine. It has been claimed the title Dom indicates that they were probably secular priests, and acted as chaplains, according to the general custom when the expedition was a royal mission. But this is not likely; in this case Guillaume le Breton was the captain of the Emerillon. Among those not mentioned in the list of Carrier's men were two young Indians, Taignoagny and Agaya, whom Cartier had seized at Gaspé before leaving to return to France, after his first voyages, and whose appearance in France created unusual interest. These were now to be useful as interpreters to the tribes to be visited. Cartier had however to regret some of their dealings on his behalf. Charity begins at home and so it did with these French-veneered Indians on mingling with their own.

The Royal Commission signed by Phillipe de Chabot, admiral of France, and giving greeting "to the Captain and Master Pilot Jacques Cartier of St. Malo," dated October 31, 1534, may here be quoted in part.

"We have commissioned and deputed, commission and depute you by the will and command of the King to conduct, direct, and employ three ships, equipped and provisioned each for fifteen months for the accomplishment of the voyage to the lands by you already begun and discovered beyond the Newlands; * * * the said three ships you shall take, and hire the number of pilots, masters and seamen as shall seem to you to be fitting and necessary for the accomplishment of this voyage. * * * We charge and command all the said pilots, masters and seamen, and others who shall be on the same ships, to obey and follow you for the service of the King in this as above, as they would do to ourselves, without any contradiction or refusal, and this under pains customary in such cases to those who are found disobedient and acting contrary."

JACQUES CARTIER'S SHIPS IN THE ST. LAWRENCE

THE CLOSING PORTION OF JACQUES CARTIER'S LIST OF SEAMEN

The three ships that had been assigned to him were the Grande Hermine, the Petite Hermine and the Emerillon, the first being a tall ship of 126 burthen and the others of sixty and forty respectively, and they were provisioned for fifteen months. How the expedition encountered storms and tempests, delaying its progress until they reached the Strait of St. Peter, where familiar objects began to meet the eyes of the captive Indians on board; how they eagerly pointed out to Cartier the way into Canada; how they told him of the gold to be found in the land of the Saguenay; how Cartier visited the lordly Donnacona, lord of Canada; how at last on his resolve to pursue the journey to the land of Hochelaga he found himself in the great river of Canada which he named St. Lawrence; how he passed up the river by mountain and lowland, headlands and harbours, meadows, brush and forests, scattering saints' names on his way to Stadaconé [3] whence he determined to push his way to Hochelaga before winter—can be read at length in the recital of the second voyage of Jacques Cartier.

A CONFERENCE WITH THE INDIANS AT STADACONE

It is legitimate only for us to place before our readers that part concerning the approach to Hochelaga. Hitherto, on his journey, Cartier had received all help in his progress from the friendly natives; but effort was made to dissuade him from going up to Hochelaga. Cartier, however, always made reply that notwithstanding every difficulty he would go there if it were possible to him "because he had commandment from the king to go the farthest that he could." On the contrary the lordly savage Donnacona and the two captives, Dom Agaya and Taignoagny, used every device to turn the captain from his quest. An attempt will be made hereafter to prevent a visit to Montreal as we shall see when we speak of Maisonneuve and the settlement of Ville Marie.

Carrier's account has the following for September 18th: [4]

"HOW THE SAID DONNACONA, TAIGNOAGNY, AND OTHERS DEVISED AN ARTIFICE AND HAD THREE MEN DRESSED IN THE GUISE OF DEVILS, FEIGNING TO HAVE COME FROM CUDOUAGNY, THEIR GOD, FOR TO HINDER US FROM GOING TO THE SAID HOCHELAGA. [5]

MANUSCRIPT OF NO. 5589 OF CARTIER'S SECOND VOYAGE

"The next day, the 18th of the said month, thinking always to hinder us from going to Hochelaga, they devised a grand scheme which they effected thus: They had three men attired in the style of three devils, that had horns as long as one's arms, and were clothed in skins of dogs, black and white, and had their faces painted as black as coal, and they caused them to be put into one of their boats unknown to us, and then came with their band near our ships as they had been accustomed, who kept themselves in the woods without appearing for two hours, waiting till the time and the tide should come for the arrival of the said boat, at which time they all came forth, and presented themselves before our said ships without approaching them as they were wont to do; and asked them if they wanted to have the boat, whereupon the said Taignoagny replied to them, not at that time, but that presently he would enter into the said ships. And suddenly came the said boat wherein were the three men appearing to be three devils, having put horns on their heads, and he in the midst made a marvelous speech in coming, and they passed along our ships with their said boat, without in any wise turning their looks toward us, and went on striking and running on shore with their said boat; and, all at once, the said Lord Donnacona and his people seized the said boat and the said three men, the which were let fall to the bottom of it like dead men, and they carried the whole together into the woods, which were distant from the said ships a stone's throw; and not a single person remained before our said ships, but all withdrew themselves. And they, having retired, began a declamation and a discourse that we heard from our ships, which lasted half an hour. After which the said Taignoagny and Dom Agaya marched from the said woods toward us, having their hands joined, and their hats under their elbows, causing great admiration. And the said Taignoagny began to speak and cry out three times, 'Jesus! Jesus! Jesus!' raising his eyes toward heaven. Then Dom Agaya began to say, 'Jesus Maria! Jacques Cartier,' looking toward heaven like the other, the captain seeing their gestures and ceremonies, began to ask what was the matter, and what it was new that had happened, who responded that there were piteous news, saying 'Nenny, est il bon,' and the said captain demanded of them afresh what it was, and they replied that their God, named Cudouagny, had spoken at Hochelaga, and that the three men aforesaid had come from him to announce to them the tidings that there was so much ice and snow that they would all die. With which words we all fell to laughing and to tell that their God Cudouagny was but a fool, and that he knew not what he said, and that they should say it to his messengers and that Jesus would guard them well from the cold if they would believe in him. And then the said Taignoagny and his companion asked the said captain if he had spoken to Jesus and he replied that his priests [6] had spoken to him and that he would make fair weather; whereupon they thanked the said captain very much, and returned into the woods to tell the news to the others, who came out of the said woods immediately, feigning to be delighted with the said words thus spoken by the said captain. And to show that they were delighted with them, as soon as they were before the ships they began with a common voice to utter three shrieks and howls, which is their token of joy, and betook themselves to dancing and singing, as they had done from custom. But for conclusion, the said Taignoagny and Dom Agaya told our said captain that the said Donnacona would not that any of them should go with him to Hochelaga if he did not leave a hostage, who should abide ashore with the said Donnacona. To which he replied to them that if they had not decided to go there with good courage they might remain and that for him he would not leave off making efforts to go there."

We have seen the manifest disinclination of Donnacona's party to allow the discoverers to proceed to Hochelaga. Was it because the Hochelagans were a hostile people or was it from selfish reasons to keep the presents of the generous strangers for themselves? At any rate, Cartier sets out for Hochelaga and on Tuesday, September 26th, enters Lake St. Peter with a pinnace and two boats. This lake was not named by Cartier, but subsequently it was named Lac d'Angoulesme, either in honour of his birthplace or more probably that of Francis I, who was Count of Angoulême. It was left for Champlain entering upon the lake, on the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, June 29, 1603, to give it its present name. Cartier's pinnace could not cross Lake St. Peter owing to the shallowness of the water [7] which forced him to take the boats to Hochelaga, starting about six miles below St. Mary's current. The journey through Lake St. Peter and the arrival at Hochelaga must now be followed in the words of Jacques Cartier, the first historian of Montreal (Phinney Baxter, pp. 157-171).

"The said twenty-eighth day of September we came into a great lake and shoal of the said river, about five or six leagues broad and twelve long, and navigated that day up the said lake without finding shallowing or deepening, and coming to one of the ends of the said lake, not any passage or egress appeared to us; it seemed rather to be completely closed without any stream. And we found at the said end but a fathom and a half, wherefore it behooved us to lay to and heave out our anchor, and go to seek passage with our boats. And we found that there were four or five streams all flowing from the said river into this lake and coming from the said Hochelaga; but, by their flowing out so, there are bars and passages made by the course of the water, where there was then only a fathom in depth. And the said bars being passed, there are four or five fathoms, which was at the time of year of the lowest waters, as we saw by the flow of the said waters that they increased more than two fathoms by pike.

"All these streams flow by and surround five or six fair islands [8] which form the head of said lake; then they come together about fifteen leagues above all into one. That day we went to one of them, where we found five men, who were hunting wild beasts, the which came as familiarly to our boats as if they had seen us all their lives, without having fear or apprehension; and our said boats having come to land, one of these men took our captain in his arms and carried him ashore as lightly as he would have carried a child of five years, so large and strong was this man. We found they had a great pile of wild rats, [9] which live in the water, and are as large as rabbits, and wonderfully good to eat, of which they made a present to our captain, who gave them knives and paternosters for recompense. We asked them by sign if that was the way to Hochelaga; they answered us yes, and that it was still three days journey to go there.

"HOW THE CAPTAIN HAD THE BOATS FITTED OUT FOR TO GO TO THE SAID HOCHELAGA, AND LEFT THE PINNACE, OWING TO THE DIFFICULTY OF THE PASSAGE; AND HOW HE CAME TO THE SAID HOCHELAGA, AND THE RECEPTION THAT THE PEOPLE GAVE US AT OUR ARRIVAL.

"The next day our captain, seeing that it was not possible then to be able to pass the said pinnace, had the boats victualed and fitted out, and put in provisions for the longest time that he possibly could and that the said boats could take in, and set out with them accompanied with a part of the gentlemen,—to wit, Claude du Pont Briand, grand cupbearer to my lord the Dauphin, Charles de la Pommeraye, Jehan Gouion, with twenty-eight mariners, including with them Marc Jalobert and Guillaume le Breton, having the charge under the said Cartier,—for to go up the said river the farthest that it might be possible for us. And we navigated with weather at will until the second day of October, when we arrived at the said Hochelaga, which is about forty-five leagues distant from the place where the said pinnace was left, during which time and on the way we found many folks of the country, the which brought fish and other victuals, dancing and showing great joy at our coming. And to attract and hold them in amity with us, the said captain gave them for recompense some knives, paternosters, and other trivial goods, with which they were much content. And we having arrived at the said Hochelaga, more than a thousand persons presented themselves before us, men, women and children alike, the which gave us a good reception as ever father did to child, showing marvelous joy; for the men in one band danced, the women on the other side and the children on the other, the which brought us store of fish and of their bread made of coarse millet, [10] which they cast into our said boats in the way that it seemed as if it tumbled from the air. Seeing this, our said captain landed with a number of his men, and as soon as he was landed they gathered all about him, and about all the others, giving them an unrestrained welcome. And the women brought their children in their arms to make them touch the said captain and others, making a rejoicing which lasted more than half an hour. And our captain, witnessing their liberality and good will, caused all the women to be seated and ranged in order, and gave them certain paternosters of tin and other trifling things, and to a part of the men knives. Then he retired on board the said boats to sup and pass the night, while these people remained on the shore of the said river nearest the said boats all night making fires and dancing, crying all the time 'Aguyaze,' which is their expression of mirth and joy.

"HOW THE CAPTAIN WITH GENTLEMEN, AND TWENTY-FIVE SEAMEN, WELL ARMED AND IN GOOD ORDER, WENT TO THE TOWN OF HOCHELAGA, AND OF THE SITUATION OF THE SAID PLACE.

"The next day, in the early morning, the captain attired himself and had his men put in order to go to see the town and habitation of the said people, and a mountain that is adjacent to their said town, whither the gentleman and twenty mariners went with the said captain, and left the rest for the guard of the boats, and took three men of the said Town of Hochelaga to bring and conduct them to the said place. And we, being on the road, found it as well beaten as it might be possible to behold, and the fairest and best land, all full of oaks as fine as there be in a forest of France under the which all the ground was covered with acorns. And we, having marched about a league and a half, found on the way one of the chief lords of the Town of Hochelaga, accompanied by a number of persons, the which made us a sign that we should rest at the said place near a fire that they had made by the said road, which we did, and then the said lord began to make a discourse and oration, as heretofore is said to be their custom of showing joy and familiarity, this lord thereby showing welcome to the said captain and his company; the which captain gave him a couple of hatchets and a couple of knives, with a cross and memorial of the crucifixion, which he made him kiss, and hung it on his neck, for which he rendered thanks to the said captain. This done, we marched farther on, and about half a league from there we began to find the land cultivated, and fair, large fields full of grain of their country, which is like Brazil millet, as big or bigger than peas, on which they live just as we do on wheat; and in the midst of these fields is located and seated the Town of Hochelaga, near to and adjoining a mountain, which is cultivated round about it and highly fertile, from the summit of which one sees a very great distance. We named the said mountain Mont Royal. The said town is quite round and inclosed with timbers in three rows in the style of a pyramid, crossed at the top, having the middle row in the style of a perpendicular line; and ranged with timbers laid along, well joined and tied in their manner, and is in height about two pikes. There is in this town but one gate and entrance, which fastens with bars, upon which and in many places of the said inclosure there are kinds of galleries and ladders to mount to them, which are furnished with rocks and stones for the guard and defense of it.

THE RECEPTION OF JACQUES CARTIER AT HOCHELAGA
(A section of the palisaded town is shown. D in the center is King Agohama's abode.)

"There are within this town about fifty long houses of about fifty paces or more each, and twelve or fifteen paces wide and all made of timbers covered and garnished with great pieces of bark and strips of the said timber, as broad as tables, well tied artificially according to their manner. And within these there are many lodgings and chambers, and in the middle of these houses there is a great room on the ground where they make their fire and live in common; after that the men retire with their wives and children to their said chambers. Likewise they have granaries at the top of their houses where they put their corn of which they make their bread, which they call 'carraconny,' [11] and they make it in the manner following: They have mortars of wood as for braying flax, and beat the said corn into powder with pestles of wood; then they mix it into paste and make round cakes of it, which they put on a broad stone which is hot; then they cover it with hot stones, and so bake their bread instead of in an oven. They make likewise many stews of the said corn, and beans and peas of which they have enough, and also of big cucumbers and other fruits. They have also in their houses great vessels like tons, where they put their fish, eels and others, the which they dry in the smoke during the summer and live upon it in the winter. And of this they make a great store, as we have seen by experience. All their living is without any taste of salt, and they lie on barks of trees stretched upon the earth, with wretched coverings of skins from which they make their clothing—namely, wolves, beavers, martens, foxes, wild cats, deer, stags, and other wild beasts; but the most part of them go almost entirely naked. The most precious thing that they have in their world is 'esnogny,' [12] the which is white as snow, and they take it into the same river from the cornibotz [13] in the manner which follows: When a man heserved death, or when they have taken any enemies in war, they kill them, then cut them into the buttocks, thighs, and shoulders with great gashes; afterward in the places where the said esnogny is they sink the said body to the bottom of the water, and leave it ten or twelve hours, then draw it up and find within the said gashes and incisions the said cornibots, of which they make bead money and use it as we do gold and silver, and hold it the most precious thing in the world. It has the virtue of stanching blood from the nostrils, because we have tried it.

"All the said people give themselves only to tillage and fishing for a living; for the goods of this world they make no account, because they have no knowledge of them, and as they budge not from their country, and do not go about like those of Canada [14] and of the Saguenay. Notwithstanding the said Canadians are their subjects, with eight or nine other peoples who are upon the said river.

"HOW WE ARRIVED AT THE SAID TOWN AND OF THE RECEPTION WHICH WAS MADE UP THERE, AND HOW THE CAPTAIN MADE THEM PRESENTS; AND OTHER THINGS THAT THE SAID CAPTAIN DID, AS SHALL BE SEEN IN THIS CHAPTER.

"When we had arrived near the town, a great number of the inhabitants of it presented themselves before us, who after their fashion of doing, gave us a good reception; and by our guides and conductors we were brought to the middle of the town, where there was a place between the houses the extent of a stone's throw or about in a square, who made us a sign that we should stop at the said place, which we did. And suddenly all the women and girls of the said town assembled together, a part of whom were burdened with children in their arms, and who came to us to stroke our faces, arms, and other places upon our bodies that they could touch; weeping with joy to see us; giving us the best welcome that was possible to them, and making signs to us that it might please us to touch their said children. After the which things the men made the women retire, and seated themselves on the ground about us, as if we might wish to play a mystery. And, suddenly, a number of men came again, who brought each a square mat in the fashion of a carpet, and spread them out upon the ground in the middle of the said place and made us rest upon them. After which things were thus done there was brought by nine or ten men the king and lord of the country, whom they all call in their language Agohanna, who was seated upon a great skin of a stag; and they came to set him down in the said place upon the said mats beside our captain, making us a sign that he was their lord and king. This Agohanna was about the age of fifty years and was not better appareled than the others, save that he had about his head a kind of red band for a crown, made of the quills of porcupines and this lord was wholly impotent and diseased in his limbs.

"After he had made his sign of salutation to the said captain and to his folks, making them evident signs that they should make them very welcome, he showed his arms and legs to the said captain, praying that he would touch them, as though he would beg healing and health from him; and then the captain began to stroke his arms and legs with his hands; whereupon the said Agohanna took the band and crown that he had upon his head and gave it to our captain: and immediately there were brought to the said captain many sick ones, as blind, one-eyed, lame, impotent, and folks so very old that the lids of their eyes hung down even upon their cheeks, setting and laying them down nigh to our said captain for him to touch them, so that it seemed as if God had descended there in order to cure them.

"Our said captain, seeing the mystery and faith of this said people, recited the Gospel of St. John; to wit, the In principio, making the sign of the cross on the poor sick ones, praying God that he might give them knowledge of our holy faith and the passion of our Saviour, and the grace to receive Christianity and baptism. Then our said captain took a prayer book and read full loudly, word by word, the passion of our Lord, so that all the bystanders could hear it, while all these poor people kept a great silence and were marvelously good hearers, looking up to heaven and making the same ceremonies that they saw us make; after which the captain made all the men range themselves on one side, the women on another, and the children another, and gave to the chiefs hatchets, to the others knives, and to the women paternosters and other trifling articles; then he threw into the midst of the place among the little children some small rings and Agnus Dei of tin, at which they showed a marvelous joy. This done the said captain commanded the trumpets and other instruments of music to sound, with which the said people were greatly delighted; after which things we took leave of them and withdrew. Seeing this, the women put themselves before us for to stop us, and brought us of their victuals, which they had prepared for us, as fish, stews, beans and other things, thinking to make us eat and dine at the said place; and because their victuals were not to our taste and had no savor of salt, we thanked them, making them a sign that we did not need to eat.

"After we had issued from the said town many men and women came to conduct us upon the mountain aforesaid, which was by us named Mont Royal, distant from the said place some quarter of a league; and we, being upon this mountain, had sight and observance of more than thirty leagues round about it. Toward the north of which is a range of mountains which stretches east and west, and toward the south as well; between which mountains the land is the fairest that it may be possible to see, smooth, level, and tillable; and in the middle of the said lands we saw the said river, beyond the place where our boats were left, where there is a waterfall, [15] the most impetuous that it may be possible to see, and which it was impossible for us to pass. And we saw this river as far as we could discern, grand, broad and extensive, which flowed toward the southwest and passed near three fair, round mountains which we saw and estimated that they were about fifteen leagues from us. And we were told and shown by signs by our said three men of the country who had conducted us that there were three such falls of water on the said river like that where our said boats were, but we could not understand what the distance was between the one and the other. Then they showed us by signs that, the said falls being passed, one could navigate more than three moons by the said river; and beyond they showed us that along the said mountains, being toward the north, there is a great stream, which descends from the west like the said river. [16] We reckoned that this is the stream which passed by the realm and province of Saguenay, and, without having made them any request or sign, they took the chain from the captain's whistle, which was of silver, and the haft of a poniard, the which was of copper, yellow like gold, which hung at the side of one of our mariners, and showed that it came from above the said river, and that there were Agojuda, which is to say evil folk, the which are armed even to the fingerhowing us the style of their armor, which is of cords and of wood laced and woven together, giving us to understand that the said Agojuda carried on continual war against one another; but by default of speech we could not learn how far it was to the said country. Our captain showed them some red copper, [17] which they call caignetdaze, pointing them toward the said place, and asking by signs if it came from there, and they began to shake their heads, saying no, and showing that it came from Saguenay, which is to the contrary of the preceding. After which things thus seen and understood, we withdrew to our boats, which was not without being conducted by a great number of the said people, of which part of them, when they saw our folk weary, loaded them upon themselves, as upon horsesd carried them. And we, having arrived at our said boats, made sail to return to our pinnace, for doubt that there might be some hindrance; which departure was not made without great regret of the said people, for as far as they could follow us down the said river they would follow us, and we accomplished so much that we arrived at our said pinnace Monday, the fourth day of October."

The reader must have been struck with the pride of the Hochelagans in conducting their visitors to the mountain as well as at the accurate and picturesque description given by Cartier of the scene that met his delighted gaze. Today the same beautiful sight may be seen by the visitor who makes his way to the "lookout" or the observatory. The landscape at his feet has been covered with a busy city and its suburbs, its manufactories, its public buildings and its homes and villas, but still it appears as if all these were peeping out of a garden. All around the green fields and pleasant meadows are there as of yore. From this height the disfigurements of the lower city are not visible. Montreal has been described as a beautiful lady handsomely gowned, but whose skirt fringes are sadly mud and dust stained.

The river has been spanned by gigantic bridges but the main grand lines of the landscape are those that Cartier gazed upon. There at the south is the great St. Lawrence with its islands on its bosom, now studded with ocean going steamers; beyond there is the great sweep of the St. Lawrence Valley, broken abruptly by the solitary mountain ridges of Montarville, St. Bruno, Belœil, Rougemont, Yamaska, and Mount Johnson—a volcanic sisterhood of which Mount Royal is itself a member—and hemmed in on the horizon by the cloudlike ridges of the Green and Adirondack mountains. Looking to the west are the Lachine Rapids and beyond the Lake St. Louis, and to the north the Rivière des Prairies or the Back River is seen, at the head of which lies the bright surface of the Lake of the Two Mountains. Far away hemming in the horizon on that side runs the hoary Laurentian Range, the oldest hills known to geology. All this apart from the works of civilization Cartier saw from the mountain which has only of late years been planned to intensify its beauty and usefulness. We are now looking forward to the day when that same city around the mountain will also bear the mark of an intelligible plan to intensify the beauty of the city and make it by art, as it is by nature, one of the finest cities in the world, worthy of the jewel standing out—the pride of its city—Mount Royal. Cartier saw the island from the point of view of Greater Mount Royal. In this he resembles those who today see a Greater Montreal. Modern Hochelagans are as proud of their mountain as those of old. D'Arcy McGee imagines Jacques Cartier telling of it on his return to St. Malo:

He told them of the Algonquin braves—the hunters of the wild,

Of how the Indian mother in the forest rocks her child;

Of how, poor souls, they fancy in every living thing

A spirit good or evil, that claims their worshipping;

Of how they brought their sick and maim'd for him to breathe upon,

And of the wonders wrought for them through the Gospel of St. John.

He told them of the river whose mighty current gave

Its freshness for a hundred leagues to Ocean's briny wave;

He told them of the glorious scene presented to his sight,

What time he rear'd the cross and crown on Hochelaga's height,

And of the fortress cliff that keeps of Canada the key,

And they welcomed back Jacques Cartier from his perils o'er the sea.

On Tuesday, September 4th, Jacques Cartier regained his pinnace and on Wednesday, September 5th, he passed thence on his way to Stadaconé. At Stadaconé, on May 3d, the festival of the Holy Cross, he planted the cross and inscribed it with the royal name and title, "Franciscus Primus Dei Gratia." There he treacherously seized Donnacona and his friends Dom Agaya and Taignoagny and took them to France. On July 6th, 1636, he reached St. Malo "by the grace of the Creator, whom we pray, making an end of our navigation to grant us his grace and Paradise at the end. Amen."

CARTIER'S SECOND VISIT TO HOCHELAGA, 1540

When Cartier appeared before the King, Francis I, after his second voyage there is no doubt that he would have enthusiastically recommended the country of Hochelaga, especially that island, on which was the mountain to which he had given the title "Mont Royal" as the site of a settlement, for in Jacques Cartier's commission, dated October 17, 1540, in preparation for the third voyage, we read:

"And among others we have sent there our dear and well beloved Jacques Cartier, who has discovered the large countries of Canada and Hochelaga, making an end of Asia, on the western side, which country he found, as he reported to us, furnished with many good commodities, and the people thereof well formed in body and limb, and well disposed in spirit and understanding, of whom he likewise brought us a certain number, whom we have for a long time supported and instructed in our holy faith [18] with our said subjects, in consideration of which and seeing their good intentions, we have considered and decided to send back the said Cartier to the said country of Canada and Hochelaga, and as far as the land of Saguenay, if we can reach there with a good number of ships of our said subjects of good intentions and of all conditions, arts and industries, in order to enter farther into the said countries to converse with the said peoples thereof, and if necessary, live with them in order to accomplish better our said intention and to do a thing agreeable to God our Creator and Redeemer and which may be for the promoting of his holy sacred name and of our mother the Holy Catholic church, of which we are called and named the first son."

Yet before he signed this commission five years had passed. For up to this Francis had troubles enough at home, with his kingdom invaded by Charles V of Spain and his throne threatened, to prevent his giving thought to Hochelaga in the West. But on June 15, 1538, the truce between France and Spain gave him more leisure for colonization schemes and the extension of the empire. Especially did he desire it to turn to the western hemisphere, for he looked with jealous eyes upon the activity of the King of Spain in that direction. "I should like to see the clause in our father Adam's will which bequeathed to him this fine heritage."

There is no doubt that Cartier's action in seizing Donnacona, Taignoagny and Dom Agaya and others, and taking them to France, from which they never returned, was the beginning of the cause of the hostility of the Indians. At first these had received Cartier kindly, but they could not be expected to forget this treachery in the loss of their friends. Mather, alluding to a similar piece of treachery by an English captain some time before the arrival of the Pilgrim Colony declares that "it laid the foundation of grievous annoyances to all the English endeavors of settlements, especially in the northern parts of the island, for several years ensuing. The Indians would never forget or forgive this injury."

We have no record of Hochelaga till September 7-11, 1540. For this we are again indebted to Cartier's account of his third voyage. Luckily this has been partially preserved in Hakluyt's translation, which is that of the "Bref Récit," the only version known. On Wednesday (September 7, 1541) Cartier left the proposed French settlement, Charlesbourg Royal, about four leagues beyond the harbour of St. Croix, with two boats, to visit Hochelaga and the rapids above it. Following Hakluyt we learn:

"How after the departure of the two ships which were sent back to Brittany, and that the fort was begun to be builded, the captain prepared two boats to go up the great river to discover the passage of the three saults or falls of the river." While awaiting the arrival of Roberval in command of the first colonizing party Cartier went up to the sault from Charlesbourg Royal on September 7th, "and we sailed with so prosperous a wind that we arrived the 11th day of the month at the first sault of water, which is two leagues distant from the Town of Tutonaguy." [19]

There is no further description of Tutonaguy, which we take to be the site of Montreal. Cartier mentions that finding it impossible to get up against the course of the sault he came on shore to a beaten path going towards the first sault. "And on the way and soon after, we found an habitation of people which made us great cheer and entertained us very hospitably." Four young men conducted them to another hospitable people who lived over against the second sault. We may perhaps conclude that those of the first sault were islanders of Montreal and we are pleased that their hospitality was forthcoming as is always that of our modern city. But we regret that Jacques Cartier appears to have made no stay at Tutonaguy.

With this we take leave of Cartier. Canadians have one grudge against him, for there seems no doubt that his description of the severity of our climate delayed colonization here, but his account of Montreal is satisfactory to us. We are not writing his life, but Montreal can rejoice in having been discovered by a worthy man. We are glad that Francis I recognized his merits as we find him spoken of, in an act of the Chapter of St. Malo, September 29, 1549, as Sieur de Limoilou, and in another act, of February 5, 1550, as a "noble man." Unfortunately as he did not leave any child by his wife, Catherine Desgranges, he did not pass on his title of nobility to anyone. Jacques Cartier is worthy of recognition as among the great men of his time, and Montreal is proud of its discoverer and first historian.

ROBERVAL'S PROBABLE VISIT TO HOCHELAGA, 1542

The next French visit to Hochelaga can only be surmised. We have the record as follows, which gives us an indication of such a possible visit: It is found in Hakluyt's description of the

"COURSE OF JEAN ALPHONSE, CHIEF PILOT TO MONSIEUR ROBERVAL 1542.

"By the nature of the climate the lands towards Hochelaga are better and better and more fruitful; and this land is fit for figs and pears; and I think that gold and silver will be found here according as the people of the country say." It is likely that it received a visit from "John Francis de la Rocque, knight, Lord of Roberval," whose voyage from his fort in Canada is related by Hakluyt "to the countries of Canada, Saguenay and Hochelaga with three tall ships and 200 persons, both men and women, and children, begun in April, 1542, in which parts he remained the same summer and all the next winter." On the 6th of June about 6 o'clock in the morning, Monsieur Roberval, the king's lieutenant general in the countries of Canada, Saguenay and Hochelaga, "set sail for the country of the Saguenay and sailed against the stream in which voyage their whole furniture was of eight barks, as well great as small and to the number of three score and ten persons, with the aforesaid general." Unfortunately the rest of this voyage is wanting. We know that de Roberval's party contained many undesirables and not good matter for citizenship and we are glad, that if these did visit Montreal, they did not stay there.

Montreal would never have been proud of itself with such an origin.

NOTE I

THE SITE OF HOCHELAGA

Where did Jacques Cartier land on the island of Montreal in 1535? We should very much like to know this. All we know is the naming of the mountain. There is a portion of Montreal called Hochelaga, being to the southwest of the present city, but there is no contention that this is the original part of the island, on which Jacques Cartier landed. The "Bref Récit" of Cartier's voyage states that he landed two leagues from the Indian town, which was a quarter of a league from the mountain. Hakluyt makes the latter distance a league. The Abbé Faillon in "La Colonie Française" thinks that Cartier ascended the river to the Lachine Rapids. There is more reason to believe he stayed on his way opposite Nun's Island. A theory advanced in November 19, 1860, by Sir William Dawson, principal of McGill College, in a discourse before the Natural History Society of Montreal, locates the site of Hochelaga in the space between Metcalfe and Mansfield streets in one direction and Burnside Place and Sherbrooke Street in the other.

"Doctor Dawson founded his opinion after the examination of some Indian relics excavated by some workmen in November, 1860, near Mansfield Street, in the sandy ridge of a terrace immediately north of Sherbrooke Street. They exhumed two skeletons, and with them or near them were found jawbones of a beaver and of a dog, with a fragment of an earthen vessel and of a hollow cylinder of red clay. The skeletons were in a sitting or crouching posture, as was the mode of burial with certain early Indian tribes. Among other relics previously found and exhibited on this occasion was an instrument made of bone, found among the remains, which exactly fitted the marks on some of the pottery, the large end having been fashioned like a cup, and the small end artificially tapered to a point. There were also several knives and chisels of sharpened bone, in tolerable preservation and some singular counters which are supposed to have been used in play, the Indians being inveterate gamblers. The most interesting relics were tobacco pipes, handsomely fashioned in the shape of lotus flowers, with the hole through the stem perfectly preserved. I have thought it well to enumerate these finds because they are now at the Natural History Museum of the city, and several gentlemen, antiquarians and archæologists have also private collections of their own. May not they serve the reader's imagination to conjure up and reconstruct for himself a picture of the village life of the earliest known inhabitants of Montreal in place of a labored description of the present writer." [20]

Describing Cartier's walk toward Hochelaga Mr. Stanley Bagg (Numa), in the "Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, July, 1873, Vol. II, p. 14, says: "Where the brook crosses McGill College ground, he was met by a deputation of the aborigines; afterwards he came into the presence of their king, was conducted through corn-fields to the town and subsequently ascended the mountain. Cartier's description of the locality, taken in connection with the statement of the missionaries, and the discovery of Indian antiquities, place the Town of Hochelaga on the space between Mansfield Street to a little west of Metcalfe Street in one direction and in the other from a little south of Burnside Place to within sixty yards of Sherbrooke Street. In this area, several skeletons, hundreds of old fireplaces, indications of huts, bones of wild animals, pottery and implements of stone and bone have been found."

NOTE II

HOCHELAGA CIVILIZATION

In order to present a picture of these early settlers around Mount Royal the following description from Jacques Cartier's second voyage may be of avail:

"OF THE MANNER OF LIVING OF THE PEOPLE OF THE SAID LAND, AND OF CERTAIN CONDITIONS, BELIEF, AND MANNER OF MAKING WHAT THEY HAVE

"The said people have not any belief in God which may avail, for they believe in one whom they call Cudouagny, and they say that he speaks frequently to them and tells them what the weather should be. They say also that when he is angry with them he throws dirt in their eyes. They believe also that when they depart they go to the stars, then go declining to the horizon like the said stars, then pass into fair fields toward plains of beautiful trees, flowers and sumptuous fruits. After they had given us to understand these things we showed them their error and said that their Cudouagny is an evil spirit who abuses them, and said that there is only one God, who is in heaven, who gives us all things necessary, and is the Creator of all things, and that in Him only should we believe, and that it was necessary to be baptised or go to hell. Many other things of our faith were shown them which they readily believed, and called their Cudouagny, Agojuda, so that many times they prayed our captain to have them baptised. And the said Lord Taignoagny, Dom Agaya, and all the people of their town, came there for the purpose of being baptised; but because we knew not their intention and sincerity and that there was none that could show them the faith there, excuse was made to them, and it was told Taignoagny and Dom Agaya that they should make them understand that we should return another voyage, and would bring priests and holy oil, giving them to understand for excuse that one could not be baptised without the said holy oil, which they believed because they saw several children baptised in Brittany, and of the promise that the captain made them to return they were very joyous and thanked him.

"The said people live in almost a community of goods, rather of the style of the Brazilians, and are wholly clothed with skin of wild beasts, and poorly enough. In winter they are shod with stockings and shoes, and in summer they go barefoot. They keep the order of marriage, save that they take two or three wives, and after the husband is dead the wives never remarry, but wear mourning for the said dead all their lives, and besmear their faces with coal-dust and with grease as thick as the thickness of a knife; and by that one knows that they are widows. They have another custom very bad for their girls; for after they are of age to marry they are all put into a common house, abandoned to everybody who desires them until they have found their match. And all this we have seen by experience, for we have seen the houses as full of the said girls as is a school of boys in France. And, moreover, gaming according to their manner is held in the said houses, where they stake all that they have, even to the covering of their nature. They do not any great work, and with little pieces of wood about the size of a half-sword cultivate their land whereon they raise their corn, which they call Zis, the which is as big as peas, of the same grain in growth as in Brazil. Likewise they have a great quantity of great melons, cucumbers, and pumpkins, peas and beans of all colours, not of the kind of ours. They have also an herb of which during the summer they make a great store for the winter, the which they greatly esteem, and the men only use it in the manner following: They have it dried in the sun and carry it about their necks in a little beast's skin in place of a bag, with a horn of stone or wood; then by and by they make powder of the said herb and put it in one of the ends of the said horn, then put a coal fire thereon and suck at the other end so long that they fill their bodies with smoke; insomuch that it comes out by the mouth and nostrils as by a chimney funnel; and they say that it keeps them healthy and warm, and they never go without having their said things. We have tried the said smoke, which, after being put into our mouths, seemed to be powder of pepper put therein, it was so hot. The women of the said country work beyond comparison more than the men, as well in fishing, of which they make a great business, as in tilling and other things; and men, women and children alike are more hardened to the cold than beasts, for with the greatest cold that we may have seen, the which was extreme and bitter, they came over the ice and snow every day to our ships, the most part of them almost entirely naked, which is an incredible thing to one who has not seen it. They take during the said ice and snow a great quantity of wild beasts, as deer, stags, and bears, of which they brought us but very little, because they were stingy of their victuals. They eat their flesh wholly raw, after having been dried by the smoke, and likewise their fish. By what we have seen and been able to learn of this said people it seems to me that they might be easy to tame in such fashion as one might desire. God by his divine compassion bestow upon them his regard. Amen."

NOTE III—CANADA

Canada was limited by Cartier to the region between the Isle of Bacchus (Isle d'Orleans) and Hochelaga. There can be no doubt that the word Canada is derived from Cannata or Kannata, which in Iroquois signifies a collection of dwellings, in other words a settlement, and it is probable that when the Indians were asked by the French the name of their country, they replied pointing to their dwellings, "Cannata," which their interrogators applied in a broader sense than was intended.

NOTE IV—GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF MOUNT ROYAL

The following geological study of Mount Royal prepared by Dean F. D. Adams of McGill University for the Geological Survey Department of the Federal Government cannot fail to be of interest to students of Montreal:

"In the Province of Quebec, between the enormous expanse of the Laurentian highlands to the northwest, constituting the 'Canadian Shield,' and the disturbed and folded tract of country which marks the Appalachian uplift, there is a great plain underlain by nearly horizontal rocks of lower Palæozoic age. This plain, while really showing slight differences of level from place to place, seems to the casual observer perfectly flat. Its surface is mantled with a fertile soil consisting of drift redistributed upon its surface by the sea, which covered it at the close of the Glacial times. The uniform expanse of this plain, however, is broken by several isolated hills composed of igneous rocks, which rise abruptly from it and which constitute very striking features of the landscape.

"From the top of Mount Royal the other hills referred to can all be seen rising from the plain to the east; while to the north the plain stretches away unbroken to the foot of the Laurentian plateau.

"The hills under consideration, while by no means 'mere hummocks,' being situated in such a country of low relief, seem to be higher than they really are and are always referred to locally as 'mountains.'

"These mountains, whose positions are shown on the accompanying map, are eight in number, their names and their height above sea level being as follows:

"Mount Royal	769.6 feet.
Montarville or St. Bruno	715 "	(O'Neil)
Belœil	1,437 "	(Leroy)
Rougemont	1,250 "
Yamaska	1,470 "	(Young)
Shefford	1,725 "
Brome	1,755 "
Mount Johnson or Monnoir	875 "

"They have been called the Monteregian Hills from Mount Royal ('Mons Regius'), which is the best known member of the group and may be taken as their type.

"Brome Mountain is by far the largest member of the group, having an area of 30 square miles. Shefford comes next in size, having an area of rather less than nine square miles; while Mount Johnson, which is very much smaller than any of the others, has an area of only .422 of one square mile.

"Of these eight, the first six, as Logan notes, 'stand pretty nearly in a straight line,' running approximately east and west, Mount Royal being the most westerly, and the others following in the order in which they are enumerated above, until Shefford Mountain, the most easterly member of the series, is reached. Mount Johnson and Brome Mountain lie on a line parallel to them, a short distance to the south, Rougemont being the nearest neighbour to Mount Johnson and Brome Mountain immediately south of Shefford. It is highly probable, in view of this distribution, that these ancient volcanic mountains are, as is usual in such occurrences, arranged along some line or lines of weakness or deep-seated fracture. The 'pretty nearly straight line' referred to by Logan, on which the first six mountains of the group are situated, must be considered either as a single line with a rather sharp curve in the middle or as made up of two shorter straight lines, each with three mountains, diverging from one another at an angle of about thirty degrees, with Montarville at the point of intersection. Mount Johnson and Brome Mountain might then be considered as situated on short subsidiary fractures.

"The distance from Brome Mountain, the most easterly member of the Monteregian Hills, to Mount Royal the most westerly, is 50 miles (80 km.). For a few miles to the east and west of these mountains respectively, however, evidences of the igneous activity of the system are manifested in the occurrence of occasional dykes or small stocks of the consanguineous rocks of the series, the extreme easterly representative of these being a little stock exposed about a mile and a half east of Eastman, on the line of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and the most westerly being a series of dykes and a small stock at La Trappe, on the Lake of Two Mountains. Similarly, the most northerly extension is represented by a sheet intercalated between strata of the Chazy limestone in the bed of the Little River, near St. Lin, 15 miles (24 km.) north of St. Lin Junction. It is difficult to say just how far to the south the last evidences of the Monteregian activity are found, but scattered dykes of bostonite, camptonite and monchiquite have been described by Kemp and Marsters from the shores of Lake Champlain (out of which flows the River Richelieu), to a distance of 90 miles (145 km.) or more south of Mount Johnson.

"The Monteregian Hills are a series of ancient plutonic intrusions. Some of them (e. g. Brome Mountain) are apparently denuded laccoliths, one of them (Mount Johnson) is a typical neck or pipe, and it is probable that some, if not all, of them, represent the substructures of volcanoes which at one time were in active eruption in this region.

