American History Told by Contemporaries/Volume 2/Chapter 17
PART V
INTERCOLONIAL, 1689-1764
CHAPTER XVII — THE FRENCH COLONIES
109. Foundation of Louisiana (17001703)
BY BÉNARD DE LA HARPE (1723)
(Translated by B. F. French, 1851)
La Harpe, supposed to be the compiler of this narrative, was a French officer of distinction who came to Louisiana in 1718; later he served under Bienville. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, V, 63-85; Charming and Hart, Guide, § 91. — On earlier French discoveries and colonies, see Contemporaries, I, ch. v.
. . .ON the 28th May [1700], M. d'Iberville set sail for France, and on the same day M. de Bienville took command of the fort on the Mississippi. On the 29th he dispatched M. de Saint Denis to explore the country in the Red River, and to watch the Spaniards. On the 30th May [1701], the Enflammée of twenty-six guns, commanded by M. de la Ronde, arrived at Ship Island. Among the passengers was M. Sagan, a traveller from Canada, who had presented a memoir to the minister, M. de Pontchartrain, assuring him that he had travelled all over the Mississippi, and had found mines of gold on its banks ; and that the Indians had worked them. The minister, putting faith in his statements, granted to M. Sagan some privileges, and ordered M. de Sauvolle to supply him with twenty-four pirogues and one hundred Canadians, to accompany him to the Missouri.
On the 22d August, M. de Sauvolle died at Biloxi, and M. de Bienville was left sole commander of the colony.
On the 16th September, a party of Chactas arrived at Biloxi to demand of the French some troops to assist them to fight the Chicachas. The Chactas nation contained forty villages, and over five thousand warriors. On the 25th October, twenty Mobileans arrived at Fort Biloxi. This nation was situated about one hundred and forty leagues up that river, and contained about four hundred men. On the 18th December, a shallop arrived from Pensacola with the news that MM. d'Iberville and Serigny had arrived there with the King's ships, the Renommée of fifty guns, and the Palmier of forty-four guns. This news spread joy in the garrison, as it had then been living on corn for more than three months. It had lost by sickness upwards of sixty men, leaving only one hundred and fifty persons in the colony.
M. de Bienville received orders by the shallop to evacuate Biloxi, and remove to Mobile river. On the 5th January, 1701, M. de Bienville took up his march for Mobile river, leaving but twenty men under the command of M. de Boisbriant to man the fort. At Dauphin Island, M. de Bienville had an interview with MM. de Serigny and Chateaugué, who had arrived there with a detachment of sailors and workmen, to build a magazine for the reception of the goods and provisions which had been brought from France. On the 16th M. de Bienville commenced a settlement on the Mobile river, about eighteen leagues from the sea. On the l0th M. le Sueur returned from his expedition to the Scioux, with two hundred thousand pounds weight of copper ore.
The following is an extract taken from his Journal : —
"Having arrived in the colony in December, 1699, with thirty workmen, he set out for the Tamarois in June, 1700. He stopped at the mouth of the Missouri river, and from thence proceeded to the Illinois river, where he was joined by three Canadian travellers, who brought him a letter from Father Marest, a Jesuit from the mission house of 'L'Immaculèe Conception de la Sainte Vierge aux Illinois.'
"At twenty-two leagues above the Illinois, he passed a small river, which he named the Buffalo : and on going nine leagues further he met a party of Canadians descending the Mississippi, returning to the Illinois. On the 30th July, he met seventeen Scioux in seven canoes, going to avenge the death of three Scioux by the Illinois, one of whom had been burnt, and the other two killed at Tamarois, a few days before his arrival at this village. He promised the Chief of the Illinois to pacify the Scioux if they should come to make war on him. He presented to the Chief of the party some merchandise to induce him to return to his nation. He told him that the King of France did not wish them to make war, and if he would desist he should be supplied with every thing necessary. The Chief accepted the presents, and promised to obey the King. . . .