"It is impossible to determine accurately the date of these intrusions. In the case of Mount Royal, however, inclusions of Lower Devonian limestone are found in the intruded rock, so that the intrusions forming the mountain are later than Lower Devonian time.

"Since Dresser by another line of evidence, has shown that the intrusion of Mount Shefford probably took place before late Carboniferous time, the Monteregian intrusions probably date back to the late Devonian or early Carboniferous period.

"It must be noted that while six of these mountains rise from the horizontal strata of the plain, the two most easterly members of the group, namely Shefford and Brome, while still to the west of the axis of that range, lie well within the folded belt of the Appalachians, although, owing to the extensive denudation from which the region has suffered, this folding has had but little influence on the local topography. About La Trappe, at the extreme westerly extension of the Monteregian area, the dykes of the series cut rocks of Laurentian age, which here form an outlier of the great Laurentian protaxis on the north.

"The Monteregian Hills form an exceptionally distinct and well marked petrographical province, being composed of consanguineous rocks of very interesting and rather unusual type. These are characterized by a high content of alkali and in the main intrusion of almost every mountain two distinct types are found associated with one another, representing the products of the differentiation of the original magma.

"These are—

"(a) Nepheline syenite, in some cases replaced by or associated with pulaskite, tawite, akerite or nordmarkite.
"(b) Essexite, in some cases represented by theralite, yamaskite, rougemonite, or rouvillite.

"It may be mentioned that yamaskite is a very basic rock type characterized by a great predominance of pyroxene, basaltic hornblende and ilmenite, with about two per cent of anorthite. Rougemonite consists largely of anorthite with pyroxene as the only important ferro-magnesian constituent. Rouvillite is a highly feldspathic variety of theralite.

GEOLOGY OF MOUNT ROYAL

"Mount Royal consists of a body of intrusive plutonic rock penetrating the nearly horizontal limestone of the Trenton formation (Ordovician). It consists of two main intrusions composed of essexite and nepheline syenite respectively, of which the nepheline syenite is the later followed by a swarm of dykes and sheets of consanguineous rocks which cut not only the main intrusions, but also penetrate the surrounding limestones in all directions. The intrusive rock in some places tilts up the limestones while elsewhere about the mountain these maintain their horizontal attitude. The intrusion may be essentially laccolitic in character, or it may represent the plutonic basis of a volcano. The erosion has been so long continued that it has been impossible as yet to reach a definite conclusion on this point.

"The greater part of the plain through which the mountain rises, and which is underlaid by Ordovician strata, is mantled by drift which also covers the slopes of the mountain. This drift, and in some places the underlying rock, has been terraced by a series of well defined beaches, which mark the successive stages of the retreat of the sea at the close of the Glacial age.

"The City of Montreal is built upon these drift deposits, and lies upon the slopes of Mount Royal and upon the plain about its foot. The development of the city was largely influenced by the position of the main beaches above mentioned.

"At a number of places on the slopes of Mount Royal and in its vicinity there are remarkable developments of igneous breccia. This has as a matrix one or other of the dyke rocks of the series, while the included fragments consist in part of the Trenton limestone, often associated with fragments of the other underlying stratified rocks traversed by the dykes in their upward passage. These fragments are frequently so numerous that they constitute a large part of the whole mass. Perhaps the most remarkable of these breccias is that which occurs on St. Helen's Island in the harbor of Montreal, and which is unique among these occurrences in that it contains fragments of rocks which are more recent in age than any of the sedimentary strata now found in the district.

"At the present time a tunnel, about three and a half miles in length, is being driven through Mount Royal by the Canadian Northern Railway, in order to gain an entrance from the westward to their proposed terminals in the vicinity of the corner of Dorchester and Ste. Monique streets, in the City of Montreal. It has afforded an excellent opportunity of studying the distribution of dykes, sheets, etc., as well as fresher specimens of many of the rock types of the district. Already about two miles and a half of the sub-heading have been driven. More minute description, in detail, of the various explored strata of rock is to be found in the same work."

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The company is said to be 110.

[2] This commission was dated October 31, 1534.

[3] Stadaconé is the site of Quebec. Stadaconé is "wing" in Huron Iroquois, so called because of the formation of the point between the St. Lawrence and the St. Charles rivers.

[4] The translation of the second voyage of Jacques Cartier which we are using with his permission is that made by Mr. James Phinney Baxter and published in 1906 in his "Memoir of Jacques Cartier." We have not chosen Hakluyt's for the following reasons: In the Bibliothèque Nationale of Paris there are three contemporary manuscripts, numbered 55 5644 and 5653, which vary very slightly. That numbered 5653 was probably the copy used for a publication of the second voyage issued at Paris in 1545 under the title of "Bref Récit" and appeared translated into English by Hakluyt in 1600. In comparing the other manuscript it has been found that numerous errors and omissions occurred in the version printed under the title of the Bref Récit including the omission of two entire chapters. Doctor Baxter has therefore translated the manuscript 5589 and it is a portion of this that we present to the readers.

[5] Hochelaga is Huron Iroquois for "at the Beavers Dam."

[6] This might indicate that there were chaplains with Cartier, if he had perhaps not deluded the savages, as likely he did.

[7] The history of the efforts of the Montreal merchants to deepen the channels dates from the same cause. The success of the navigation to Montreal has followed the varying increases in depth of this channel.

[8] The present Sorel Islands, the streams being the channels between them.

[9] The Algonquin word is Mooskouessou.

[10] Maize or Indian corn.

[11] Lescarbot has it caracona. The word is Huron Iroquois.

[12] "Esnogny," the wampum of the Abenaki.

[13] Shells.

[14] Cartier's Canada was limited to the region between the Isle Bacchus and Hochelaga.

[15] The Lachine Rapids.

[16] The Ottawa.

[17] Probably from the region of Lake Superior.

[18] Donnacona, Dom Agaya and Taignoagny were baptized, as it appears by the register of St. Malo. Donnacona, being the so-called King of the Savages, was doubtless named François for the king. The following is a translation in the entry in the registry: "This day, Notre Dame XXVth of March, the year one thousand five hundred and thirty-eight, were baptized three savage men from the party of Canada, taken in the said country by the honest man, Jacques Cartier, captain for the King, our Sire, for the discovery of the said lands. The first was named Charles, by the venerable and discreet master Charles de Champ Girault, dean and canon of the said places principal sponsor; and secondary sponsor, Monsieur the Lieutenant and Seigneur de la Verderye; and godmother Catherine Des Granges. And the second was named François, the name of the King, our Sire, by the honest man, Jacques Cartier, principal godfather; and secondary godfather Master Pierre le Gobien; godmother, Madame le Lieutenant Seigneur de la Verderye. The third was named —— by Master Servan May —— of the said place, and secondary godfather, Jehan Nouël; and godmother Guillemette Maingard."

[19] Montreal is known in Iroquois as "Tioktiaki" which the Abbé Faillon has identified as Tutonaguy.

[20] Sandham's "Ville Marie Past and Present."

CHAPTER II

1516-1627

COLONIZATION

UNDER THE EARLY TRADING COMPANIES OF NEW FRANCE

FRENCH COLONIZATION, A CHRISTIANIZING MOVEMENT—THE CROSS AND THE CROWN—ROBERVAL'S COMMISSION TO COLONIZE CANADA AND HOCHELAGA—FEUDALISM PROJECTED—CRIMINALS AND MALEFACTORS TO BE SENT AS COLONISTS—JACQUES CARTIER SAILS IN ADVANCE—CHARLESBOURG ROYAL, THE FIRST COLONY, STARTED—CARTIER SAILS FOR HOCHELAGA AND PASSES TUTONAGUY—CARTIER SAILS SECRETLY FOR FRANCE—CHARLESBOURG A FAILURE—DEATH OF CARTIER—HIS GREAT NEPHEW, NOEL, VISITS THE GREAT SAULT IN 1557—THE FIRST PRIVATE MONOPOLY TO NOEL AND OTHERS—THE FIRST ROYAL TRADE MONOPOLY TO DE LA ROCHE—THE EDICT OF NANTES—CHAUVIN, A HUGUENOT, SECURES A TRADE MONOPOLY—TADOUSSAC, THE COURT OF KING PETAUD—EYMARD DE CHASTES RECEIVES A COMMISSION AND ENGAGES THE SERVICES OF A ROYAL GEOGRAPHER, SAMUEL DE CHAMPLAIN—CHAMPLAIN's FIRST VISIT TO THE SAULT—DE MONTS, SUCCEEDING DE CHASTES, RETAINS CHAMPLAIN AS HIS LIEUTENANT—QUEBEC CHOSEN BY CHAMPLAIN—CHAMPLAIN BECOMES A COMPANY PROMOTER AND MANAGING DIRECTOR, THE SHAREHOLDERS BEING MOSTLY HUGUENOTS, THE PRINCE DE CONDE, GOVERNOR GENERAL—CHAMPLAIN's BLUNDER IN ALLYING HIMSELF WITH THE ALGONQUINS AND HURONS AGAINST THE IROQUOIS, AFTERWARDS THE CAUSE OF IROQUOIS HOSTILITIES AGAINST THE FUTURE MONTREAL—THE COMING OF THE "RECOLLECTS"—CHAMPLAIN'S ATTEMPT AT A REAL COLONIZING SETTLEMENT AT QUEBEC—THE JESUITS ARRIVE—THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES.

As the origin of Montreal is bound up so closely with the history of the colonization of La Nouvelle France, it is well to place it in relation with this movement, otherwise Montreal will appear as detached from its mission in the growth and development of Canada.

The date usually assigned for the discovery of Canada is April 5, 1409, but the knowledge of Canada begins only with Jacques Cartier. Long, however, before him, the fishing grounds of Newfoundland had seen navigators from Dieppe, St. Malo, La Rochelle, Honfleur and other ports of France, besides those of Cornwall, Devonshire and the Channel Islands. Brave mariners, Normands, Bretons and Basques, besides being familiar with Newfoundland, knew vaguely of the existence of Canada, although that name had not been yet attached to this country. Other nations also were represented in these fishing regions, but it was reserved to Cartier definitely to discover it, and to Francis I of France, to attempt to colonize and christianize it.

It must be conceded that the religious policy played a great part, as the commissions granted to Cartier, Champlain, and others, as well as the report of these and the relations of their discoveries, amply testify. Lescarbot, no good Catholic, acknowledges that: "Our kings in enterprising these movements for discovery, have had another end than that of our neighbours (the English and the Dutch). For I see by their commissions that these smack only of the advancement of the Christian religion without any present profit."

It is this lofty missionary spirit that we must read into the adventurous motives of the first discoverers and founders of Canada—La Nouvelle France—of Quebec and Montreal in particular, else nothing but a sordid desire for trade, mixed perhaps with adventure, is to be the story of the origin of our great country. Unless the religious character and close touch with the supernatural, possessed by the first inhabitants are appreciated, the romance of the accounts of the early historians will have no attraction for our readers nor will the key to the understanding of the history of Canada till the occupation by the British in 1760 be supplied.

We must look upon Jacques Cartier, when as the bearer of a Royal Commission, he left St. Malo, on April 20, 1534, to conquer new lands for Christianity, as dignified by this side of his duty—to promote the glory of God and that of France. Consequently his progress up the River St. Lawrence to Hochelaga is marked by such incidents as the distribution of rosaries and pious objects, emblems of the faith he believed in, and the planting at Gaspé of a cross thirty feet high, in the middle of which was a shield with three fleurs de lis, with the inscription, cut into the wood, "Vive Le Roi de France." His course and that of Champlain, up the St. Lawrence is strewn with a number of places named after the festivals of the church, all dignifying an otherwise prosaic catalogue of discoveries. The cross and the crown of France may therefore be considered the emblems of the French occupation.

It is not the purpose of this book to detail Cartier's voyages, three of which we have recounted by himself, those of 1534, 1535-36, and 1540. We have, however, chosen several extracts from the second voyage, as these relate especially to Montreal. We wish to gather the results of his work. He left no permanent settlement and established no trading posts but he claimed the land for France and his accounts to the king and the ministers and his published voyages of the country of Canada, Hochelaga and Saguenay, kept before his countrymen the existence of a great land in the West worth the colonizing.

Cartier's commission in the first voyage was that of "Captain and Master Pilot of the King;" in the second, "Captain General and Master Pilot." When he was sent on his third voyage, a new element entered into the view of Canada. At the head of the expedition was placed a gentleman of Picardy, Jean François de la Rocque Seigneur de Roberval, whom Francis I playfully styled the Petty King of Vimeux, and whom he appointed his lieutenant and governor in the countries of Canada and Hochelaga, with Jacques Cartier as "the Captain General and leader of the ships." His commission is dated October 20, 1540. This was to be the first colonizing movement.

Jean François de la Rocque's letters patent were granted by Francis I, on January 15, 1540. It reads, having learnt of the discovery of countries, "the which have been found furnished with very good commodities, and the people thereof well formed in body and limb and well disposed in disposition and understanding, of which have also been brought us others having the appearance of good inclination. In consideration of which things we have considered and determined to send again into the same countries of Canada and Hochelaga and others circumjacent, as well as into all transmarine and maritime countries inhabited, not possessed nor granted, by any Christian princes, some goodly number of gentlemen, our subjects, as well men of war as common people of each sex, and other craftsmen and mechanics in order to enter further into the said countries; and as far as into the land of the Saguenay and all other countries aforesaid, for the purpose of discoursing with the said peoples therein, if it can be done, and to dwell in the said lands and countries, there to construct and build towns and forts, temples and churches in the communication of our Holy Catholic Faith and Christian doctrine, to constitute and establish laws in our name, together with officers of justice to make them live according to equity and order and in the fear and love of God, to the end that they may better conform to our purpose and do the things agreeable to God, our Creator, Saviour and Redeemer, which may be to the sanctification of His Holy Name and to the increase of our Holy Faith and the growth of our Mother of the Holy Catholic Church, of the which we are said to be and entitled the first son," etc.

The text of the letters patent following is a very long one, it enters most minutely, and in a most legal and formal manner, into the details of the powers of the governor which are to be very great and foresee a thoroughly organized kingdom with all the elements of feudalism with his fiefs and seigneuries—in fact a Nouvelle France!

On January 15th, Roberval's Royal Commission empowering him to take the means for the equipment, was signed at Fontainebleau. It gave to "our said lieutenant full authority, charge, commission and special mandate to provide and furnish of himself all things necessary to said army and to levy or cause to be levied in all parts, places and precincts of our realm as shall seem to him good, paying therefor reasonably, and as is meet, and to take men of war, or artisans and others of divers conditions in order to carry them with him on the said voyage, provided that this may be of their own good will and accord, and likewise also provisions, victuals, arms, artillery, arquebuses, powder, saltpeter, pikes and other offensive and defensive weapons, and generally all clothing, instruments and other things suitable for the equipment, despatch and efficiency of this army," etc. The supply of volunteers for this expedition does not seem to have been sufficiently encouraging, for, dated February 7th, we have an order by Francis I, for delivery of prisoners to Jehan François de la Rocque. This document after re-stating the terms of the commissions, already given, in view of the wish of the King that the expedition shall sail on the 15th of April, at the latest, states "and on account of the long distance from the said country and the fear of shipwreck and maritime risks, and others regretting to leave their goods, relatives and friends, fearing to make the said voyage; and, peradventure as a number, who would willingly make the same journey, might object to remain in the same country after the return of our said lieutenant, by means of which, through want of having a competent number of men for service, and other volunteers to people the said countries, the undertaking of the said voyage could not be accomplished so soon, and as we desire, and as it is requisite for the weal of the human creatures dwelling in the said country without law and without knowledge of God and of his holy faith, which we wish to increase and augment by a great zeal, a thing if it were not accomplished, which would cause us very great regret, considering the great benefit and public weal which would proceed from the said enterprise, and as we have enjoined and verbally commanded our said lieutenant to diligently execute our said will and intention, to depart and commence the said voyage by the fifteenth of April next ensuing, at farthest if it can be accomplished," etc. * * * "We desire to employ clemency, in doing a good and meritorious work, towards some criminals and malefactors, that by this they may recognize the Creator by rendering him thanks and amending their lives, we have thought proper to have given and delivered to our said lieutenant, his clerks and deputies, to the full number that he shall advise of the said criminals and malefactors detained in the jails and state prisons of our parliament and of other jurisdictions, * * * such as they shall desire to choose and select, condemned and judged as has been said, always excepting the imprisoned criminals to whom we are not accustomed to give pardon * * * commuting the penalty of death into an honest and useful voyage, with the condition that when the said persons return home again from the said voyage without permission from us, they shall be executed in the place in which they may have been condemned, immediately and without hope of pardon."

An extract from the Parliament Registers at Rouen of March 9th, giving power to Roberval to have the prisoners transferred from its jails to him limits the choice somewhat by "excepting the prisoners who shall be held in cases and crimes of heresy and high treason in the first degree, of counterfeiting money and other too monstrous cases and crimes."

Roberval could not get his party together for April. Indeed it seemed that he needed Jacques Cartier's assistance, for on October 17, 1540, we find him receiving a commission similar to Roberval's to take over fifty prisoners. In this charge he is allowed and permitted "to take the little galleon, called L'Emerillon which he now has of us, the which is already old and rotten, in order to serve in repairing those of the ships which shall have need of it," without rendering any account of it. But it was not till May 23d of the year following, 1541, that Cartier set sail with five ships, well furnished and victualed for two years. He went without Roberval, because as the King had sent Cartier letters "whereby he did expressly charge him to depart and set sail immediately upon the sight and receipt thereof, on pain of incurring his displeasure, and as Roberval had not got his artillery, powder and ammunitions ready he told Cartier to go on ahead and he would prepare a ship or two at Honfleur whither he expected his things were to come. Having mustered and reviewed "the gentleman soldiers and mariners which were retained and chosen for the performance of the said voyage, he gave unto Captain Cartier full authority to depart and go before and to govern all things as if he had been there in person."

So Cartier sailed away, on May 23d. We will leave the misfortunes on the way to be read in Cartier's memoir of the third voyage. At last, however, Cartier arrived at the mouth of what is now Cape Rouge River and found a spot where a fort should be built on the high point now called Redclyffe. This fort he called Charlesbourg Royal, doubtless after Charles, Duke of Orléans, son of Francis I. He put three of the vessels in haven, and after the two others were emptied of all that was destined for the colony, Cartier sent them back and with them in command Marc Jalobert, his brother-in-law, and Etienne Noël, his nephew, to tell King Francis that they had begun to construct a fort, but that Monsieur de Roberval was not yet come and that he feared that by occasion of contrary winds and tempests he was driven back to France. They departed for St. Malo on September 2d.

Things were progressing at the fort; the land was tilled and the fort was begun to be built; but now a party consisting of Cartier, Martin de Painport, with other gentlemen, and the remnant of the mariners, departed with two boats "with victuals to go as far as Hochelaga of purpose to view and understand the fashion of the Saults of water." The Viscount de Beaupré stayed behind for the guarding and government of all things in the fort. Cartier's party reached the rapids passing Tutonaguy, which we identify as the site of Montreal, but we have no record of his staying there. Cartier's memoirs of the voyage break off here. However, as we are interested only in the colonizing movement, we get sufficient information from Roberval's account of his voyage of the fate of the Charlesbourg attempt. Roberval says that Cartier left for France at the end of September, 1541, and that he himself after having set sail from Honfleur, on the 16th of April, 1542, arrived at Newfoundland on the 7th of June following, where he found Cartier on his way home. Cartier explained that he had left the fort because he had not been able, with his little troupe, to resist the savages who roamed daily around the fort, and were very harassing. However, Cartier and his men praised the country highly, as being very rich and fertile, adding that they had taken away many diamonds, and a certain quantity of gold ore which Roberval examined and found good. Roberval had arrived with three great vessels fitted out at the expense of the King, with 200 souls, men and women and some gentlemen, among them being the Sieur de Lenneterre, his lieutenant, Lespinay, his ensign, the Captain Guinecourt, and the pilot, Jean Alphonse. He ordered Cartier to retrace his steps to Charlesbourg, believing that the new recruitment was able to resist the attacks of the enemy. But Cartier, and his following, departed secretly the following night. Whether or not this flight was disloyal, or born of fear, or of vainglory, since Roberval asserted, that Cartier had fled being desirous of getting first to France to acquaint the king of his discoveries, certain it is that it was wise. For this first royal colonizing party composed of so many men and women from the jails of France was fated to be a most lamentable failure. Famine and lawlessness marked its sojourn at Charlesbourg. It was well that New France should not be born of such material for citizenship. This voyage has an interest for Montrealers in that Roberval passed by it on a voyage to the Sault.

Cartier never seems to have been blamed by the king for his desertion of Roberval, but, it is said, he was sent back to recall him for more useful service in France. Of this fourth voyage of Jacques Cartier we have no record. We find him settled in France, ennobled and known as the Sieur de Limoilou, although there is a tradition, not well founded, that he made a fifth voyage to Canada. He lived an honoured man in St. Malo to his death. In the margin of the old record of the Town of St. Malo under date of September 1, 1557, we find the following:

"This said Wednesday about five o'clock in the morning died Jacques Cartier."

Cartier's name is no longer to be associated with the further history of Canada, except in the memory of a grateful people, who will come to admire the memory of this brave sailor, daring adventurer, missionary and historian—the discoverer of Canada and Montreal. We shall see, however, how this spirit of enterprise for Canadian extension was carried on by his nephews.

We cannot help feeling sorry for Roberval. He was a young man of energy and had great ideas as a colonizer. He went out, according to Charlevoix, with the Royal Commission as "Lord of Norumberga, Viceroy and Lieutenant General of Canada, Hochelaga, Saguenay, Newfoundland, Belle-Isle, Carpunt, Labrador, the Great Bay and Baccalaos." He was recalled for more useful service!

After Cartier had ceased visiting the St. Lawrence, the care of the French government for the development and colonization of Canada seems to have been neglected from 1543 to 1603. Cartier's discoveries were not appreciated; it was reserved for Champlain three-quarters of a century later, to follow in his footsteps. As Champlain is the trader par excellence of Canada and of Montreal, we may now briefly trace the history of our trade.

Although discovery and colonization were so long abandoned still the banks of Newfoundland and the mouth of the St. Lawrence were frequented yearly by hardy Normans and Bretons as before, for the cod and whale fishery there. [21] Trading with the natives in peltry became insensibly mingled with the occupation of fisherman and Tadoussac grew to be a public market for this sort of commerce and exchange. There we would have found many good friends of Jacques Cartier, among them Capt. Marc Jalobert, his brother-in-law, who visited Hochelaga in 1535 and Etienne Noël, his nephew, also a sturdy captain under Cartier in his third voyage. There, too, would have been Jacques Noël, his great-nephew, who reports in a letter of 1557 that he had gone on his uncle's traces up the St. Lawrence as far as the Great Sault. This visit to Hochelaga makes us interested in him, the more so, as it was this Noël, associated with Sieur de la Jaunaye-Chaton and the nephew of Jacques Cartier, who in 1558 applied to Henry III for a charter similar to that granted by Francis I to their uncle, appealing for this favour on the ground that their uncle had spent, from his own pocket in the service of the king in the voyage of 1541, a sum in excess of that which he had received from the king, and had been allowed no recompense; nor had indeed his heirs. Warned by the failures and the expenses of the past the King demurred. Cartier's nephew then compromised. They offered to renew their uncle's design and to form a French colony in Canada to Christianize the savages, all at their own expense, provided that the king would grant them the sole privilege for twelve years of trading with the inhabitants, principally in peltry and that he would forbid interference of rivals with them in this privilege and in the exploitation of a mine discovered by them. To this the King consented by a favour of January 14, 1588. This monopoly, the first of its kind, was soon revoked at the instance of jealous rival traders of St. Malo who obtained a revocation of the charter on the 5th of May following for they considered that the good things coming from Jacques Cartier's discoveries were to be shared in by all of St. Malo, since they belonged to all and not to his nephews alone.

This attempt to obtain a private monopoly having failed, we are surprised to find a monopoly being granted in 1589 by Henry IV to a gentleman of Brittany, the Sieur de la Roche, apparently in accordance with a promise given verbally or otherwise by Henry III at sometime before his assassination in August, 1659. This document was one similar to that granted by Francis I to Roberval and it made de la Roche the king's lieutenant governor in New France—with real vice-regal privileges. The commission differed in this from Roberval's that it gave power to the lieutenant general to choose merchants to accompany him and forbade all others to trade in the same regions without his consent under penalty of confiscation of merchandise and vessels. Again a miserable fiasco was to take place. The lieutenant governor had to draw upon the jails and galleys for his colonists. He arrived with sixty men under the direction of pilot Chedotel at Sable Island, twenty-five leagues to the south of the Island of Cape Breton. Arrived there he disembarked, according to Lescarbot, the greater part of those he had drawn from the prisons, left them provisions and merchandise, and promised to return for them as soon as he had found on the mainland, a suitable place for settlement. Taking a little bark, he went to the Acadian coast, but on returning was surprised by so violent a wind that he was driven back to France in less than twelve days. The fate of the abandoned colonists had better be told by Champlain. In the description of his voyages, dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu and published in 1632, Champlain's criticism of de la Roche's expedition was "that the fault of this attempt at colonizing was that this marquis did not have some one experienced in such matters explore and reconnoitre, before assuming so excessive an outlay." On the other hand we can be glad that Canada did not start her origin as a colony with such stuff as composed the greater part of Roberval's and de la Roche's consignments.

In 1598 the Edict of Nantes had been published in France and it was soon to affect Canada in this wise. In France it had restored civil and religious liberty to the Huguenots, Protestants or French Calvinists. The spirit of conciliation was in the air and Huguenots now began to take their place in the judicature and financial posts, and in the army. Next year we find a sailor merchant of St. Malo named Dupont Gravé soliciting a commission for Sieur Chauvin, of Normandy, a Huguenot, a man of great skill and experience in navigation, captain in the King's navy and of some influence at the court. As the King remembered the good services of M. Chauvin he granted a monopoly to him on the condition that no one should trade in Canada unless he had Chauvin's permission and should settle in the country and make a home there. Chauvin was to bear all the expenses, and he was to take 500 men to fortify the country and defend it, and to teach the Catholic faith to the Indians.

Tadoussac was chosen as the headquarters. Thither Chauvin and Dupont Gravé and a Huguenot, Pierre Dugas, Sieur de Monts, a prospector who came out on "pleasure," went with an advance party. Tadoussac had been well enough for a summer trading post but, says Champlain, "if there is an ounce of cold forty leagues up the river there is a pound at Tadoussac." However, they fixed up a guardlike building of wood, 25 feet long by 18 wide, and 8 feet high. This was to harbour seventeen men and provisions. "Behold them there very warm for the winter," chuckles Champlain, who had no love for the Huguenots. The leaders went to France and during the winter the settlement at Tadoussac was "the Court of King Pétaud; each one wished to command. Laziness, idleness, and the diseases that attacked those remaining, reduced them to great want and obliged them to give themselves up to the savages, who kindly harboured them and they left their lodging. Some died miserably; others suffered a great deal while waiting for the return of the ships." In the next year a second voyage as fruitless as the first was made, by Chauvin. He assayed another but fell into an illness which sent him to another world. We have Champlain's comment in the account published in 1632 on this attempt at colonization. "The trouble with this undertaking was giving to a man of opposing religion a commission to establish a nursery for the Catholic Apostolic and Roman faith [22] of which the heretics have such a horror and abomination. These are the defects that must be mentioned in regard to the enterprise."

After the death of Chauvin, the same commission of lieutenant general was applied for, by Eymard de Chastes, Knight of Malta, Commander of Lormetan, Grand Master of the Order of St. Lazarus and Governor of Dieppe. Henry IV granted it and de Chaste should have made a good colonizer for he intimated that in making his application it was in the intention of betaking himself thither in person and of devoting the rest of his years to the service of God and that of his king, but he was not to live long. In order to meet the expenses of the expedition Commander de Chastes formed a company of several of the principal merchants of Rouen and elsewhere. He chose the explorer, Dupont Gravé, to direct the flotilla as before to Tadoussac, and he desired him to associate with himself in his further explorations for which he had received a commission from the king, a young captain of Saintonge, who had already given undoubted proof of his ability as a zealous, courageous and intelligent explorer.

This was none other than Samuel de Champlain, whose name is to be connected this very year of 1603 with Montreal and more lastingly in 1611. He is to become entitled to be called the founder of La Nouvelle France. De Champlain had been living at Dieppe after his return from a visit of two years to the West Indies and New Spain, for which he had started early in 1599 in command of a French ship chartered by the Spanish authorities and in which he had sailed under his uncle, a man of distinction, in the previous year. During this period he had the opportunity of observing and studying a European colony before trying to found one himself. His "Brief discours des choses plus remarquables que Samuel Champlain de Brouage a reconnues aux Indes Occidentales, au voyage qu' il y a fait," was the result of this experience.

Champlain was now thirty-six years of age, having been born about the year 1567 at Brouage, a small seaport town in the old province of Saintonge, southeast of Rochefort and opposite the island of Oléron. Champlain's father was a sailor, being a captain of the marine; his uncle's position we have seen. Hence we do not wonder, when he tells us of himself: "From my earliest years the art of navigation attracted me, made me love the sea and drove me to expose myself nearly all my life to the wild waves of the ocean. It has made me explore the coasts of a part of the lands of America, and principally those of 'La Nouvelle France,' where I have always had the desire to cause the lily to flourish with the only Catholic religion, Apostolic and Roman." But Champlain was also a soldier, for, having taken up the cause of Henry IV in the troublous times of the League, he had served in Brittany under Maréchals de Daumont de St. Luc and de Brissac and held during several years the rank of Maréchal de Logis in the royal army. He held this position till May 2, 1598, when peace between France and Spain was established by the treaty of Vervins. Then again he turned to the sea and went with his uncle to Spain, and afterward to Spanish America as we have said. On his return he seems to be in favour with, and in the service of, the King. He is in receipt of a pension, either for his services in the army, or, as it has been supposed, because the King, having been shown the notes and topographical sketches taken by Champlain in his late voyage, had given him the title of Royal Geographer; but when Commander de Chastes, who doubtless also had seen the manuscripts, offered him a post in his new expedition, Champlain told him he must obtain the king's permission for him to embark as indeed de Chastes did. Moreover, the king commissioned Champlain to report faithfully on his discoveries.

So Dupont Gravé and Champlain set out for Tadoussac and on the 18th of June, reaching it, made for the Grand Sault. They passed by Quebec, "which is a strait of the River of Canada, and anchored till Monday, June 28th, and thence proceeding examined and named Three Rivers and found it good for a future settlement." Finally on Wednesday, July 2, the feast of the Visitation, they reached the entrance of the Sault. We will reserve this visit to its proper chapter. After their exploration on July 4th they turned back to Tadoussac and thence to France, where they learned of the death of the worthy Commander de Chastes at Dieppe on Tuesday, May 13, 1603. To replace de Chastes, that same Sieur de Monts, who prospected Tadoussac with Chauvin, now took command of the reins of government as lieutenant general, having applied for a similar charter as the last. He was a Huguenot and was Governor of Paris for the Protestant party. He continued the same association, employing Dupont Gravé and Champlain. With them was the gentleman adventurer, the Sieur de Poutrincourt. They set sail from Havre on the 7th of March, 1604, this time for Acadia. A site, since called "Port Royal," was chosen by Poutrincourt and granted on condition he should return.

After having abandoned Acadia in 1607, de Monts now turned his attention to Canada. He did this the more readily because the king gave him for one year the exclusive right of the fur trade. Champlain, hitherto a man subordinate, was charged by the lieutenant general as his lieutenant. Champlain sailed from France on the 13th of April, arrived at Tadoussac on the 3d of June and ascending the St. Lawrence, named Cape Tourment and Montmorency Falls and, reaching Stadaconé, he chose that place called Kébec by the natives and began to take possession of it in the name of M. de Monts, and to construct a fort. Champlain's instinct as a city planner was distinctly manifested in the choice of the bold promontory whose bases are washed by the Rivers St. Lawrence, Cap Rouge and St. Charles and whose outlook from the promontory above is one of the grandest in the world. There were twenty-eight men sent by de Monts for the expedition. A plot having arisen among these to kill Champlain, one of the conspirators was beheaded and three others were sent back to France. Soon, also, some twenty died of scurvy or of dysentery caused by the eating of eels to excess. The colony was now a cipher. Meanwhile, in France, de Monts' one year's monopoly was revoked owing to the jealousy of the merchants there. The question of the sale of the habitation of Quebec came up, as the post appeared to be unnecessary if there was to be no monopoly. Sieur de Monts remained governor general. Seeing the danger of de Monts' enterprise breaking up, through the trading with the savages being thrown open to other traders, Champlain began to look out for himself and to cast his eyes on the Great Sault as a trading post for himself. Thither he now went, as shall be related hereafter.

About this time, as the prohibition of trading had been removed from private individuals, the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the river was a scene of rival barks of greedy, avaricious, envious people without harmony and without chief. On his return to France as de Monts wished to resign his command, Champlain went to court to get permission to form a company with exclusive rights and he was advised to invite Charles de Bourbon, Count of Soissons, to accept the governor generalship on the ground that his powerful protectorate would control order among the traders in Canadian waters. This was accepted, and after the necessary documents had been made out, but before being published, the count died. The Prince de Condé, Henri de Bourbon, then accepting the protectorate, received his commission, and named Samuel de Champlain his lieutenant. But the commission was not published, owing to representations being made to the Prince de Condé that such an association was prejudicial to trade. The delay was doubtless annoying to Champlain. However, as the old company was not yet dissolved, Champlain, not wishing to lose the fur trade for the current year, ran off again to Canada. On his return to France he went to Fontainebleau, where the King and the Prince of Condé were.

Champlain was now successful as a company promoter. He contrived to get his opposing merchants to come into the scheme themselves, and form a company, of which they made him the managing director in Canada, with a yearly salary of two hundred écus for looking after their interests. The Prince of Condé became the governor general and the commission gave a monopoly for eleven years. The usual powers were given as we have seen before of absolute power, the proviso of bringing the savages to the light of the Holy Roman and Catholic and Apostolic religion being included as usual. This seems strange considering that all the merchants of the new company were Huguenot Protestants.

On arriving in Canada Champlain soon made his first great mistake. He was about to commence the great work of colonization of La Nouvelle France, in which he was to succeed, but his first important step was a great blunder and one from which La Nouvelle France was to suffer for many years. The whole story of the Iroquois attacks, which terrorized the French settlements and Montreal for so many years, is bound up in the policy now initiated by the colonial builder of Canada. It will be remembered that in the commissions granted to those sent out to Canada, side by side with the duty of taking every means to attract the natives to Christianity, was the privilege to contract alliances with the natives and if they did not keep their treaties to force them by open warfare, and to make peace or war—but all this, be it understood, in accordance with the dignity of a great power and following established methods of diplomacy. Champlain's fault lies in this, that having arrived in Canada in the spring of 1605 as the representative of the king of France, he was tempted, for the sake of the petty reason of securing traffic facilities, to jeopardize the future by taking sides with the Algonquins and Hurons, who were then in open warfare with the Iroquois. Instead of remembering that the future peace of the colony depended on his neutrality, he went with the few men of the colony against the Iroquois, and with his modern weapons caused deadly havoc among the bewildered Iroquois, who thenceforth became the irreconcilable enemy of the Frenchmen. They never forgot this needless intrusion of the Frenchmen into their quarrels; thus they were implacable in their attacks on their Algonquin allies, and were ready later to ally themselves with the English in their campaign against the colony. It certainly made the work of Christianizing and civilizing the people later very difficult. Champlain's blunder at the battle of Lake Champlain on July 29, 1609, has been avoided in subsequent colonization schemes of other nations as far as possible. This is one of the uses of history.

CHAMPLAIN'S PICTURE OF HIS FIGHT WITH THE IROQUOIS

So far we have seen that the two chief conditions, on which the trading companies were granted their monopolies, were those of taking steps to colonize and to Christianize. Neither had been observed. The merchants were there for business and nothing else. Be it said, however, to Champlain's credit that he was more ready than any of the others to carry out both conditions. In 1615 he secured the four Recollect Fathers of whom we shall speak. Their memoirs reveal a pitiable state of irreligion, and apathy towards the policy of French colonization and Christianizing the natives. Thus in Quebec, in 1617, there were only fifty to sixty Frenchmen, in 1620 only sixty men, women and children and religious all told. There seems to have been only one family, that of the colonist, Louis Hébert, and he had a sorry time to make a living. Louis Hébert was an apothecary and thus he was useful to be tolerated, by the merchants. Some day Hébert will have a monument raised to Him to commemorate his efforts to commence agriculture in Canada.

Towards the end of the year Champlain's blunder begins to have its fruits, for the savages around Quebec determined to exterminate the French settlement. In the sequel, they satisfied their vengeance by killing only two secretly, but it was a sign of more to follow. Meanwhile what were the gentlemen with the high sounding titles of governor general and viceroy of the king doing to carry on the wonderful scheme outlined in their commissions? They were like modern titled directors of speculating companies, drawing their fees. Thus the Prince of Condé drew 1,000 écus, then while he was in prison his successor to the fees, the Maréchal de Thémines drew 5,000, to be followed by 11,000 drawn by the Duke de Montmorency, a young man of twenty-five years, appointed governor general in 1618. This was a drain on the merchants. Still it was better than losing their privileges.

The new governor general, Montmorency, appointed Champlain his particular lieutenant. In fact, Champlain may be called the acting governor. This looked at last like a real attempt to make a true settlement. Champlain now brought Madame de Champlain out and others, and with them Madame Champlain brought her furniture. The Recollect Father, Denis Jamay, came back with two other Recollects. The day after arrival at Quebec, after mass and a sermon in the chapel exhorting all the colonists to obedience to the king, they all assembled and the commission of His Majesty to Montmorency was read, as well as that of Montmorency to Champlain as his lieutenant. The cannon spoke amid the cries of "Vive le Roi" and Champlain took possession of the Habitation in the name of the Duke of Montmorency. It became Government House. Obliged by his commission to carry on justice, Champlain now looked out for the most capable men in the country to act with him on the bench of justice. The king's procuratorship fell to Louis Hébert, while the office of lieutenant de prevost was taken by Gilbert Coursera, and a man named Nicholas became the clerk of the Court of Quebec. Champlain took the direction of the "police."

Building activities were now taking place. The Recollects commenced the foundations for a convent and a seminary, for the native children, under the name of Notre Dame des Anges, the stone being laid by Father Jean d'Olbeau on June 3d. Champlain began to build another habitation on the hill which he named the Fort St. Louis. He also began tilling the ground and making a garden, a work which he delighted in. He was seconded in such enterprises by the Recollects. He next prepared to receive cattle. But there were only forty-five people at the habitation and the company was not sending more. In order to better things Montmorency in 1621 formed another company opposed to that of which M. de Monts was still head and he placed in command two Huguenots, Guillaume de Caen and Emery de Caen, uncle and nephew. The new company was opposed to the old but a union was effected between them: still with no better results. In the beginning of 1625 Henri de Lévy, Duke de Vantadour, a pious nobleman who afterwards became a religious, succeeded his uncle, the Duke de Montmorency, as governor general. Negotiations pending the introduction of Jesuits, on the request of the Recollects, were now concluded. Accordingly he sent at his own expense Fathers Lalement, Brébeuf, Massé and two lay brothers, who arrived in the absence of Champlain and were coldly received by de Caen, who offered them no hospitality. The Recollects, however, entertained them at their convent, for two years and a half, until their own buildings were ready. In 1627, a year of great famine, the above company was supplanted by the famous Company of One Hundred Partners or Associates.

FOOTNOTES:

[21] For the purposes of trade the connection with Canada never ceased. In 1578 there were 100 French vessels at Newfoundland besides 200 Spanish, Portugese and English vessels. (Kingsford, Vol. I, Page 12.)

[22] In a note by Kingsford, Vol. I, Page 24, he wishes to substantiate his theory that Champlain was Huguenot by quoting his words: "C'est plus facile de planter la fois Chrestienne" as meaning Christianity distinguished from the Roman Catholic point of view. Taken in conjunction with these words above Kingsford's theory cannot be upheld.