"On the 1st September, he passed the Ouisconsin river, which is bout half a league wide at its mouth. On ascending this river about forty-five leagues, he found a portage of more than a mile in length, consisting in part of marshy ground, from which a little stream took its rise and flowed into the Puan bay, inhabited by a great number of Indian tribes, who trade in furs to Canada. . . .
"From the loth to the 14th, M. de Sueur travelled seventeen leagues and a half, passed the river Raisin, and also on the same day a great river coming from the North called the Bon-Secours, on account of the great number of buffalo, deer, bears and roebucks found there. Three leagues from the banks of this river is a lead mine, and at seven leagues above, on the same side, he passed another river, in the neighborhood of which he discovered a copper mine, from which he took sixty pounds of ore in a former voyage : but to make it of any value, a peace must first be made between the Scioux and the Outagamis. At a league and a-half further to the North-West is a lake, six leagues long and more than a league in width, called Lake Pepin. . . .
". . . On the 15th he passed a small river, and saw several canoes descending, filled with Indians. He heard them make a noise similar to that just before they are going to fall upon their enemy ; and, having placed his men behind some trees, he ordered them not to fire until the word of command was given. The chief of the party, after making some observations, advanced with the calumet, (which is a sign of peace among the Indians,) and said that, not having seen before any French men navigating the Mississippi in boats like theirs, they took them to be English, and raised the war-cry.
"M. le Sueur told them that the King of France, of whom they had heard so much in Canada, had sent him to settle in the country, and he wished all the nations who inhabited it, as well as those under his protection, to live in peace. . . .
". . . He then entered Blue River [Minnesota], so called from some mines of blue earth which he found on its banks. At this place he met nine Scioux, who told him that this river came from the country of the Scioux of the West. He built a post here, but finding that his estab lishment did not please the Scioux of the East as well as the neighboring tribes, he had to tell them that his intentions were only to trade in beaver skins, although his real purpose was to explore the mines in this country, which he had discovered some years before.
"He then presented them with some powder, balls, knives and tobacco, and invited them to come to his fort, as soon as it was constructed, and he would tell them the intentions of the King his master. The Scioux of the West have, according to the accounts of those of the East, more than a thousand huts.
"They do not use canoes or cultivate the land, but wander in the prairies between the upper Mississippi and the Missouri, and live by hunting.
"All the Scioux say they have three souls, and that after death the good one goes to a warm country, the bad one to a cold country, and the third watches the body. They are very expert with their bows. Polygamy is very common among them. They are extremely jealous, and sometimes fight duels for their wives. They make their huts out of buffalo skins, sewed together, and carry them with them. Two or three families generally live together. They are great smokers. They swallow the smoke, but some time after they force it up from their stomach through their nose. . . .
"On the 1st December, they invited M. le Sueur to a great feast which they had prepared for him. They made a speech, and presented him with a slave and a sack of oats. . . ."
On the 18th March, 1702, M. d'Iberville arrived at Dauphin Island, in the frigate "Palmier," which he brought into port without any difficulty, there being twenty-one feet or more of water at the pass. On the 19th, M. de la Salle arrived with his family at For[t] Mobile, which had just been finished, and the head-quarters of the colony about to be removed there from Dauphin [Massacre] Island. On the 25th, M. de Tonty, who had been sent by M. d'Iberville on a mission to the Chactas and Chicachas, arrived at Mobile, bringing with him some of the principal Chiefs of those nations, to make a treaty of peace. By presents and entreaties M. d'Iberville made them agree to live in peace together. On the 27th, M. d'Iberville returned to Dauphin Island, and from thence he went to Pensacola. On the 13th April, M. Dugue arrived with a transport ladened with provisions. On the 31st, M. d'Iberville and de Serigny departed for France. On the 12th May, eight Alibamon Chiefs arrived at Mobile to consult with M. de Bienville whether they should continue to war with the Chicachas, Tomes, and Mobilians. He advised them to make a peace, and gave them some presents for this purpose. On the 24th June, a Spanish shallop arrived from Pensacola, on board of which was Don José de Roblas, Captain of Infantry, and a son of the nurse of Count de Montezuma, bringing a. letter from Francisco Martin, Governor of Pensacola, asking to be supplied with some provisions, which M. de Bienville granted. On the 10th August, M. de Bienville was informed that M. St. Denis and some Canadians had invaded the territory of our allies to capture slaves, which he ordered to be restored.