CHAPTER III

1603-1625

THE GREAT SAULT

CHAMPLAIN THE FIRST TRADER

THE HISTORY OF HOCHELAGA AFTER CARTIER'S VISIT—CHAMPLAIN, THE FIRST CARTOGRAPHER OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL—ITS DESCRIPTION IN 1603—CHAMPLAIN EXPLORES THE NEIGHBORHOOD—PLACE ROYALE IN 1611—ST. HELEN'S ISLAND NAMED—THE FIRST TRADING TRANSACTION RECORDED—CHAMPLAIN SHOOTS THE RAPIDS, 1613—THE EXPLORATION OF THE OTTAWA VALLEY—1615 THE FIRST MASS IN CANADA AT RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES—1625 THE DROWNING OF VIEL AND AHUNTSIC AT SAULT-AU-RECOLLET—THE INTENTION OF CHAMPLAIN TO MAKE A PERMANENT SETTLEMENT ON THE ISLAND.

The name of Samuel de Champlain is next to be more closely associated with Montreal. For, although the date connecting him with his first visit to this site is 1603, and that of Cartier's visit in 1535, Montreal had not been visited or dwelt upon by any distinguished European that we can attach a name to, with any certainty.

During all this time, according to tradition, sad things had occurred at Hochelaga.

"The fate of this Indian town," says Mr. Arthur Weir in "Montreal, the Metropolis of Canada," "is shrouded in the mists of antiquity. There is reason to believe that here was enacted a tragedy similar to that which resulted in the destruction of Troy. According to Mr. Peter Dooyentate Clarke, the historian of the Wyandots, himself a descendant of the tribe, the Senecas and Wyandots, or Hurons, lived side by side at Hochelaga, until in an evil moment a stern chief of the Senecas refused to permit his son to marry a Huron maiden. The damsel thereupon rejected all suitors and promised to marry only him who should kill the chief who had thus offended her.

"A youthful Huron, more amorous than wise, fulfilled the terms of the vow and won the girl. But the Senecas adopted the cause of their murdered chief, and made war upon the Hurons, whom they almost exterminated with the assistance of the other tribes of the Iroquois, driving their more peaceful and civilized neighbours to the very lake that now bears their name." However true or false this legend, it is certain that when Champlain visited the island in 1603 the Indian town was gone and desolation prevailed.

Another version of the same tradition is given by Mr. Bourinot, in "The Story of Canada," where he tells the popular tradition handed down by the Indians, "that the Hurons and Iroquois, branches of the same family, speaking dialects of one common language, were living at one time in villages, not far from each other,—the Hurons probably at Hochelaga and the Senecas on the other side of the mountain. It was against the law of the two communities for their men and women to intermarry, but the potent influence of true love, so rare in an Indian's bosom, soon broke this command. A Huron girl entered a cabin of an Iroquois chief as his wife. It was an unhappy marriage, the husband killed the wife in an angry moment. This was a serious matter, requiring a council meeting of the two tribes. Murder must be avenged or liberal compensation given to the friends of the dead. The council decided that the woman deserved death, but the verdict did not please all her relatives, one of whom went off secretly and killed an Iroquois warrior. Then, both tribes took up the hatchet, and went on the warpath against each other, with the result, that the Village of Hochelaga, with all the women and children, was destroyed, and the Hurons, who were probably beaten, left the St. Lawrence and eventually found a new home on Lake Huron."—See Horatio Hale's "Fall of Hochelaga" in Journal of American Folklore, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1894.

If Cartier was the discoverer of "Hochelaga," the Island of Montreal, it is to Champlain's honour that he was the first trader and the first designator of the site of the present City of Montreal. He was the first city planner in that he saw the possibilities of Montreal as a trading port, having all the attractions for a future settlement. It had a beautiful mountain with gentle slopes to the river at its base, and a natural harbour; it was the natural rendezvous of all the tribes bordering on the river beyond the saults, the last of which is that now known as the Lachine Rapids; it was the port for the fur trade of the hinterland beyond. Both Cartier and Champlain also noted the wonderful fertility of its soil and the beauty of its surroundings. As then, so today, Montreal's position, placed at the head of Atlantic navigation, the natural headquarters of the Gulf trade, that of the St. Lawrence and of the Great Lakes, centre of attraction and terminus of all the great railroads of the West and from the United States, secures it an undoubted future as a great commercial centre. It is to Champlain's credit that in his own day he realized the geographical value of Montreal as a trading centre, indicated by the natural laws for shipment and transportation, albeit he contemplated it only with the limited vision of a fur trader whose clients were the savages from the back country and their freight vessels, canoes laden with peltry. He looked ahead.

The first trader at Montreal

In July, 1603, Champlain reached the rapids of the sault above Montreal. Champlain says that it used to be called Hochelaga but now the Sault. When he reached it there was nothing of the old villages left. Luckily Champlain was a cartographer and historian, and we have the account of visits to Montreal which we now reproduce; but it must be remembered that he always speaks of the site as "the Sault," "the grand Sault," or "the Sault St. Louis."

The first quotations shall be from the account of his voyage in 1603. This was published in 1604 in Paris under the title, "Des Sauvages, ou Voyage de Sammuel Champlain de Brouage faict en la France Nouvelle, l'an mil six cens trois." This was made into English and published in "Purchas', His Pilgrimes," London, 1625.

"At length we came this very day to the entrance of the Sault or Fall of the Great River of Canada with favourable wind; and we met with an Ile, which is almost in the middest of the said entrance, which is a quarter of a league long, and passed on the South side of the said Ile, where there was not past three, four or five feet water, and sometimes a fathome or two, and straight on the sudden we found again not past three or foure foot. There are many Rockes and small islands, whereon there is no wood, and they are even with the water. From the beginning of the aforesaid Ile, which is in the middest of the entrance the water beginneth to run with a great force. Although we had the wind very good, yet we could not with all our might make any great way; neuerthelesse wee passed the said Ile which is at the entrance of the Sault or Fall. When wee perceived that we could go no further, we came to an anchor on the North Shoare ouer against a small Iland, which aboundeth for the most part with those kinds of fruits which I have spoken of before. Without all delay we made ready our Skiffe which wee had made of purpose to pass the said Sault: whereinto the said Monsieur du Pont and my selfe entered with certaine Sauages, which we had brought with vs to show vs the way. Departing from our Pinnace, we were scarce gone three hundred paces, but we were forced to come out, and caused certain mariners to free our Skiffe. The canoa of the Sauages passed easily. Wee met with an infinite number of small Rockes, which were euen with the water, on which we touched often times. There be two great Ilands one on the North Side which containeth some fifteene leagues in length, and almost as much in breadth, beginning some twelve leagues vp within the River of Canada, going towards the River of the Irocois and endeth beyond the Sault. The Iland which is on the South Side is some four leagues long and some halfe league broad. There is also another island which is neare to that on the North Side which may bee some halfe a league long, and some quarter broad; and another small iland which is between that on the North Side, and another nearer to the South Shoare, whereby we passed the entrance of the Sault. This entrance being passed, there is a kind of Lake, wherein all these Ilands are, some five leagues long and almost as broad, wherein are many small Ilands which are Rockes. There is a Mountaine neere the said Sault which discovereth farre into the Countrie and a Little River which falleth from the said Mountaine into the Lake. On the South Side there are some three or foure Mountaines which seem to be about fifteen or sixteen leagues within the Land. There are also two Rivers; one which goeth to the first Lake of the River of the Irocois by which sometimes the Algoumequins invade them: and another which is neer unto the Sault, which runneth not farre into the countrey."

On this voyage he describes the Sault. Since he is later, in 1611, to shoot it, we may record his impression of it in 1603. "At our coming neere to the said Sault with our Skiffe and Canoa, I assure you, I neuer saw any stream of water to fall down with such force as this doth; although it be not very high, being not in some places past one or two fathoms, and at the most three. It falleth as it were steppe by steppe: and in euery place where it hath some small height, it maketh a strong boyling with the force and strength of the running of the water. In the breadth of the said Sault, which may containe some league, there are many broad Rockes, and almost in the middest, there are very narrow and long Ilands, where there is a fall as well on the side of the said Iles which are toward the South, as on the North Side: where it is so dangerous that it is not possible for any man to pass with any boat how small so-euer it be."

In his voyage in 1603 he makes mention of an island of a quarter of a league in length and of another on the north about fifteen leagues long which overlooked the lands for a long distance. He does not mention the name of either, but the former was St. Paul's island or Nuns' island and the latter Hochelaga. Up to Champlain no one has recorded or noticed that Montreal was an island.

As early as 1610 Lescarbot had remarked that of all the islands in the River St. Lawrence, the most suitable for commerce was without contradiction that of Montreal. ("La Conversion des Sauvages Baptisés en Canada.")

Champlain certainly looked upon the locality of the Sault as a suitable place for a permanent establishment, when he commenced operations at Place Royale. He continued in this belief.

"My Savage Arontal," he says in his "Voyages of 1615-1616," published in 1627, "being at Quebec that to attract his people to us we should make a habitation at the Sault, which would give them the surety of the passage of the river and would protect them against their enemies and that as soon as we should have built a house, they would come in numbers to live with us as brothers, a thing which I promised them and answered them I would do as soon as possible."

There is reason to believe that the spot he had in mind to do this is the island which he had noted in his voyage of 1603, but to which he later gave the name of St. Helen. [23] This is most probable in view of his late marriage five months before with Hélène Boullé, for it could not have been given, as other names in the river had been, owing to the coincidence of a church feast day with the day of discovery, for Champlain arrived at Place Royale on the 28th of May and the feast of St. Helen fell on the 18th of August following, when he was in France.

We know that Champlain had gone to the "Sault" in 1603, but he makes no mention of the site of Montreal in his account. However, with regard to the year of 1611, he gives us many interesting details.

From these excerpts from the account of 1603 we may, therefore, sum up the following conclusions: (1) that (according to Laverdière) the place where Champlain "came to an anchor on the North Shoare over against one small island," was the little island formerly existing opposite the Place Royale (which was not, however, named till 1611) and now joined to the main land by the present harbour piers; (2) that incidentally he thus indicates the site of the present harbour of Montreal; that Champlain was the first to note that Montreal, or Hochelaga, was an island, this being deduced from his description of the great island (not named by him) "on the north side which continueth some fifteen leagues in length and almost as much in breadth," etc; (3) that the "mountain neere the said Sault which discovereth farre into the country" is the same as that named by Jacques Cartier as Mount Royal while "the Little River which falleth from the said mountain into the lake" is the Rivière des Prairies; (4) that while he gives no names beyond that of Sault yet he has left us a very clear indication that he was familiar with the site of the present Island of Montreal. From the above quotations there is no explicit mention of the suitability of the Island of Montreal as a future trading post, yet there is little doubt but that Champlain had it in his mind as such when the occasion should serve.

FIGURATIVE MAP
Sketch of Sault St. Louis (Kahnawake) and part of the south shore of the Island of Montreal made by Champlain in 1611
(See opposite page for explanation)

EXPLANATION OF MAP ON OPPOSITE PAGE

A—Piece of land which I ordered to be cleared.
B—Small pond.
C—Small island where I had a stone wall erected.
D—Small stream where barques are lying.
E—Prairies where Indians encamp when coming to this country.
F—Mountains seen at a distance.
G—Small pond.
H—Mount Royal.
I—Small stream.
L—The "Saut."
M—Place where the Indians from the north begin their "portage."
N—Place where one of our men and an Indian were drowned.
O—Small, rocky island.
P—Other small island where birds build their nests.
Q—"Heron" Island.
R—Other islands of the "Saut."
S—Small island.
T—Round Islet.
V—Other islet, half of which is covered with water.
W—Other islet where water fowls are found.
Y—Prairies.
Z—Small river.
2—Rather fine and large island.
3—Places which appear bare at low water and where the current is very strong.
4—Prairies covered with water (swamps).
5—Rather low and marshy land.
6—Other small island.
7—Small rocks.
S—Helen's Island.
9—Small island barren of trees.
10—Marshes in the "Grand Saut."

Their adventurers afterward went up to the Sault which became the goal of many of the "free" traders and prospectors who coursed the St. Lawrence during the period, already described, of the temporary removal of the prohibition against private traders. Certain it is that as early as 1610 Lescarbot had remarked that of all the islands in the river St. Lawrence the most suitable for commerce was without contradiction that of Montreal. (Cf. "La Conversion des Sauvages Baptisés En Canada.") But it was reserved for Champlain in 1611 to put this notion into effect and to become the pioneer trader and the first harbour builder of Montreal. His own narration of the events of 1611 may serve to prove these claims.

THE CHOICE OF MONTREAL AS A TRADING POST

"In the year 1611, I took back my savage to those of his tribe, who were to come to Sault St. Louis, intending to get my servant whom they had as a hostage. I left Quebec, May 20 (21), and arrived at these great rapids [24] the 28th of the month. I immediately went in a canoe with the savage which I had taken to France and one of our men. After having looked on all sides, not only in the woods, but also along the river bank, to find a suitable place for the site of a settlement, and to prepare a place in which to build, I went eight leagues by land, along the rapids through the woods, which are rather open, and as far as the lake, [25] where our savages took me. There I contemplated the country very much in detail. But in all that I saw I did not find any place at all more suitable than a little spot which is just where the barks and shallops can come easily, either with a strong wind or by a winding course, because of the strength of the current. Above this place (which we named La Place Royale), a league from Mount Royal, there are a great many little rocks and shoals, which are dangerous."

THE SITUATION OF PLACE ROYALE DESCRIBED

"And near this Place Royale there is a little river running back a goodly way into the interior, all along which there are more than sixty acres of cleared land, like meadows, where one might sow grain and make gardens. Formerly savages tilled there. There were also a great number of other beautiful meadows, to support as many cattle as one wishes, and all kinds of trees that we have in our forests at home, with a great many vines, walnuts, plum trees, cherries, strawberries and other kinds which are very good to eat. Among others there is one very excellent, which has a sweet taste resembling that of plantains (which is a fruit of the Indies), and is as white as snow, with a leaf like that of the nettle, and running on trees or the ground like ivy. Fishing is very good there, and there are all the kinds that we have in France, and a great many others that we do not have, which are very good; as is also game of all kinds; and hunting is good, stags, hinds, does, caribous, rabbits, lynxes, bears, beavers and other little animals which so abound that while we were at these rapids we never were without them."

PLACE ROYALE CLEARED AND A HARBOUR REVETMENT WALL BUILT

"After having made a careful exploration, then, and found this place one of the most beautiful on this river, I at once had the woods cut down [26] and cleared from this Place Royale, to make it level and ready for building. Water can easily be made to flow around it, making a little island of it, and a settlement can be made there as one may wish.

"There is a little island [27] twenty fathoms from this Place Royale which is about one hundred paces long, whereon could be put up a good, well defended set of buildings. There are also a great many meadows containing good potter's clay, whether for bricks or to build with, which is a great convenience. I had some of it worked up, and made a wall of it four feet thick, and from three to four feet high and ten fathoms long, to see how it would last in the winter when then the floods came down, which in my opinion, would not rise to this wall although the land is about twelve feet above that river, which is quite high."

ST. HELEN'S ISLAND NAMED

"In the middle of the river there is an island about three-quarters of a league in circumference, where a good and strong town could be built and I named it Ile de Ste. Hélène. [28] These rapids descend into a sort of lake where there are two or three islands and some beautiful meadows."

CHAMPLAIN PLANTS GARDENS

"While waiting for the savages I had two gardens made: one in the meadows and the other in the woods which I had cleared; and the second day of June I sowed some seeds in them, which came up in perfect condition and in a little while, which showed the goodness of the soil.

"I resolved to send Savignon, our savage, with another, to meet those of his country, in order to make them come quickly; and they hesitated to go in our canoe which they distrusted, for it was not good for much."

CHAMPLAIN EXPLORES THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

"On the seventh I went to explore a little river [29] by which sometimes the savages go to war, which leads to the rapids of the river of the Iroquois. [30] It is very pleasant, with meadows on it, more than three leagues in circumference, and a great deal of land which could be tilled. It is one league from the great rapids [31] and a league and a half from Place Royale.

"On the ninth our savage arrived. He had been a little way beyond the lake, [32] which is about ten leagues long, that I have seen before. He did not meet anything there, and could not go any further, because their canoe gave out and they were obliged to return."

This savage reported the loss of the life of a young man, Louis, who had lost his life in the rapids. There is a discussion as to whether Champlain called the rapids the Sault "St. Louis" in commemoration of this event or in honour of Louis XIII of France, who began reigning the year previously and from whom Champlain had received a commission to build storehouses for the fur trade near the rapids. The solution I leave to the choice of the reader. At this time "Heron" island at the St. Louis rapids received its name. There seems no doubt that if Champlain had as thoroughly investigated the possibilities and advantages of climate, soil and natural position as a trading centre of Montreal in 1603 as he did in 1611, he would have chosen Montreal, for the settlement in 1603, instead of Quebec, which was after all de Monts' choice. In the account of 1603 Champlain had said: "The air is softer and more temperate than at any other place that I have seen in this country."

In this same account of 1611 we get a picture of the first trading reported at Montreal which is worth recording.

THE FIRST TRADING TRANSACTION AT MONTREAL

"On the 13th of this month (June 13, 1611), 200 Huron savages with the chiefs, Ochateguin, Iroquet, and Tregourote, brothers of our savage, brought back my lad. We were very glad to see them, and I went to meet them with a canoe and our savage. Meantime, they advanced quietly in order, our men preparing to give them a salvo with the arquebuses and some small pieces. As they were approaching, they began to shout all together, and one of their chiefs commanded their addresses to be made, in which they praised us highly, calling us truthful, in that I had kept my word to them, to come to find them at these rapids. After they had given three more shouts, a volley of musketry was fired twice, which astonished them so much that they asked me to tell them that there should not be any shooting, saying that the greater number of them never had seen Christians before, nor heard thunderings of that sort, and that they were afraid of its doing them harm.... After a good deal of discourse they made me a present of 100 beavers. I gave them in exchange some other kinds of merchandise."

CHAMPLAIN THE FIRST WHITE MAN TO SHOOT THE RAPIDS

These Indians camped about with Champlain for some days till they returned to their own part of the rapids, "some leagues into the woods." Champlain accompanied them. He now tells of his historic shooting the rapids which we may place as happening on the 17th of June, 1611.

"When I had finished with them I begged them to take me back in our despatch boat. To do this they prepared eight canoes to run the rapids, and stripped themselves naked, and made me take off everything but my shirt; for often it happens that some are lost in shooting the rapids; therefore they keep close to one another, to aid one another promptly if a canoe should happen to capsize. They said to me, 'If by chance yours should happen to turn over, as you do not know how to swim, on no account abandon it, but hold on to the little sticks that are in the middle, for we will save you easily.' I assure you that those who have not seen or passed this place in these little boats that they have, could not pass it without great fear, even the most self-possessed persons in the world. But these people are so skillful in shooting these rapids that it is easy for them. I did it with them—a thing that I never had done, nor had any Christian, except my youth—and we came to our barks where I lodged a large number of them."

The next day, the 18th of June, the party broke up; Champlain set out for Quebec, which he says he reached on the 19th, shortly to leave for France. He describes the parting at Montreal thus: "After they had traded the little that they had, they separated into three groups—one to go to war, one to go up the rapids—they set out on the 18th day of this month, and we also."

The quotations I have chosen cover nearly four weeks of Champlain's dwelling at his new post. I have let him speak himself. The picture he draws enables us to construct in our imagination the picturesque situation of our city at this time.

GRAND SAULT, 1613

In 1613 Champlain tells us in his journal published in 1632, that having left Quebec on March 13th he arrived at the Sault on the 21st. He does not mention stopping at his trading post at Place Royale; he must have visited it and done some trading and put his boats up; but he set out on May 27th in his canoes "from the Isle of St. Hélène" with four Frenchmen and a savage. His object was at present to discover the Mer du Nord, lately discovered by Hudson and of which a map had appeared in Paris in 1612. One of the four Frenchmen with him in his canoes was named Nicholas de Vignau. This man had been sent in preceding years to make discoveries for Champlain and in 1612, while in Paris, this man reported to Champlain that he had seen this same "Mer du Nord." Champlain consequently took him with him to lead the way, with the result that can be judged from his own description of de Vignau, as "the boldest liar that had been seen for a long time." It was on this fruitless exploration that on the Portage route by way of Muskrat and Mudlakes, Champlain lost his astrolabe, the instrument then used for astronomical observation. Near this place he ceases giving the correct latitudes as he had been doing. Two hundred and fifty-four years later, a farmer on an August day unearthed an old brass astrolabe of Paris make, dated 1603. We may safely conclude it was Champlain's.

On the voyage up the Ottawa he described the visit to Allumette Island, 45° 47'. "After having observed the poorness of the soil, I asked them how they enjoyed cultivating so poor a country, in view of the fact that there was some much better, than that they left deserted and abandoned at the Rapids of St. Louis. They answered me that they were obliged to do so to keep themselves secure and that the roughness of the place served them as a bulwark against their enemies. But they said that if I would make a settlement a Frenchman at the Rapids of St. Louis, as I had promised to do, they would leave their dwelling place to come and settle near us, being assured that their enemies would not do them harm while we were with them. I told them that this year we should make preparations with wood and stones to make a fort next year and cultivate the land. When they heard this they gave a great shout, as a sign of applause. After this the conference finished."

After having explored the Ottawa River they returned from the fruitless search for the Northern sea on June 17th and continued their course till "we reached the barks and were saluted by some discharges of canon, at which some of the savages were delighted and others very much astonished, never having heard such music. Having landed, Sieur de Maisonneuve [33] de Saint Malo came to me with the passport for three vessels from Monseigneur the Prince. As soon as I had seen it, I let him and his men enjoy the benefit of it, like ourselves, and had the savages told that they might trade the next day." The place of the barks would, undoubtedly, be the little harbour at Place Royale described in the account of 1611, and near his trading fort.

After having made de Vignau confess himself of his lie, "as the savages would not have him, no matter how much I begged them, we left him to the protection of God." Champlain then left for Tadoussac, at which he arrived on July 6th, whence he shortly sailed to France.

MODERN TADOUSSAC

On this journey in France, Champlain set about to secure clergy and through the intervention of Sieur Hoüel, secretary of the king, he got the Recollect Fathers whom he said "would be the right ones there, both for residence at our settlement and for the conversion of the infidels. I agreed with this opinion, as they are without ambition and live altogether in conformity to the rule of St. Francis."

On April 24, 1615, Champlain left Honfleur with four Franciscan Recollects Denis Jamay, Jean d'Olbeau, Joseph le Caron and the lay brother, Pacifique du Plessis, reaching Tadoussac on May 25th. The Recollects he left at Quebec whence he hastened to the Sault, soon to be followed by Father Jean le Caron. The importance that Champlain gives to his trading post at the rapids to which he hurried will be seen from the following quotation. On arriving at Tadoussac, "we began to set men to work to fit up our barks, in order to go to Quebec, the place of our settlement, and to the great Rapids of St. Louis, the great gathering place of the savages who come there to trade. Immediately upon my arrival at the rapids I visited these people who were very anxious to see us and delighted at our return, from their hopes that we would give them some of our number to help them in their wars against their enemies. They explained that it would be hard for them to come to us if we did not assist them, because the Iroquois, their old enemies, were always along the trail and kept the passage closed to them. Besides I had always promised to aid them in their wars, as they gave us to understand through their interpreter. Whereupon I perceived that it was very necessary to assist them, not only to make them love us more, but also to pave the way for my undertakings and discoveries, which to all appearance could not be accomplished except by their help; and also because this would be to them a sort of first step and preparation to coming into Christianity; and to secure this I decided to go thither and explore their country and aid them in their wars, in order to oblige them to show me what they had so many times promised to.

"I had them all gather to tell them my intention, upon hearing which they promised to furnish us 2,500 men of war, who would do wonders, while I on my part, was to bring, for the same purpose as many men as I could; which I promised them, being very glad to see them come to so wise a decision. Then I began to explain to them the methods to follow in fighting in which they took a singular pleasure. When all the matters were decided upon, we separated with the intention of returning to carry out our undertaking."

This alliance which Champlain then made against the Iroquois will help to explain the prolonged animosity of these against the Hurons, and later their allies, the settlers of Ville Marie, under Maisonneuve. But, as yet Champlain's fort was only a summer trading post, and such it remained till 1642. He had it in his mind to make it a regular settlement, and it would seem likely to become so.

On the occasion of the above gathering mass was said by the Recollects for the first time in Canada, at least since the time of Cartier.

We may briefly narrate the events leading up to this. Owing to the trading monopolies being granted on condition that the conversion of the savages to the Catholic faith should be attempted and owing to the discontentment existing at the continued unfulfillment of this condition, de Monts and other merchants found that they would have to take means to comply with it or lose their monopoly.

The merchants were keener on the peltry trade than on the civilization of the country. They did not welcome colonists from France nor did they desire the Indians to settle down in their neighbourhood. They wanted them to get busy to bring in their furs. They were there for business solely, although their charter said otherwise.

So it was, with bad grace, they had to yield. Champlain must, however, be disassociated from this opposition. For he had willingly undertaken the negotiations to obtain the Recollect Fathers through the intermediary of the pious Sieur de Hoüel, the controller general of the salt mines of Brouage, one of the few members of the de Monts company that was not a Huguenot; accordingly after some negotiations during the winter of 1614 and 1615, the four Franciscan Recollects mentioned, three priests, Denis Jamay, superior, Jean d'Olbeau, Joseph le Caron, and Brother Pacifique du Plessis embarked with Champlain at Honfleur on April 24, 1615, on the St. Etienne, one of the company's ships commanded by Dupont Gravé. They arrived at Tadoussac in a month.

On their arrival in Quebec in the beginning of June three of them stayed to lay out their dwelling and build their chapel, but Father Joseph le Caron, a very eager and apostolic man, went straight off to the Indians at the Sault. Becoming quickly acquainted with the mode of life of the natives there and desirous of their conversion to the knowledge of Jesus Christ, he determined to spend the winter with them. "In Canada and its Provinces," Father Lewis Drummond says that on his journey down, le Caron met Champlain and Father Denis Jamay at Rivière des Prairies. They tried to persuade him not to winter with the Indians. But he hastened to Quebec, reaching it on June 20, and on his return to Rivière des Prairies met Champlain and Father Jamay there, and mass was celebrated. His object in hurrying back to Quebec was to obtain the necessary altar equipment and other missionary necessaries.

On arriving at the Isle of Montreal he met Champlain and his canoes at the entrance of the Rivière des Prairies. These no doubt were preparing for the exploration of the Ottawa.

There on June 24, 1615, the feast of St. Jean Baptiste, afterwards taken for the patronal feast of Canada, Fathers Denis and Joseph sang mass at their portable altar on the banks of the Rivière des Prairies. "With all devotion," Champlain chronicles, "before these peoples who were in admiration at the ceremonies and at the vestments which seemed to them so beautiful as being something they had never seen before; for these religious are the first who had celebrated the holy mass there." [34] (This solemn occasion was followed by the chanting of the Te Deum to the accompaniment of a fusillade of small artillery with all the pomp that circumstances permitted.) Father Denis Jamay went back to Quebec to minister to the French Catholics and to form a sedentary mission for the natives; while there also he could excur to Threvers as a mission post. He was helped by Brother Pacifique du Plessis. Jean le Caron now joined a band of Hurons and passed the winter with them in one of their stockades called Carhagouaha defended by a triple palisade of wood to the height of thirty feet. Father Jean d'Olbeau departed for Quebec, on December 2d, to share the fortunes of the Montagnais below Tadoussac.

THE FIRST MASS IN CANADA AT RIVIERE DES PRAIRIES, JUNE 24, 1615
(After George Delfosse)

While treating of the early history of the Recollects we may now anticipate by a few years a circumstance of tragic importance. In the year 1625 there occurred at the Sault-au-Récollet an event which has given it its name. This year, the Recollect father, Nicholas Viel, had gone two years before with Fathers Joseph le Caron and Gabriel Sagard, to the country of the Hurons. They were now invited by the Hurons to descend the river to trade with the settlement at Quebec. Father Viel had accepted the invitation because he wished to make his annual spiritual retreat at the Convent of Notre Dame des Anges and he took with him one of his Indian neophytes, whom he had instructed and baptized, a young boy named Ahuntsic. Among the convoy, in the same canoe, were some Indians who were secretly ill disposed to the missionary and when they found themselves separated from the other canoes by bad weather on the river, they fell upon Father Viel and Ahuntsic in the last sault near to Montreal and the swift flowing rapids soon submerged them in their deep waters. The spots of Ahuntsic and Sault-au-Récollet commemorate this event although the disaster occurred at the latter place as said.

THE MARTYRDOM OF THE RECOLLET VIEL AND THE NEOPHYTE AHUNTSIC AT SAULT-AU-RECOLLET.
(After George Delfosse)

Later in the summer of 1615 Champlain redeemed his pledge to explore the Indian country. On the 9th of July, 1615, Champlain left the fort with two men, one of whom was his servant, and another an interpreter, and ten savages to manage the two canoes on a voyage of exploration. Father le Caron had already gone ahead. Champlain's expedition with the allied tribes into the country of the Iroquois was one of the most important undertakings of his life—both on account of the length of the journey and the knowledge he obtained of the lake region. He lost prestige by this journey, however, both with the Indians and his French Canadians. It is not to our purpose to follow him on this voyage but we cannot refrain from mentioning the Huron village of Carhagouaha which lay between Nottawasaga Bay and Lake Simcoe. It was to this village that Father le Caron bent his steps, and where Champlain joined him on August 12th. The triple palisades, long houses, containing several households and other distinctive features of the village of Hochelaga discovered by Cartier, were there reproduced. He returned to the post at the end of June, 1616, and there he found Sieur du Pont. "We also saw," he says, "all the holy Fathers (Father Jamay and Brother du Plessis) who had remained at our settlement and they were very glad to see us and we to see them." Thus the Recollect fathers having left "our" settlement at Quebec had come up to Montreal as we may call the post at the Rapids. From their arrival dates the ecclesiastical life of our city and the introduction of Christianity. Champlain left the Sault on the 8th day of July, 1616, reaching Quebec on July 11. Shortly, on August 3d, he sailed to France.

Champlain was a good advertising agent, as the following shows: "During my sojourn at the settlement I had some of the common corn cut—that is, the French corn that had been planted there—which was very beautiful, in order to carry some to France, to show that this soil is very good and fertile. There was also some very fine Indian corn and some grafts and trees that we had brought thither." This contrasts favourably with the gloomy report given to France by Jacques Cartier of the Canadian climate, which doubtless influenced the delay of organized colonization. It is evident that Champlain was still thinking of making Montreal a permanent settlement. From the memoirs of 1615-16 we learn that Champlain before leaving for France took with him to Quebec an Indian, Daronthal or Aronthal, whom he called his host. This man, after admiring the buildings and the civilization of the settlement of Quebec, and being desirous that his people should become better acquainted with the religion of the Christians "in order to learn to serve God and to understand our way of living," suggested that they should be attracted to live with the settlers.

"He suggested," says Champlain, "that for the advancement of this work, we should make another settlement at the St. Louis rapids, so as to give them a safe passage of the river, for fear of their enemies; and said that once they would come in great numbers to us to live there like brothers. I promised to do this as soon as I could." Daronthal was sent back with this promise to his companions at St. Louis rapids, but it was reserved for Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, twenty-six years later to carry it out.

FOOTNOTES:

[23] Through the intervention of and in the presence of Pierre du Gas, Sieur de Monts, as the matrimonial contract dated Paris, December 27, 1610, states, Champlain had contracted to marry after two years Hélène de Boullé, a young girl not yet in her twelfth year and not yet marriageable, the daughter of Nicolas Boullé, secretary of the King's Chamber, a Huguenot like his friend de Monts. In this contract Champlain made her heiress of all the property that he might be able to leave, and her parents consented to give him before the marriage 6,000 livres.

On the 29th of December, in the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois, Champlain was handed over four thousand five hundred of the promised livres. On the next day the marriage took place. Hélène Boullé became a Catholic after two years. Shortly after the marriage Champlain left for New France, leaving his wife behind. We find him at the Grand Sault on May 28, 1611.

[24] The Lachine Rapids.

[25] Lake of Two Mountains.

[26] Dollier de Casson says in his "Historic de Montréal" that Champlain cut down many trees for firewood and also to guarantee himself against ambuscades.

[27] Ile Normandin.

[28] Registers of Notre Dame record that, on the 19th of August, 1664, two young men, Pierre Magnan and Jacques Dufresne, were slain here by Iroquois.

It was used sometimes by the French as a military station; for in June, 1687, the Chevalier de Vaudreuil posted both the regular troops and the militia there in readiness to march against the Iroquois. Thither it is alleged the Marquis de Lévis, commanding the last French army in 1760, withdrew, and here burnt his flags in the presence of his army the night previous to surrendering the colony to the English. Louis Honoré Frechette, the national French-Canadian poet, bases upon this his poem, entitled "All Lost but Honour."

In 1688 the island was acquired by Charles Le Moyne, Sieur de Longueuil, who gave the name of Ste. Hélène to one of his most distinguished sons. During the eighteenth century (from before 1723), his descendants, the Barons of Longueuil, whose territory lay just opposite, had a residence here, the ruins of which, once surrounded with gardens, are to be seen upon it on the east side. The Government acquired it from them by arrangement during the War of 1812, and later by purchase in 1818, for military purposes. It ceded the park portion to the city in 1874.

Almost adjoining it, at the lower extremity, is Ile Ronde, a small low island.

Both islands are interesting geologically from the occurrence there of a remarkable breccia containing inclusions of Devonian Limestone, and also from the existence of some rare types of dyke rock.

[29] The St. Lambert River.

[30] The Richelieu.

[31] Sault St. Louis Rapids, now known as the Lachine Rapids.

[32] The Lake of Two Mountains.

[33] Who is this Maisonneuve appearing as a privileged trader with the passport of the prince, doubtless the Prince de Condé, Henri de Bourbon, viceroy of Canada and head of Champlain's company? Evidently he was a person of some consequence from the ease with which Champlain granted him permission to trade at his settlement. Can it be, as Kingsford and others ingeniously try to prove, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve, who was later to found Montreal as a settlement in 1642, acting for "La Compagnie de Montreal?" (1) No. Chomedey was from Paris; the de Maisonneuve mentioned above is from St. Malo. (2) de Maisonneuve was a common enough name. There were even several of that name in Montreal in 1667.

[34] Mass was only said at Quebec for the first time on June 25, 1615, by which time they had built their chapel. The priority of the Island of Montreal in its claim to the first mass is substantiated by the "Mémoires des Recollects" of 1637 which distinctly say that "the first mass was celebrated at Rivière des Prairies and the second at Quebec."

CHAPTER IV

1627-1641

COLONIZATION

UNDER THE COMPANY OF ONE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES

THE CHARTER OF THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES THE BASIS OF THE SEIGNEURIAL SYSTEM TO BE AFTERWARDS ESTABLISHED AT MONTREAL—THE ENGLISH IN 1629 CAPTURE QUEBEC—1632, CANADA AGAIN CEDED TO THE FRENCH—1633, THE COMING OF THE JESUITS—THE RECOLLECTS DO NOT RETURN—THREE RIVERS IS ESTABLISHED—DESCRIPTION OF COLONIAL LIFE AT QUEBEC—DEATH OF CHAMPLAIN IN 1635—THE RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS TO BE IMITATED AFTERWARDS AT MONTREAL—THE "RELATIONS DES JESUITES"—THE IROQUOIS BEGIN THEIR ATTACKS—THE NEWS OF A REINFORCEMENT AND DISAPPOINTMENT THAT MONTREAL HAS BEEN CHOSEN AS ITS HEADQUARTERS.

On April 29, 1627, Richelieu, the Superintendent of Marine and Commerce, securing the resignation of the Duke de Vantadour and annulling the privileges of de Caen and his associates with suitable indemnities, formed a new association under the title of the "Hundred Associates of the Company of New France," among whom were many gentlemen of rank. It was resolved that in the following year of 1628 a colony of two to three hundred men of all trades, all professing the Catholic religion, would be sent over—to be increased in the following fifteen years to four thousand, of both sexes. At that time the sole population of New France was seventy-six souls.

It is well here to consider the conditions of the charter now given, for it is the ground plan of all subsequent French Canadian colonization schemes, and Montreal will be affected by it. We have seen the Huguenots were now to be excluded (not, however, from engaging in commerce in Canada, but only from settling there). From all points of view, political and religious and colonial, this was necessary. To show that there was to be no harshness in the execution of this we may only point out that Champlain was in charge and he knew Huguenots well and had worked harmoniously with them. We have seen that since the companies had been mainly Huguenots, colonization had not succeeded owing to mutual jealousies. If Canada was to be saved, it was by colonization, and this could never be carried out with a divided people. Even Huguenots realized this point. For at the time they were enjoying full privileges of citizenship as has been said. Hence it was only by imposing law and order and uniformity of religious belief, that happy and contented communities could be expected to spread in Canada.

Richelieu at this time was eager to form a powerful navy and he thought the possession of thriving colonies would advance the scheme. Hence it was a wise policy that was now inaugurated. Unfortunately engrossing interests at home did not allow Richelieu to pursue his scheme for government promotion of colonization on the broad basis originally projected by him.

To carry out the conditions of receiving the number of colonists the King obliged the Company of One Hundred Associates to lodge, board and maintain for three years all the French they should transport to the colony. After which, they could be discharged from their obligation, if they had put the colonists in the way of making their own living, either by distributing them on cleared land and supplying them with grain for a first crop, or otherwise. To provide for the maintenance of the established church there should be three ecclesiastics in each of the settlements to be formed during fifteen years, maintained in food and lodging and in everything necessary for the exercise of their ministry. In compensation for their outlay in advance, the king handed over to the Associates the Seigneury of Quebec and of the whole of New France, with the reserve of fealty and homage and a crown of gold of the weight of eight marks, to be paid at each succeeding reign, and finally, of the institution of officers of Sovereign Justice to be nominated and presented by the Associates, when it should be deemed proper to have them appointed. Moreover, Louis XIII made a gift to the Associates of two war vessels of three hundred tons, ready equipped for sailing, and four culverins, with this clause, however, that if at the end of the first ten years they had not carried over fifteen hundred French of both sexes, they should pay the price of the aforesaid vessels. Among other privileges the king granted twelve patents of nobility signed, sealed and delivered, with a blank space left for the names of those of the Associates who shall be presented by the company and who shall enjoy with their heirs, born in lawful wedlock, these privileges for all time, thus starting the Seigneurial Land Tenure system which in 1854 yielded to that of freehold.

With regard to commerce, the company should have perpetual privileges in the peltry traffic of New France, and for fifteen years only, all other commerce by land and sea with the reservation of the cod and whale fishery which should be free to all French traders. The colonists not maintained at the expense of the Associates should be free to trade with the natives for peltry provided that they forthwith hand over the peltry to the company which shall be obliged to purchase at the rate of forty sols, Tours currency, for each beaver skin. In consequence, the privileges accorded previously to Guillaume de Caen and his associates were revoked by the same edict, and trade in Canada was interdicted to them and other subjects of the kingdom, under pain of confiscation of their vessels and merchandise to the benefit of the new company. Cardinal Richelieu, however, allowed Guillaume de Caen, the privilege of the peltry trade for one year in indemnification for the loss of his charter.

So started the Company of the One Hundred Associates under the happiest auspices, endowed with almost sovereign power and having a leader of the state as its patron, for at its head was Cardinal Richelieu, who, without the title of lieutenant general which he perhaps thought unnecessary, seeing that he connected the work of colonization with his position as head of the navy, exercised the same authority. On the 27th of April, 1628, Louis XIII sent Champlain his commission as "commander in New France in the absence of our very dear and well beloved cousin, the Cardinal de Richelieu, grand master, chief and superintendent of the navigation and commerce of France." Champlain did not receive his commission on behalf of the company until he reached Dieppe in 1629, after the occupation of Quebec by the English.

The first attempt to carry out the charter was in 1628, when vessels were equipped and victualled under the orders of de Roquemont, one of the chief associates. Their first object was to succour Quebec, then in famine. A number of artisans and their families started and never reached their destination, for in the gulf their ships were seized by David Kerth, a master mariner of Dieppe in pay of the English government and in command of its fleet attacking the colonies. War had broken out between England and France and hostilities soon extended to America, and a fleet of ships was sent to invade the settlements of New France and in particular to capture Quebec.

It is not our duty to tell the story of Quebec or to recount the noble defence of Champlain till the fall of the city on July 29, 1629, when Louis Kerth, the brother of the admiral, installed himself as the governor general, representing the English. The state of the colony at the end of this siege interests us. Of the French, there only remained at Quebec the families of the widow of Hébert and of their son-in-law, Couillard, and these intended to leave after the harvest, but in the event they were constrained to stay. The rest passed over by way of Tadoussac into France and with them Champlain, who went to England to call upon the French ambassador, urging him to demand the restitution of Quebec on the ground that it had been captured two months after the expiration of the short war between the two nations. Canada as a province quoad civilia was under Normandy, and hence it became to be believed that it was also quoad sacra under Normandy.