On the 1st October, M. Davion, missionary, and Father Limoge, a Jesuit, arrived from the Mississippi, to give notice that one of their brethren and three Frenchmen had been murdered on the Yasous river, by two young Courois, who had acted as their guides.
On the 11th November, Don Francisco Martin arrived from Pensacola, with the news that France and Spain were at war with England, and asked for a supply of arms and powder, which was given him.
On the 28th, two shallops, with two Spanish officers, arrived at the fort from St. Augustine, Florida, and brought a letter from Don Joseph de Souniga y Serda, Governor of that place, informing M. de Bienville that it was besieged by fourteen English vessels and two thousand Indians. He further requested that a small vessel might be sent to the Viceroy of Mexico, informing him of what had happened. M. de Bienville sent him one hundred muskets and five hundred pounds of powder.
Bénard de la Harpe, Historical Journal of the Establishment of the French in Louisiana, in B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana (New York, 1851), Part III, 19-28 passim.
110. Danger from the French Mississippi Settlements (1718)
BY LIEUTENANT-GOVERNOR ALEXANDER SPOTSWOOD
Spotswood was an efficient governor of Virginia; his letters and state papers are of great historical value. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, IV, 196-202; Channing and Hart,§ Guide, 90.
. . .HAVING of a long time endeavour'd to informe myself of ye scituation of the French to the Westward of Us, and the Advantages they Reap by an uninterrupted Communication along ye Lake, I shall here take the Liberty of communicating my thoughts to Yo'r Lord'ps, both of the dangers to w'ch his Majesty's Plantations may be exposed by this new Acquisition of our Neighbours, and how the same may be best prevented. I have often regretted that after so many Years as these Countrys have been Seated, no Attempts have been made to discover the Sources of Our Rivers, nor to Establishing Correspondence w'th those Nations of Indians to ye Westw'd of Us, even after the certain Knowledge of the Progress made by French in Surrounding us w'th their Settlements. . . .
Having also informed myself of that extensive Communication w'ch the French maintain by means of their water Carriage from the River St. Lawrence to the mouth of Mississippi, I shall here set down the route from Montreal, (a place well known and distinguished in ye ordinary Mapps,) to Maville, their Chief Town in their New Settlement of Louisiana, according to the account given me by three Fr. Men, who had often Travelled that way, and were taken in a late Expedition under the Command of the Gov'r and L't-Gov'r's Sons, of Montreal, and is as follows :
| Fr. Leages. | |
| From Montreal up St. Lawrence River, to Fort, Frontenac, at the Entra[n]ce of Lac Ontario, is | 60 |
| The Length of Lac Ontario, which is Navigable, | 60 |
| Up the River to the Falls of Niagara, where there is a necessity of Land Carriage, | 3 |
| From Niagara to the Lake Erie, | 100 |
| Up the River Mic., w'ch falls into Lake Erie, | 60 |
| From the River Mic. to the River Occabacke, a Land Carriage of | 3 |
| Down the River Occaback till it falls into the River Mississippi, | 200 |
| Thence down Mississippi to Maville, | 360 |
By this Communication and the forts they have already built, the Brittish Plantations are in a manner Surrounded by their Commerce w'th the numerous Nations of Indians seated on both sides of the Lakes ; they may not only Engross the whole Skin Trade, but may, when they please, Send out such Bodys of Indians on the back of these Plantations as may greatly distress his Maj'ty's Subjects here, And should they multiply their Settlem'ts along these Lakes, so as to joyn their Dominions of Canada to their new Colony of Louisiana, they might even possess themselves of any of these Plantations they pleased. Nature, 'tis true, has formed a Barrier for us by that long Chain of Mountains w'ch run from the back of South Carolina as far as New York, and w'ch are only passable in some few places, but even that Natural Defence may prove rather destructive to us, if they are not possessed by us before they are known to them. To prevent the dangers w'ch Threaten his Maj'ty's Dominions here from the growing power of these Neighbors, nothing seems to me of more consequence than that now while the Nations are at peace, and while the French are yet uncapable of possessing all that vast Tract w'ch lies on the back of these Plantations, we should attempt to make some Settlements on ye Lakes, and at the same time possess our selves of those passes of the great Mountains, w'ch are necessary to preserve a Communication w th such Settlements.