THE TAKING OF QUEBEC IN 1629
(From Hennepin, Edition 1698.)

It is now 1632, the year of the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye when Acadia and Canada were again ceded to the French. For three years Louis Kerth kept Quebec in the name of England and on July 13, he formally handed over a heap of ruins to Emery de Caen, who conducted the first contingent of the returning French. "But for our habitation," says Champlain, "my people have found it utterly consumed along with good beaver skins valued at 40,000 livres."

Meanwhile, the Company of the Hundred Associates was again empowered to resume possession and Champlain was commissioned anew as acting governor of all the country along the St. Lawrence, and was appointed commander of the fleet of three vessels bearing new colonists. He arrived at Quebec with a good nucleus for the revived colony on May 23, 1633, and was received by a salute of cannon by Emery de Caen. Among the colonists brought by him there were persons of distinction who, wearied with religious dissensions in their own provinces, sought in New France that tranquility denied them in the old, and many rural labourers and artisans of different trades. As these were mostly from the diocese of Rouen, the clergy now arriving were the Jesuits, Fathers Massé and Brébeuf, sent under the jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Rouen. The Recollects were no longer allowed to return, on the ground that, theirs being an order which could not own property or revenues, they were unsuitable for a country where means were needed to gather together the Indians in settlements in buildings in which they could band together to be instructed. The chapel of the Recollects destroyed by the English was rebuilt. The work of reconstruction of the settlement now began in earnest. What interests us now is to learn that on July 1st of this year Champlain, at the request of the Indian allies, sent many workmen to Three Rivers to construct a fort and a fur factory there. Although Three Rivers had been used as a trading post, it had only been so temporarily, in the same manner that Montreal, or the post of the Sault St. Louis, had been the meeting place for the natives and traders engaged in the fur traffic.

This view of Fort Amsterdam on the Manhattan is copied from an ancient engraving executed in Holland. The fort was erected in 1623, but finished upon the above model by Governor Van Twiller in 1635.

At Quebec there was now great harmony. A lasting colony was established. Piety and religion flourished and the seeds of a good and noble population for Canada were sown. After many struggles success seemed now to be rewarding the efforts of Champlain. One shudders to think of what the future of Canada had been if the "convict" colonies of Roberval and la Roche had come to any permanency. We may note now two important movements helping to civilize the natives, which show the real desire of the new régime to fulfill its vocation. The first was the endeavour made by Champlain to nip in the bud the sale of intoxicating liquors to the natives in exchange for peltry already introduced by the preceding companies and by the English under Kerth. Champlain forbade anyone to trade wine or eau de vie with the natives under penalty of corporal punishment and the loss of their salaries as servants of the company. The second was the establishment by the Jesuits of a free boarding school for boys in the house of Notre Dame des Anges left them by the Recollects for the instruction of the Huron children. This method of civilization of the natives already employed by the Recollects was considered a most useful preliminary to the civilization of the natives by thus Gallicizing and Christianizing them, and attracted many.

CHAMPLAIN'S FORTIFIED RESIDENCE AT QUEBEC

That all these institutions were in line with Champlain's policy we see in Champlain's letter to Cardinal Richelieu, dated August 15, 1635. After saying that some of the Indians were sedentary and lived in villages and towns, while others were migratory hunters and fishers, all led by no other desire than to have a number of Frenchmen and religious teachers to instruct them in the faith, he adds, "We require but 120 men light armed for protection against the arrows. Possessing them, with two or three thousand more Indians, our allies, in a year we can render ourselves absolute masters of all these peoples by bringing among them the necessary good government and this policy would increase the worship of religion and an inconceivable commerce. The whole for the glory of God." In the last phrase we may see Champlain's whole policy unfolded.

But the days of Samuel de Champlain, Sieur de Brouage, were drawing to a close. To found this colony he had suffered many perils by land and sea, many fatigues, privations and opposition of friends and enemies. Paralysis now weakened his splendid physique and sturdy form, and after two months and a half of suffering he died on Christmas day, December 25, 1635. His death was most edifying, as the Jesuit chronicler relates. His obsequies were attended by the grief-stricken colony in a body, the settlers, the soldiers, the captains and the religious.

Father Lalemant officiated and Father Lejeune pronounced the funeral oration: Samuel de Champlain merits well of Canada. His death was apparently foreseen, for after the above ceremony while the gathering was still present, letters which had been left in the hands of Father Lejeune by the Company, to be opened after the death of Champlain, were publicly read announcing the appointment by letters patent of the Messieurs de la Compagnie of M. Bras-de-Fer de Chateaufort, the commandant of the young fort at Three Rivers, as acting governor ad interim for Mgr. the Duke of Richelieu, while awaiting the successor of Champlain to be named by the king.

The arrival of the ships from France, the next year, were eagerly looked forward to, albeit with some anxiety, for France being at war with Spain many doubted whether they would arrive, but to their delight they came in greater number than could have been expected, and on the night preceding the eleventh day of June, the new governor nominated by the Company and approved by the king arrived. This was Charles Hualt de Montmagny, Knight of Malta. The reception he received next morning was most imposing. He was met officially at the harbour, and conducted to the chapel of Notre Dame de Recouvrance, and thence to the parish church where a Te Deum was sung with prayers for the king. Then he mounted to the fortress where M. de Chateaufort, the temporary governor, handed over the keys amid the roar of cannon and the salvos of musketry. With M. de Montmagny there arrived a convoy of forty-five colonists—a notable increase. Among these were some families of note such as those of M. de Repentigny and M. de la Potherie. Next year, there came others, with many persons of distinction. A certain element of official dignity now began to prevail. It was de Montmagny's chief work to organize and strengthen the defences of the colony in preparation against the attacks of the Iroquois. At Quebec the governor reinforced the redoubt built by Champlain on the river by a platform and added more cannon to the battery. This new military aspect of the colony is described by the chronicler in the "Relations of the Jesuits for 1636."

"The morning gun (or the beat of the drum at dawn in the garrison) awakens us every morning. We see the sentinels put on post; the guard house is always well manned; each squad has its days of duty. It is a pleasure to see our soldiers at military exercises in the sweet time of peace ... in a word, our fortress of Quebec is guarded in peace so as to be a place of importance, in the heat of war."

With the assistance of M. Chateaufort, reinstated as commandant of the growing fort at Three Rivers, the palisaded stockade there was reinforced with two main buildings, a storehouse and a platform for the cannons. These external signs of power were necessary to impress the natives, both their allies, the Hurons and Algonquins, should they prove treacherous, as well as the fierce Iroquois, the deadly enemies of both. The little garrisons had need to be well prepared for eventualities.

At this time several foundations in the colony were established, by private charity, to Christianize the natives and to encourage them to live a sedentary life and to till the ground. A mission village was built for them by the Jesuits in 1638 at Sillery, on the banks of the St. Lawrence, at a distance of four miles from Quebec, the funds being supplied by the charity of a member of the Hundred Associates, a distinguished commander of Malta, Noël Brulart de Sillery, a former Minister of State. At Three Rivers in 1641 similar action was taken. A third was desired by the missionaries at the Rivière des Prairies at the north of the Island of Montreal, as a central position for missionary effort among the up-country tribes.

Tadoussac was visited by the missionaries from time to time, but was too desolate a spot to attract the natives to dwell there permanently. The Jesuits had thought of establishing themselves at Ile Jésus, for there is an act of August 16, 1638, giving it to them at Three Rivers and signed by Montmagny.

We have seen the establishment of a school for the Indian boys by the Jesuits. We are now to record a similar one for girls, but who should undertake inch a work for them? Two noble ladies of France were to answer this question. The year 1639 saw the arrival at Quebec, on August 1st, of a party of brave ladies whom we may know as the pioneers of all those numerous philanthropic organizations and good works controlled by the devoted women of Canada of today. These were the ladies sent from France by Madame la Duchesse d'Aiguillon, the niece of Cardinal Richelieu, and by Madame de la Peltrie, to assist the struggling colony there.

I will here introduce the reader to what are known as the "Relations." These are a series of letters or reports which were written by the Jesuit missionaries in Nouvelle France, starting from the arrival of Fathers Lalemant and Lejeune and continued long after. They have now been collected and published, and are the most valuable historical sources of this early period. They are written to the superiors of their order in France, sent by the Company's boats, and were the source of encouragement and inspiration to their religious brethren who eagerly read them and desired to follow in their writers' footsteps in the mission field of New France. Many others besides the Jesuits saw these letters. The news contained in them was eagerly looked for by many good ladies and gentlemen of France who were interested in the progress of this romantic settlement among the savages in a far-off land. The birth struggles of the new colony, the devotion and self sacrifices of the pioneers, attracted their imagination and stirred their sympathy and generosity. [35]

In 1634-35 Father Lejeune had written exposing the need of some establishment to take care of the girls abandoned by the Indians and of another for education similar to that, for boys, already constructed. This "Relation" was read by the niece of Cardinal Richelieu, Madame la Duchesse d'Aiguillon, and she wrote to the Jesuits: "God having given me the desire to aid in the salvation of these poor savages, after having read the report you have made of them, it seems to me that what you believe would be of most service to their conversion is the establishment of the Religeuses Hospitalières in New France; in consequence I have resolved to send there this year six labourers to clear the land and construct dwellings for these good ladies."

PAUL LEJEUNE
The first writer in the Jesuit "Relations."

The foundation of a community of Ursuline nuns to undertake the education of the young Indian girls was also similarly inspired this year, by a good lady whose name is associated with the foundation of Montreal. This was Madeleine de Chauvigny, the widow of M. de la Peltrie, a gentleman of means who had died five and a half years previously. Madame de la Peltrie had long felt impelled to the religious life, but had been obliged by her father to marry. Being now free she was anxious to devote her life to good works. But not having decided whether it should be in New France or elsewhere she fell dangerously ill, whereupon she made a vow that if she regained her health she would devote her life and her property to New France. She recovered quickly. It is related that the physician on visiting her, remarked in surprise: "Madame, your illness has fled to Canada." The coincidence of this remark with her own thoughts struck her imagination and her only thought was now to make the necessary preparations.

MADAME DE LA PELTRIE

There was at Tours an Ursuline nun named Mother Marie de l'Incarnation, who was very interested in New France. This was known to Madame de la Peltrie who now approached her so that shortly permission was granted by the Archbishop of Tours to Mother Marie to be joined by Mother Marie de Savonnine de St. Joseph of the same convent, and by Mother Cécile de Ste. Croix from the Ursuline convent of Dieppe. Thus it was that Madame de la Peltrie found herself at Quebec with these three and the three "Hospitalières" sent by Madame d'Aiguillon, viz.: Sisters Marie de St. Ignace, Superior, Anne de St. Bernard and Marie de St. Bonaventure.

VENERABLE MERE MARIE DE L'INCARNATION

We must imagine the religious enthusiasm of the colonists at their arrival and the eagerness with which the two new institutions were begun, that of the hospital at Quebec and of the Ursuline convent at Sillery.

But soon gloom was cast upon the little colony. Money and workmen from the Company in France were needed and they came not. The explanation is that the small sum of 300,000 livres, the original capital subscribed by the One Hundred Associates, was dwindling, the expenses being necessarily great, and the company of ladies and gentlemen composing it, not being as practical as they were pious, so that although they placed the commercial side of their affairs in the hands of traders, these mainly looked after their own interests rather than those of the colony.

The development of the struggling institutions lately mentioned was hindered. To add to the general distress, on the 4th day of June, 1640, a fire quickly consumed the Church of Notre Dame de Recouvrance, the house of the Jesuits and the governor's chapel, which were all of resinous wood.

What a loss this must have been to the handful of colonists who numbered in all in the year 1641 only 200! The mention of this number reminds us of the charter given to the Company in 1627, and the reader is advised to turn back and see how its conditions of colonization have been filled. Outside the three religious communities and the persons engaged in their service, the rest was composed of the servants of the Company engaged in commerce. To add to their other troubles the Iroquois again began their hostilities, declaring war against the French and the Hurons. In the autumn of 1640 they captured two of the French belonging to the garrison of Three Rivers. These were eventually recaptured and the governor, M. de Montmagny, offered terms of peace if they would conclude a universal peace with the Huron allies. During the night, which the Iroquois had demanded to think over this proposition, they treacherously laid plans to fall upon the French next day, in which they were routed, escaping however at night in the shadows of the woods.

Meanwhile news had also arrived of the ill treatment of the Jesuit missionaries, Chaumont, Garnier, Poncet and Pijart, scattered away the Indian tribes. All Quebec was in alarm and consternation, and nowhere was there more fear than at the Indian village under the charge of the Hospitalières sisters at Sillery, four miles from the garrison. Such was the depression in the colony that in 1641 Father Viniont, now superior of the Jesuits in Quebec, wrote home:

"It is going to be destroyed if it is not strongly and quickly succoured. The trade of the Company, the colony of the French and the religion which is now beginning to flourish among the savages, are at the lowest point, if they do not quell the Iroquois. Fifty Iroquois, since the Dutch have given them fire-arms, are capable of driving the 200 colonists out of the country."

It was in these desperate straits that news came of a reinforcement to be sent to the colony; but what must have been their disappointment and misgivings when they realized that the new Company had resolved upon Montreal, sixty leagues away up at the Sault St. Louis, as their rendezvous. And that the projected expedition was determined on definitely, was made clear when the supply of provisions for the new colony arrived at Quebec in 1840, very opportunely, however, for they served for the use of the famished garrison, since the Company of One Hundred Associates had neglected to provide their usual supply.

FOOTNOTE:

[35] The earliest relation was written in 1614; then follows one for 1626; and after a break of six years, they proceed in regular succession from 1632-1672.

CHAPTER V

1640-1641

MONTREAL

THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL [36]

PREVIOUS COLONIZATION REVIEWED—MONTREAL CEDED TO SIEUR DE CHAUSSEE IN 1636 AND LATER TO DE LAUSON—THE DESIGN OF THE SETTLEMENT OF MONTREAL ENTERS THE MIND OF M. DE LA DAUVERSIERE—THE FIRST ASSOCIATES OF THE COMPANY OF NOTRE DAME DE MONTREAL—THE CESSION OF THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL TO THEM IN 1640—THE RELIGIOUS NATURE OF THE NEW COLONIZING COMPANY—TRADING FACILITIES CRIPPLED—POLITICAL DEPENDENCE ON QUEBEC SAFEGUARDED—M. OLIER FOUNDS THE CONGREGATION OF ST. SULPICE IN PARIS IN VIEW OF THE MONTREAL MISSION—PREPARATIONS FOR THE FOUNDATION AND ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FULLY ORGANIZED SETTLEMENT OF "VILLA MARIE"—PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE CHOSEN AS LOCAL GOVERNOR—THE CALL OF JEANNE MANCE TO FOUND THE HOTEL-DIEU—THE EXPEDITION STARTS—MAISONNEUVE ARRIVES AT QUEBEC—THE FIRST CLASH OF THE GOVERNORS—MONTMAGNY OFFERS THE ISLE OF ORLEANS FOR THE NEW SETTLEMENT—MAISONNEUVE IS FIRM FOR THE ISLAND OF MONTREAL—THE FIRST FORMAL POSSESSION OF MONTREAL AT PLACE ROYALE—WINTER AT ST. MICHEL AND STE. FOY—FRICTION BETWEEN THE RIVAL GOVERNORS.

The survey of the colonization of New France up to 1641 shows that it had been singularly unfruitful. The government of France had never been more than lukewarm after Cartier's voyages. He had given a poor account of the climate of the country, and the loss of a quarter of his crew from scurvy must have confirmed it. Roberval sent on a government expedition, lost fifty of his company and thereafter the private companies all had their disasters from famine and disease to record, beginning with that of Chauvin's, who, having left sixteen men at Tadoussac for the winter, found eleven there on his return.

Were it not for the insatiable desire for commercial gain, through fur monopolies, Canada would have been utterly deserted. There were no industries developed to attract colonists. There had been no gold mines or other treasures exploited to create rushes into a new and harsh country, such as that of the Yukon of late years.

Agriculture, under difficult circumstances, and unsupported by government, or by the companies pledged to encourage it, had also failed. At the end of little more than one hundred years after Jacques Cartier's visit to the St. Lawrence there were only 200 Frenchmen near its waters. Of these about a hundred were fur traders, and their employees, at once furriers and soldiers; and the rest for the greater part were the religious, of three institutions, and their dependents.

As a further anti-colonizing influence, there was to be reckoned with, the love of the French for their own land. The traveler and historian, Lescarbot, himself a Frenchman and a good colonist, speaking of colonizing had said: "If we fail, we must attribute it partly to ourselves who are located in too goodly a land to wish to leave it, and need be in no fear of finding a subsistence therein."

The same sentiment had prevailed up to 1641. But there had been one element alone, which can justly claim to have had some lasting influence and success in the colonizing movement, and that had been the spirit of religious adventure fostered by Champlain, which made the small garrison of Quebec into a small, but not insignificant or undignified, centre of colonization.

We are to see this same desire to bear the light of Christianity and civilization, as the prime moving force of the new movement to settle in Canada, animating the founders of the new Company of Montreal, which is now to appear.

Hence it is necessary to read into the story of the foundation of Montreal that of the heroism of virtue and of high purpose, of spiritual and physical endurance.

We have followed the history of Montreal from its discovery by Jacques Cartier in 1535, to the coming of Champlain in 1603, and his choice in 1611 of La Place Royale as the site of a future settlement, ratified by him and others for a period of many years. Still the site of the port at the Grand Sault had never become more than an annual trading port towards which it was the aim of the traders to push, at the opening of navigation, to meet the natives at this most convenient spot at the end of the Ottawa Valley.

It was reserved for the new Company of Montreal, by the powers given it by their charter granted on December 17, 1640, to put this long cherished idea of a permanent settlement into realization.

The various steps leading to this must now be traced. We have seen that the Company of New France, that of the Hundred Associates or Partners, was in possession of the country from 1627. Among other powers the Associates had the privilege of making certain concessions, but it was not until the death of Champlain, anticipated as we have seen during the two months' illness and more before it occurred on Christmas day, 1635, that the privilege seems to have been used under the following circumstances.

THE FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL. THE FIRST ASSOCIATES OF THE COMPANY OF MONTREAL.
(A bas relief from the Maisonneuve Monument by Philippe Hébert)

We have seen that Champlain had clearly meditated a settlement at Montreal and no doubt meant to make it his own headquarters. Circumstances had not allowed him to pursue his design. His important position at Quebec since had left him little leisure for that in the troublous times following. Still it is curious to note that his fortifications placed on Ile Ronde in 1611 seemed to have given him a lien on the site of Montreal, for we hear of no private person being granted it till after his death in December, 1635. It is only on the 15th of January, following, that such a transaction is announced at the annual meeting of the Hundred Associates in Paris, held in the house of M. Jean de Lauson, the intendant of the Company.

In the edict of the establishment of this Company, in order to facilitate the exercise of his functions, the king had ordered, that as the whole of the members could not be expected to participate in the active administration of its affairs, a dozen of them could be elected directors with sole and full power under the presidency of the intendant to buy, sell and distribute the lands.

In order to limit the powers of this executive, the eleventh article of the edict declared that no concession of land exceeding two hundred arpents could be valid, without the signature of twenty of the Associates made in the presence of the intendant of the Company.

M. Lauson had been named intendant since 1627, being at that time Councillor of State and President of the Great Council. At the annual meeting of the Associates, on January 15, 1636, some most important concessions were granted which affect Montreal. M. Jacques Gérard, Chevalier, Sieur de la Chaussée, made application in due form for the Island of Montreal. Sieur Simon le Maitre made application for the seigneury, afterwards called de Lauson, and another, Jacques Castillon, for that part of the Isles of Orleans called hereafter the Seigneurie de Charny, after the name of one of de Lauson's sons. These concessions were granted and signed by de Lauson as the intendant. Shortly afterward when de Lauson relinquished the post of intendant, these three, who were his friends, and had lent their names for his purpose, transferred the properties to him. Indeed in the act of April 30, 1638, by which M. de Chaussée ceded the "Ile de Montréal" he expressly says that he had accepted it only to give de Lauson pleasure and to lend his name. At the same meeting several other concessions were put through in behalf of the eldest son of de Lauson, viz.: with the reserve of the islands of Montreal and Orleans, all the other islands formed by the River St. Lawrence, and the exclusive right of fishing and navigation of the whole extent of this river. Finally, as if these islands, without number, were not sufficient, the same eldest son received more than sixty leagues of land facing the River St. Lawrence, beginning from the River St. Francis, on Lake St. Pierre, and reaching up the river to above Sault St. Louis. This concession, known hereafter under the name of La Citière, comprised, according to the deed of possession July 29, 1636, a part of the territory now belonging to the United States—the whole little lot making what would have been a European kingdom. Certainly M. de Lauson was feathering his nest and that of his children before giving up the intendancy. There was the obligation, however, which the Company placed on the above persons that they should send men to the relief of the colony. This was evidently looked upon as a legal formality, of no serious moment. Similar clauses had been inserted in so many New France company charters already and this could be equally disregarded, as it was. However, this illegal omission of duty was made use of, later, as we shall see, when these concessions were annulled and revoked by the Company of One Hundred Associates by their ordinance of December 17, 1640.

The design of the settlement of the Island of Montreal, however, was soon to enter into the mind of a pious, enthusiastic, and some would say, visionary person, M. Jérome le Royer Sieur de la Dauversière, a "receveur général des finances" at La Flèche in Anjou.

JEROME LE ROYER DE LA DAUVERSIERE
Founder of the La Flèche Hospitalières to serve the Hôtel Dieu at Montreal.

The Abbé Faillon relates the conception of this design as occurring to the devout M. de la Dauversière when present at mass with his wife and children on February 2, the feast of the Purification, 1635 or 1636, when, after having received holy communion, he became convinced that it was his duty to establish an order of lady Hospitalières, to take St. Joseph as their patron; to establish in Montreal a Hôtel-Dieu to be directed by these nuns; that the Holy Family should be particularly honoured in this island; that the effect of this inspiration was a revelation to him, as he had never conceived the project before, even remotely; and, moreover, his knowledge of Montreal had hitherto been as vague as that of Canada.

But Dollier de Casson, who was afterwards the parish priest of Montreal, an old-time soldier, a learned and pious, but practical man, although a great believer in Providence, gives a less mystical account in his history of Montreal written from 1672 to 1673.

There he relates the origin of the design of the establishment of Montreal as due to the reading of one of the "Jesuit Relations," which had fallen into de la Dauversière's hands. There the writer spoke strongly of the Island of Montreal as being the most suitable place in the country for the purpose of establishing a mission and receiving the savages. In reading this, M. de la Dauversière was at once much touched.

He became enthusiastic and already saw the vision of a French colony settled at Montreal christianizing the natives. Montreal seems to have so obsessed his mind that he was never tired of speaking of it, depicting its position, the geography of its location, its beauty, its fertility, its size, with such minuteness and vividness, that all who heard him felt that he had been directly inspired with this knowledge, for little was known of Montreal owing to the wars which had left so little opportunity for exploring it well, that it was with difficulty that even a rough idea of it could be furnished. De la Dauversière saw himself called to give himself up to the conversion of the savages; but still doubtful as to whether this idea was from God or not, he betook himself to his Jesuit friend and confessor, Father Chauveau, rector of the college at La Flèche.

"Have no doubt, Monsieur," was the reply. "Engage in it in good earnest."

There was then at La Flèche under the roof of M. de la Dauversière, a gentleman of ample means who had come to live with him "as in a school of piety so as to learn to serve our Lord better," This was M. Pierre Chevrier, Baron de Fancamp, who afterwards forsook the world and joined the new order of secular priests under the name of the "Seminary of St. Sulpice."

According to Dollier de Casson, M. Fancamp had also read with similar emotion the same account which had influenced his friend. On his return from the "Jesuits" M. de la Dauversière immediately related the reply he had received and forthwith M. le Baron offered to associate himself with him in his design and they both resolved to go to Paris together to form some charitable body which should be ready to contribute to the enterprise. A dramatic meeting took place there. [37] "M. de la Dauversière," so says Dollier de Casson, "betook himself to a mansion whither our lord conducted M. Olier." This is the celebrated M. Olier who was afterwards the founder of the Seminary of St. Sulpice in Paris and, indirectly, that of Montreal.

M. JEAN-JACQUES OLIER
Founder of Saint Sulpice in Paris and Montreal.

Dollier de Casson continues: "These two servants of Jesus Christ meeting in this mansion, were on a sudden enlightened by a heavenly and altogether extraordinary gleam. They forthwith saluted one another and embraced. They knew one another to the very depths of their souls, like St. Francis and St. Dominic, without speaking, without anyone having said a word to either of them, and without having previously seen one another. After these tender embraces M. Olier said to M. Dauversière:

"I know your design. I am going to recommend it to God at the holy altar."

This said, he left them and went to say holy mass, which M. Dauversière heard, with a devotion altogether difficult to express when the mind is not aglow with the same fire that consumed these great men. Thanksgiving over, M. Olier gave M. de la Dauversière one hundred pistoles, saying to him: "Take this then to commence the work of God!" Thus the first interview ended.

Dollier de Casson leaves his readers to imagine with what joy and eagerness this news is received by the "dear Baron le Fancamp." This M. Fancamp afterwards became a priest and joined Dollier de Casson at Montreal and no doubt he had told the first historian of Ville Marie his story himself per longum et latum. Three new associates, friends of M. Olier, were induced to finance the new venture, of whom the first was the Baron de Renty, a man of admirable qualities, pious and filled with apostolic zeal. These six, forming the nucleus of the Société de Notre Dame de Montréal, determined to fit out an expedition to embark in the spring of 1641.

But as yet they had no claim on the Island of Montreal. As we have learned, this had been ceded to M. de la Chaussée in 1636 and transferred to M. de Lauson in 1638, who had become the intendant of Dauphigny where he was now residing. With daring boldness M. de la Dauversière and M. de Fancamp, journeyed to Vienne in Dauphigny to arrange terms with him for the cession of the island to them. De Lauson had not colonized it, or carried out any of the conditions requiring its being tilled, but he was not easily disposed to relinquish what was a valuable possession for the advancement of his family, the more so as he learned that his interests were jeopardized by the new company. He therefore refused to discuss the question.

A second attempt and visit were made, this time with success, for M. de la Dauversière had secured in the meantime the powerful co-operation of Father Charles Lalemant, who had been the first Jesuit superior of the Canadian missions, having been sent out in 1621.

Lalemant knew Canada well and had great influence with the Company of the Hundred Associates. He had been superior of the church of Notre Dame de Recouvrance in Quebec, as well as Champlain's confessor, and had had naturally many official relations with M. de Lauson in his capacity as intendant of the company. As he was held in great esteem by M. de Lauson, Father Lalemant, who since his return from Canada two years before was now the procurator of the missions of the society, was a powerful advocate for the cession.

Accordingly the cession was granted by deed dated Vienne, August 7, 1640, to Pierre Chevrier, écuyer, Sieur de Fancamp, and Jérome de Royer, Sieur de la Dauversière. This declares "that M. Jean de Lauson cedes, has given and transferred, purely and simply the Island of Montreal, situated on the River St. Lawrence, above Lake St. Peter, entirely as it was given by the gentlemen of the Company of New France to M. de la Chaussée for them and theirs to enjoy, having regard to the same duties and conditions expressed in the act of the fifteenth of January, 1636."

A second contract was signed, the same afternoon, by which "M. de Lauson as much in his own name as the legitimate administrator for Francis de Lauson, écuyer, Sieur de Lyrée, his son, yields to them the right of navigation and passage on all the extent of the River St. Lawrence as well as the right of fishing in this river, within ten leagues around the Island of Montreal and that in consideration of the great number of men which they are to cause to pass into this island to people the colony and to aid to till the lands adjoining those of the said Sieur de Lyrée, with the duty of giving him each year six pounds of fish, as a token of simple acknowledgment."

In December following the general assembly of the Company of the Hundred Associates or the "Société de Nouvelle France" was held in Paris in the house of M. Bordier, secretary of His Majesty's council and a former director of the Company.

The whole project of the establishment of the new company for Montreal was discussed and its conclusions drawn up in a deed of concession, to M. de Fancamp and M. de la Dauversière, dated December 17, 1640. It annulled and revoked all the concessions granted by the act of the Company dated January 15, 1636, to M. de Chaussée as well as the concessions and transferences made thereafter of the same "pretended rights," the whole being null and revoked through failure of the execution of the conditions imposed within the time ordered. In the perusal of this act we can see the relations of the two companies. That of the Associates of Montreal is clearly regarded as a purely religious body anxious to aid the parent body in its very great desire to establish a strong colony in New France to instruct the savage peoples of that place in the knowledge of God and to draw them to civilized life. Thus they are very ready to grant them lands to aid in this praiseworthy enterprise, to wit: etc., which are clearly defined. In granting this they restricted the concession originally made to M. de Chaussée of the whole island by reserving to themselves the head of the island by a line drawn from the Rivière des Prairies up to Lake St. Louis to the distance of about four leagues from the mountain. In compensation they granted what afterwards became known as la Seigneurie de St. Sulpice.

"Moreover, an extent of land two leagues wide along the River St. Lawrence by six leagues deep in the aforesaid lands, to be taken on the north side of the same bank where the Assumption River empties into the said St. Lawrence River, and to begin at a post which will be planted on that same bank at a distance of two leagues from the mouth of the same Assumption River, the rest of the said two leagues of frontage to be taken in a direction running towards the said St. Lawrence River; whatever lies between the Rivière des Prairies and Assumption River and between Assumption River and the above mentioned fort, being reserved to the said company proposing to set up thereon later as forts and habitations."—Edits et Ord., Quebec, p. 21.

The object of the above restriction is clear. The Company of New France was primarily a trading concern and it wished to secure its rights to the north of Montreal as a trading centre for which it was so well adapted by nature, as it was the natural goal of all the Indian peltry from beyond the Sault. It reserved rights therefore to build forts and habitations there.

It next outlined the political and municipal position of the future colony in respect to the Company. The Sieurs Chevrier (de Fancamp), de la Dauversière and their successors were obliged, to show their faith and homage, to take to the fort St. Louis at Quebec in New France, or other place afterwards designated by the Company, at each change of possessor, as payment, a piece of gold of the weight of one ounce stamped with the seal of the Company of New France; to present besides other signs of acknowledgments of feudal tenure; even to furnish their aveux et dénombrement, [38] the whole in conformity with the custom of Paris,—a land tenure system which prevailed for so long afterward in Canada.

In the matter of Justice, dependence was to be placed on the Sovereign Court which was to be established at Quebec or otherwise, to which appeal could be made from the local judges appointed by the Montreal Company.

Montreal was, thus, crippled beforehand, in its trade extension. The fur trade with the Indians was only allowed as far as the need and use of private persons were concerned. All peltry, over and above this, was to be handed over to the agents of the Company of New France at a price fixed by it, on the pain of confiscation. Montreal's pretensions to future independence were guarded against, by it being forbidden to build any fortress or citadel, this privilege being reserved to the Company should it afterward desire land for these forts and for the settlement and housings of the officers and men around them. In case the Company desired a fort on the mountain, it required five arpents around it, etc. Nevertheless the seigneurs of Montreal might retrench or fortify themselves as much as necessary to protect themselves against the incursions of the savages.

Further limitations were placed on the sources of future population. No grants of land were to be given to those already settled in New France, at Quebec, Three Rivers or elsewhere, but only to those who came expressly to people the lands. In order to insure this, the Seigneurs Chevrier and le Royer were to send a number of men by the next shipment made by the Company.

Finally after the clause annulling the gift of de Lauson as stated above, the document gives order to M. de Montmagny, the governor, to put the said seigneurs in possession of the lands.

Throughout this document there is no mention of the "Company of Montreal." The deed is made out to the two named and to their successors, but it was evidently understood that these were acting for others with no other pretension than belonging to a number of associates of the "Company of Montreal." [39]

Let us return to M. Olier. At the time we are speaking of, this young priest, a man of less than twenty-eight years of age, was a missionary for the country people. He had returned from these to Paris to take a decision on a most important subject, which was, whether or not he should accept the episcopal see of a pious prelate who had been urging its acceptance by him for over eighteen months.

On the feast of the Purification, February 2, 1636, with this need for decision on his mind, M. Olier having retired to the abbey church of St. Germaies-Prés to seek in prayer the solution to his perplexity, believed that he had received a supernatural light.

"Having prayed for some time," he relates in after years, "at morning prayer I heard these words, 'you need to consume yourself in me, so that I may work my whole will in you; and I wish that you may be a light to illumine the Gentiles; lumen ad revelationem Gentium.'"

This appeared to him a clear call to refuse the offer of the episcopate, which was not among the Gentiles.

At this same time his spiritual director, Père de Coudreu, the general of the Oratorians, and the holy St. Vincent de Paul, were also thinking out Olier's decision for him. On this same day, then, Père de Coudreu's decision that he ought to renounce the episcopacy coming to Olier, he believed that it was his mission to remain a simple priest, and go at once to Canada to be allied to the Gentiles there. With difficulty he is restrained by his director. He is all aglow with zeal, he prays God, as his autobiographical memoirs tell, "to send me to Montreal in Canada, where they should build the first chapel, under the title of the Ever-Blessed Virgin and a Christian town under the name of Ville Marie, which is a work of marvelous importance."

Olier retired towards the end of 1641, to the Village of Vaugiraud, where he surrounded himself with some young ecclesiastics who placed themselves under his direction. [40] Thus he founded the Seminary of St. Sulpice, the early fruits of which were directed towards Canada. Thus we shall see, that through his sons, he became the lumen ad revelationem of his prayers. M. Olier is therefore to be considered one of the founders of Canada as he is already one of the first three associates who are to form the new company of Notre Dame de Montréal.

M. Fancamp must shortly have been introduced to Olier, for we learn that conjointly with M. Olier he sent out to Quebec in 1640, twenty tons of provisions and tools, begging the Jesuit superior of the mission to hold them in reserve for the reinforcement they proposed to send to Montreal the year following before commencing the projected establishment.

It can but be said that the concession of the Great Company was liberal and well meaning. Indeed the same day of the concession, December 17, 1640, it engaged itself to transport on its own vessels at its own expense, thirty men chosen by the Messieurs de Montréal as well as thirty tons of provisions destined for their sustenance; also to write to M. de Montmagny to give them two sites, one at the port of Quebec and the other at Three Rivers, where they might house their provisions in safety.

Great preparations were now the order of the day. Exhaustive plans were prepared for the gradual development of the Colony of Montreal, year by year ahead. Rarely has any settlement ever been thought out so completely. It had the experience of the Colony of Quebec to fall back upon. Quebec had its three organized institutions, its clergy residence, its hospital and its school for the young savages. Ville Marie should have its similar ones. In the place of the Jesuits it should have a community of resident secular priests. This was not to oust the Jesuits, who consented to this from the beginning, as they wished to follow their vocation to evangelize the country far and wide, the constitution of their order not designing them to be parish priests. In the meantime they undertook to look after the spiritual needs of the young settlement from their headquarters at Quebec. The plan for the personnel to take charge of the other institutions had not yet matured.

Documents, in the archives of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, at Paris, relating to this period, show the fervour of those now planning "by the goodness of God to see in a short time a new church arise which shall imitate the purity and the charity of the primitive church."

The Associates, being in the necessity of sending out their first consignment of men according to their agreement, it became necessary to choose a governor, dignified, brave and wise, and a good Christian, a man to command against the attacks of the fierce Iroquois and to build up the civil life of the community. How the choice fell upon Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve, a gentleman of Champagne, must now be told. Here we follow Dollier de Casson and contemporary chroniclers. Paul de Chomedey, though still young, being commonly thought to be within his fortieth year, had followed the career of arms since his thirteenth year, and had given the first proofs of his courage in the war against the Dutch. Amid the dissipations of a soldier's life, Colonel de Maisonneuve had retained his probity and purity unsullied. He loved his profession, but he often desired to exercise it in some far-off country, where the gaieties and distractions in which he now found himself a solitary man should not be forced upon him, so that he might serve God more easily, and remain faithful to his high purposes. Thus he was in the world but not of it. De Chomedey had a sister to whom he was devoted, a member of the Congregation of Notre Dame at Troyes, that ancient birthplace of warriors, poets and saints, on the Seine. This good woman, they say, desired to partake of the romantic and apostolic life of the Ursulines Hospitalières at Quebec, as related by the Jesuits in their letters then being printed and circulated in France. Doubtless by her whole-souled enthusiasm she had already turned her brother's thoughts in the same direction of self-sacrifice.

In the dispositions, happening while visiting the house of a friend, to put his hand by chance upon a copy of these "Relations," in turning over the leaves he came across the name of Father Lalemant, the former superior of the Canadian missions, whom he knew to be now in Paris. The thought came to him that perhaps he might find congenial occupation in Canada. Thereupon visiting the good Jesuit, he opened his heart to him.

About this same time M. de la Dauversière called upon Father Lalemant and told him of the difficulty of the Associates in finding a suitable leader for their enterprise.

"I know," said Lalemant, "a gentleman of Champagne who perhaps will suit your purpose," and he advocated the qualities of his recent visitor. He told M. de la Dauversière of the address of Maisonneuve's hôtel. Desirous of becoming acquainted with Maisonneuve, M. Dauversière took up his abode there also, and sought an early opportunity of becoming casually acquainted with him at table. In order to sound him, he placed before the guests his embarrassment in the choice of a leader of his expedition. M. de Maisonneuve apparently did not manifest more interest than his fellow guests at table, but on rising he took M. de la Dauversière aside and invited him to his apartment. When alone, Maisonneuve told him frankly of his interest in the conversation at table. He explained in addition to his own experience in arms, that he had a yearly income of 2,000 livres. "I have no view of personal interest. I can live on my revenue, which is sufficient for me, and I would glad-heartedly employ my purse and my life in this new enterprise, with no other ambition but that of serving God and the King, in my profession." If his services were agreeable to the Company he would gladly command the expedition himself, and was ready to start at once.

It is needless to say that such a man was a God-send to the six associates who had only 25,000 écus, according to Dollier de Casson, but 50,000, according to Mother Jucherau in her history of the Hôtel-Dieu of Quebec. Preparations were made for departure. The King, in confirming the cession of Montreal, had given power to name its governors and to have artillery and other munitions of war. M. Maisonneuve was appointed governor and he was charged, together with M. de Fancamp, to prepare the equipment of provisions and implements, etc., and to find only unmarried men, strong and able, to till the ground, or to work at different trades, and to bear arms against the Iroquois. M. de Maisonneuve had some difficulty in persuading his father to give his consent to his departure. Paul was the only son, and the only hope of his noble and ancient family, and could he wreck his career? Paul assured him that on the contrary his reputation lay before him in the new country. At last the father gave his willing consent.

PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE

To Troyes Paul de Chomedey then journeyed to bid adieux to his sister, Madame de Chuly, and to Sœur Louise de Marie, his other sister, at the convent. There he had to refuse the offer of four of the nuns to accompany him, to emulate at Montreal the example of the Ursulines of Quebec. But judging the time not yet ripe for such an institution at Ville Marie, he gave a promise that when it should be more peopled he would employ them. His sister wrote on a statue, which they gave him to take away as a pledge of their mutual engagement, this inscription in letters of gold

"Sainte mère de Dieu, pure vierge au cœur loyal,

Gardez-nous une place en votre Montréal."

The spring had come; the expedition was ready to depart from Rochelle, but the mother of the future colony was wanting. These hardy men needed the solicitude and refining influence of a woman in their midst.

The call of Jeanne Mance to fill this rôle is full of romance. This devoted lady was then about thirty-three years of age, having been born towards the year 1606 at Nogent-le-Roi, about four leagues from Langres, of one of the most honourable families of the district. She was a modest girl, of great virtue, who from an early age had taken a vow of perpetual chastity, but although she never entered the religious life, she always nevertheless remained an unmarried lay woman. Towards the middle of April of 1640 she had heard for the first time of the devotedness of Madame de la Peltrie, who had just taken the Ursulines to Quebec, and of the generosity of the Duchesse d'Aiguillon, who had founded the house for the "Hospitalières." Though of frail health, yet she had a daring spirit that dominated her soul so that a strong attraction for a like sacrifice came to her. She, too, would offer her services for Canada. Seeking advice she was told to seek Father Lalemant in Paris. Thither she went from Langres on May 30th. She saw Father Lalemant, but the future of the foundation of Montreal was then uncertain, and he was then going to Dauphigny with M. Dauversière to see M. de Lauson, as related. He could give no decided advice.

JEANNE MANCE
Administratrix of the first hospital in Montreal.

Jeanne now consulted Father de St. Jure, the rector of the novitiate of the Society of Jesus in Paris. He confirmed her in her vocation, and she now acquainted her reluctant relatives with her firm intention of going to the mission field of Canada. That winter, in Paris, she visited Père Rapin, provincial of the Recollects, who entering into her designs, introduced her to Madame de Bullion, a rich and charitable lady, the widow of Claude de Bullion, the superintendent of finance and keeper of the seals under Louis XIII. He was a rich man, very worldly, clever and courageous, but he had a good heart and had endowed a hospital for the Franciscan Cordeliers, and in which he had died on the night of December 22-23, 1640, leaving behind him four sons and one daughter.

When Jeanne Mance called upon the surviving widow, a few weeks later, there was laid the foundations of a life-long friendship. At Jeanne's fourth visit, Madame de Bullion asked her if she could undertake the charge of a hospital which she had herself resolved to found in New France, when opportunity occurred.

The remembrance of her frail health now made Jeanne recoil before such a responsibility. Still, though she feared that she could not be of much service in this regard, she left herself in the hands of God. Nothing more was then settled. Jeanne was still determined to reach the vessels soon about to start for New France, and on calling on Madame de Bullion to take leave before departing to embark this good lady gave her a purse of 1200 livres to help her in her good work, with a pledge of more to come, when Jeanne should have arrived at her destination and had written an account of the state of affairs, as she found them, regarding the foundation of a hospital. For many years Madame de Bullion's name remained a secret to the colonists. Jeanne Mance was even instructed to write to her, under cover of the name of Père Rapin.

Neither Jeanne nor her benefactress then knew of the venture of Montreal. This she did not learn till visiting the Jesuit La Place at Rochelle, where she met the Baron de Fancamp who told her of its details. The following day, Jeanne Mance met M. de la Dauversière, whose enthusiasm made her resolve to accept his offer and that of the Associates, to join the Montreal expedition. While they were waiting to sail she begged M. de la Dauversière to put the plan of the new venture into writing and to give her copies so that she might send one with a letter in her own handwriting to Madame la Princesse de Condé, to Madame la Chancelière, and, above all, to Madame de Bullion. These parcels M. de la Dauversière took with him back to Paris, with fruitful result.

All was now ready, and one of the ships had set sail. The carpenter, upon whom they relied so much, had deserted, but on putting the vessel back, luckily another was found on shore willing to go.

Jeanne Mance was now on her vessel. [41] Her only anxiety was that she should be the only woman at the new settlement of Montreal, among a good-hearted but rough body of men. Shortly before this a circumstance occurred at Dieppe, whence the other ships of the expedition were embarking, which gave her great joy. Two of the workmen engaged were found to be married men, and on their refusing to go without their wives, their condition had been accepted. In addition a young and virtuous girl of Dieppe, seized with a sudden desire to join the expedition, had forced her way on to the ship, against all opposition. She too was accepted for Montreal, and Mademoiselle Mance not only would have companions but she would find in the young girl a faithful assistant to nurse the sick at Ville Marie.

The expedition was divided into three ships. On one was M. de Maisonneuve with about twenty-five, including a priest, M. Antoine Fauls, destined for the Ursulines at Quebec. On the second was Jeanne Mance and a dozen men for Montreal with the Jesuit, Father La Place. The third ship had sailed ahead from Dieppe with the three women spoken of and ten men. These were the first to arrive at Quebec and they set to work to build a store at the water's edge, at the spot directed by M. de Montmagny, the governor. The vessel bearing Jeanne Mance reached Quebec on August 8, 1641; that of M. de Maisonneuve did not arrive till August 20th. After having sailed for eight days together, the vessels were separated by the wind, for the rest of the voyage.

Great as was the joy at receiving Mademoiselle Mance at the garrison, the delay of M. de Maisonneuve, while causing his friends uneasiness and apprehension, gave many of the Great Company's agents at Quebec an opportunity of further criticising the "foolhardy enterprise" (la folle entreprise) of Les Messieurs de Montréal, so inauspiciously begun.

At last Maisonneuve's vessel arrived, sadly leaking and battered by the winds which had made him thrice put back to France, causing him to lose on the occasions three or four of his men, one of them, a most needed man for the settlement, his surgeon. Arriving, however, at Tadoussac, the undaunted Maisonneuve met M. de Courpon, the admiral of the fleet of the Company of New France, one of his intimate friends. M. de Courpon offered his own surgeon and this man straightway gaily accepting, put his belongings on board. Against all expectation Maisonneuve's vessel sailed into Quebec on August 20th. [42]

On arriving at Quebec, Maisonneuve must have found himself the centre of anxious thoughts and criticisms. Jeanne Mance would have told him of this. He would soon gauge public opinion on his official visits.

It would have been the governor of Quebec that Maisonneuve visited first. To Governor Montmagny, the position of Maisonneuve was, at least, strange. Quebec was designed to be the seat of government as the act of December 17, 1640, had clearly marked out. Montreal was to derive her power from it. Yet Maisonneuve came with the governor's commission for Montreal and power from the King himself, to have artillery, munitions of war and soldiers, and a right to appoint officers of the future colony on a basis of home rule. Both men must have scented a future clash at Montreal. Yet hostility must not be read too quickly into Montmagny's action. He was a gentleman and a broadminded man although he was one of those who thought the expedition "a foolish enterprise." Dollier de Casson has recorded the result of this interview. Montmagny's words were:

"You know that the war with the Iroquois has recommenced, and that they declared it last month at Lake St. Peter, in a fashion that makes them appear more active than ever against us. You cannot then, reasonably, think of settling in a place so far removed from Quebec as Montreal. You must change your resolution; if you wish it, you will be given the Island of Orleans, instead. Besides, the season would be too advanced for you to be able to settle at Montreal before the winter, even had you thought of so doing."

M. Maisonneuve's reply was dignified and calm.

"What you say sir, would be good, if they had sent me to Canada to deliberate on the choice of a suitable post, but the Company which sends me, having determined that I shall go to Montreal, my honour is at stake, and you will not take it ill that I proceed thither to start a colony. But owing to the season being so far advanced, you will take it kindly if I am satisfied to go with the more active young men, to reconnoitre this post before winter, so as to see in what place I can encamp next spring with all my party."

Maisonneuve's next visit would have been to the clergy represented by Father Vimont, superior of the Jesuits. Strong in influence with the Company, his views are worth recording. For this we must fall back on the "Relations." The Jesuits in France had promoted the new settlement of Montreal. In the past the writers of the "Relations" had foreseen the need of utilizing the position at the Sault for a permanent centre for religious activities, and this meant a settled garrison to withstand the inroads of the fury and impetuosity of the Iroquois. Yet of late, the perilous position of the tottering garrison of Quebec had been so patent that they felt that concentration was the policy of the hour. As a result of the interview Father Vimont wrote this year to France: "We have received pleasure at the sight of the gentlemen of Montreal because their design, if it is successful, is entirely to the Glory of our God. M. de Maisonneuve, who commands these men, has arrived so late that he will have wisdom enough, not to ascend higher than Quebec for this year; but God grant that the Iroquois close not the way, when there is question of advancing further.... Some one will say," he continues, "this enterprise is full of expense and difficulties; these gentlemen will find mountains where they expect to find valleys. I will not say to these gentlemen that they will find the roads strewn with roses; the cross, suffering, and great outlays are the foundation stones of the house of God.... But patience will put the last touch to this great work."

We may imagine de Maisonneuve's conversation with this serious sympathizer would have been on these lines and his courage would not have been diminished.

In spite of de Maisonneuve's firm resolution, Montmagny still hoped to win him over. He called a meeting of the principal inhabitants to consider the position. It was a question of concentration or disintegration—the Island of Orleans under the shadow of Quebec; or Montreal, 180 miles away in advance of civilization, at the mercy of the hostile Iroquois? It was a serious question for "la colonie française."

When the meeting assembled, and before anything had been decided, de Maisonneuve spoke like a man of courage and one accustomed to the profession of a soldier. He explained that he had not come to settle in the Island of Orleans, but to lay the foundation of a town on the Island of Montreal, and that even should this project be more perilous than they had told him it was, he would carry it on, should it cost him his life. "I am not come to deliberate," he concluded, "but to act. Were all the trees on the Island of Montreal to be changed into so many Iroquois it is a point of duty and honour for me to go there and establish a colony."

The meeting broke up without any further deliberation. The clear and courageous expression of the governor of Montreal had won the day.

Dollier de Casson tells us that Montmagny was gained over by this straight-forward speech. He was a Chevalier of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a soldier and a gentleman. He put no further opposition, but was anxious to put the governor of Montreal in possession of his post according to the instructions from his Company.

On October 10th, he, himself, with Father Vimont and others, left Quebec, and arrived with de Maisonneuve at Montreal, on October 14th. The customary formalities of taking possession were concluded on October 15th. The site chosen was that we know as La Place Royale.

On his way down to Quebec, de Maisonneuve stayed a day with a venerable old man, M. Pierre de Puiseaux, Sieur de Montrenault, who had built a house at a post called Ste. Foy. This house, as well as that of St. Michel, at which Madame de la Peltrie was living, he generously offered to Maisonneuve, together with all his farm stock and furniture, for the use of the expedition. This unexpected gift Maisonneuve accepted only conditionally on its acceptance being ratified by the Company of Montreal. The offer of St. Michel, [43] which was then considered the bijou house of Canada, was most opportune for M. de Maisonneuve, besides having quarters for the winter time for Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance, Madame de la Peltrie, who had associated herself with the Montreal project, and himself, might with M. de Puiseaux superintend the necessary preparations for the voyage, while at Ste. Foy, at which he had left the surgeon and the carpenters, the oaks were being cut down, and barks were being constructed large enough to carry the party and all their effects to Montreal.

Meanwhile, the care of the stores for all the Montreal party, during this winter of 1641-2, was under the skillful management of Jeanne Mance, who endeared herself to all. Moreover the colonists learned to know one another and their future governor, who went among them day by day, encouraged them. It seemed already Montreal. Soon de Maisonneuve's feast day, the Conversion of St. Paul, coming round on January 25th, Paul de Chomedey gave his men a little feast in honour of the occasion. The men fired salutes from the artillery they had brought.

Nearby, in Quebec, the noise of the cannon was heard. Its governor, touchy for his official prerogatives, interpreted this as an infringement of his dignity, and he caused Jean Gorry, who had fired the cannon, to be seized and imprisoned. On the first day of February Jean Gorry being now released, Maisonneuve gave a feast and paid particular honour to the unfortunate Jean. The governor of Montreal knew that Montmagny had exceeded his power, but it was not then the time to provoke an open quarrel.

Montmagny heard of this second exploit and summoned several of Maisonneuve's men, who had been present at the feast, to testify on oath what had happened. The affair blew over, and the governors resumed pleasant relations, probably because Montmagny found that he was in the wrong and had read a petty challenge in the harmless salute which was quite permissible under the commission, given by the king to the governor of Montreal, for his men to bear arms. Still this incident is significant and worth recording, in view of the friction and jealousy to arise between the future governors of the rival cities of Quebec and Montreal.

FOOTNOTES:

[36] Ville Marie is the name of the town appearing in all the official documents till 1705, when for the first time that of Montreal appears. Montreal, in the form of the "Island of Montreal," had, however, been used long before. The document containing the transition from Ville Marie to Montreal has been recently brought to public attention by Mr. E. Z. Massicotte, city archivist.

[37] It was in one of the galleries of the "Château de Meudon" where the two unexpectedly met. Dauversière, it is thought, had gone there to the keeper of the seals who was then at the palace. The second conference after Thanksgiving was in the park grounds of the château and lasted three hours. (Cf. Faillon.)

[38] Consisted in an avowal of the grant of the seigneury from the Crown and the census of the seigneury with the names of the concessionaires, the amount of the lands granted them and under cultivation, together with the number of heads of cattle, etc.

[39] In fact both of these swore to this explicitly before the notaries of the King, Pourcelle and Chaussiere, on March 25, 1644. (Edits et Ord., Quebec I, pp. 26-27.) On March 21, 1650, there was also signed an act by the Associates which gave to the last survivor, excluding all heirs, the forts, habitations, etc., conceded to the members of the Company of Montreal. (Edits et Ord., p. 27.)

[40] "La Compagnie de Prêtres de St. Sulpice" was founded at Vaugirard, near Paris, in January, 1642, by M. Jean Jacques Olier de Verneuil, who was born in Paris on September 20, 1608, and died April 2, 1657. The establishment of the seminary at St. Sulpice, in Paris, was commenced on August 15, 1642. It was erected into a community on October 23, 1645, and was confirmed by letters patent by Cardinal Chighi, legate a latere for France.

[41] For Jeanne Mance's future assistants de la Dauversière had established, in 1639, a young community of "Filles Hospitalières" at La Flèche, although it had been in existence elsewhere since 1636, who were to prepare themselves for the Hôtel-Dieu of Ville Marie. The order at La Flèche was erected on October 25, 1643, by Mgr. Claude de Rueil, bishop of Angers, and approved by Pope Alexander VII by a brief of January 19, 1666. The Sisters for Montreal did not arrive till 1659.

[42] Dollier de Casson, de Belmont and de la Tour put the date for August 20th, Sister Morin for October, Montgolfier for September. The "Relations" say that the season was "very advanced."

[43] St. Michel is the site of the present "Spencer Wood."

CHAPTER VI

1642-1643

VILLE MARIE

FOUNDED BY PAUL DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE

THE DEPARTURE OF THE EXPEDITION FROM MONTREAL—THE ARRIVAL AT PLACE ROYALE—THE "VENI CREATOR SPIRITUS" AND MASS ON THE "COMMON"—VIMONT'S PROPHECY—ACTIVITIES OF ENCAMPMENT—THE FIRST REINFORCEMENT—THE FIRST QUASI-PAROCHIAL CHAPEL BUILT IN WOOD—ALGONQUINS VISIT THE CAMP—FLOODS AND THE PILGRIMAGE TO THE MOUNTAIN—PEACEFUL DAYS—PRIMITIVE FERVOUR AND SIMPLICITY—THE DREADED IROQUOIS AT LAST APPEAR—FIRST ATTACK—THE FIRST CEMETERY—"CASTLE DANGEROUS"—THE ARRIVAL OF THE SECOND REINFORCEMENT—Les Véritables Motifs. NOTES: THE HURONS, ALGONQUINS AND IROQUOIS.

During the months of February, March and April, the boat construction went busily on at Ste. Foy. At length when the ice-bound river broke up and the last floes had swept past to the gulf beyond, M. de Maisonneuve's flotilla, loaded with provisions, furniture and tools, besides little pieces of artillery and ammunition, set sail to Montreal on May 8th. It consisted of a pinnace, a little vessel with three masts, a gabarre or flat-bottomed transport barge with sails, and two barques or chaloupes. On one of these latter M. de Montmagny, the governor of Quebec, fittingly led the way with M. de Maisonneuve; with the expedition were several black-robed Jesuits, including Father Barthélemy Vimont, the superior of the Canadian mission, and Father Poncet, the first missionary for Ville Marie. There were also M. de Puiseaux, Madame de la Peltrie, and her maid, Charlotte Barré, Jeanne Mance, and the rest of the twenty-one colonists, six of whom belonged to the household of Nicholas Godé, the joiner.

On the 17th, as evening fell, they came in sight of Montreal and cantiques rent the air. On this day M. Montmagny again [44] put M. de Maisonneuve formally in possession of the island. Setting sail early next morning, before daybreak, the rising sun delighted their eyes with the beautiful meadows smiling with a profusion of flowers of variegated colours. At last they reached the islet at the mouth of the stream, which, so long ago, Champlain spoke of as a safe haven, until they reached hard by the spot named by him, La Place Royale. Within this watered mead, de Maisonneuve had decided to build his settlement and fort. As he put foot to the soil, inspired by the solemnity of the moment, lie fell on his knees in thanksgiving to God, and was quickly followed by all his party. They broke forth into heartfelt psalms or hymns of joyful gratitude. In the meadow, a spot was chosen for the mass of thanksgiving. Quickly the altar was arranged under the direction of Mademoiselle Mance and Madame de la Peltrie. When all were gathered round it in this open air temple,—the silence only broken by the twittering of the numerous birds, the flapping of wings of the wild fowl and their shrill cries as they winged their flight above the river to the south, the sighing of the trees; the swish of the meadow plants swaying in the morning breeze and the murmuring of the little haven-stream on which the chaloupes were tossing; the subdued, sonorous rush of the water on the mighty St. Lawrence at its mouth, where the pinnace and gabare were riding at anchor,—the superior of the missions of Canada, Father Vimont, intoned the grand old solemn chant of Christian ritual, the Veni Creator Spiritus, and the voices of all joined in with heartfelt unison. Then followed the Grand Mass, the first that had ever been celebrated at Villa Marie, [45] and all the while the growing sun shone full upon the slopes of Mount Royal, ever mounting upward and onward to its wooded peak.

THE COLONISTS' MEMORIAL

The scene is one of life and colour. The rich hues of the vestments of the priests, the shining white linen of the altar, the gleaming sacred ornaments, the picturesque costumes of Montmagny and de Maisonneuve, the ladies and gentlemen around them, the varied dresses of the artisans and the arquebusiers, whose weapons glint in the sun, fill in a picture worthy of the mountain background, such as should inspire any artist's brush.

And now the action of the Sacrifice was suspended and Father Vimont broke the sice and earnestly spoke to the worshippers. His words have become famous, pregnant as they were with prophetic meaning. We thank Dollier de Casson for having preserved them.

"That which you see, gentlemen, is only a grain of mustard seed, but it is cast by hands so pious and so animated with faith and religion, that it must be that God has great designs for it, since He makes use of such instruments for His work. I doubt not, but that this little grain may produce a great tree, that it will make wonderful progress some day, that it will multiply itself, and stretch out on every side."

VIMONT'S PROPHECY. THE FIRST MASS ON THE SITE OF MONTREAL

Never was prophecy more true, when we realize the present greatness of Montreal and remember the distinguished sons and daughters it has sent over the world. For Montreal has been the home of great discoverers, religious founders, missionaries and pioneers of civilization, and captains of industry. It is the mother of the cities of the northwest and its future is still before it.

The mass ended, the Sacred Host is left exposed throughout the day, as though the island were a cathedral shrine. For a sanctuary lamp the women, not having any oil, placed with pious zeal a number of "fireflies" in a phial, which, as evening stole on, shone like little clusters of tapers in the vesper gloom.

Next morning the actuaries of an encampment occupied all. Around the temporary altar, the camp tents were pitched, a chapel of bark was constructed, [46] and trees were cut down to surround the colony with an intrenchment of stakes and a ditch, the governor, Montmagny, felling the first tree, after which he proceeded to Quebec. But Madame de la Peltrie and M. de Puiseaux remained. On August 15th the first reinforcement of thirteen men arrived, sent under M. de Repentigny, as admiral of the Company's vessels by the Associates at Paris, through the funds collected, as mentioned, on February 2d. With them there came a most useful man to the colony, the pious and brave carpenter, Gilbert Barbier, surnamed "Minimus" for his short stature. Altar, furniture and other valuables arrived, and Gilbert Barbier immediately set about constructing a worthy chapel of wood, while wings were added to make the mission settlement house.

Meanwhile, during the summer, the vessels plied between Yule Marie and St. Michel to bring up the rest of the stores and ammunition left behind. These reduced the guard to but a score of men, but as yet, the Iroquois had not got scent of the new settlement. On August 15 the new chapel was completed and used for service—a framework building of about ten feet square which did service as a conventual and quasi parochial chapel till the beginning of 1659. [47]

So passed the happy days unmolested by any foe. A friendly band of Algonquins visited the camp and after witnessing a religious procession on Assumption day, 1642, journeyed with the governor to the summit of Mount Royal. While there, it is related that two of their body, aged men, told the bystanders that they belonged to the race formerly inhabiting this island. Stretching out their arms to the slopes on the west and the south sides of the mountain they exclaimed: "Behold the places where once there were villages flourishing in numbers, whence our ancestors were driven by our enemies. Thus it is that this island became deserted and uninhabited." "My grandfather," said one old man, "tilled the earth at this place. The Indian corn grew well then." And taking up the soil in his hands: "See the richness of it," he cried, "how good it is!" Charmed with this discourse they were pressed to stay and live happily with their friends, the white men, but the wandering habits of these forest children finally prevailed.

In the month of December, the safety of the colony was threatened by the floods of the St. Lawrence which advanced over the low lying lands towards the fort. With simple faith, M. Maisonneuve planted a cross over against the invading waters, and the "Relations" of this year, tell how the floods receded on Christmas day.

In pious gratitude M. Maisonneuve would erect a permanent cross on the mountain. A trail was blazed and cut, and on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1643, a procession formed, M. Maisonneuve leading, carrying the cross on his shoulders and followed by others bearing the wood for its pedestal. On reaching the summit, Père Duperon had an altar erected, and celebrated mass after the cross had been blessed and erected. At this time, there seemed to have been two priests attached to the mission. This was the origin of the annual pilgrimage, since discontinued. On the feast of St. Joseph, March 19, 1643, the main building, or the Habitation, containing the chapel of Notre Dame, the stores, and dwelling rooms for sixty persons, was completed. In front they placed the small pieces of artillery and then celebrated the occasion with a cannonade.

The life within resembled that of a religious community. For the most part they lived in common, offering a picture of the fervour and simplicity of the primitive church. Closed up for nearly eleven years for mutual safety within the fort, they learned to live a life of charity and holiness. The days were as yet uneventful, and the round of work and prayer and recreation bound them together in peace and comfort. Not only the governor and the leaders of the settlement, but all the rough soldiers and workmen led a fervent and exemplary life. The hand of obedience pressed lightly on them, and a willing service was granted by all. The "Relations" of the annals of this period are full of praise of the sanctity and peace of these early days. "One saw," says Sister Morin in the Annales of the Hôtel-Dieu, "no public sins, nor enmities, nor bitternesses; they were united in charity, ever full of esteem and affection one for another, and ready to serve one another on all occasions."

The ideal of the pious Associates of the Company of Notre Dame de Montreal at Paris was being fulfilled.

The governor, in his apostolic zeal, established confraternities among the men and women, for the conversion of the savages, for this was the motive that had inspired the foundation of this far off outpost of civilization.

The singleness of purpose of the settlers at Montreal was not lost upon the Hurons, who spoke of it to their different tribes, so that many now began to arrive. In February of 1643 a band of Algonquin braves came by, leaving their wives and children in camp while they went forth on the warpath against their enemies, the Iroquois. A few days later they were visited by Algonquin hunters, for there was much sport around. The chief of this band stayed behind with his wife, desirous to live a civilized life, and the parish register records their baptism and their Christian marriage, on March 7th, of that year, the first to be recorded in the marriage book. Soon, this was followed by the baptism of the wife and children of his uncle, a famous orator among the Algonquins, who was known as "Borgne de l'Ile." The registers finally record his baptism and his Christian marriage.

Montreal was soon to experience the effects of the alliance of the Hurons with the French, as well as some of the disasters prophesied by Montmagny to Maisonneuve at Quebec, from the war which had been declared a month before Maisonneuve's arrival. Other parts of the country had already been suffering. In 1642 Father Vimont in the "Relations" had written that the Iroquois had sworn a cruel war against the French. They blocked up all the passage of our great river, hindering commerce and menacing the whole country with ruin.

On the 2d of August, 1643, at Three Rivers, an attack was made by them on the fort and they killed or took prisoners a party of twenty-three to twenty-eight Huron allies, and with them the heroic and saintly Jesuit, Isaac Jogues, and two young Frenchmen. The saintly Jogues was subjected to much in treatment. After having cut off the thumb of his right hand and bitten off one of his fingers, they tore his nails out with their teeth, and put fire under the extremities of his mutilated fingers. Having done this they tore off his cassock and clothed him in the garb of a savage. Though he escaped, he was reserved for a martyr's death, on October 18, 1646, among the Onondagas. The year previously he had ministered to the infant church at Montreal.

At the new fort on the Iroquois River, designed by Montmagny, on August 13, 1643, the Iroquois swept down after seven days, and captured some prisoners whom they told that 700 of them were banding together and would fall upon the French colony in the beginning of next spring.

Great fear for Montreal, the solitary and most advanced port, was entertained in the spring at Quebec. Still this concerted attack was not yet to be realized. Yet the immunity of Montreal was not to last long.

There was a method in the madness of the Iroquois. They hated the French because of their alliance with the Christian Hurons and they did their best to cut off the peltry trade of the Northwest from them and divert it to Albany and New Amsterdam. This naturally suited the Dutch. To carry this plan out, the Iroquois, small in numbers but expert military tacticians, had established an uninterrupted line of lookout posts from Three Rivers to the portage of the Chaudières (Ottawa). Starting from this as their working point, they divided their fighting men into ten sections, two of which remained at this exposed post. The third section was stationed at the foot of the Long Sault, the fourth above Montreal, the fifth on the island, the sixth on the Rivière des Prairies, the seventh on Lac St. Pierre, the eighth not far from Fort Richelieu on the Sorel, the ninth near Three Rivers, while the tenth formed a flying squadron to carry devastation when the opportunity presented itself. Few could break past them in safety. Even Jogues had not been successful.

Soon the number of baptisms registered for this year reached the number of seventy or eighty. These were busy days for the few ladies of Montreal. [48]

The frequent visitations of the savages were a drain on the stores of the community, and we learn from Dollier de Casson that in the spring of 1644 more serious efforts were made under d'Ailleboust to raise wheat. To the delight of all, this was abundantly successful. Up to 1643 only vegetables had been cultivated.

Thus passed the peaceful days along, for though there was much hardship incidental to a pioneering life in a new country so far removed from communication with civilization, still, all were happy, since so far the dreaded Iroquois had not appeared. But in July of that year, 1643, a friendly troupe of Algonquins passed by. There was great joy in the camp, for it was the occasion of the baptism of the four-year-old child of one of the chiefs. M. Maisonneuve and Jeanne Mance were happy to be its godparents. The Indians were invited to return with their families next spring, and live with them. They promised to do so. No doubt they told others of their trip, for the colony was again shortly visited. [49]

The Hurons came to be regarded by the Iroquois as the allies of the hated white men. The establishment of the fort of Montreal was an additional reason for exterminating the Hurons. In consequence the register of baptism, for the year of 1644, only records one ceremony. This is significant, for it marked the presence in the neighbourhood at last of the dreaded Iroquois, who kept the Hurons from visiting this year. The circumstance of the presence of the Iroquois in the neighbourhood became known to this fort one day in 1643, when a party of ten Algonquins ran terror-stricken into camp, trembling and afraid of their shadows. Outside the fort were the baffled pursuers too small in numbers to attack it. One of their tribe had been slain by the fugitive Algonquins, who had directed their steps to friendly shelter without being overtaken. From that time forward, there was dread of Iroquois surprises in the camp. It was now at last discovered; stealthily and noiselessly the balked enemy reconnoitered the camp and retired to the woods to spread the news to the tribe and to prepare for an attack. For, unknown to the fort, the country was infested with them—sworn to make war upon the French. In June, a party of them were at Lachine, being joined by a party of unarmed Hurons whom they had surprised with their canoes laden with peltry. The treacherous Hurons, who had been in the past kindly received at the fort, to conciliate their captors, now pointed it out to them for an attack.

Unsuspecting any attack, six men from the fort, cutting wood about two hundred feet distant, were surprised by forty Iroquois on the 9th of June. They fought bravely; but three were killed and the rest taken prisoners. The body of Guillaume Boissier dit Güilling was found that day and buried but the bodies of Bernard Berté from Lyons and Pierre Laforest dit L'Auvergnat were not found till later, and were buried three days after by Father Davost.

The archæologist will be pleased that the place of the first cemetery is recorded by the chroniclers. At the corner of the angle of the meadow, where the River St. Pierre joined the St. Lawrence, a little cemetery was made and fenced around with piles [50] to save the dead from molestation.

On the day after, some of the treacherous Hurons fled into the camp and told the awful tale of slaughter committed by the Iroquois during the night. The Hurons had spent the night insulting the French prisoners until sleep had closed their eyes, when the Iroquois fell upon them and slashed to pieces those who could not escape. Then taking the thirteen Huron canoes they loaded them with peltry; they descended the river with the three French prisoners in the sight of the onlookers of the fort, who were too few to pursue them.

What happened to the prisoners was graphically told later when one of them arrived at the camp.

He told how the design of his captors had been to descend to a point whence they could land and cut their way through the woods, to the place now known as Chambly. But having too heavy a load of beaver skins to carry, on landing they destroyed their canoes with their axes, as their custom was to render them useless.

When they were in the woods, some four or five leagues from the place whence they left the river, their care of their prisoners became less guarded. He had been set to boil a kettle, and taking the opportunity of being sent to gather wood for the fire, he had eluded his captors and had come to the spot where he had landed. Finding one of the canoes less damaged than the others, he plugged up the dents made by the Iroquois hatchets, and loading it with a few skins, had then paddled up to Ville Marie. The soldiers of the fort went for the rest of the peltries and M. de Maisonneuve distributed them, but kept none fur himself. [51] The fate of the other two prisoners was told later by a Huron who escaped from the Iroquois. We are not told their names by the "Relations" of 1643, but one whose Christian name was Henri, having seen his companion, as well as two Hurons, burnt at a slow fire, had escaped, only to be recaptured for the same terrible fate.

For the rest of that year, apprehension of ambuscades kept the colony within the walls of the fort as far as possible. Even to leave the threshold of their homes was to risk danger.

"Tant il est vrai," adds M. Dollier de Casson, "que dans ces temps on était plus en assurance de ce qu'on avait franchi le seuil de sa porte." From this time begins the history of "Castle Dangerous," as we may term this period of the nascent city, now commencing, when there began a constant struggle with the daily risks of life. It was during this early anxiety that good news came to allay some of the alarm, and this was brought by the governor of Quebec.

For, meanwhile in France, during the winter, the eyes of many were turned onto the infant colony. Praise and criticism alike were freely distributed. The great Company, stung by reflections on their own inactivity, repented of having given their charter to a company which they feared might prove a rival, and would have revoked it, but for the ratification it had received from the King. There were many, however, who in high places strongly approved of the aims and objects of the Company of Montreal. [52] A letter is extant, from Louis XIII himself, written at St. Germain-en-Laye, on February 21st, which was written to M. Montmagny, the agent of the Great Company at Quebec, bidding him "assist and favour in every way in his power, the Seigneur de Maisonneuve in such manner that there shall be no trouble or hindrance." This was one of the last acts of this noble prince, who died on May 24th following, but his kindness to Montreal will always be remembered. It was he who gave the Company of Montreal besides presents of artillery the vessel of 250 tons, which, under the name of Notre Dame de Montréal, was now crossing the ocean bringing new colonists and their effects.

In the month of July, 1643, the colony was delighted with the presence of M. Montmagny, who announced the approaching convoy sent by the Associates, under the guidance of one who was destined to be an able lieutenant to M. Maisonneuve. This was M. Louis d'Ailleboust, Seigneur de Coulonges, a man of an illustrious family that had given distinguished sons to the church and state. The vessels, bringing him and his party of colonists for Montreal, arrived at Quebec on Assumption day, 1643, and soon they reached the fort. Among them, to the great delight of Jeanne Mance, was his noble lady, Barbe de Boulogne. Jean de Saint-Père, the first notary, was also with them. For Jeanne Mance, M. d'Ailleboust brought a message, of which we shall hear later. M. d'Ailleboust was a skillful engineer, and under his guidance the wooden stockade was reinforced with two bastions, which the fear of attacks from the Iroquois had rendered most desirable. This enclosure now began to be called the "Fort" or the "Château."

The religious care of the colony at this time was that exercised by the Jesuit Fathers, [53] whose headquarters were at Quebec. As we have seen, they willingly consented to serve this mission until M. Olier had prepared for the Associates a succession of secular priests formed by his hand for the special purpose of Montreal. The time was now come for M. Olier's company to leave Vaugirard, to which he had gone in 1641, and to follow him to Paris to the parish of St. Sulpice, where he was now training in his Seminary of St. Sulpice, a goodly number of young priests suitable for the Canadian mission of Ville Marie. These were ready to go, but as yet a technical difficulty of ecclesiastical canon law stood in the way.

Since the re-occupation of Quebec by the French in 1632, after the departure of the English under Kerth, the Jesuits had been sent under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Rouen, and this see had continued to claim the Catholics of New France as its diocesans.

To M. Olier it appeared that Canada, being a foreign mission, the privilege of sending clergy belonged directly to Rome; accordingly the Associates of Montreal addressed a letter to Pope Urbain VIII, asking him to authorize the papal nuncio then in Paris to give the ordinary powers of missioners, to those whom they would send to Ville Marie.

This document, preserved in the archives of Versailles, contains, in addition to the above request, others asking for certain routine grants and privileges. The answer from Rome, while granting the latter, ignored the main request. There seemed to be no desire at present, at Rome, to conflict with the privileges of Rouen, or with the prescriptive rights of the Jesuits. Then too there was opposition then being threatened by the Great Company. Matters, therefore, stood where they were.

Indeed any other course taken at this time would have been very unwise. Especially as the state of feeling of unrest reflected in France this year by the "véritables motifs" was doubtless known at the Vatican through the papal nuncio, who was at this period in Paris, as we have seen.

Before passing from the events of 1643, notice must be taken of a remarkable document which appeared in Paris this year. This was "Les Véritables Motifs," one of the historical documental sources of this early period.

It was published in a volume of 127 pages in quarto, very likely having been printed in Paris, but bearing no names of place, printer or author. M. l'abbé Faillon, the author of "La Colonie Française," thinks it was written by a former judge, M. Laisné de la Marguerie, who had left the world to associate himself with M. Olier. On the contrary, however, the abbé Verreau thinks that it is the production of M. Olier himself, for reasons which we prefer to follow.

The full title of the book, "Véritables Motifs de Messieurs et Dames de la Société de Notre Dame de Montréal, pour la Conversion des Sauvages," is an indication at once, of an apologia for the erection of the Montreal mission for the conversion of the infidels. It seems strange in these days that such self-defence should be necessary. But the document reveals that there was strong opposition to, and misunderstanding of, the "raison d'être" of a purely religious colony. We may suspect that the objections formulated must have been from the Company of New France in a spirit of jealousy.

The chief objections were (1) That it was contrary to the established custom of the Catholic church to have lay people, and especially ladies, enterprising a mission for the conversion of infidels.

(2) That this work was not needed for the salvation of the heathen, as they argued in the case of infidel peoples in the absence of revelation, they were invincibly ignorant, and that the light of reason alone sufficed for their salvation.

(3) That the work of the Associates was a piece of ostentatious piety; that in the past it had sufficed for pious people to give their alms secretly to be administered by others for the good of religion. There was no need to establish a company for the purpose.

(4) That this Company injured the interests of others, viz: the Company of the Hundred Associates, the Jesuits, who had been given the charge of the Canadian missions, and finally the poor of France, for charity begins at home.

(5) That the Association of Montreal, not having any other foundation but that of Christian charity, it is bound to be a financial failure, and that the enterprise would fall through, owing to lack of enthusiasm and consequent shortage of funds.

(6) Finally, that the enterprise was ill considered, badly planned and rash; that South America would have been a better place for such a settlement; that Montreal was unfitted for French people to live in on account of the cruel cold and the excessive length of the winter; that they would be more exposed than ever to the butcheries of the Iroquois, who would infallibly cut them into pieces; that a work of such consequence could only be carried on by the King's government on account of the enormous expenses entailed, and it was folly for private persons to dare to tempt God openly.

The answer to these objections is continued in the 127 pages of quarto alluded to. We will leave them to the imagination. Without giving the reply we need only refer the reader to the year 1643 and the practical solution now going on at Montreal in the year of 1914. [54]

On the 2d of February, another scene in the romantic story of Montreal was enacted in Paris in the Church of Notre Dame. There at six o'clock in the morning Olier said mass at the altar of the Holy Virgin, surrounded by the members of the Association of Montreal, who now had reached as many as thirty-five. The lay members, many of distinguished rank, (for Jeanne Mance's letter on her departure to M. Dauversière had helped in this), communicated, while the priests celebrated at neighbouring altars in the vast cathedral.

They consecrated the Island of Montreal to the Holy Family and placed it particularly under the protection of Mary, whose name they gave to the city of "Ville Marie," and from that day the seal of the Associates bore the Virgin's statue with the legend "Notre Dame de Montréal." On this day the Associates gave a sum of 40,000 livres, to be devoted to defray the expenses of a new expedition.

THE HOLY FAMILY

NOTE

THE HURONS, ALGONQUINS AND IROQUOIS

HURONS

The Hurons were the Wendots or Wyandots, and were divided into various clans or families, such as the Bears, the Rocks, the Cords, etc. They were the parent stock of the five Iroquois Nations and were related to the Petuns and Neutrals, their neighbours on Lake Huron, or Attegouestan, as they called it. They were also connected by blood with the Undastes or Susquehannas of Pennsylvania. The derivation of the name of Hurons, as the Wyandots were called by the French, is fanciful but apparently authentic. When Champlain, in 1609, was visited at Quebec by a tribe of these Wyandots to sell peltry from the far-off Northwest regions, the irregular tufts of hair on their half-shaven heads seemed to the Frenchman to represent bristles (la hure) on the back of an angry boar. "Quelle hure!" they exclaimed, and those possessing the stock of bristles they called "Hurons."

Their country was eight hundred or nine hundred miles away from Quebec, around Lake Huron. "Roughly speaking," says the Rev. T. J. Campbell in his "Pioneer Priests of North America," "the territory of the Hurons was at the head of Georgian Bay, with Lake Simcoe on the east, the Severn River and Matchedash Bay on the north, Nottawasaga Bay on the west, and was separated from the Neutrals on the south by what would now be a line drawn from the present town of Collingwood over to Hawkstone on Lake Simcoe. The train for Toronto, north of Midland and Penetanguishena, runs through the old habitat of the Hurons."

Many of the clergy who served Montreal had laboured among them. In the beginning the Hurons would not listen to any allusion to Christianity. Success only began in 1639, and lasted but for ten years, for before the end of 1650 as a distinct people they had vanished, being exterminated by their implacable foe, the Iroquois.

THE ALGONQUINS

The Algonquins are said to derive their name from the word Algonquin, "the place where they spear the fish," i. e., the front of the canoe.

They were once a great race. Indeed today they number 95,000 of which 35,000 are in the United States and the rest in Canada. Their hereditary enemy, the Iroquois, were not so numerous, and thus we find Champlain allying himself with the Algonquins against the scanty sixteen or seventeen thousand Iroquois who lived in the New York territory. But herein lay Champlain's mistake. The Algonquins were wanderers and not warriors. They were a simple, stupid people, who neither cultivated the ground nor learned any textile arts and had no settled habitations. They were all worshipers of the Manitou, shameless in their immoralities and just as cruel to their captives, as were the Iroquois. They were, owing to their nomadic life, a prey to the latter and a difficulty to the few missionaries to Christianize them adequately, for every group would have necessitated a priest to follow them in the hunt for game or fish, as they wandered from place to place.

Yet, portions of them, being less fierce than other tribes of their race, welcomed the missionaries, who sympathized with them in their poverty and wretchedness. Thus at Montreal, as at Three Rivers and Quebec, these were the basis of the Indian converts.

"When the Algonquins were a great nation they claimed," says the author of the "Pioneer Priests of North America," "as their own, almost all the upper regions of the North American continent, and even out in the Atlantic there was no one to dispute Newfoundland with them, except an inconsiderable and now forgotten people, known as the Beothuken. Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and all the country from Labrador to Alaska was theirs, except where the Esquimaux lived in the East, the Kitunabaus in the far Northwest, and the Hurons, Petuns and Neutrals in the region near Georgian Bay. In what is now the United States, New England was counted as their country, and though their deadly enemy, the Iroquois, had somehow or other seized the greater portion of New York, yet the strip along the Hudson belonged to the Algonquins, as also New Jersey, a part of Virginia, and North Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois and Wisconsin."