As the Lake Erie lyes almost in the Center of the French Communication, and, as I observed before, not above 5 days' March from the late discovered passage of Our great Mountains, That seems the most proper for forming a Settlement on, by w'ch we shall not only share w'th the French in the Commerce and friendship of those Indians inhabiting the banks of the Lakes, but may be able to cutt off or disturb the communication between Canada and Louisiana, if a War should happen to break out. If such a Settlement were once made, I can't see how the ffrench could dispute our Right of Possession, the Law of Nations giving a Title to the first Occupant, and should they think fitt to dispossess us by force, We are nearer to Support than they to attack. . . .
. . . I . . . shall only here apply my Self to what I conceive more immediately necessary, w'ch are that of the Mississippi Settlement, and the Importance of adding St. Augustine to the British Acquisitions on this Continent. As to the first, there can be no doubt but that the French Settlement on Mississippi will, (without timely precautions,) greatly effect both the Trade and Safety of these, his Maj'ty's Plantations. Tobacco, Rice and other Commoditys, w'th w'ch the greatest part of Europe is now supplyed from these Plantations, will, no doubt, be cultivated and produced in this new French Settlement, and they w'll become our Rivals in that Trade in all fforeign Mark'ts. By this means his Maj'ty's Subjects employed here in that Manufacture will be discouraged ; the British Navigation must decrease in proportion as the French advance in that Trade, and the Revenue of the Crown, of course, very much diminished. The danger w'ch threatens these, his Maj'ty's Plantations, from this new Settlement, is also very considerable, for by the Communication w'ch the French may maintain between Canada and Mississippi by the conveniency of the Lakes, they do, in a manner, surround all the British Plantations. They have it in their power, by these Lakes and the many Rivers running into them and into the Mississippi to engross all the Trade of the Indian Nations, w'ch are now supplyed from hence. They may, by possessing themselves of the Passes of the Great Mountains, w'ch ly between Us and the Lakes, Either by themselves or their Indians, fall upon and over-run w'ch of these Provinces they think fit, And seeing, by their late Siezure of Pensacola from the Spaniards, their design seems to be to extend their Dominions Eastward from Mississippi towards South Carolina, It is certainly the British Interest to put a stop to their Advancing any further that way, w'ch, in my Opinion, w'll be best Effected by possessing ourselves w'th some places on the Coast of Florida, and forming a Settlement as near as can be to cramp their's, w'ch leads me to consider the other part Yo'r Lord'ps desire to be informed in, vizt : The Importance of taking St. Augustine from the Spaniards.