Algonquin is the generic name, but its many subdivisions and tribes have their specific names such as those set down in ethnological tables as the Abenaakis, Arapahoes, Cheyennes, Crees, Delawares, Foxes, Illinois, Kickapoos, Mohicans, Massachusetts, Menominees, Montagnais, Mohawks, Narragansetts, Nepinues, Ojibways, Ottawas, Powhattans, Sacs, Shawnees, Wampanoags, Wappingers, etc.

IROQUOIS

The Iroquois were descendants of the Indians whom Jacques Cartier had met on the banks of the St. Lawrence, in 1634. But at this time they had drifted mysteriously to what is now New York territory, their central seat, that of their confederacy or league of five nations, being at Onondaga.

They were never numerous but they were very warlike. Although they lost many in war, by disease and drunkenness, for they were filthy and immoral in their habits, they recruited their strength by adopting captives seized in their raids.

They lived in palisaded towns and were more intelligent than the other races. Their houses, unsanitary and overrun with vermin, were arched constructions, sometimes of 120 feet in length and were covered with bark. In the centre of the lodge were the fires of the separate families, who were divided into stalls. The smoke escaped as best it could. They did not cultivate the land because they were so often on the warpath, neither did they devote much energy in cultivating the textile arts; hence they wore the skins of animals.

They had very vague notions of a Supreme Being, their chief object of worship being Agreskoué, the God of War, who had to be propitiated with gifts and even by human sacrifices. Theirs has been described by General Clark as literally "devil worship." They had no priesthood as such, but each brave had his oki or manitou, adopted after a protracted period of seclusion and fasting. They had their medicine men, who seemed to the missionaries to use diabolical arts in their incantations, spells and dances. Many of their sorcerers, however, were childish charlatans. They were immoral, thieves, liars, gamblers; they allowed their children to run wild, their women to grow up depraved and corrupt from girlhood. They were cruel and cannibals. The orgies of the dream feasts were unspeakably atrocious, especially after the introduction of "fire water."

They were called by the French collectively "Iroquois," by the English the "Five Nations," whereas they styled themselves the Hodenosaunee, a People of the Long House, because of the shape of their lodges. They were joined by the Tuscaroras about 1721 and from then on they were called by the English the "Six Nations."

As to their name the Bureau of American Ethnology derives it from an Algonquin word, "Iriakhoué," meaning "real adders." Charlevoix gives a descriptive derivation from hero, or hiro, meaning "I have spoken," with which they terminated their discourses with the suffix que, or some equivalent gutteral sound which expressed pain or pleasures, according to the intonation. Thus the French called them "Iroquois."

The five nations were named as follows:

(English)	(French)	(Iroquois)
The Five Nations	Iroquois	Hodenosaunee (People of the Long House)
Mohawks,	Agniers,	Ganeagono (People of the Flint),
Oneidas,	Onneyutus,	Oneyotekiano (Granite People),
Onondagas,	Onontagués,	Onundagono (Hill People),
Cayuga,	Gogogouins,	Gwengwhehons (Muckland People),
Senecas.	Tsonnontouans.	Mundawono (Great Hill People).

"The Six Nations, Indians in Canada," by J. B. Mackenzie, gives some modern characteristics of the Iroquois, observed on the Grand River, after a length of experience and intimate knowledge of the appearance and manners and racial customs, which may be quoted to illustrate the life of their ancestors of the period we are now treating. The reserve, the writer notices, comprises the Township of Tuscarora (about twelve miles square) with an insignificant strip of territory in the Township of Onondaga—both of these lying within the County of Brant and a small portion of the Township of Oneida, in the adjoining County of Haldimand.

The following present-day characteristics are noted: The Indian maintains a better average as to height than his white brother, say at about 5 ft. 8½ in. He is straight and is rarely "bowlegged." The Indian would appear to be built more for fleetness than for strength; litheness and agility are with him, marked characteristics. The dignity of chief among the Indians is attained upon the principle of heredity succession. In case of the death of a chief, this did not necessarily devolve upon the next of kin. The naming of his successor with the privilege of determining whether or not he fulfills, in point of character and capacity, the qualifications requisite to maintain worthily the position, is confided to the women of the dead chief's family, whose tribe has been deprived of one of its heads. They are given a wide latitude in choosing; so long as they recognize through their appointment the governing, basic theory of kinship to the deceased ruler, their nomination will be unreservedly approved.

The chiefs are looked upon as the fathers of the tribe. In the earlier days when the demon of war was about, wisdom and bravery were the chief requisites.

Oratory is still of supreme importance with the modern Indian. In this he is well equipped with a deep, powerful voice of rare volume and resonance. He has great facility of gesture and marvelous control of facial expression, which becomes the index of his emotions—a perfect mirror of his imaginative soul. It is no wonder then that, we hear of chiefs and orators of old haranguing for hours, for, even today, the undivided, keen attention bestowed on an orator, the unflagging interest evinced, the genuine and sympathetic appreciation his more ambitious flights evoke, the liberal applause exhorted by periods, when denunciation, scorn, or other strong mood that may possess the speaker is expressed—periods at which he has been aroused to withering, or flaming invective—all make us vividly realize the powerful oratory of their predecessors. The contemplative and esthetic bent of the Indian, living amidst nature's simplicities and deeply impressed by them, overflowed in the similes and metaphors of his speech. There is no doubt of his rightful claim to eloquence. The present-day Christian Indian "believes vaguely in the existence of a Supreme Being, though his idea of that Being's benignity and consideration relates solely to an earthly oversight of him, a parental concern for his daily wants. His conception of future happiness is wholly sensual—bound up, in many cases, with the theories of an unrestrained indulgence of animal appetite, and a whole-souled abandonment to riotous diversion. That estimate of an hereafter, which has gained his unreserved, his heartfelt approbation—one, in the more complete idealizing of which these coarser fancies constitute familiar adjuvants—adopts for cardinal, for constant factor, his thoroughgoing addiction, in some renovated state of being, to pastimes found congenial and appeasing in life—their undisturbed enthroning, as it were. Joyously, anticipation clings to a haunt delectable—happily and charmingly contrived to embosom spacious parks immure seductive coverts; refreshed soothingly his spirits by dreams of illimitable, virgin preserves, which should be stocked with unnumbered game, and where—equipped to perfection for the chase—he should plunge with satiety into its vehement pursuit."

"It has been said that the Indian, agog for some ample scheme of ethics, is much more prone to follow the evil than the moral practices of the whites.... There can be no doubt, I fancy, that were the Indian to be thrown continuously with a corrupt community amongst the whites—should he consort freely with a class with whom a lower order of morality obtains—his acquisition of higher knowledge, instead of giving him better and finer tastes, must inevitably make him more skilled in planning works of iniquity."

The writer draws attention to the sardonic delight the humorous Indian takes in perpetrating some dire practical joke on his victim. The same trait was shown in this early period, when the brave would calmly smoke his pipe and grimly watch the Christian missionary's finger forcibly placed in it, gradually frizzle away.

The modern Iroquois is a supremely indolent creature—fasting stoically when food does not come easily, but ever ready for unbounded feasting.

The effect of spirituous liquors on him is the same as of old, and justifies the attempts of the Montreal clergy to suppress its traffic to the natives. "Intoxicants," says the writer quoted, "when freely used by the Indian, cloud, often wholly dethrone his reason, annul his self-control; madly slaying all the gentler, enkindle and set ablaze all the baser, emotions of his nature, impelling him to acts vile, inhuman, bestial; with direful transforming power, make the man a fiend, leave him, in short, the mere sport of demoniac passion. It may be thought that this is an overdrawn sketch, and that, even if it were true—which I aver it to be—full exposure of its fearsome aspect, its sombre outlines, might well have been withheld."

FOOTNOTES:

[44] Dollier de Casson says that Montreal was all handed over on October 15, 1641. Vimont, who was an eye witness, gives the date as May 17, 1642. See "Relations for 1642." We combine both accounts.

[45] The scene was the angular tongue of low-lying land, known by Dollier de Casson who came in 1666, on September 7, as "the Common," its memory being preserved by Common Street, watered on the south by the lapping waters of the great St. Lawrence and on the east by the narrow river St. Peter, long since dried up, which, meandering from the northwest, skirted the meadow on the north and emptied itself into the main stream. At this point and up this harbour the flotilla came to anchor. On the third side of this triangle was a marshy land which was dried up by Dollier de Casson and became the "domaine des Seigneurs."

[46] Later this chapel gave place to another 25 feet long by 26 broad, the former room now becoming a "parloir." The new meeting place in the fort is sometimes spoken of as the chapel or the church. The abbé, Louis Bertrand de la Tour, says there was a church in 1645. We may thus put it earlier.—"Annales des Hospitalières par la Sœur Morin."

[47] "The house of the fort," says Sister Morin in her Annals, "existed till 1682 or 1683, when they finished demolishing it, although it was only of wood, where is at present the house of M. de Callières, our governor today." On July 2nd, 1688, de Callières obtained a concession of the land occupied by the fort. The land book (livre terrier) of the Seminary has the description: "Quinze perches et demie de front sur le fleuve, à continuer à pareille larguer jusqu'au bord de la petite rivière; en superficie 1882 ½ touses, avec droit de passage, sur la pointe en avant, appartenant aux Seigneurs." This point was the original cemetery till 1654. From Callières' building the Place Royale began to be spoken of as the Pointe à Callières. Jacques Viger, one of the fathers of historical researches in Montreal, said that in his early days he had seen the ruins of de Callières' house.

[48] The parish register has frequent records of their names as sponsors for the baptized Indian children. They were proud of the honour. Among the names frequently occurring in the following few years are Madame d'Ailleboust, Jeanne Mance, Philipine de Boulogne, Charlotte Barré, Catherine Lezeau and Madame de la Peltrie. Next year, 1644, there is only one baptism recorded; the Iroquois were on the warpath and had driven the Hurons away. The godmother on this occasion was Madame de la Peltrie. The date, January 21, 1644, in the parish register fixing this, shows that she had spent the winter of 1643-4 in Montreal. She left, when the river opened in the spring, to return to the Ursulines of Quebec, whose establishment she had founded and with whom she resided till her death. Her stay in Montreal had been prolonged by her interest in the new foundation, and by her desire to help it in its early struggles. Her departure was deeply regretted by the colony, and by none more than by Jeanne Mance, for there were all too few ladies to help in the devoted work. M. de Puiseaux left at the same time. Madame de la Peltrie's character has been frequently discussed. Kingsford in his "History of Canada" devotes two pages to her. As Montreal only had her presence for less than two years we have given this note as the impression left of her by all the Montreal chroniclers. Kingsford says, Vol. I, p. 165: "Much romance has been thrown over a somewhat commonplace character. Her portraits remain. A more coquettish, heartless form of beauty is seldom to be found, either under the adornment of fashion or the hood and veil of the devotee." Madame de la Peltrie never became a nun. It is to be feared that Kingsford theorized on matters of Catholic custom through lack of adequate knowledge, or appreciation.

[49] In the parish church of Notre Dame there is still preserved the first register of the births, marriages and deaths. It is a manuscript volume in quarto composed of five note-books. The earliest entries are in Latin and are ratified by either Père Poncet or Père Duperon, who served the mission. The first registers were probably written on fly sheets in 1646 and afterwards copied, for until June 24th the handwriting appears to be that of a copyist. There are certain blanks as if the names had been forgotten. The baptismal book appears to start with an error. The first baptism, that of an Indian child, is put down for April 28, 1642 (this is probably the date of Father Poncet's appointment), whereas Père Vimont in his "Relations" for 1642, says it was on July 1st. The second baptism took place on October 9th. Several other baptisms are marked down for the month of March, 1643, but the copyist, better informed, has written "August" between the lines. In those days handwriting and spelling were not "de rigueur."

[50] This spot, named Pointe à Callières, "ad confluxium magni et parvi fluminis," was at the junction of the River St. Peter and the St. Lawrence opposite Ile Normandin, and took its name from the house of the governor, then Chevalier Hector de Callières, built there in 1668. It is now occupied by the custom house (1914). The plans of the Château Callières are preserved in the plans of Montreal, 1723, by M. de Catalogne, and in those of 1761 by M. P. Labrosse. This remained a cemetery till 1654, when, owing to the inundations, the burials were transferred to a plot occupied in part today by that Place d'Armes, which, being in the neighbourhood of the hospital, was called in the act of burial of 1654 the "new hospital cemetery." The bodies were not removed, out of respect, till 1793, when the land had been ceded by the seigneurs to Louis Guy, notary, by an act passed before Joseph Papineau, November 22, 1749. The Hôtel-Dieu ground was used as the cemetery for twenty-five years.

[51] Dollier de Casson tells this story, which he had from eye-witnesses; de Maisonneuve was a very generous and unselfish man.

[52] The more so, as the publication of the "véritables motifs," issued by the Associates of the Company of Montreal in defense of the settlement in clearly stating its aims and justifying the singlemindedness of its promoters, had gained it many friends, among whom were many in high places.

[53] The Jesuits had charge of the mission from April 28, 1643, and continued it up to August 12, 1657. The Sulpicians then took it over, their first act recorded in the first registers of births, marriages and sepultures being on August 28, 1657.

[54] One value of the "Motifs" for modern day readers is that it gives the foundation of Montreal the note of inspiration which is a mark not claimed by many other cities.

CHAPTER VII

1644-1651

PROGRESS AND WAR

THE COMPANY OF MONTREAL CONFIRMED BY LOUIS XIV—MAISONNEUVE REAPPOINTED GOVERNOR—A SYNDIC ELECTED; THE FIRST STEP IN REPRESENTATIVE GOVERNMENT—THE BUILDING OF THE HOTEL-DIEU—MILITARY HISTORY—PILOT, THE WATCHDOG OF THE FORT—THE EXPLOIT OF PLACE D'ARMES—FEAR OF IROQUOIS—LABARRE'S REINFORCEMENT—AGRICULTURE BEGINS—MONTREAL'S FREE TRADE MOVEMENT—THE FIRST IROQUOIS WAR IS OVER—MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCE—THE PROMOTION IN PARIS OF A BISHOPRIC FOR MONTREAL—CHARLES LE MOYNE—THE FORTIFICATIONS OF THE FORT—WAR AGAIN—THE SALARIES OF THE GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC, THREE RIVERS AND MONTREAL—THE CAMP VOLANT—FINANCIAL GLOOM IN MONTREAL—MUTUAL BENEFIT ASSOCIATION—A PICTURE OF MONTREAL—A TAX PERILOUS, SUDDEN AND FREQUENT—THE HOTEL-DIEU A FORTRESS FOR FOUR YEARS—THE ABANDONMENT OF THE SETTLEMENT THREATENED—MAISONNEUVE GOES TO FRANCE FOR SUCCOUR—THE SKELETON SOLDIERS—MONTREAL A FORLORN HOPE.

Louis XIII, who died on May 14, 1643, was succeeded by his young son, Louis XIV, then a child of five years of age. The policy of his father in regard to Montreal was continued by him, through the Queen Regent under the advice of the Duke of Orléans, uncle of the king, and of Prince Henri de Condé, former viceroy of Canada, who gave the "Company of Montreal" by new letters patent, dated February 13, 1644, in the name of the king, the most powerful and honourable recognition, ratifying all previous powers given. In particular, it gave it power to make and receive pious legacies and foundations for the savages and for other Christian movements. The position of the governor of Montreal is again made clear, "and to allow the inhabitants of Montreal to live in peace, police and concord, we permit the Associates to commission a captain or local governor whom they shall desire to name themselves for us."—(Edits et Ordonnances, I, 24-25.)

The king ordered M. de Montmagny to promulgate these letters. To make M. de Maisonneuve's position clearer, the Associates, in accord with the above royal permit, confirmed him anew by a commission, dated March 26, 1644, as local governor (gouverneur particulier de ce pays).

This year de Maisonneuve's initiative had brought about that the town was erected into a municipal corporation and that the civil interests should be watched by a syndic or tribune of the people. This officer was elected to represent the colonists, to look after the general good of the island, to see after the taxes for the upkeep of the garrison and to bring to justice those who damaged others' property. It was, however, an honorary position and was subject to election, no one being allowed to continue for more than three successive years. The election was usually held in the "hangar" or the dépôt of "the Company of Montreal," whither the inhabitants for the most part usually resorted for all necessary clothing, utensils, and even provisions. Later on, the elections took place in the hall of the seminary or that of the fort.

This first step of popular representation was then an advanced movement. Montreal was thus ahead of Quebec, which did not have a syndic till 1663. In 1672, as we shall see, even this slight concession to self government was deplored, and Frontenac, who started with broad views of interesting the people in their affairs, by continuing them in their separate classes, was told from France by the Minister Colbert to desist and even gradually to suppress the syndic's office.

When d'Ailleboust arrived in August, 1643, he had brought an important communication for Jeanne Mance from her friend the "unknown benefactress," whom we know as Madame de Bullion. This good lady was resolved to establish a hospital. She had set aside an annual income of 2,000 livres for this purpose and now in addition sent 12,000 livres to build and furnish it, besides 200 livres to be employed according to the discretion of Jeanne Mance.

But sickness had been singularly absent up to this. A few rooms reserved in the mission house had so far sufficed for hospital purposes. Indeed, Jeanne Mance had recommended that the money should be devoted to the upkeep of the Jesuit missions among the Hurons, a proposition which did not please Madame de Bullion, who insisted in carrying on her pious design.

Thus on January 14th of this year (1664) she had placed a fund, 42,000 livres, to endow the hospital, 6,000 of which were to be employed at once on building operations. So, confident that the work was now completed, she sent a convoy of furniture and a present of 2,000 livres for Jeanne Mance for current expenses. This persistency forced de Maisonneuve to postpone other activities and he now diverted the work of his carpenters to the new foundation. In choosing the site for it, mindful of the danger of floods, he chose an elevated spot a short distance outside the fort across the streamlet St. Pierre, [55] and built the first Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal, a building 60 feet long by 24 broad, containing a room for Jeanne Mance, one for the attendants and two for the sick. A little stone chapel was annexed, about nine to ten feet square, which was furnished with requirements for the altar next year by the Company. On October 8th, the hospital, dedicated according to the pious wish of its founder "au nom et en honneur de St. Joseph," was ready to receive the sick. It was also furnished by the Associates with all the appliances necessary. [56] Jeanne Mance must have felt at last happy on entering on her life-long vocation.

The hospital had its modest farm of four arpents, with its two bulls, three cows and twenty sheep. M. de Maisonneuve's carpenters surrounded it with a strong palisade as a protection, should the Iroquois venture to attack it by night.

Hardly had the hospital been completed than the anxiety of Jeanne Mance as to its utility was dispersed, for it was immediately needed for the sick and wounded who filled it on account of the daily attacks of the Iroquois. Indeed they were soon obliged to add another hall, the two rooms mentioned not being sufficient.

We now resume the military history of Montreal.

After the loss of five of his men in June, 1643, de Maisonneuve issued orders to safeguard his handful of men and women. When the men went out of the fort to their work, the sound of the bell gathered them so that they should go forth together, armed, and at dinner time it again recalled them in the same fashion. This precaution was necessary to guard them against the surprises of the Iroquois who sometimes remained for days together hidden in the adjoining woods or brush, watching, cat-like, on the ground or in the trees for an opportunity to sally forth and cut off any straggler. Then they would retreat with extreme agility back to their accustomed lairs.

CROUCHING IROQUOIS
(By Philippe Hébert)

The more impatient of his men were all for attacking the enemy in the woods, but the governor restrained them, urging the extreme imprudence of so slight a force attempting to cope with an unknown number, in a mode of warfare in which the enemy were so experienced. Nor could he run the risk of losing one of his brave defenders.

A valuable assistance was provided by the watch dogs of the fort brought from France. We are responsible to Dollier de Casson, and Father Lalemant in the "Relations" of 1647, for the story of a bitch named Pilot who every morning made the tour of the fort's environs, accompanied by her pups, to discover the hiding places of the Iroquois. Should they scent the Iroquois they would turn quickly on their course, and barking and yelping furiously in the direction of the enemy, would convey the news to the fort. Thus many a lurking snare was avoided by the settlers.

The mother was indefatigable in her duty. If one of the pups became lazy or stubborn she would bite it to make it go on. Should, however, one of them turn back and escape, in the midst of the round, a beating assuredly awaited it when Pilot returned into camp. [57]

On an occasion when the barking and yelping were more insistent than usual, proclaiming the nearness of the foe, the impetuous ones of the camp would again approach the governor, asking if they were never to oust the Iroquois by an attack. The governor's policy of delay was still maintained. "My brave boys," he said, "it is most unwise."

But now rendered impatient, murmurs arose in camp and doubt was cast upon the governor's courage. This coming to his ears, and fearing, lest his prudence, being taken for pusillanimity should thus lower his prestige and power of command, he determined for once to change his tactics.

The chance offered shortly, for on May 30th of this year (1644), the persistent barking of the dogs brought the malcontents to him with their querulous cry again: "Monsieur, shall we never go against the foe?" To their surprise the calm, brusque reply of the soldier met them: "Yes, you shall meet the foe; prepare at once for attack; but let each one be as brave as his word. I myself will lead you!"

There was hurry in the camp, each one of the men sought his gun, his ammunition, and his racquettes, or Indian snowshoes, for the snow was deep. But there was an insufficiency of the latter. At last the scanty force of forty men was mustered. The governor put the fort into the hands of M. d'Ailleboust, and giving him directions to follow out should he himself never return from the fray, he led his men towards the foe.

When the Iroquois had noticed this, dividing their force of two hundred into several bands, they put themselves in ambuscades and awaited the approach of the men from the fort. As these entered into the woods, they were met with shots from the Iroquois' muskets on all sides.

Seeing his men thus attacked by so large a force, M. de Maisonneuve ordered them to get behind the trees, as the Iroquois were, and then ensued a brisk exchange of shots on either side, so long and furious that their ammunition giving out and several of his men being already killed or wounded, de Maisonneuve ordered a retreat. This was no easy matter, for they were badly equipped with the snowshoes, and those who had none sank deep into the snow and were hindered in their retreat while the Iroquois were all well shod and skillful in their use, so that, as Dollier de Casson relates:

"Qu'à peine étions-nous de l'infanterie, au rapport de cavalerie."

At this period of unrest and danger the hospital was being built outside the tort, a quadrilateral building, 320 feet in length and an enclosure flanked by four stone bastions which were connected by a wooden curtain twelve feet high. In carrying the wood for construction a beaten path had been made to it, so that the snow was hard and firm, and progress was easy here without the need of snowshoes. Thither, under Maisonneuve's directions, the Frenchmen hurried as best they could, turning to face the enemy, from time to time, to return their shots. When they reached the footpath, they ran headlong to the fort at the top of their speed, terrified by the number of Iroquois pursuing them, and leaving their commander to fall behind, alone and unprotected.

Meanwhile those left behind in the fort, hearing the uproar, and seeing their approach, and mistaking them for the enemy, one of them imprudently fired the cannon which stood already directed towards that road to guard it during the building operations. Providentially the fuse failed. [58]

The abandoned leader was now face to face with the Iroquois with a pistol in either hand, fearful each moment of being seized by them. Thus he kept them at bay. Meanwhile the Iroquois, recognizing him as the governor, wished to capture him alive to make a show of him to their tribes and to reserve him for greater cruelties, and so they delayed a little till their captain came up, to leave to him the honour of the capture. The chief now leaped forward towards de Maisonneuve and was almost on his shoulders, when the governor fired one of his pistols. The pistol did not act and the savage leaped upon him in fury and seized him by the neck, but raising his other pistol above his shoulders the governor laid the chief stiff and dead upon the ground, to the indignation of the surrounding Iroquois watching this single combat. They hurried at once to secure the dead body of the chief. In their anxiety lest there should be any force returning from the fort to seize their chieftain's body, and bear it away as a trophy of victory against the Iroquois, their attention was diverted from the governor who, on the fall of his opponent, had fled and been allowed to escape to the fort.

MAISONNEUVE'S EXPLOIT
(A bas relief from the Maisonneuve Monument by Philippe Hébert)

This act of courage silenced all suspicion of personal cowardice on the part of the governor. His former policy was now commended, and the men protested they would never expose themselves rashly, again.

The parish records of Ville Marie this year reveal the absence of Indian baptisms. This is due to the fear of the Hurons in approaching the beleaguered fort. In addition the approaches were cut off. For in the spring of this year the Iroquois were divided into ten bands, scattered here and there on the St. Lawrence, breathing fury against the French, the Hurons and the Algonquins. The Island of Montreal itself had been visited by one of these bands at the Rivière des Prairies, and by another, with whom the recent fight described, took place.

Thus the whole country was in alarm, when, in the summer of 1644, a reinforcement from France arrived, sent by the queen regent and the Company of One Hundred Associates, of sixty men to be divided among the various posts. With them came another force for Montreal sent at the expense of the Company of Montreal. At this time Fort Richelieu was in great danger and the new addition was much valued.

The new expedition was under the command of the Sieur Labarre, who then came on to settle at Montreal in the summer with a number of new colonists. The early historians speak very slightingly of this man. He appears to have had the reputation of being very religious. At Rochelle he carried a large string of rosary beads in his girdle, and he also had a crucifix which he had almost incessantly before his eyes, so as to be considered an apostolic man. Hence his appointment. But this great "hypocrite" was found out in the intimate village life of Montreal and he was asked very shortly to retire to France as we shall see.

This year marks the beginning of agriculture in Montreal. Wheat had been sown principally through the initiative of Louis d'Ailleboust, who had come in the previous year.

But the difficulty of tilling and sowing the ground, when the workers had to carry their arms with them amid the danger of such surprises as we have described, rendered agriculture precarious, and in consequence the grain produced this year was not sufficient to support even the small colony. Its provisions had still to be sent from France.

The year 1645 started with an important change in the attitude of the Company of New France. Public opinion in the motherland had been drawn to Canadian affairs. The Montreal venture and the publication of the "Véritables Motifs" had thrown discredit on the Company as a colonizing force. This body at first no doubt blustered somewhat, but finally, from fear of being looked upon as mere private speculators, it was ready to listen to reason. There had been representation from Quebec from the colonists there that the monopoly of the fur trade by the Company menaced commerce and prevented Frenchmen coming to Canada. A modification or suppression of this monopoly as the only means of increasing and firmly "establishing the colony" was demanded.

Accordingly, after having considered these matters at its annual meeting in December, we find the Company at a subsequent one, on January 7th, making, at the demand of the queen regent and the solicitation of the Jesuits, a treaty with the colonists of New France, by which they handed over to them the trade in peltry excluding that of Acadia, Miscou and Cape Breton. This treaty was concluded between the Company and the representatives of the colonists, MM. de Repentigny and Godefroi, on January 14, 1644, and ratified by the king on July 13, 1645.—(Edits et Ordonnances.)

The history, therefore, of free trade for Montreal starts from this period, for we have seen how it had been crippled in its original charter. Still the troublous times it had been undergoing had not allowed them at Montreal to feel their restrictions, just as the times still ahead were not suitable for availing themselves of their new privileges, for war paralyzed commerce. If truth be told, the deputation from Canada had obtained a beautiful scheme on paper; the Company came out the winner.

The document is worthy of consideration.

After conceding to the "habitans du dit pays," present and to come, the right and license of the trade in skins and peltry in New France ... it orders that the said "habitans" shall for the future keep up the colony of New France, and shall discharge for the Company the ordinary expenses hitherto paid by it for the maintenance and appointments of ecclesiastics, governor, lieutenants, captains, soldiers and garrisons in the forts and habitations, and that in consideration of the expenses already incurred by the Company.

The Company, however, was to retain the name, titles, authority, rights and powers accorded in its original edict of establishment and to remain in full ownership, possession, judiciary, seigneurial tenure of all the country and extent of the lands of New France.

Thus it placed all responsibility on the inhabitants themselves. Montreal would not suffer very much, because, being a private corporation, it had already offered to maintain itself at its own cost.

The year 1645 opened again with Iroquois attacks, "but," says Dollier de Casson, "God has been favourable to us."

The men of the fort even killed some of their assailants, and owing to the wise soldiership of the governor, not one of his own were killed, all this year.

A. The fort built in 1645. E. First cemetery in Montreal. B. Hôtel-Dieu, founded in 1642. C. Residence of M. de Chomedey de Maisonneuve. D. Windmill built in 1648.

RESIDENCE OF M. DE CHOMEDEY DE MAISONNEUVE

Meanwhile, the Indian allies still kept away. But on September 7th the fort welcomed a body of sixty of them who came under the escort of a band of the soldiers sent out from France the previous year. These latter had been ordered on arriving to winter with the Hurons and protect them from the Iroquois, and they were now on their way back to the governor of Quebec with a load of skins to the value of thirty to forty thousand livres.

It will be remembered that the disposition of the peltry was now in the hands of the colonists themselves on condition that they should maintain the upkeep of the departments of church and state. On arriving in Quebec there was a disagreement as to the disposal of the profits of the sale. Finally the colonists devoted part of their proceeds to the construction of the Jesuit house there.

This year also de Montmagny and the inhabitants applied the product of 1,250 beaver skins to their new church being constructed at Quebec and dedicated to Our Lady of Peace in view of the conclusion of peace, now heartily desired.

The possibilities of trade must have appealed to the Montrealers from the arrival of the above party, the more so as their restrictions had been removed.

This month, the negotiations for peace were concluded at a representative gathering of Iroquois and the French allies with the French party under de Montmagny and thus the first Iroquois war was over.

Peace now gave M. de Maisonneuve an opportunity to go to France to arrange the affairs of his father; so putting his own in order, he left the government of Ville Marie in the good hands of his lieutenant, Louis d'Ailleboust. He departed, to the great grief of all the fort gathered at the harbour mouth, but with the promise of a speedy return. M. de Maisonneuve left Quebec on October 20th, on one of the Company's ships bearing their season's fur skins to France. He "deported," as we would say, with him the "undesirable" Sieur de Labarre, whose hypocrisy had been unmasked in Montreal, "when it became known," as Dollier de Casson quaintly relates, "he was frequently taking promenades in the wood with an Indian woman whom he had defiled (qu'il engrossa). There was no more of the saint about this man than his chapelet and his deceitful look, for under the guise of virtue he hid a very wicked life which has made him since finish his days behind a 'bar' which was heavier than his name of Barre."

This year the Jesuit missioners in charge of Ville Marie were Fathers Buteaux and Isaac Jogues. Both of these men were zealous pioneers. Each bore on his body the marks of Iroquois' ill treatment. Yet they did not ask to be recalled to France and rest on their laurels. Father Jogues had, however, been recalled after his mutilation, but his missionary zeal prompted him to return. He profited by the peace, which brought many of the Iroquois out of curiosity to the fort, to make friends with them as he wished to work among their tribes shortly.

After Maisonneuve had concluded the arrangement of his father's affairs he was free for many conferences with members of the Company of Montreal. Ever since they had written to the pope in 1643 it was their great desire, and that of Maisonneuve especially, it being thought that peace was concluded, to establish a bishopric in Canada. As they had agreed to support the expense of maintaining such a post, preferably at Montreal, they arranged that one of their number, a M. Legauffre, a secular priest who had a private fortune of his own, should be nominated to fill the episcopal see.

His unexpected death now came, but he left a legacy of 30,000 livres towards the founding of a see.

In the meeting of the bishops at the general assembly of the clergy on May 25, 1646, Mgr. Godeau, bishop of Grasse, promoted the movement for the establishment of the see, and in July, at the meeting of July 11th, Cardinal Mazarin promised to employ his services with his majesty towards that end, while he also promised 1,200 écus. But as at Quebec and Three Rivers there was no desire for a bishop, especially in view of the uncertain nature of the peace, the negotiations were eventually discontinued, as it became evident that the state of the country was too unsettled. Still the progressive Montrealers had by their enterprise and initiative suggested the establishment of a see, which was erected later on the coming of Laval.

A notable personage now enters into the story of Montreal, Charles le Moyne. He was then a young man of twenty years of age, but he had been already in the colony since 1641 and had traveled in the service of the Jesuits on their Huron missions. Thus he had acquired the knowledge of their language and that of the Iroquois, and it was with the purpose of being useful to the fort at Montreal, as an interpreter with the Iroquois, that he had been sent by de Montmagny to supply a need which the fort had experienced in dealing with the Indians.

CHARLES LE MOYNE
(By Philippe Hébert)

M. de Maisonneuve returned at Quebec on September 20th, but hardly had he arrived there than he received a letter from M. Dauversière that his brother-in-law had been assassinated and that his mother was contemplating a second marriage; the latter, seeming to be looked upon as a ruinous event for the family, he had to cross back immediately to France to stay its execution. He sailed for that country on October 31st, but while waiting for the boat to go he transacted some business in Quebec and returned to M. Puiseaux his original donation to the Company of Montreal, of the fiefs of St. Michel and St. Foy and the other gifts which he had given in his early enthusiasm, but which he afterwards reclaimed.

In recompense the Company of Montreal was reimbursed for the improvements made on the land at St. Michel. This action of M. Puiseaux is attributed to his failing faculties. However, by his will made at Rochelle next year, June 21st, he gave the land of Ste. Foy for the maintenance of the future bishop.

During the calm, which was soon to be perturbed, Charles d'Ailleboust completed his fortifications with four regular bastions, so well constructed that the fort exterior was the pride of Canada. The fault was the delay in not having chosen another site, for even now the floods and the ice-pushes from the St. Lawrence threatened many times to upheave the fortifications, and by 1672 the fort was in ruins. Yet for the present they were of avail and inspired fear in the Iroquois and pride in the colonists. Agriculture was largely advanced by d'Ailleboust by cultivating lands for himself and having the same done for the settlement.

But war was again looming ahead. Signs were not wanting by the gradual dispersal of the Indian allies from the fort during the late autumn. On November 17th, three Hurons who were at Ville Marie, having gone to the hunt, returned, with the loss of one of their companions. A few days after, having gone in search of him, they were captured by a band of Iroquois. On November 30, 1646, two Frenchmen were taken at a distance from the camp. Thus it became evident that the peace had never been thoroughly intended, for news came in on all sides of disasters from the Iroquois. The year 1647 passed in troublous vexations. To the great joy of the settlement M. de Maisonneuve returned in the spring of 1648 and found that life was indeed a warfare.

The wars of the Iroquois were fiercer than ever. Fear filled the hearts of all the Montrealers. The fort was the centre of surprises. Yet this year the first windmill was constructed by de Maisonneuve, at what is still known as Windmill Point. It was built with loopholes for musketry, so that the mill was intended not only to grind the wheat but to be an advanced redoubt and a challenge to the Iroquois to show them that the French were not ready to abandon their field of glory. On October 21st Charles d'Ailleboust went to France whence he would return as the governor general.

A word should now be said of the government of the country. By a decree of the king in 1647 it had been arranged that the government of the country should be left in the matter of police, commerce and war in the hands of three, viz., the governor general, the superior of the Jesuits and the governor of Montreal.

The governor of Quebec was given a salary of 25,000 livres, with the privilege of having sent to him each year, without expense, seventy tons of freight by the vessels of the fleet on the condition that he should provide the fort with arms and ammunitions. He was to have, besides, his own private lieutenant, another at Three Rivers, and finally sixty-six garrison men who should be maintained at the expense of the stores. It was further settled that the governor general should journey into the country as he should judge fit.

As to the local governor of Montreal his salary should be 10,000 livres, with thirty tons of freight, and he was to support a garrison of thirty men. Finally 5,000 livres were granted annually to the superior of the Jesuits for their missions.

These privileges of the royal decision did not give pleasure to many in the colony. M. de Maisonneuve seems to have opposed them in France. It was alleged that M. de Montmagny, in the frequent absence from Quebec, of the superior of the Jesuits on missions, and that of the governor of Montreal, was practically sole ruler; that he was drawing too large a salary and was not fulfilling the conditions imposed upon him in safeguarding the other outposts of the colony. Thus there was dissatisfaction among the colonists, and M. Charles d'Ailleboust with M. des Chastelets went to France to procure amendments.

M. de Montmagny was about to be recalled. His rule was considered inefficient. A mémoire by M. de la Chesnaye says that there was a secret cabal intriguing against the governor, composed of a few of the chief families, who went to France to enrich themselves, and got one of their own named as governor general. This alludes to de Maisonneuve, des Chastelets and d'Ailleboust. The former is known to have refused a nomination to the post and des Chastelets and d'Ailleboust, among other things, asked for a reduction of the salary of the governor general from 25,000 livres to 10,000.

On the 5th of March, 1648, these amendments passed. In addition the governing council of Canada was now to be composed of the governor general, the superior of the Jesuits, and MM. de Chavigny, Godefroy of Quebec, and Giffard, to which body the local governors of Three Rivers and Montreal should be added when they should happen to be in Quebec.

The last page of the first deed of concession made by M. de Maisonneuve to Pierre Gadoys. The deed itself is completely written in the handwriting of the governor himself. Under the signature of Paul de Chomedey is the acceptance of the concession by Pierre Gadoys before the notary, Jean de St. Pierre. This is at once the first deed of concession and the first notarial act registered in Montreal, January 4, 1648.

Finally the king ordered that it would be necessary for two at least of the councillors to deliberate with the governor. The salary of the governor general was reduced to 10,000 livres, the sixty tons of freight to twelve, and his garrison to twelve men, and it was ruled that the local governors of Montreal and Three Rivers should each receive 3,000 livres, six tons of freight and six soldiers.

The 19,000 livres over should be partially employed in raising a "camp volant," or flying squadron drawn from men of existing garrisons if there should be sufficient so disposable, or if not, it should be raised as soon as possible. In the summer this flying squadron should guard all the passages by land and water under the command of some capable officer to be appointed by the governor, and in the winter it should be distributed in the garrisons to sally forth thence to beat the bush and to rove around.

The rest of the 19,000 livres should be employed in purchasing arms and ammunition. Besides this flying squadron the king allowed a company formed by the settlers at their own expense to act as the necessary escort to the Hurons or the missionaries. For the support of this, trading was allowed on these journeys on the condition of bringing the skins to the government stores at Quebec and sold at the price fixed by the Quebec council.

These changes were not received with favour by the old party and d'Ailleboust was made to realize this on his way back. However, he came to Quebec as governor general on August 20th and was received with "generous magnanimity" by Montmagny, who left on September 23d. Madame d'Ailleboust and her sister, Phillipine de Boulogne, joined the governor at Quebec. There was grief at Montreal in losing them, but this was tempered by its pride in furnishing the governor general from its midst.

A few words are needed in further explanation of the "camp volant" above alluded to.

"In 1642," according to Benjamin Suite, Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal, 1879, "there were no less than seventy soldiers at Three Rivers whose duty it was, not only to defend that place against the Iroquois, but to patrol Lake St. Peter also. The same year only fifteen soldiers were quartered at Quebec—a much less exposed position than Three Rivers. In the year 1644 some troops were sent to Canada by Anne d'Autriche. Twenty-three of these soldiers accompanied the Hurons, the missionaries and a few Frenchmen, who went to the Georgian Bay that summer. M. Ferland says that the garrison of Montreal numbered thirty men in 1647; but he evidently means the thirty men placed under the orders of Jean Bourdon for reconnaissance purposes on Lake St. Peter." These were "soldiers" from 1642; from 1649 there were volunteers, and from 1651, if not before, a sedentary militia was established.

About 1647 Montmagny had considered a project for forming an active militia to be on the lookout against the Iroquois, but his resources were too slender. In the spring of 1649 the "camp volant" was organized under the command of Charles J. d'Ailleboust de Musseaux, nephew of the new governor general, M. d'Ailleboust. It numbered forty men and its duty consisted in patrolling on the St. Lawrence between Montreal and Three Rivers.

After the slaughter of Sieur Duplessis Kerbodot, nephew of M. Lauson, now governing and the successor of de Musseaux, on August 19th, together with fifteen Frenchmen, the "camp volant" became disorganized for the winter, but it was apparently reformed in the summer of 1653. After that it seems to have been neglected during the government of D'Argenson and D'Avaugour. In fact a body of regular troops was required to check the Iroquois, and not mere militia, whose men could not attend to their farm and other business and at the same time keep beating the country nearly all the year round. Hence the request for troops, of Father Lejeune in 1660, and Pierre Boucher in 1661. In 1663 a body of militia was organized at Montreal.

The next spring, 1640, the "camp volant" of forty men was sent to Montreal under the command of the nephew of the new governor, Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux, to help to repulse the Iroquois. About the same time the new governor went to pay his first official visit to Ville Marie.

He communicated the king's order as above, and among other instructions he communicated directions from the Company of Montreal. One, touching the administration of the Hôtel-Dieu, regulated that the surgeon of this house should attend the sick of the island gratuitously, both French and Indians, and that the administration accounts of the hospital should be rendered annually to the governor of Montreal, the ecclesiastical superior and to the syndics of the inhabitants, who should sign an act to be sent to Paris.