St. Augustine is a small Fort on the North East part of the Coast of Florida, w'th a Village adjoyning inhabited by about 2 or 300 Spaniards. . . . This place may be of vast Consequence to Britain whenever a War shall happen with either of these Crowns, it being impossible for their Ships to pass through the Gulph without being discovered from either one side or the other, and, therefore, lyable to become prize to any of our Men of War or Privateers that may be placed on y't Station ; So that, in Case of a Rupture w'th France, the whole Trade of their Mississippi Colony may, by that means, be destroyed. But I would also humbly propose, that besides the taking of St. Augustine, the small Fort, or rather Battery of St. Mark, may be attempted. . . . From hence it is I would propose to forme a Settlement to check that of y't of Mississippi, and to extend Westward upon it, whereby we might Share w'th them at least in the Indian Trade, and keep a Balla. of those Indian Nations in our Interest, and in Case of a War, be able to annoy them from thence. Besides these two Settlements, it may not be improbable but that a good Harbour may be found among ye Islands at the Cape of Florida, w'ch might be a proper Station for Men of War or Privateers to interrupt the Spanish or French Trade from the Bay of Mexico, that Promontory lying almost in sight of the Havanna, and no other way for their Ships to return to Europe but through that Passage. This would also prove a security to our own Trade from Jamaica, w'ch, for want of places of retreat for Merchant-Men and Cruising Ships on that Coast, are often exposed to the danger of Enemy's Privateers, as well as to Storms w'ch frequently happen there. That your Lord'ps may have a Clearer Idea of the places I have now been describing, I herewith transmit a Draught of the River Mississippi and the Rivers Communicating with it and also of the Sea Coasts along the Bay of Mexico and Gulph of Florida. … In it yo'r Lord'ps w'll see the many Navigable Rivers that branch out from the Mississippi towards the English Plantations, and the Situation of the several Indian Nations w'th whom both we and the French Trade. Yo'r Lord'ps w'll thereby observe that most of those Nations are more contiguous to the French Settlements than the English, and have been hitherto kept in our Interest by being more plentifully supplyed with Goods from the English than the French could afford them. I am also here to observe that the French have of late begun a traffique with the Coosta Indians, living upon a River of that name not far from the Cherokees, and it is to be feared they will soon gett footing too among the latter, the people of So. Carolina having already abandoned y't Trade …
The Official Letters of Alexander Spotswood (Virginia Historical Society, Collections, New Series, II, Richmond, 1882), II, 295-331 passim.
111. The French and the Fur Trade (1724)
Golden was surveyor-general of New York, becoming later lieutenant-governor. He is author of a valuable book on the Five Nations of Indians. In his later years he was bitterly hated by provincials on account of his enforcement of English measures.— Bibliography: Tyler, American Literature, II, 213-215; Smith, History of New York, Appendix, ch. iii; Channing and Hart, Guide, §§ 105, 133.
IT has of late been generally believed, that the Inhabitants of the Province of New- York are so advantageously situated, with respect to the Indian Trade, and enjoy so many Advantages as to Trade in general, that it is in their Power not only to rival the French of Canada, who have almost entirely engrossed the Furr-Trade of America, but that it is impossible for the French to carry on that Trade in Competition with the People of this Province. The enquiring into the Truth of this Proposition, may not only be of some Consequence, as to the Riches and Honour of the British Nation, (for it is well known how valuable the Furr-Trade of America is) but likewise as to the Safety of all the British Colonies in North-America. New-France (as the French now claim) extends from the Mouth of the River Misissippi, to the Mouth of the River St. Lawrence, by which the French plainly show their Intention of enclosing the British Settlements, and cutting us off from all Commerce with the numerous Nations of Indians, that are every where settled over the vast Continent of North-America. The English in America have too good Reason to apprehend such a Design, when they see the French King's Geographer publish a Map, by which he has set Bounds to the British Empire in America, and has taken in many of the English Settlements both in South-Carolina and New-York, within these Boundaries of New-France. And the good Services they intend us, with the Indians, but too plainly appears at this Day, by the Indian War now carried on against New-England. . . .