During this stay the governor, on May 3rd, put the Jesuits [59] formally in possession of the Seigneurie de Madeleine on the south side of the St. Lawrence, comprising land two leagues in length by four in depth, stretching from St. Helen's island towards the Sault St. Louis. This had been granted by François de Lauson on April 1, 1647.

Sad news had been brought to Jeanne Mance by the governor that many of the Associates were losing their interest in Montreal and were diverting their charities to the missions in the Levant. Anxious to get further news she went to Quebec in the summer and there she found that Père Rapin, the Recollect, her intermediary with Madame de Bullion, was dead; that the Company of Montreal was almost dissolved; that M. de la Dauversière was dangerously ill; that his affairs had become entangled, and he was now a bankrupt. As he had money in trust for Madame de Bullion, this was a blow for the colony.

The outlook for Montreal was now financially gloomy. Ville Marie was also surrounded by war. Jeanne Mance therefore set sail from Quebec on September 8th to interest her friends in the struggling settlement. In this she was very successful. Madame de Bullion received her with kindness and gave her a sum of money to engage workmen to till lands to support the hospital. The Associates renewed their interest, and in order to guarantee the continuance of their Seigneurie a new act was drawn up to supplement that of March 25, 1644, in which M. de Fancamp and M. de la Dauversière had sworn that they were occupiers of Montreal in the name of a company, so that these nine remaining members were now publicly named and signed their names, making at the same time a mutual donation, reciprocal and irrevocable, by which they handed over to the last surviving of them the forts, habitations and outhouses, etc., belonging to the said Company. This was signed before the Notaries Pourcelle and Chaussiere on March 21, 1650. [60]

The Company gave the hospital also 200 arpents of land. Jeanne Mance saw many of the associates privately and stimulated their interest, as well as that, of others. In the month of September, 1650, she arrived at Quebec with some labourers and some virtuous marriageable girls, leaving it on September 25th for Montreal and arriving there three days before the feast of All Saints (November 1st). [61]

The year 1650 may be chronicled as that of the first general movement towards agriculture. The constant fear of Iroquois' attacks had kept the settlers pent up within the walls of the fort, although there had been since 1643 individual attempts by Charles d'Ailleboust and others outside. [62] The activity started by Jeanne Mance in putting into cultivation the 200 arpents lately conceded by the Associates of the Company of Montreal to the Hôtel-Dieu encouraged others to take to the land and to build their dwellings on the concessions which they now demanded from M. Maisonneuve, since it was now thought there was a likelihood of peace.

These early grants were only of thirty arpents and to ensure as great protection as possible against Iroquois attacks, they were clustered around the fort and the brewery. In granting these lands, however, the seigneurs stipulated that they could be exchanged later for others at a remote distance, for the location at present used was reserved for the future city, for the building of the market place, the port and other public purposes.

What may be called the history of mutual building societies now starts, for as the number of workmen were limited, the inhabitants, led by the motives of fraternal charity and public spirit, formed associations to help one another in the clearing of their lots and in the construction of their homes. Thus a contract dated November 15, 1650, between Jean des Carris and Jean Le Duc, binds them to assist each other to build at common expense a ho, for each, on a clearing, of ten acres each, made by them, and that if one of them fell sick the work should be continued by the other without remuneration.

In the present case after the clearing had been made and the house built on Jean des Carris' concession, the war intervening would not allow similar work to be done on that of Jean Le Duc, and in consequence Jean Le Duc received from his partner 580 livres in recompense for his services.

The harvest of this year was very successful; "particularly at Montreal where the lands are very excellent," is the account in the "Relations."

It is not difficult now to present a picture of Montreal or Ville Marie of this period. On the northeast portion of the triangular piece of land watered on the east and north by the little River St. Peter and on the south by the St. Lawrence, there was the fort and the new concessions with their wooden buildings being erected thereon; on the southern portion there was a long sweep of ground, an arpent in depth and forty in length, along the banks of the river westward, on which the cattle of the soldiers and others who were now becoming farmers were allowed to stray. This was known as "the Common" [63] and was granted to Jean de Saint Père as the syndic for the people in October, 1651, on the understanding that it should revert to the seigneurs when they should need it for city expansion. In this common, which was protected by the fort and the houses above, the animals, under the care of a watchman, were safe from immediate attack, since all approaching this pasturage must necessarily venture from afar and be visible. At the west end of the common was the windmill near the river. [64] Across the little river there were the houses of M. Maisonneuve and that of the Hôtel-Dieu. This comprised the situation.

In spite of the pictures of progress and contentment we have presented as existing towards the end of 1649 and the earlier part of 1650, we must remember that Montreal was frequently the rendezvous of bands of Hurons and their Jesuit missionaries, who told of their flight from the cruelty of the Iroquois; of forts destroyed, pillaged, of burnings and massacres. Montreal itself, they were told, was soon be the object of attack. Hence the bands did not delay. After the horrible scenes that had occurred at St. Louis [65] in July of 1650 the missionaries brought down three or four hundred Lake Hurons, the relics of three to four thousand, to Ville Marie, where they stayed only two days. The "Relation" of this year says: "This is an advantageous situation for the settlement of the savages, but as it is the frontier of the Iroquois, whom our Hurons flee from, more than death itself, they could not determine to start their colony then."

Dollier de Casson gives us this insight into the fear caused at Ville Marie by these visits and their recitals of disaster. The evident reflection then was, "If we who are only a handful of Europeans, do not offer a firmer and more vigorous resistance than 30,000 Hurons have done, then we must reconcile ourselves to be burnt alive at a slow fire with all the refinements of unheard of cruelty."

But this year Montreal was able to breathe in comparative peace. A picture of Montreal of this year is presented by Père P. Ragueneau, the Jesuit superior of the missions, writing from Quebec on October 8th to Father Picolomini, the general of the order at Rouen: At Montreal there are barely sixty Frenchmen, twenty Hurons, a few Algonquins and two of our fathers. They cannot leave this fort, which is always very much exposed."

In the spring of 1651, a perilous period began. Speaking of this year the Jesuit "Relations" say in general: "It is a marvel that the French of Ville Marie were not exterminated by the frequent surprises of Iroquois bands." Other contemporaneous chroniclers repeat the same. Sister Morin, in the "Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu of Montreal," writes: "Often ten men of Ville Marie, or less, have been seen holding their own against fifty or eighty Iroquois, who have acquired for themselves a great reputation in all Canada and in France, and the Iroquois have several times avowed that three men of Montreal have inspired them with more fear than six from elsewhere."

The attacks now were very frequent and sudden. Although the garrison fought well and bravely, its losses were severe compared with those of the Iroquois, who though losing more men, yet were able to replace them.

Some of these encounters have been preserved to us. The following occurred on May 6, 1651: On this day, Jean Boudard had left his house with a man named Jean Chicot when suddenly they found themselves surprised by eight or ten Iroquois. Chicot ran for safety to a tree recently cut down and hid himself there, but Boudard, making headlong for his home, met his wife, Catherine Mercier, not far from it. Asking her whether the dwelling was open she replied: "No, I have locked it!" "Ah!" cried he, "then it is death for both of us! Let us fly at once." In their flight, the wife could not keep pace with him and, being left behind, was seized by the Indians. Hearing her cries the husband returned and attacked them with fisticuffs, so violently that, not being able to master him otherwise, they massacred him on the spot. The cries and confusion aroused three of the settlers, Charles Le Moyne, Archambault and another, who, running to render assistance, were seen falling into an ambuscade of forty Indians behind the hospital. Discovering their mistake they made a retreat to the front door of the hospital which luckily was open, having escaped a brisk fusillade, as Le Moyne well knew by the hole in his hat. With the captive woman, the Indians who had surprised Boudard then sought the hiding place of Chicot. He defended himself with his feet and hands so vigorously that fearing, lest he should be assisted by the Frenchmen they now saw approaching, they took his scalp, taking a piece of his skull with it. This they carried with them as a trophy, as well as the head of Boudard, who was commonly known as "Grand Jean." Jean Chicot did not die, however, till nearly fourteen years later, but Catherine Mercier was brutally burned after having been inhumanly disfigured, [66] during the summer of the same year in the Iroquois camp.

Four days later another alarm aroused the fort. About two hours after midnight, a band of forty Iroquois attacked the brewery and some of the houses. Two of these, belonging to Urbain Tessier dit Lavigne and Michel Chauvin, they burned, and the brewery would have been reduced to ashes if the guard of four men within, had not repulsed their attack with vigour and put them to flight.

On the 18th of June, on a Sunday morning, a party of four, probably returning to their newly constructed houses from the church in the fort, was surprised between the fort and Point St. Charles by a large body of Iroquois. These four ran to a hut used as a kind of watch house or redoubt, overlooking a quantity of felled timber, where they were quickly joined by Urbain Tessier and, resolving to sell their lives dearly, they kept up a lively fusillade on the enemy.

The noise attracted de Maisonneuve in camp and he sent a relief party under Charles Le Moyne with such success that the Iroquois were put to flight, leaving behind them twenty-five to thirty men dead on the field, independently of those who were taken prisoners. On the French side only four were wounded, although one of them, Léonard Lucault dit Barbot, died two days afterwards, being buried in the cemetery. Belmont, in his "Histoire du Canada," mentions another among the dead, but the parish register only mentions one.

Thus, amid such daily hostilities, was life insecurely led by the settlers, since it was not safe to venture even a few yards from their houses without pistol, musket or sword.

Jeanne Mance, in a memoir to be found among the archives of the seminary at Quebec, tells how the governor now obliged all the colonists to leave their newly constructed houses and retire with their families to the safety of the fort. She herself was forced to leave the hospital. Maisonneuve turned this into a military outpost to guard the isolated redoubts scattered here and there in the field and to protect the workmen, by placing in it a squad of soldiers. He had two pieces of cannon taken there and swivel guns for the windows of the granaries, and he had loopholes cut into the walls of the building all around, even in the chapel which served as an artillery armoury.

In this way the hospital became a fortress for four years and a half. On July 26th the wisdom of Maisonneuve's arrangement was evident. Marguerite Bourgeoys is responsible for the story. On this day 200 Iroquois had concealed themselves in a trench originally built as a defence for the hospital, and which, descending from a height nearby, close to the place where St. Jean Baptiste street is today, crossed the site of St. Paul street.

All of a sudden the concealed foes disclosed their presence by attempting to take possession of the building and to set it on fire. Meanwhile the garrison within, consisting of Lambert Closse, [67] the town major, and sixteen of his men made a vigorous and valorous defence against the 200 from 6 o'clock in the morning to 6 at night, and losing only one man, Denis Archambault, who met his death by a splinter from the cast iron cannon which had exploded, killing him on the spot, but without dealing death to the enemy outside. The cannon was fired by himself. Finally the enemy were forced to retreat, burning a neighbouring house in revenge for their loss of men.

Other engagements of a like nature took place but the details have not been recorded. Three Rivers and Quebec were in similar straits. Disaster, loss, and want of reinforcement for two years had reduced Montreal to but about fifty defenders, so that there was now open talk of abandoning it and leaving Canada.

One hope remained, suggested to the governor by Jeanne Mance; it was that the 22,000 livres put aside as the revenue for the hospital might be diverted to the expense of sending out a reinforcement to save Montreal, and she thought that she might interpret her "unknown benefactress'" goodwill as agreeable to this, seeing the extremity in which Montreal now stood.

But de Maisonneuve accepted the offer only on the condition that in exchange Mademoiselle Mance should receive for the hospital 100 arpents of the domain of the seigneurs. Meanwhile he could go to France and call on the unknown benefactress herself whose name was now divulged to him. Mademoiselle Mance tells how "M. de Maisonneuve determined on departing for France, told me that if he could not obtain at least 100 men, he would return no more to Ville Marie; and in this case he would order me to return to France with all our party." Thus the abandonment of the settlement was now threatened.

Before leaving M. de Maisonneuve named the nephew of Louis d'Ailleboust, M. Charles d'Ailleboust, Sieur des Musseaux, to be the governor of Montreal in his stead.

In the meantime the new governor general, M. de Lauson, of whom we have spoken already, had arrived on October 13th to succeed M. Louis d'Ailleboust at Quebec. This was no good tidings for Montreal, for as Dollier de Casson remarks, the new governor made known "his good feelings towards the Messieurs de Montréal" and the good treatment they ought to hope from him by retrenching 1,000 from the 4,000 livres granted by the general Company for the upkeep of the governor and his garrison. [68]

"I do not wish," says he, "to say anything touching the conduct of this gentleman towards this island, more especially as I wish to believe that he has always had the very best of intentions, although he was always wise to his own interest since if he had more frequently strengthened the embankment here, the Iroquois inundations would not have so easily taken their course towards Quebec and they would not have done the mischief they did, for they have not always respected even his own family."

De Maisonneuve before leaving for France persuaded the governor of Quebec to send ten men as a reinforcement to Ville Marie. Dollier de Casson, the quondam soldier now priest, treating this quaintly as follows, says facetiously that de Lauson kept his promise, "sending their arms in advance," meaning that he sent none at all. This is confirmed by M. de Belmont, who says that "M. de Lauson sent, in spite of his own wish, ten soldiers without arms and provisions." "But he sent them so late," says Dollier, probably on the testimony of eye-witnesses, "and put them on a chaloupe so poorly clad that they almost froze to death, and they were taken for living spectres coming, as mere skeletons, to confront the hardships of the winter. It was a rather surprising thing to see them arrive in this turnout at this season, considering that it was the 10th of December; so much so that it seemed doubtful whether they were men or not, this only being cleared up when they were seen close at hand; moreover in constitution these men were most sickly, two of them being mere boys, though in truth they have become since very good settlers, of whom one is called Saint Ange and the other, Lachapelle. These poor soldiers were no sooner here than their hosts proceeded to warm them up as well as they could, by giving them good cheer and good clothing, and then they came to be of service in repelling the Iroquois whom we had to deal with at close quarters every day."

Surely Montreal must have been looked upon as a forlorn hope!

NOTE

THE EXPLOIT OF PLACE D'ARMES

The site of this is claimed by the Abbé Rousseau in his "Maisonneuve," page 77, as the space in front of the fort known as the Place d'Armes, afterwards the market place and now known as Custom House Square, and the road abutting the new buildings of the Hôtel-Dieu arising at the corner of St. Joseph Street (St. Sulpice) and the corner of St. Paul Street.

The Abbé Faillon, Vol. II, page 25, "Histoire de la Colonie Française," argues for the present Place d'Armes in front of Notre Dame Parish Church. M. L. A. Huguet Latour, the first editor of the Annuaire de Ville Marie, holds the same view.

There was a blazed trail, running up the slope of St. Sulpice Street, which probably went up to the mountain where de Maisonneuve placed his cross. In a map of 1680 such a road ran by the northwest corner of the present Place d'Armes.

Faillon claims it was here that the exploit took place; the argument of time and distance for the action as related by de Casson being more congruous for this position than at the lower position just outside the fort in the sight of the defenders within. But it must be remembered that the present Place d'Armes did not get its name from this exploit. This name does not appear till 1717, when Chassegros de Léry, engineer of New France, forwarded to France a lengthy report as to the advantage of Montreal for the purposes of fortifications. In this report he said:

"I have marked a place d'armes, in front of the parish church where might afterwards be moved a number of barracks, the houses which are in that place being of small value."

During the year the work was commenced, but from lack of funds it was discontinued. Up to 1721 no further progress was made but in that year it was fairly entered upon and de Léry superintended it. (Vide "Canadiana," Vol. I, pp. 47, 63, 77; notes of John Talon Lespérance, Henry Platt, Wm. McLennan.)

Let us compromise and say that most of the action took place on St. Sulpice Street, between the present and the old Place d'Armes, the latter incidents of the story taking place near the old Place d'Armes.

FOOTNOTES:

[55] The position now can be located as at the east corner of St. Sulpice (originally St. Joseph) Street and St. Paul Street.

[56] There are still preserved in the present Hôtel-Dieu some jars and other articles of the original dispensary, as well as Mademoiselle Bullion's gifts of furniture.

[57] The dog Pilot has been immortalized in Hébert's de Maisonneuve monument in Place d'Armes, Montreal.

[58] The parish register of March 30, 1644, records that the French lost in this encounter J. Matenac and P. Bizot, besides Guillaume Lebeau, mortally wounded.

[59] At this time in the Huron country and its neighbourhood there were eighteen Jesuit priests, four lay brothers, twenty-three men serving without pay, seven hired men and eight soldiers.

[60] Names of Associates signing: Jean Jacques Olier, priest, curé of the Church of St. Sulpice; Alexandre de Rageois de Bretonvilliers; Nicholas Barreau, priest; Roger Duplessis, Seigneur de Liancourt; Henri Louis Hubert, Seigneur de Montmart, king's councillor and master of requests; Bertrand Drouart, Esquire; and Louis Séguier, Seigneur de St. Germain, who all occupied the Isle of Montreal as well for themselves as for MM. d'Ailleboust and Paul de Chomedey, Sieur de Maisonneuve.

[61] The first concession and notarial act known, signed by Jean St. Père, dates from this year, as also does the first of the acts of the government of M. de Maisonneuve. (See Hist. Soc. Records.)

[62] Among others Pierre Gadbois, Lucien Richomme, Blaise Juillet, Léonard Lucault dit Barbier, François Godé and Godefroy de Normanville. From 1650 to 1672 ninety-four houses were built.

[63] The name of "Common" Street records the locality of this "common."

[64] At the present Windmill Point.

[65] The Jesuits, Jean de Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant, nephew of Father Charles Lalemant, S. J., were killed by the Iroquois at St. Louis on the 16th and 17th of March, 1649.

[66] "Relations," 1651.

[67] Lambert Closse came in 1648. He was second in command of the garrison. He was of noble family. Contemporary writers call him indifferently sergeant-major of the garrison, major of the garrison, major of this place, or "of the fort" or "of the town" or "of Montreal." He also acted as notary.

[68] Montreal fared ill, whereas the salary of the governor of Quebec was raised 2,000 livres and that of Three Rivers reached 5,200 and 50 horses, the 3,000 livres granted to the governor of Montreal had been increased to 4,000. This news had been brought to Montreal by Louis d'Ailleboust. It was now reduced again to 3,000.

CHAPTER VIII

1652-3

CRITICAL YEARS

LAMBERT CLOSSE, COMMANDANT

MAISONNEUVE'S SUCCESS IN PARIS—MADAME DE BULLION'S DONATIONS—"PARMENDA"—THE EXPLOIT OF LAMBERT CLOSSE—THE PHANTOM SHIP—MONTREAL REPORTED AT QUEBEC TO BE BLOTTED OUT—PROPOSALS OF PEACE FROM THE ONONDAGAS—MARCH OF MOHAWKS ON MONTREAL—CHARLES LE MOYNE AND ANONTAHA TO PARLEY FOR PEACE—A PATCHED UP PEACE—THE END OF THE SECOND IROQUOIS WAR.

M. de Maisonneuve was absent for nearly three years and during that time Montreal was in a critical position. The inhabitants were cooped up within the fortress or in the Hôtel-Dieu for fear of the Iroquois. The danger of going out of these limits was only too clearly seen when the cattle guardian, Antoine Roos, was slain at his work on the common in front, on May 26th.

Anxiety was felt as to M. de Maisonneuve's success in Paris. News was accordingly eagerly awaited. Thus it was that in June Jeanne Mance went to Three Rivers under the escort of Major Closse and proceeded on the way to Quebec under that of M. Duplessis Kerbodot, the governor of Three Rivers. On arriving there she had almost dared to hope to hear that M. de Maisonneuve had already arrived, but instead a long letter awaited her. In this, the governor related his visit to Madame de Bullion, telling how he had approached Madame adroitly, without discovering to her his knowledge of her benefactions as the founder of the Hôtel-Dieu. Not only did this lady not take any steps to show her disapproval of Mademoiselle Mance's action in making the exchange of the hospital revenue, but she gave in addition 20,000 livres more as an anonymous gift, placing it in the hands of the president of the Company of Montreal, M. de Lamoignon, for the purpose of raising a convoy for Montreal under M. de Maisonneuve. Thus, in all, this good lady had contributed 42,000 towards the 75,000 livres for the new expedition of 115 men provided by the Company. The letter then informed Mademoiselle Mance that he would return the next year; meanwhile the preparations would be hastened.

With this good news Jeanne Mance returned as soon as possible to Montreal. New hope was thus infused into the settlement. On July 29th, however, the state of hostilities is again revealed to us by the record of the brave exploit of Martine Messier, the wife of Antoine Primot.

Three Iroquois, who had hidden themselves in the wheat at a distance of two musket shots from the fort, fell upon her unexpectedly. She defended herself like a lioness, fighting with her hands and feet. To quell her loud cries for help they gave her three or four stunning blows with their axes. Thinking her dead, as she sank to the ground, one of them threw himself over the prostrate body to take her scalp as his trophy, when suddenly our Amazon, coming to herself, raised herself, more furious than ever, seized him with such violence "par un endroit que la pudeur nous défend de nommer," that he could not free himself, although he did not cease striking her with the head of the axe. But she held on tightly, until at last she fell to the ground exhausted, thus affording her assailant what he most wanted at that moment, an opportunity to escape from the relief party now running from all parts of the fort to her rescue.

On reaching the spot where the poor woman lay bathed in her blood, one of the men assisting her to rise, moved by a natural sentiment of friendship and compassion, embraced her. But this seems to have made her confused, for she administered a sound slap in the face of this affectionate sympathizer, to the great surprise of the bystanders, who exclaimed: "What are you doing? This man was only showing his sympathy to you, without any thought of ill. Why do you strike him?"

"Par menda!" she exclaimed in her patois. "I thought he wanted to kiss me!"

Madame Primot did not die, but she was long afterwards known as "Parmenda," whose valour and modesty were lovingly held in tradition, as typical of the noble women of these early pioneering days, in which virtue and courage flourished side by side.

"PARMENDA"
(By Philippe Hébert.)

The severe treatment received at Montreal turned the Iroquois to Three Rivers, and in a skirmish on August 19th they killed the governor, M. Duplessis Kerbodot.

In October, however, Montreal was the scene of fresh fighting. Dollier de Casson has rescued the story of this from oblivion, from so many others not recorded.

On the 19th of this month, the barking of the dogs indicated the direction of an Iroquois ambuscade. The brave town major, Lambert Closse, ever ready to fly to the post of peril, started out at once with twenty-four armed men to reconnoitre the situation. But though brave, he was prudent; he therefore sent three of his soldiers ahead. La Lochetière, [69] Baston (or Bastoin) and another, ordering them to proceed within gunshot no further than a certain position marked out by him. La Lochetière, however, in his eagerness pushed a little ahead of his companions, and the more easily to discover the whereabouts of the enemy, he climbed a tree, intending to discover from this lookout if the enemy were hiding in a thicket.

But, without him knowing it, there was an ambush of them at the foot of the tree, and as soon as he had climbed it they raised their usual war cry, and were about to fire on him. No less alert than brave, La Lochetière seized his musket, fired straight at one of them, who was aiming at himself, killing his man, but paying the penalty of death at the same instant from his victim's gun. The other two scouts also received a volley, from which they were lucky to escape.

Major Chase quickly put his men in order, but, finding his party surrounded, he directed them to make a rush to a wretched shack near at hand, belonging to an old settler, M. Prud'homme, who had eagerly invited them to enter as quickly as possible, for the enemy were surrounding it. This done, the party made loopholes in the walls for their guns and prepared to open a brisk fire on the besiegers—all except one coward, who, falling flat on the ground, could not be induced by threats or blows to rise. But the Iroquois were now firing at close quarters all around the house and their balls riddled the scanty walls so that one of them struck Laviolette, one of the fighters of the fort, completely disabling him. The loopholes now being ready, the French party answered the Iroquois with such effect that after the first rounds the ground was strewn with the dusky bodies of the slain. The hurly-burly went on, the Iroquois fighting while they attempted to carry away their wounded and dead, until, fearing a dearth of ammunition, Major Closse was only too glad to accept the offer of Baston, whose prowess as a runner was well known, to make a dash to the fort and bring back a reinforcement of men.

Accordingly, under cover of the fire of the defenders of the house, the door was opened and Baston, speeding forth, escaped while the Iroquois were recovering from this last fusillade.

Soon he returned with eight or ten men, all that could be spared, and two pieces of cannon charged with canister shot. Between the scene of battle and the fort there was a screen of trees under cover of which the reinforcement made its way and thus escaped the attention of the savages till it suddenly appeared in view on this side of the screen and commenced firing on the Iroquois. Major Closse's party now went into the open to join fire also and a brisk and hot interchange took place. But the enemy were being overmastered and made their best to retreat, carrying with them their dead as far as possible, according to their custom. Dollier de Casson does not give the number of the enemy slain. "Usually," he says, "they decimated their losses, but, speaking of this occasion, they owned that 'we all died there.'"

M. de Belmont in his history states that more than fifty of the Iroquois were wounded and twenty killed. On the French side the only one killed was La Lochetière, and one wounded, Laviolette.

This was only one of the brave actions which surrounded the fame of the warlike Lambert Closse as revealed in the early chronicles.

LAMBERT CLOSSE
(By Philippe Hébert)

Thus the fort of Montreal was the scene of many such conflicts, unassisted by the "camp volant," which de Lauson had suppressed in 1652. Père Mercier, in his "Relations of the Year 1653," writes: "There has passed no month of the year in which the Iroquois have not stealthily visited Ville Marie, attempting to surprise it. But they have had no great success. The settlers have assisted one another with so much determination and courage that as soon as a gunshot is heard in any direction, they run thither quickly, without any dread of the dangers besetting them."

At Quebec, it was announced that Montreal had been blotted out. In the spring of 1653 the governor of Quebec, anxious for news of this advanced post, had sent a barque thither, giving the commander instructions that he should not approach the fort, unless he had proof certain that the French were there, adding that if he did not see any, he was to come back to Quebec, for fear that the Iroquois, having captured Ville Marie, might be lying in ambush to capture them also. The barque advanced near the fort in a dense fog, and anchored. But seeing no one and hearing no signal, they obeyed their instructions literally enough, and went back to Quebec with the dire tale of the destruction of the French colonists. The wiseacres no doubt said that the inevitable had occurred at last.

Meanwhile in the fort, the keen-eyed had seen the vague outline of a vessel, but others said it was a phantom of the imagination, and when later the mist rolled away and they saw no ship, these were satisfied with their diagnosis until news came later from Quebec that it was a veritable vessel after all.

In this abandoned state, we are told by the chroniclers how the Montrealers, under the direction of the Jesuits of the fort, earnestly prayed for peace.

As if in answer to their petition, on June 26, 1653, an embassy of sixty Iroquois of the nation of the Onondagas (Onontaquis) appeared at the fort with a proposal of peace. As they came unarmed, they were treated kindly, presents were exchanged, and the day was one of public rejoicing. On returning to their country, passing by the village of the Oneidas (Onneyuts), they exhibited their presents and spoke in high praise of the French of Montreal. "They are devils when attacked," they said, "but most courteous and affable when treated as friends." And they protested that they were about to enter into a firm and solid alliance with them. Touched by these discourses, the Oneida Iroquois (Onneyuts) would also enter into an alliance with Montreal, and they sent an embassy with a great porcelain necklace, asking for peace, which was concluded. But there were three others of the Five Nations who had not made peace, for though they were allied amongst themselves they reserved their independence. These were the Mohawks (Agniers), the Senecas (the Tsonnoutouans), and the Cayugas (Gogogouins).

Three weeks after this, 600 Mohawks marched on Montreal. We have no records of this attack, but they retired to Three Rivers to seize the port there. Quebec now also trembled for itself, and it was at this time that de Lauson reestablished the "camp volant." In September of this year peace was again concluded, for a time, between the French and the Iroquois. As Montreal had a large share in bringing this about we must relate the following circumstances leading to it.

At the time of the descent, of the Iroquois above mentioned, on Montreal, there was present in the fort a band of Hurons, and among them one, the bravest of all, named Anontaha. On one occasion these Hurons had discovered the tracks of a party of lurking Iroquois meditating mischief for Montreal. They combined with the French and on August 25th they surrounded the Iroquois, and after a sharp struggle beat them off, leading four or five Iroquois chiefs, or men of importance, to the fort. These captives told of the projected raids of extermination on Three Rivers and Quebec. The acting governor, knowing of the importance of these Iroquois in the camp, called a meeting of his counsellors, and it was determined that Charles Le Moyne, the interpreter, should persuade Anontaha to go to Three Rivers and parley for peace with the Iroquois, offering to hand them over their chiefs in captivity in Montreal. This was done on August 24th and peace was concluded later. Dollier de Casson says of this: "Finally there was made a sudden patched-up peace in which our enemies acquiesced, solely to regain their own people and to have an opportunity of surprising us later. We well knew their rascally motives, but, as they were stronger than we, we accepted their conditions, 'et en passions par là où ils voulaient.'"

Thus ended the second Iroquois war.

FOOTNOTE:

[69] The parish register gives Etienne Thibault. The Abbé Faillon reads Etienne Thibault dit La Lochetière. (Massicotte gives the date as October 14.)

CHAPTER IX

1653-4

THE SECOND FOUNDATION OF MONTREAL

THE GREAT REINFORCEMENT OF 1653

MAISONNEUVE RETURNS WITH A RELIEF FORCE—THE MONTREAL CONTINGENT THE SAVIOURS OF CANADA—THE ORIGIN AND TRADES OF THE NEW COLONISTS—MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, THE FIRST SCHOOLMISTRESS, ARRIVES—HER CALL—SHIP FEVER—ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC—THE GOVERNOR OF QUEBEC WOULD RETAIN THE RELIEF CONTINGENT—MAISONNEUVE FIRM FOR MONTREAL—THE WORK OF CONSOLIDATING THE ENLARGED COLONY AT VILLE MARIE—BUILDING ACTIVITIES—AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATIONS—MARRIAGE CONTRACTS—JEANNE MANCE AND MARGUERITE BOURGEOYS, THE MOTHERS OF THE SETTLEMENT—THE KNIGHTLY MAISONNEUVE, A "Chevalier sans reproche"—THE MILITARY CONFRATERNITY—THE MOUNTAIN CROSS REPLACED—MEDICAL CONTRACTS—THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTREAL—THE ELECTION OF A SYNDIC—THE "NEW" CEMETERY—THE NEW "PARISH" CHURCH—THE MARRIAGE OF CHARLES LE MOYNE WITH CATHERINE PRIMOT—A RARE SCANDAL—THE PRIMITIVE FERVOUR STILL MAINTAINED.

The arrival of M. de Maisonneuve's expedition was eagerly awaited by the whole French colony of Canada. For the addition of newcomers, men able to bear arms, meant more resources against the common enemy, and consequently surer stability for the whole French population.

The picture presented at this period of war is distressing. Montreal was a besieged fortress; Three Rivers similarly, and the Town of Quebec was described, on the arrival of de Maisonneuve, as only holding five or six houses in Upper Town, while in the Lower there were only the storehouses of the Jesuits and that of Montreal. The "Relation" of 1653 says "that the store of Montreal has not bought a single beaver skin for a year. At Three Rivers, the little sold has gone to strengthen the fortifications. At Quebec, there is only poverty." Thus there was extreme discontent through inability to pay private debts or those due to the government for the upkeep of the colony, which by the cession of the trading rights to the people now devolved upon them and not on the great Company. Thus they looked for a continuation of the peace just declared and a return to trade. It was hoped that Maisonneuve's contingent would make for both. Consequently it was with great joy and a solemn Te Deum in the church that its arrival at Quebec was hailed on September 22nd. The governor of Montreal and his new colonists were the saviours of the country!

We may now briefly relate the history of the organization of this relief force. When de Maisonneuve had made sure of the necessary funds, he proceeded with M. de la Dauversière, the procurator of the Company of Montreal, to gather the right men. They must be young, brave, have a trade, be of irreproachable morals, and able to bear arms; in other words, be ready to help to found and organize a settlement, and put up with the variety of trying difficulties incidental to such a dangerous pioneering outpost. These men were hired for the work, and they guaranteed their services to the Company for five years at Montreal, on the condition of being fed and lodged, in addition to wages paid them, besides being provided with tools, etc., for the exercise of their callings. After the five years expired, they might return to France at the expense of the Company. These were recruited from Picardy, Champagne, Normandy, L'Ile de France, Touraine, Burgundy, but principally from Maine and Anjou, and especially from the neighbourhood of La Flèche, the home of M. de la Dauversière.

We are able to locate the origin and point out the profession of nearly each one of those coming with Maisonneuve's force, since we have the old original acts of Notary Lafousse, of La Flèche, giving the contracts between 118 of the men and the agents of the Company of Montreal, signed during the course of March, April and May of 1653. There were 38 others who signed in other places, making the total, according to Faillon, of 154, all able to bear arms. Of these, some deserted, some died on the passage out, and, according to M. de Belmont, only 105 reached Montreal. [70] But these were all picked men and chosen with care; there were three surgeons, three millers, two bakers, a brewer, a cooper, a coppersmith, a pastry cook, four weavers, a tailor, a hatter, three shoemakers, a maker of sabots, a cutler, two armourers, three masons, a stonecutter, four tilers, nine carpenters, two joiners, an edgetool maker, a nail maker, a saw maker, a paviour, two gardeners, a farrier, sixty tillers or labourers for cultivating the soil, of whom several were sawyers, etc.

The absence of womankind is noticeable in this list, but a few ladies were provided for the settlement in this way. Before the day for the departure, fixed for June 20, 1653, de Maisonneuve visited his sisters, Madame de Chuly and la Sœur Louise de Ste. Marie, who both lived at Troyes, the latter being a nun of the Congregation of Notre-Dame there, to bid them adieu. It will be remembered that the good nuns of Troyes were very anxious to emulate the example of the Ursulines of Quebec by sending representatives of their order to Montreal to found an establishment there. De Maisonneuve had promised to make use of their offer of services, when the time should be ready, but no one who has followed the story of the chequered days of the city so far, will blame the governor of Montreal for still refusing to receive as yet a cloistered nunnery in his beleaguered fort. But there happened to be a young woman of thirty-three years of age then living with Madame de Chuly at Troyes, a lay woman belonging to a pious association under the direction of the Sisters of the Congregation, who had long heard of the thrilling story of the doings at Ville Marie from Madame de Chuly and the ladies of the convent. She had, indeed, communicated her idea to de Maisonneuve's sister, of devoting herself to the work in Montreal, so that Marguerite Bourgeoys, as was her name, had been promised to be received into their institute when they should realize their project of going to Canada.

It was then, in the convent parloir, that the good nuns introduced this young person to de Maisonneuve, who doubtless asked her kindly, gravely and courteously, if she dared brave the ocean and live in a little settlement among rough soldiers and teach school to little Indian children of the forests, and make Christians of them, and thus do good work for God. Needless to say his offer was accepted. All necessary permissions were granted, [71] but Marguerite momentarily hesitated to give herself to the conduct of a strange gentleman whom she had only met on this occasion.

"Fear not, my child," was the reply of her spiritual adviser, who knew the integrity of the upright governor. "Put yourself in his hands as into those of one of the first knights of the Queen of Angels. Go to Ville Marie with all confidence."

Thus she arrived at St. Nazaire, the port of departure, near Nantes; but to her great surprise and pleasure she found a small group of her own sex to accompany her on the voyage—several young girls, and one or two married women accompanying their husbands. The expedition started on June 20th in the Saint Nicholas de Nantes, and barely had it made 150 leagues on its way than it was found necessary to put back to St. Nazaire, for the ship's timbers were rotten and she made water fast. At first it was thought, with so many hands on board, that by working at the pumps they could proceed, there being then over one hundred men of the Montreal party. But "having turned back at last, when they were nearing land they would have perished," says Marguerite Bourgeoys, "without the succour which, by the grace of God, the people of this place (St. Nazaire) gave us."

In the Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu, an instance is related as occurring on this voyage which illustrates the character of simplicity of M. de Maisonneuve, with whom Marguerite Bourgeoys was now to become acquainted. Madame de Chuly had taken care to provide her brother with a wardrobe of very fine linen and such lace work as gentlemen of position then wore. It happened that a few days after the ship had set sail, the package which Marguerite Bourgeoys had made of these was swept into the sea and, despite all her efforts, she was unable to recover it.

Not knowing M. de Maisonneuve's character, and fearing that this loss, which could not be repaired in Canada, might grieve a gentleman of fashion such as she considered M. de Maisonneuve might be, she told him of the misfortune with great apprehension, but to her relief the governor of Montreal made light of it, laughingly remarking that "both he and she were well rid of the care of such vanities." Later Marguerite Bourgeoys was to learn of his extreme simplicity in all that surrounded his private life.

Marguerite tells how M. de Maisonneuve on putting back to St. Nazaire placed all his soldiers on a small island nearby to prevent them from deserting, for they now feared the journey, having become excited and alarmed and believing "they were being led to perdition." Some of them threw themselves into the waves to escape. Another ship was chartered, and set sail on July 20th, taking up the men from the island. But soon fresh disaster—"ship" fever—broke out and many were laid low. In these days of commodious sailing in a well appointed and sanitary steamer that takes less than a week to come from Europe to Canada we do not realize sufficiently the hardships of the early immigrant days. This voyage took two months; the ship, maybe, a crazy tub of a sailing vessel—the overcrowded accommodation of the most primitive order; the provisions of the coarsest kind, and water scarce. Can we wonder that before the journey ended we learn that out of the 113 men hired by the Company of Montreal, eight had died? We may well imagine the great grief of de Maisonneuve, for every man to him was a cherished possession.

This period brought out the sterling character of Marguerite Bourgeoys, who undertook the care of the nursing. Throughout the sickness she was indefatigable, taking the men their meals, assisting the surgeons, preparing the men for death, and nursing the others into convalescence. Night and day she was lavish of her charity. It is related that she would not accept a place with de Maisonneuve's party at table, but would take her food and whatever delicacies there might be given by them to distribute among the sufferers, while she herself was satisfied with the common rations, and scarce portions at that.

Her zeal knew no relaxation, for, whether in sickness or in health, the soldiers welcomed her as their nurse, their friend, their instructress, their leader at the morning and night prayers, and singing and spiritual reading. Thus she laid the foundations of that lasting respect which the men of Montreal ever had for her.

At last the hoped-for recruitment reached the enfeebled garrison of Quebec on September 22nd. There was Mademoiselle Jeanne Mance awaiting the vessel to receive M. de Maisonneuve, to tell him of the perilous fate of Montreal and to hear from him all the news of the good things in store for it, for she was keen to hurry back to carry the glad tidings thither.

We can imagine the courtly Maisonneuve now introducing to the lady of the Hôtel-Dieu the new assistant that she was to have in the care and training of the young of Montreal, Marguerite Bourgeoys of Troyes, whom she would find of good sense and kindly heart, a virtuous and excellent companion, and a powerful aid for the good work in the settlement. Thus began an enduring friendship between these noble women.

It will be noticed that at this second foundation of Montreal, which is now about to begin, history repeats itself. M. de Lauson, seeing Quebec in its own dire necessity of defenders, would now prevent M. de Maisonneuve from taking his convoy up country. But the governor of Montreal firmly insisted on carrying out the project and he would not leave behind him a single man of those who had cost the Company of Montreal so much.

Moreover, Maisonneuve had a lettre de cachet which the King, Louis XIV, had granted the Company of Montreal on April 8, 1653, in which he approved of the renewed appointment of Maisonneuve as governor, giving him all power to continue the establishment of the settlement at Montreal.

Thus silenced, the governor of Quebec could only resist by refusing to provide transportation facilities by river. Thus it was that the necessity of obtaining boats delayed Maisonneuve at Quebec for a month. Meanwhile Marguerite nursed those still sick from the voyage and presided over the distribution of the stores and the provisions as Jeanne Mance had done in 1641.

It was during this time that the Ursulines of Quebec made overtures to her to join their party; thus they thought that they might have a branch establishment in Montreal. [72] But the future schoolmistress of Montreal already saw her own vocation clearly before her. At length the boats were ready and Maisonneuve sailed, last of all, with the satisfaction of seeing that he did not leave one of his men behind him. Ville Marie was reached on November 16, 1653.