The Method of carrying Goods upon the Rivers of North- America, into all the small Branches, and other Land, from the Branches of one River to the Branches of another, was learned from the Indians, and is the only Method practicable through such large Forests and Deserts as the Traders pass thro' , in carrying from one Nation to another, it is this ; the Indians make a long narrow Boat, made of the Bark of the Birch-tree, the Parts of which they join very neatly. One of these Canoes that can carry a Dozen Men, can itself be easily carried upon two Men's Shoulders ; so that when they have gone as far by Water as they can (which is further than is easily to be imagined, because their loaded Canoes don't sink six Inches into the Water) they unload their Canoes, and carry both Goods and Canoes upon their Shoulders over Land, into the nearest Branch of the River they intend to follow. Thus, the French have an easy Communication with all the Countries bordering upon the River of St. Lawrence, and its Branches, with all the Countries bordering upon these In-land Seas, and the Rivers which empty themselves into these Seas, and can thereby carry their Burdens of Merchandize thro all these large Countries, which could not by any other means than Water-carriage be carried thro so vast a Tract of Land.
This, however, but half finishes the View the French have, as to their Commerce in North-America. Many of the Branches of the River Misissippi come so near to the Branches of several of the Rivers which empty themselves into the great Lakes, that in several Places there is but a short Land-Carriage from the one to the other. As soon as they have got into the River Misissippi, they open to themselves as large a Field for Traffick in the southern Parts of North-America, as was before mentioned with respect to the northern Parts. If one considers the Length of this River, and its numerous Branches, he must say, That by means of this River, and the Lakes, there is opened to his View such a Scene of in-land Navigation as cannot be paralleled in any other Part of the World.
The French have, with much Industry, settled small Colonies, and built stockaded Forts at all the considerable Passes between the Lakes, except between Cataracui Lake (called by the French Ontario) and Lake Erie, one of our Five Nations of Indians, whom we call Sennekas, (and the French Sonontouans) having hitherto refused them leave to erect any Buildings there.
The French have been indefatigable in making Discoveries, and carrying on their Commerce with Nations, of whom the English know nothing but what they see in the French Maps and Books. The Barrenness of the Soil, and the Coldness of the Climate of Canada, obliges the greatest number of the Inhabitants to seek their living by travelling among the Indians, or by trading with those that do travel. . . .
But notwithstanding all these Advantages, the French labour under Difficulties that no Art or Industry can remove. The Mouth of the River of St. Lawrence, and more especially the Bay of St. Lawrence, lies so far North, and is thereby so often subject to tempestuous Weather and thick Fogs, that the Navigation there is very dangerous, and never attempted but during the Summer Months. The Wideness of this Bay, together with the many strong Currents that run in it, the many Shelves, and sunken Rocks that are every where spread over both the Bay and River, and the want of Places for anchoring in the Bay, all increase the Danger of this Navigation ; so that a Voyage to Canada is justly esteem'd much more dangerous than to any other Part of America. . . .
After they pass Monreal they have a strong Stream against them till they come near the Lakes ; so that in all that, which is about one hundred and fifty Miles in Length, they force their Canoes forward with setting Poles, or drag them with Ropes along shoar ; and at five or six different Places in that way the River falls over Rocks with such Force, that they are obliged to unload their Canoes, and carry them upon their Shoulders. They never make this Voyage from Monreal to Cataracui in less than twenty Days, and frequently, twice that Time is necessary.
Now we are come so far as the Lake, my Design leads me no further, for at this Lake all the far Indians, that go to Canada, must pass by our Traders. And from thence the Road to the Indian Countries is the same from Albany that it is from Monreal.
Besides these Difficulties in the Transportation, the French labour under greater in the purchasing of the principal Goods proper for the Indian Market ; for the most considerable and most valuable Part of their Cargo consists in Strouds, Duffils, Blankets, and other Woollens, which are bought at a much cheaper Rate in England than in France. . . .
From Albany the Indian Traders commonly carry their Goods sixteen Miles over Land, to the Mohawks River at Schenechtady, the Charge of which Carriage is Nine Shillings New -York Money, or Five Shillings Sterling each Waggon-Load. From Schenechtady they carry them in Canoes up the Mohawks River, to the Carrying-place between the Mohawks River, and the River which runs into the Oneida Lake ; which Carrying-place between is only three Miles long, except in very dry Weather, when they are obliged to carry them two Miles further. From thence they go with the Current down the Onondaga River to the Cataracui Lake. . . .
When this Country (the Province of New-York) came first under the Crown of Great-Britain, our Five Nations of Indians were mortal Enemies of the French at Canada, and were in a continual War with them, and all the Nations of Indians round the Lakes ; so that then it was not safe for the English to travel further than the Countries of the Five Nations ; nor would our Indians permit the far Indians (with whom they had constant War) to pass thro' their Countries to Albany. Besides, the Five Nations of Indians were at that time so numerous, (consisting of ten times the Number of fighting Men they now do) that the Trade with them alone was very considerable for so young and small a Colony. . . .
About this Time the Revolution happen'd in Great-Britain, which was succeeded by a War between Great-Britain and France. In February, 168990 a Party of three hundred Men, consisting of equal Numbers of French and Indians, surprized Schenechtady in the Night-time, when the poor People were in their Beds, in the greatest Security, where they barbarously murdered sixty-three Men, Women, and Children, in cold Blood, laid the Village in Ashes, and then retir'd, without reaping any other Advantage besides their cruel Revenge on innocent People, for the Mischief our Indians had done them. This rais'd a cruel War between the two Colonies, in which there was much Mischief done, and Blood shed. without any Advantage to either side. . . .
King William's Peace put an End to this War ; but the Peace lasted so short a while, that the People of this Province hardly had time to re-settle their Farms on the Frontiers, which they had deserted in the Time of the War, much less to adventure trading in the Indian tries, so lately the Scene of so much Cruelty. But both Colonies having now an Abhorrence of the Cruelties of the last War, agreed on a kind of Neutrality for the Indians, during Queen Anne's War, in which Time we lost much ground with our own Indians : For the French having learn'd, by dear Experience, that it was not possible for them to conquer our Five Indian Nations, resolv'd to try all Means to gain their Affections, and in this Art the French are always more successful than in that of War ; and the English failing in two ill-concerted Expeditions against Canada, the Indians lost much of the Opinion they had of the English Power and Valour. . . .
As soon as the Peace was proclaim'd, an open Trade with Monreal was carried on with such Earnestness, that Monreal was fill'd with Indian Goods, and Albany exhausted ; by which means Monreal became the principal, if not the only Indian Market, and the Indians depended entirely on the French for what they wanted. . . .
. . . From the whole, it seems plain, that any Difficulties and Disadvantages this Province has been under, have only proceeded from the Wars, which have continued since the first settling of the Province, to the beginning of the last general Peace. But now, that not only this Province, but likewise our six Nations of Indians are at Peace, and in Amity, both with the French, and all the Indian Nations with whom we can have any Commerce, these Difficulties are all remov'd, and we now enjoy the most favourable Time, that at any time can be hoped for, in order to extend the British Commerce in North-America, while the French not only labour under the Difficulties which I have shown to be inseparable from the Situation of their Colony, but likewise under another Disadvantage, (not before taken notice of) by the Furr-Trade of Canada being restrain'd to one Company. . . .
Cadwallader Colden, Papers relating to . . . the . . . Encouragement of the Indian Trade, etc., in his History of the Five Indian Nations of Canada (London, 1747), second pagination, 25-40 passim.
112. The Government of Canada (1749)
BY PROFESSOR PETER KALM
(Translated by John Reinhold Forster, 1771)
Kalm was a Swedish botanist who travelled in America during the years 1748-1751. He was a painstaking and accurate observer. — Bibliography: Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, IV, 367-368, V, 244; Charming and Hart, Guide, § 89.
October the 5th.