On reaching Montreal, de Maisonneuve set about the work of consolidating his colony. The elements he had chosen in his contingent of 105 men, who, together with those already on the ground, formed the nucleus of his future city, had in them the potentialities of a well-constituted and progressive civic society. They were of different trades, so that mutual help of a diversified nature could be given, albeit they were all soldiers in that they each bore arms, ready to build up the City of God, even as the builders of the temple of old had gone about their work with trowel in one hand and sword in the other. He found his men, whom the hardships of the journey may have daunted, now enthusiastic for the ideal Christian life opening up to them and disposed to make a permanent home with him. Consequently, in the course of December they were ready to listen at the Sunday services, in the fort chapel, to his overtures, made in the public announcements before the sermon, stating the terms on which those that were willing to forego their contract of remaining only for five years and then being taken back to France, might be encouraged to build their permanent homes and take up land.

The governor's intention was to induce them to abandon the advances of money made in France, and later, on their arrival in Canada, on condition of building their houses on an arpent of land granted on the site chosen for the town and cultivating thirty acres on the slopes of St. Louis or St. Joseph, in the vicinity, with the additional consideration of a certain sum of money to provide the means to settle, the latter sum being forfeited if they should ever quit the Island of Montreal.

On the first day of January, 1654, André Demers thus received 400 livres and two days afterwards Jean des Carris and Jean Le Duc received 900 on the above promise, soon to be followed in the same month and that of February by many others on similar terms. These sums may seem modest, but it was an age of simplicity and they were adequate.

The wooden homes the settlers built on their one arpent were of the simplest, and on the arrival of the last immigration there was much activity in felling and carpentering. They assisted one another in building their little houses of thirty feet, and the bachelors lived in common till they had built their own homes or "shacks," as the contracts prove.

The number of houses outside the fort began to grow. M. de Maisonneuve increased the buildings of the hospital, and Jeanne Mance went back to live there, protected from the Iroquois attacks by two redoubts he had constructed hard by, in which were placed two pieces of cannon and other artillery. The houses of the habitants were built detached from one another, but clustered, facing one another for mutual protection. In the walls they had loopholes made so that each home was a fortress with armed men inside. By 1659 there were about forty of these. The fort began to be abandoned. Repairs were neglected on the bastions, already battered by the ice shoves. Soon it sheltered the governor, the d'Ailleboust family, the town major and his ordinary garrison, and some others, among whom was Marguerite Bourgeoys.

The lands cultivated were mostly on the St. Louis slopes, and to protect them Maisonneuve built a redoubt of twenty feet square and sixteen in height, with a chimney. In 1654 he built another in this section and gave the workers an indemnity of 300 livres.

All were very busy at their trades, for everything now had to be made "in Canada." No one disdained manual labor, following the example of the governor and d'Ailleboust and others, such as the town major, Lambert Closse; Charles Le Moyne, interpreter and storekeeper for the Company; the Notary Saint Père. Gilbert Barbier, the carpenter, who was now dignified as fiscal procurator and justice of the peace, had a busy time superintending and lending a hand to the rapidly arising homesteads.

On their side, the women were not less engaged, baking the bread and preparing the meals, combing the wool, spinning and weaving and making the simple garments. Thirteen years later, when Marguerite Bourgeoys formed her first community of two helpers, Marie Barbier, daughter of Gilbert, the first Canadian girl to be received into the Congregation of Notre-Dame of Montreal, could be seen in her religious habit going to and from the pasturage grounds of the common, leading the cattle and often bearing on her shoulders the flour which she had previously taken as wheat to be ground at the mill. In similar attire could have been seen Sister Crolo, tending the farm. And when not thus occupied, Marguerite Bourgeoys and her companions were busy sewing and cutting, to clothe the women and natives.

But in 1654 Marguerite Bourgeoys, the future schoolmistress, had not gathered her community together, and she was not overburdened in this office, for there was only one French girl, Jeanne Loisel, who, born in Montreal on July 21, 1649, was now about 4½ years of age. This girl, who remained with Marguerite Bourgeoys till she was married, was the first child to live to any age. For hitherto all that had been born had died in their tender years. One child, the adopted daughter of Parmenda, who had been born a year before coming to Montreal, had, however, prospered, and she was shortly to be married, as we shall see.

The contracts of marriage, preserved in the city archives of this period, gave an insight in the life of the time. The contract of marriage of Louis Prud'homme with Roberte Gadois reveals that her father gave his daughter, besides the sum of 500 livres, a complete bed, fifty ells of silk, a cow and its calf, six dishes, six plates and a pewter pot—luxuries in these primitive times. [73]

In a contract of the year 1650, we find that the bridegroom, of well-to-do means, as a gift to his bride, gave, in his marriage settlement, the sum of fifty to sixty livres and his residence in his principal house; and on her part she would bring her dowry of 500 livres.

Up to 1654 there had been only ten marriages between the French settlers, the first having taken place in 1647, after the return of Maisonneuve on his first visit to France, when he brought with him for this purpose "some virtuous young women." Marriages flourished again in 1650, when Jeanne Mance also returned with some eligible partners. We find in November of this year that Louis Prud'homme, of whom we have spoken, married Roberte Gadois; and Gilbert Barbier, Catherine de Lavaux. In 1651 the notary, Jean Saint Père, married Maturine Godé, the daughter of Nicholas Godé, whose family came over with Maisonneuve at the first foundation of Montreal. On the occasion of his marriage, in recompense "for his good and faithful service rendered during eight years," Maisonneuve, in addition to the gift of forty arpents, promised him six arpents of land, to be cultivated by him, meanwhile granting him the enjoyment of six others already tilled near to the fort.

In 1654 there were naturally more marriages, and thirteen are therefore registered. Of these early marriages, especially of this year, there are many descendants still living.

Thus for some time Marguerite Bourgeoys, with the exception of Jeanne Loisel, would have to exercise her care with Jeanne Mance in assisting the newly-born children, visiting the sick, consoling the afflicted, washing the linen or mending the clothing of the poor and the soldiers, burying the dead and following the call of self-sacrifice everywhere. Otherwise she dwelt within the fort with M. de Maisonneuve, looking after his domestic arrangements, in a position of friendship and trust but not of domestic service. Indeed, with Jeanne Mance she became his wise adviser, for both seemed to have been largely consulted in the affairs of the settlement.

It will be remembered that Marguerite Bourgeoys, who had taken a vow of perpetual chastity in France, had been heard to place herself in the hands of M. de Maisonneuve as in those of "one of the first Chevaliers of the Angels."

Scrutiny into the life of de Maisonneuve, a "chevalier sans reproche," reveals us a singularly pure character. About this time the governor had doubts whether he should take a wife, but, not feeling himself called to the married state, he took, according to custom of the time, a vow of virginity, so that his biographers speak of him as being a religious without the habit. He was a man of prayer and devoted to duty, sincere, unaffected and unostentatious, seeking neither praise nor flattery, and undepressed by slights and contradictions. His life ideals were high and saintly, and his whole conduct was that of a Christian knight, a model to all under him. His household was simply furnished; his table was frugal; he had only one servant, and this man was the cook and general servant. In his dress ordinarily he followed the habits of the people, wearing the tuque, or capot, and grey tunic which have come down to us in some of the costumes of the snowshoe clubs of Montreal of today. Yet, not unmindful of his dignity as governor, on important occasions he would be habited as fitting his rank as a soldier and a gentleman.

He never strove to make his post serve to increase his fortune, although, like his lieutenants, he could have legitimately traded in peltry, then beginning to be very profitable. He seems rather to have embraced the "Lady Poverty" and to have been singularly unselfish and altruistic. Dollier de Casson tells us, as an example of his magnanimity and generosity, how, ever ready to recompense the good actions of his soldiers, he would deprive himself of his provisions, even those on his own table, to give them away. "On one occasion," says this historian, "when the savages came to trade at this place, noticing that one of his soldiers who had often given proofs of courage against the enemy was in extreme depression, and having found out on enquiry that it was caused by having nothing to trade with the Indians who were then here, he thereupon led him into his own room, and, since the man was a tailor, gave him all the cloth stuffs he could find, even to the curtains of his bed, to make into wearing apparel which he might sell to the Indians." Thus he sent the young soldier away happy. Such generosity endeared him to his men.

The military organization of Montreal may be said to have become solidified this year. For hitherto, beyond readiness to respond to the call to arms, the soldier's sense of duty and esprit de corps had not been cultivated.

The governor took this work of formation into his own hands and chose sixty-three of his most devoted men and erected a military confraternity with the title of the "Soldiers of the Blessed Virgin." He was proud to command these himself. These met in religious meetings and the knightly de Maisonneuve would address them with glowing words of encouragement to acquit themselves like good Christians and soldiers. These were the governor's guard of honour, which came into prominence whenever there was a great religious ceremony or civil function, such as the reception of a distinguished visitor to the island.

During the week, each of these in turn had the duty of sentinel, parading the fields, on the lookout for traces of the dreaded Iroquois. To be selected one of this military order was a high favour. One of the privileges of this guard of honour was to escort Mademoiselle Bourgeoys, shortly after her arrival, to the mountain to visit the cross placed there by de Maisonneuve in 1642, but now found to have been destroyed by the Iroquois in the recent war. It was immediately replanted, under her direction, by Gilbert Barbier and four other men, who placed a palisading around it. This monument was the Mecca of pilgrimages until the occupation by the British in 1760.

The necessity of providing themselves with the needful and indispensable objects of life stimulated the industry and inventiveness of all, so that each man fulfilled many rôles. In addition, the spirit of enterprise and initiative was encouraged by the cancellation of their contracts made with the Company in France for mostly all now were independent workers, anxious to make good for their own interests. Still the Company had the onus of providing the public works, and the contracts of this period show that it paid just salaries for services rendered.

We have an insight into the medical history of the city in a contract made by the first surgeon, Etienne Bouchard, on March 30, 1655, with twenty-six families to treat them regularly for a certain sum. To these were shortly added others to the number, in all, of forty-six. This shows that the cancellation of the original contract, by which the surgeon was appointed to give free medical treatment to all the inhabitants, was a consequence of the new order of things.

The government of the settlement was very simple. Besides the governor, there was a fiscal procurator or treasurer, a public notary, a keeper of the storehouse of the Company, and a syndic.

The last named office was first filled in 1644, when Louis XIV gave the Company of Montreal the right to erect a corporation. The syndic was elected by a plurality of votes from the inhabitants themselves to represent their interest and thus became a tribune of the people. He had the privilege with those of Quebec and Three Rivers of assisting at the election of the two councillors (or three in the absence of the governor), who were chosen to compose the General Council of Nouvelle France, with the governor general and the ecclesiastical superior, for the time being, in Canada. They were even privileged to represent the interests of their corporation at the council meetings and to have a "voix délibérative" in these same matters.

By a royal act of 1647 the syndics could only be appointed for three years, and by another of 1648 they could not negotiate any loan for their corporations without the express sanction of the council at Quebec, under pain of nullity, damages and interests incurred by the syndics themselves.

The election of a syndic was a simple matter at Montreal. The inhabitants had first to get the leave of the governor to call a meeting. The public notary employed by the Company called this and presided. Placing before the electors the names of likely persons for the office, he called upon them to subscribe their names or their marks to the candidate of their choice. On the votes being counted, the person elected might refuse the honour, but the spirit of civic duty always prompted him to respond to the call. He then promised to discharge his duties faithfully, and the retiring syndic would hand over to his successor the care of the documents of the corporation, the contracts of property, etc., and other titles such as that already granted to the syndic for the people in 1651, when forty arpents were given over to them for a "common."

In the year 1654 it would have been the syndic who received the grant made to the corporation by the governor on behalf of the Seigneurs of Montreal, of land for the new cemetery, given on the condition that if this changed its place, it should revert to the Seigneurs.

The little cemetery, in which for twelve years the first brave defenders of the Castle Dangerous of Montreal had been buried, had this year to be abandoned and the bodies removed to higher ground, for the constant floods of the St. Lawrence had sadly ill used the little palisaded God's acre at "the Point," or the corner of the junction of the rivulet St. Pierre and the main stream.

The "new cemetery," as it was called in the burial register on the date December 11, 1654, was placed on a portion of the ground belonging to the Hôtel-Dieu, bun above the latter, at a point today occupied by the southern portion of the Place d'Armes and the piazza steps of Notre Dame Church. It was at the head of what was the second street or tract called St. Joseph Street, and nowadays St. Sulpice, while at the bottom, at the southwest corner bounded by St. Paul Street, was the Hôtel-Dieu. This cemetery was used for the next twenty-four years. [74]

The expense of these changes was borne by the parishioners and not by the Company—another sign of the times. We know this, for the salaries paid are still to be seen in the original document in which it is recorded that Gilbert Barbier, the carpenter who erected the cross, gave the half of his salary as a contribution, to the church.

The church towards which Gilbert Barbier gave his donation was probably not the mission chapel which had been so long the centre of parish life and piety in the fort itself, but towards a new one that already, on June 29th of this year, had been determined on to be started as soon as possible owing to the increase of population from the reinforcement of 1653.

On this day, the feast of SS. Peter and Paul, the syndic had called a meeting of the habitants in the presence of the governor, when Jean Saint Père was elected by a majority of votes to act as the "receiver of alms," or treasurer for funds for a new church. He was to keep account of all sums given to him, with the names of the donors and should furnish a financial statement every three months to the governor. In addition it was ruled that all donations in grain, or in kind, subject to deterioration, should be sold by the treasurer to the highest bidder, provided that the auction should be publicly announced by a notice affixed to the fort gate three days in advance of the sale. Finally, the treasurer should hand over the sums received by him, when required, to the director of the church building to be erected by the citizens in the presence of the governor when there shall be need for such an appointment. Besides the private donations M. de Maisonneuve, as the administrator of justice, applied the court fines to the church fund.

But it was not till August 28, 1656, that the foundations of the new church were laid. In the meantime the people still worshiped in the fort chapel, now become too small for its increased population through the recent influx of the troops of soldiers and the women. It had many dear memories symbolized by the baptisms, marriages and deaths, and the feasts and festivals of the year. At its services the Jesuit missionaries, such as Isaac Jogues, Poncet, Buteaux and others, had officiated with mutilated limbs, a living instance of the ever brooding presence of the revengeful Iroquois. [75] In this little mission chapel many a prayer had gone forth for the relief which tardily came.

But it was too small and must give place to another—a real parish church, large, dignified and commodious, to meet the needs of the expanding corporation. The cherished decorations and the altar furniture and plate, which were gifts from rich friends in France, would still be a link between the old and the new, and thus its memory would be kept forever green.

The old chapel church still continued its work. It witnessed, on May 28th of the year following, 1654, the marriage of Charles Le Moyne with the adopted daughter of Antoine Primot and Martine Mercier, his wife, whom we know as the valiant and chaste Parmenda. This girl, Catherine Thierry, probably a niece of Madame Primot, had been brought as a child of one year to Montreal in 1642, and she was commonly known as Catherine Primot and was now fourteen years of age. This union begot the famous Le Moyne family. Their first home was on the arpent town lot near the hospital. On February 3rd the fort chapel witnessed the marriage of Jean Gervaise and Anne Archambault, who also reared one of the most numerous and honourable families of Montreal. This was the fourth marriage of the thirteen occurring this year.

The history of Anne Archambault gives us an insight into one of the few scandals of the time. This was Anne's second marriage, having been married before the church in Quebec in July, 1647, to a Michel Chauvin, dit Ste Suzanne who had been sent out by de la Dauversière to Montreal in the service of the Company in 1644.

In 1650 Louis Prud'homme, of whom we have made mention already, had on a voyage to France discovered that Chauvin had deserted his wife, and on returning to Montreal he had notified the authorities, so that on October 8, 1650, Chauvin acknowledged freely before Jean Saint Père, the official notary of justice, that some seven years before leaving France for Canada he had married Louise de Liles. He then hurriedly departed for Quebec and took the first boat back to France. Anne Archambault had one child by this scoundrel, born on April 5th following. To sympathize with her Jeanne Mance and M. Charles d'Ailleboust des Musseaux were the godparents.

To the great joy of the colony, Anne Archambault was honourably remarried on February 3, 1654, to Jean Gervaise, one of the recruits brought over by de Maisonneuve in the previous autumn. The esteem of the public was manifested to offset the unaccustomed scandal that had arisen in their midst. One child, Charlotte Chauvin, was reared by these two and for this purpose the governor gave special assistance on behalf of the Company. At this time there were also several orphans, children of soldiers that had died in battle with the Iroquois, and for these de Maisonneuve also provided.

Thus the spirit of fervour, charity and uprightness of morals was exercised in the life of this primitive church of the settlement. Sister Morin, in the Annals of the Hôtel-Dieu, writes of these early times: "Nothing was put under key in these days, neither the houses, chests, or cellars; everything was left open without anyone repenting of their trustfulness. Those who were in easy circumstances hastened to lend their assistance to others less fortunate, and gave it spontaneously without waiting to be called upon, making it a pleasure to forestall all needs and to give their marks of affection and esteem to one another."

The words of Longfellow, written so long after, of Grandpré, the home of Evangeline, might be well applied to Ville Marie at this date:

"Neither locks had they to their doors, nor bars to their windows; But their dwellings were open as day, and the hearts of the owners. There the richest were poor, and the poorest lived in abundance."

FOOTNOTES:

[70] How many of those hired sailed for Montreal? An unedited list containing 102 names has lately been found in the archives of the Seminary of St. Sulpice at Montreal by Mr. C. O. Bertrand, and has been reproduced with notes by Mr. E. Z. Massicotte in the Canadian Antiquarian and Numismatic Journal for October, 1913 (Third Series, Vol. X). The original number of engagés, according to Faillon, taken from the notarial contracts before Maître Lafousse at La Flèche, was 154. But examination shows that, owing to several duplications, this must be reduced to 150. Before sailing at St. Nazaire only 103, according to Faillon, answered the call. But on the examination of Faillon's list, it is seen that the number was 102, which corresponds with the newly found list.

Marguerite Bourgeoys says that there were about 120 passengers, of whom 108 were "soldiers," as she calls the engagés. The Abbé de Belmont gives 105 soldiers. Mr. Massicotte, from a study of the contracts of marriages shortly after the arrival of the recruits of 1653 and other sources, supplies the eighteen missing members thus: A married woman, two single women, four men, M. de Maisonneuve, Marguerite Bourgeoys, and nine others who are mentioned by the latter as "quelques filles," who were brought for marriageable purposes.

Marguerite Bourgeoys mentions that eight were buried at sea. Of the 102 in the list mentioned above, Mr. Massicotte finds eleven names that never occur in any of the documents of the period at Montreal. Hence he concludes that their owners never reached Montreal and that therefore eight at least of them correspond to those that were buried in the ocean.

[71] For she was now thirty-three years of age, having been born on April 17, 1620, in the town of Troyes in Champagne. Her mother had died when Marguerite was still young, and early she developed that motherly thoughtfulness and mature judgment which fitted her later in the settlement for her matronly solicitude for soldiers and children of the fort at Montreal, as since her mother's death she had had the care of her father's children. He, too, had lately died and she was now free to follow a life of sacrifice.

[72] It was with the view of seeing the possibility of establishing such a branch that Madame de la Peltrie had delayed in Montreal till the spring of 1644.

[73] The simplicity of life in a pioneering settlement in New France less than a century later can be more readily understood if we but glance at the simple and severe customs prevailing in England previously to this. It is related of Queen Elizabeth that in the third year of her reign she received a present of knitted black silk stockings, an unheard of thing hitherto; in 1588 she appeared, in public, mounted on the crupper of her horse, behind her chamberlain, for it was after this date that carriages came into vogue.

[74] The act of November 28th by Père Pijart mentions only "cemeterio," that is the old cemetery at Pointe à Callières. The act of December 11th, however, has clear mention of the change to the new cemetery. "In novo hospitalis Domus cemeterio Franciscus Lachot sepultus a me Claudio Pijart, Societatis Jesu Sacerdote"—In the new cemetery of the hospital Francis Lachot was buried by me Claude Pijart, priest of the Society of Jesus.

[75] Most of the earliest Jesuits had served them at least in passing through, on their adventurous work of Christianizing the redskins of Canada; of such Bancroft, the historian, has said: "Not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way."

CHAPTER X

1654-1657

IROQUOIS AND JESUITS

THE DEPARTURE OF THE JESUITS

RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES IN THE SPRING—PEACE—WAMPUM NECKLACES AND BELTS—MONTREAL HEADQUARTERS OF PEACE PARLEYS—AUTUMN ATTACKS—"LA BARRIQUE"—MONTREAL LEFT SEVERELY ALONE—CHIEF "LA GRANDE ARMES"—M. DE LAUSON PERSECUTING MONTREAL—THE COMPLETION OF THE PARISH CHURCH—PENDING ECCLESIASTICAL CHANGES IN MONTREAL—NOTES: BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES OF THE EARLY JESUIT MISSIONARIES IN MONTREAL—PONCET—JOGUES—LE MOYNE—BUTEAUX—DRUILLETTES—ALBANEL—LE JEUNE—PARKMAN'S ESTIMATE OF THE SUCCESS OF THE JESUIT MISSIONS—DR. GRANT'S APPRECIATION OF THEIR WORK.

The fictitious and temporary peace which had intervened when de Maisonneuve arrived in the autumn of 1653, and had allowed the settlers to resume the work of building their homes outside the fort, was shortly to be broken.

Indeed, during the year just described there were not wanting indications, early in the spring of 1654, of the renewal of hostilities, when a young surgeon engaged in setting his beaver traps was carried off in a canoe by the lurking Onondaga Indians. In the beginning of May a band of the same Iroquois, who had not heard of this act of perfidy, were well received when coming for trade and they sent a canoe back for the stolen man. In the meantime, about seven hundred Hurons descended to Montreal with thirteen Iroquois captives made on the journey down. These were given to the Iroquois captain, who remained as a hostage till the canoe returned, in the hope of making peace. Soon the surgeon was brought back with a delegation, bearing twenty necklaces of wampum as signs of peace from the Iroquois nation.

SANS MERCI
(By Hébert)

One of the significant gifts was to recognize and consolidate the position of Ville Marie as the headquarters of peace treaties, which had been lately so constituted by the governor of Quebec, who had transferred to Montreal the treaty pole which had been erected at Quebec in the autumn of 1653 as a sign of peace. Its position at Montreal signified the recognized place for parley councils for peace overtures. This was an adroit move on the part of de Lauson. It recognized that Montreal was the frontier post and the most accessible, and also it was a standing eulogium of the diplomatic ability of de Maisonneuve to deal with the natives, and it might keep the enemy higher up the river away from Quebec.

Unfortunately, as we have said, these Iroquois were divided into five nations, who often acted without concert, so that protestations of peace by wampum belts had always to be taken for what they were worth. Montreal was soon to be in daily dread of assault. Thus in the autumn, when in fancied security, owing to the recent renewal of peace, the ordinary precautions were being neglected at Montreal in the busy building and farming operations, a band of Iroquois were in ambuscade around. The sentinel was standing on a tree stump, leisurely surveying the country around, when an Iroquois who had stealthily approached, hiding at intervals behind other stumps, suddenly pounced upon him and seizing him by the legs, threw him over his shoulders and set off in flight with the bewildered soldier shrieking for his life and fighting as best he could. His cries aroused the men in the field and they pursued them until they came up to the Iroquois band with their chief at their head. They would have fared badly had not Lambert Closse come up with his men. Recognizing the chief, who was known by the French as "La Barrique," or "The Hogshead," because of his barrel-like corpulency, he ordered one of his best shots cautiously to get within fighting distance, and pick him off.

Meanwhile Hogshead, unaware of impending disaster, was standing on a stump haranguing his men and urging them to the attack, when he received a charge of heavy lead full in his body and he fell to the ground bathed in blood. Thinking him dead, his followers fled incontinently.

But he did not die, for under the skillful care of the doctors and Jeanne Mance, he was tended at the hospital and recovered, though he was seriously crippled for the rest of his days. Their charity changed his fierce disposition. When he left he promised never to go on the warpath against them again but that he would return later to conclude a peace, as indeed he did, though not so easily as he could have wished.

For a time the Iroquois left Montreal severely alone. "Let us not go thither," they would say. "They are devils there." They turned to attack the settlement of the Ile des Oies below Quebec instead. But later, on May 31, 1655, they attacked the colony and killed one Dabigeon.

Then they passed over to the other side of the St. Lawrence and pretended to be another tribe, and sent delegates to parley with the fort. Charles Le Moyne, who had just come from Quebec, recognized them as the assailants at the Ile des Oies and, suspecting treachery, they were told to come the next day. Finally, an engagement took place and five Iroquois were taken prisoners to the camp, among them Chief La Plume (or "The Feather"). Another parley now took place, and a peace was agreed upon on the proposition of Chief La Grande Armée, on condition that all the captives on both sides should be exchanged, and that peace with the Hurons and Algonquins should be observed as long as they should not advance above Three Rivers. Among the French restored were the captives taken at Ile des Oies, one of whom, Elizabeth Moyen, then a child, married Lambert Closse in 1657, and her sister Marie who remained with Jeanne Mance twenty years.

Peace concluded, the work of agriculture was pushed on although, taught by sad experience, the men went to the fields armed as usual. In order to pursue this in greater safety, de Maisonneuve, by a permission given on August 25, 1655, in the name of the Company allowed the colonists to cultivate and enjoy the fruits of the lands on the "domain of the Seigneurs," which were nearer to the fort than their own concessions. When the time came for them to be able to till the latter, the lands on the domain should be handed back. These negotiations were put into the hands of Lambert Closse, for de Maisonneuve had chosen him to hold the reins of government while he himself made a third journey to France this autumn, as the next chapter will relate.

These peace arrangements at Montreal always meant the interchange of presents which were a burden on the community instead of on the governor of Quebec, whom the early historians, with M. de Belmont, accuse of "persecuting Montreal."

In addition to what we know, de Lauson wanted to levy a tax on all imports to Montreal. He took it ill that Montreal had its storehouse at Quebec, wishing it to purchase its necessities from Quebec. He also wanted the Company of Montreal to send out more men than they found convenient. All this brought him a letter of Louis XIV in favour of Montreal.

Misfortunes clouded the last days of de Lauson. He left for France in the summer of 1656 and died in Paris on February 16, 1666, at the age of eighty-two years. His sons, for whom he had planned great possessions in Canada, did not live long after their father's departure from Canada, and he saw nearly all his family extinct before his death and all their properties reverting to the king on account of their conditions of grant not being fulfilled. His ineffectual tenure of office was due to his inefficiency, aggravated by the cruel abandonment of the French colony by the great Company.

M. de Lauson was succeeded in the post of governor general by his son, Charles de Lauson-Charny. But his administration was no more successful than that of his father. Indeed the office was not to his taste and he prevailed upon M. d'Ailleboust, who had arrived from France on September 12, 1657, to take his place, and six days after he sailed back home, disgusted with the vanities of the world, so that he entered the ecclesiastical state, returning later to work in the sacred ministry in Canada.

Meanwhile the new parish church, begun two years ago, was being completed, the funds, owing to the poverty of the colonists, being largely supplied by the Seigneurs. It was adjoined to the Hôtel-Dieu on St. Paul Street, so that it might suffice for the citizens and the sick. It was dedicated to St. Joseph, the patron of the hospital, and was opened in 1656. In the foundation and under the doorway of entrance there was placed, within the first stone, the following inscription, engraven as a leaden plate: "Cette première pierre a été posée en l'honneur de St. Joseph, l'an 1656, le 28 Août.

Jesus! Maria! Joseph!"

This building, which served up to 1689 as the parish church of the colony, was adjoined to the hospital situated on the street which was formed a little afterwards by the first houses constructed at Ville Marie and called St. Paul, and was placed at the corner of another street which was called from the name of the church, St. Joseph, today known as St. Sulpice. The body of the building was of wood, about eighty feet long, thirty broad, and twenty feet high; the church being at one end, covering about fifty feet, and surmounted by a bell tower with two bells. The good folk of Ville Marie were proud to see their new temple.

Affairs were now in a bad state; the Iroquois were uncurbed and unsettled through the weak administration of de Lauson, and thus prepared for the bitter war again to be proclaimed at the end of 1657.

But at present, in the summer of 1657, there was nothing but anticipation of the arrival of the governor and the four Sulpicians who were to be the parish clergy, with a permanent abode and a settled ecclesiastical status.

The Jesuits who had so long served the mission were to be free to go to the up-country Indians—their long connection with the settlement was to be severed.

NOTE

THE JESUIT MISSIONARIES AT MONTREAL
(From 1642 to August 12, 1657, when the Sulpicians succeeded them.)

The first mayor of Montreal, Commander Jacques Viger, has collected in a little manuscript book preserved in the Archives of St. Marie's College at Montreal the list of Jesuits serving Montreal from 1642-1657 as follows:

Joseph Poncet, 1642-4; Joseph Imbert Duperon, 1642-3; Ambroise Daoust, 1643; Gabriel Druillettes, 1643-5; Isaac Jogues, 1645; Jacques Buteaux, 1645; Paul Le Jeune, 1645-6; Adrien Daran, 1646; Georges d'Eudemare, 1647-8; Jean de Quen, 1648-50; Pierre Bailloquet, 1648; Charles Albanel, 1650; André Richard, 1650; Siméon Le Moyne, 1650; Claude Pijart, 1650 to August 12, 1657.

Fifteen Jesuits resident in fifteen years. This does not account for names of other distinguished missionaries visiting, whose names appear on the registers as having officiated at Ville Marie baptisms, marriages, deaths and other documents during this early period. Mr. E. Z. Massicotte in his "Les Colons de Montreal de 1642-1667," gives some of these as follows:

1649—Jérome Lalemant, June 1st to 11th, May 19th to 24th.
1650—Paul Ragueneau, two days.
1655—Claude Dablon passed through Montreal in October, also on the 30th of March, 1666. He would also have signed 3-5-'62 a document concerning Hudson Bay.
1656—Joseph Marie Chaumont, October, the bearer of a message for the Iroquois in 1661, was at Montreal in 1662, resided at Montreal in 1663.
1656—Léonard Gareau, wounded in a combat on August 30th, buried September 2d.
1657—François? le Mercier, July 24th.

Of the Montreal Jesuits, there are some who merit special mention here.

JOSEPH ANTOINE PONCET DE LA RIVIERE

Joseph Antoine Poncet de la Rivière, of aristocratic birth, was born in Paris and entered the Society of Jesus in his nineteenth year as a novice. His studies finished, he came to New France in 1639. He shortly went to the Huron mission. We next find him, 1642-4, the first priest in charge of the mission chapel at the fort of Montreal. After this he ministered at Quebec. On his return from a visit to the Iroquois, he went down the St. Lawrence and was the first white man to glide through the Thousand Islands. He was giving the alarm to the colonists at Cape Rouge in the summer of 1653, when he was himself seized by the savages. He bore a remembrance of the ill treatment of his captivity in the form of a lost finger, which a little child had been ordered to cut off. He was afterwards released to the Dutch at Fort Orange and returned to Quebec on November 5th, "just nine times nine days after my capture," he says. We next know him as the storm centre of ecclesiastical differences between Montreal and Quebec. As a result of this Poncet was sent back to Europe. He was installed as French penitentiary at Loretto, and later was sent to Martinique, where he died on June 18, 1675.

ISAAC JOGUES

Isaac Jogues was born at Orléans, France, January 10, 1607. His first schooling was at Rouen and he entered the Jesuit novitiate at Paris in his seventeenth year. Having finished his studies and period of teaching we find him in his twenty-ninth year reaching Canada in 1636 in the same vessel as Champlain's successor, Montmagny. Two or three weeks later, that same October, Jogues began his missionary work, joining a flotilla of Huron canoes and sailing 900 miles over dangerous rivers and lakes, skirting rapids and precipices and making many toilsome "portages" through dense forests, pools and marshes, to the great Lake Huron which was known as "Fresh Water Sea."

JOGUES, THE JESUIT MISSIONARY

Such was Jogues' first experience of missionary life. Living on Indian corn and water, sleeping on rocks and in the woods, battling day after day against a rapid current, dragging heavy burdens over the long portages, a part of the time with a sick boy on his shoulder—till he staggered through the triple stockade of the Indian town of Ihonitiria and fell into the arms of de Brébeuf and his Jesuit companions. In this new mission field one of the first works entrusted to his practical sagacity, which stood his fellow missionaries in good stead, was the construction of Fort Ste. Marie, whose ruins, discovered in 1859, testify to the solidity of the outworks. His first apostolic work away from Fort Ste. Marie was among the Petuns, or Tobacco Indians. In September, 1641, he went with the Jesuit Raimbault to found a mission among the Ojibways or Chippewas on the upper reaches of Lake Huron at a place called by the missionaries Sault Ste. Marie, today a great centre of commerce. They were the first white men to stand on the shores of Lake Superior.

We next find him back at Georgian Bay. Supplies were being exhausted and Jogues offered to go to Quebec, a thousand miles off, for them. This done, on the way back in the first week of August, 1642, his party was surprised by the hostile Mohawks and captured. While being taken up country he was most brutally tortured, beaten by sticks, clubs and knives, and his wounds torn open by the long nails of the Indians. The joints of his fingers were gnawed off or burned off at intervals. On the arrival of the party at Ossernenon, on the north bank of the Mohawk, a captive Christian woman was compelled, under threat of death, to saw off with a jagged shell the thumb of the priest. But he was not killed, as so many of his party were.

On the 29th of September, 1642, René Goupil, his faithful companion, was tomahawked in the skull for making the sign of the cross on the head of a child. The place is identified as Auriesville.

When Goupil was dead, Jogues was alone and began his awful captivity of more than a year, each moment of which was a martyrdom. In the "Relation," which his superior commanded him to write, he has left us a partial account of the horrors he endured. Employed in the filthiest and most degrading of occupations he was regarded with greater contempt than the most degraded squaw of the village. Heavy burdens were heaped on his crippled and mangled shoulders, and he was made to tramp fifty, sixty and sometimes a hundred miles after his savage masters, who delighted to exhibit him wherever they went. His naked feet left bloody tracks upon the ice or flints of the road; his flesh was rotting with disease, and his wounds were gangrened; he was often beaten to the earth by the fists or clubs of crazy and drunken Indians, and more than once he saw the tomahawk above his head and heard his death sentence pronounced. The wretched deerskin they persuaded him to wear was swarming with vermin; he was often in a condition of semi-starvation as he crouched in a corner of the filthy wigwam and saw the savages gorging themselves with meat, which had been first offered to the demons, and which he therefore refused to eat, though his savage masters raged against the implied contempt to their gods. For thirteen months he thus remained a captive. Yet he baptized more than seventy persons, most of them Huron captives, at the point of death. Often Jogues would rush into the flames up to the stake for this purpose. During this time, on June 30, 1643, he secured a scrap of paper on which he wrote to Montmagny that the Mohawks were about to make a raid on Fort Richelieu. This message, carried for him by a Huron, warned the garrison in time and the Indians were repulsed. This defeat was traced to Jogues and his death was expected. But in the meantime an order came from Governor Kieft of Manhattan to the commandant at Fort Orange to secure his release at all costs. This required the co-operation of Jogues. In spite of his harsh treatment the prisoner was unwilling at first to enter into the plot, feeling it to be his duty to remain at his post. At last he consented. He was conveyed to the Dutch settlement of Fort Orange (Albany), which the angry Mohawks threatened to burn, but fearful of risking a war with the Dutch while they were fighting with the French, after a parley they consented to relinquish their claim on the black robe for 300 livres. A six-day journey brought him to Manhattan which he described as "seven leagues in circuit and on it is a fort to serve as a commencement of a town to be built there, and to be called New Amsterdam." At this town, as at the place of his escape, he was kindly treated by the famous Dominic Johannes Megapolensis, Jr., the first person who went to New York at the invitation of Killaen van Rensselaer to look after the spiritual affairs of the colony. After a month's sojourn at Manhattan, Father Jogues left on November 5, 1643, in a wretched little vessel which, after a severe tossing on the Atlantic, reached Falmouth, in Cornwall, at the end of December, hotly pursued by some of Cromwell's ships, for the rebellion against Charles I was then in progress.

NEW YORK AS SEEN BY LE MOYNE

In Falmouth he was robbed, at the point of the pistol, of all his belongings, by some marauders lurking round the port. At last, having secured a free passage in a dirty collier, he was flung on Christmas morning, 1643, on the coast of Brittany, but after eight days he reached the Jesuit College at Rennes—and at last the emaciated, haggard tramp was recognized as the lost Isaac Jogues, of whose capture the "Relations" had warned them.

Honour was now meted out to this humble Jesuit much to his discomfiture. Anne of Austria, mother of Louis XIV, called him to court and compelled him to throw back his cloak and tell of the hideous manner in which his fingers had been eaten or burned. The queen, descending from the throne, took his hand in hers and, with tears streaming down her cheeks, devoutly kissed the mutilated members and exclaimed: "People write romances for us—but was ever a romance like this? And it is all true."

This form of public exhibition was displeasing to Jogues but the permission granted by Pope Urbain VIII, at the request of some of his admirers, to have the canonical impediment raised against his faculty to say mass because of his mutilated fingers, was a source of gratification. The answer of Urbain to the request was "Indignum esset martyrum Christi, Christi non bibere sanguinem"—"it would be wrong to prevent the martyr of Christ from drinking the blood of Christ."

Isaac Jogues did not loiter to be lionized in Paris, but in June was in Quebec, and was now appointed to serve the sick and hearten the defenders of the stockade of Montreal. In July he was present at a parley with the Indians at a conference held at Three Rivers, where he met Father Bressani, who had also had a similar experience of the tortures of the Iroquois and whose fingers were also wanting. After a treaty had been made Jogues returned to Montreal. One result of this treaty was that an ambassador was to be sent to the Mohawks and Father Jogues, as he spoke the Iroquois tongue, was appointed to revisit those who had so ill used him. But it was two years later before the actual embassy started from Three Rivers, on May 16, 1646. Father Jogues reached Lake Andiatarocté on the eve of Corpus Christi, the feast of the Blessed Sacrament, and called it the "Lake of the Blessed Sacrament." A century later this was renamed by Sir William Johnson "Lake George" in honour of the English king. On June 5th Jogues reached Ossernenon, and in his character as ambassador was well received. At the council held on June 10th or June 16th the party returned, reaching Quebec on July 3rd. Jogues petitioned to be sent back to the Mohawks as a missionary. On September 27th he left Quebec for the Iroquois country. He wrote to a friend: "Ibo sed non redibo—I go but I shall not return," as though his fate were revealed to him.

LAKE OF THE BLESSED SACRAMENT

Before he reached Ossernenon he learned that the hatchet had been dug up to meet him. As an ambassador he had been respected, but as a Christian missionary a hostile reception awaited him. An innocent box of vestments left behind him on his previous visit was the cause. A pestilence had broken out and the crops were withered. Therefore these misfortunes were due to the Manitou in the box. Jogues could have avoided Ossernenon and returned to Quebec, but he faced his enemies, who met him with the sorcerer, Ondersonk. Jogues wore his clerical garb. His garments were stripped off him; he was slashed with knives and led, mangled and bleeding, to the scene of his recent triumph as an ambassador. A council was held at Tionnontoguen to see what was to be done with him. The Wolf-Tortoise family were against killing him, as were most of the Bears, and he was spared.

But the Bears, bent on vengeance, invited the wounded Jogues to a feast on October 18th. He left his cabin and followed to the festive wigwam, and as he entered a Mohawk, waiting behind the door brought down his axe with a crash on to his skull. His head was hacked off and fixed on a stake of the palisade, and his body was flung into the Mohawk River hard by.

There is no reasonable doubt but that the place of his martyrdom occurred at Auriesville on the south shore of the Mohawk just above the Schoharie. "So died," says Ingram Kip, the Protestant bishop of California, "one of that glorious band that had shown greater devotion in the cause of Christianity than has ever been seen since the time of the Apostles; men whose lives and sufferings reveal a story more touching and pathetic than anything in the records of our country, and whose names should ever be kept in grateful remembrance; stern, high-wrought men who might have stood high in court or camp, and who could contrast their desolate state in the lowly wigwam with the refinement and affluence that waited on them in their earlier years, but who had given up home and love of kindred and the golden ties of relationship for God and man."

MONTREAL1535-1914UNDER THE FRENCH RÉGIME1535-1760

CONTENTS

AUTHOR'S FOREWORD

PREFACE

[HISTORY OF MONTREAL]

CHAPTER I

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER II

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER III

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER IV

FOOTNOTE:

CHAPTER V

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VI

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VII

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER VIII

CHAPTER IX

FOOTNOTES:

CHAPTER X

MONTREAL
1535-1914
UNDER THE FRENCH RÉGIME
1535-1760