THE governor-general at Quebec is, as I have already mentioned before, the chief commander in Canada. Next to him is the intendant at Quebec then follows the governor of Montreal, and after him the governor of Trois Rivieres. The intendant has the greatest power next to the governor-general ; he pays all the money of government, and is president of the board of finances, and of the court of justice in this country. He is, however, under the governor-general ; for if he refuses to do any thing to which he seems obliged by his office, the governor-general can give him orders to do it, which he must obey. He is allowed, however, to appeal to the government in France. In each of the capital towns, the governor is the highest person, then the lieutenant-general, next to him a major, and after him the captains. The governor-general gives the first orders in all matters of consequence. When he comes to Trois Rivieres and Montreal, the power of the governor ceases, because he always commands where he is. The governor-general commonly goes to Montreal once every year, and mostly in winter ; and during his absence from Quebec, the lieutenant-general commands there. When the governor-general dies, or goes to France, before a new one is come in his stead, the governor of Montreal goes to Quebec to command in the mean while, leaving the major to command at Montreal.
One or two of the king's ships are annually sent from France to Canada, carrying recruits to supply the places of those soldiers, who either died in the service, or have got leave to settle in the country, and turn farmers, or to return to France. Almost every year they send a hundred, or a hundred and fifty people over in this manner. With these people they likewise send over a great number of persons, who have been found guilty of smuggling in France. They were formerly condemned to the gallies, but at present they send them to the colonies, where they are free as soon as they arrive, and can choose what manner of life they please, but are never allowed to go out of the country, without the king's special licence. The king's ships likewise bring a great quantity of merchandizes which the king has bought, in order to be distributed among the Indians on certain occasions. The inhabitants of Canada pay very little to the king. In the year 1748, a beginning was, however, made, by laying a duty of three per cent. on all the French goods imported by the merchants of Canada. A regulation was likewise made at that time, that all the furs and skins exported to France from hence, should pay a certain duty ; but what is carried to the colonies pays nothing. The merchants of all parts of France and its colonies, are allowed to send ships with goods to this place ; and the Quebec merchants are at liberty likewise to send their goods to any place in France, and its colonies. But the merchants at Quebec have but few ships, because the sailors wages are very high. The towns in France which chiefly trade with Canada, are Rochelle and Bourdeaux ; next to them are Marseilles, Nantes, Havre de Grace, St. Malo, and others. The king's ships which bring goods to this country, come either from Brest or from Rochefort. The merchants at Quebec send flour, wheat, pease, wooden utensils, &c on their own bottoms, to the French possessions in the West-Indies. The walls round Montreal were built in 1738, at the king's expence, on condition the inhabitants should, little by little, pay off the cost to the king. The town at present pays annually 6000 livres for them to government, of which 2000 are given by the seminary of priests. At Quebec the walls have likewise been built at the king's expence, but he did not redemand the expence of the inhabitants, because they had already the duty upon goods to pay as above mentioned. The beaver trade belongs solely to the Indian company in France, and nobody is allowed to carry it on here, besides the people appointed by that company. Every other fur trade is open to every body. There are several places among the Indians far in the country, where the French have stores of their goods ; and these places they call les postes. The king has no other fortresses in Canada than Quebec, Fort Chamblais, Fort St. Jean, Fort St. Frederic, or Crown-point, Montreal, Frontenac, and Niagara. All other places belong to private persons. The king keeps the Niagara trade all to himself. Every one who intends to go to trade with the Indians must have a licence from the governor-general, for which he must pay a sum according as the place he is going to is more or less advantageous for trade. A merchant who sends out a boat laden with all sorts of goods, and four or five persons with it, is obliged to give five or six hundred livres for the permission ; and there are places for which they give a thousand livres. Sometimes one cannot buy the licence to go to a certain trading place, because the governor-general has granted, or intends to grant it to some acquaintaince or relation of his. The money arising from the granting of licences, belongs to the governor-general ; but it is customary to give half of it to the poor : whether this is always strictly kept to or not, I shall not pretend to determine.
Peter Kalm, Travels into North America (London, 1771), III, 306-310.