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1765]

BOUQUET'S GRAVE.

III

important papers in the thirty volumes of "The Bouquet Collection" deposited in the British museum by Haldimand's heir. *

It is not only then as a statesman and a soldier that the fame of Bouquet should be perpetuated; he demands our respect as a man of letters. He has shewn by his careful preservation of historical documents his appreciation of their value in the future, when the history of the times in which he lived would be written. The student who patiently examines the evidence he gathered and saved from perishing, cannot fail to recognize the scrupulous honesty with which the collection has been made. His carefully gathered documents throw great light upon the events of that day. They have now been calendared, and the contents generally made known; excavated, as it were, out of the mine of the British museum, where so much pure metal lies buried in theoretically accessible MS., but, to continue the simile, only at the disposal of the literary delver and digger. These MS. volumes cannot fail to attract the attention of men of letters interested in the literature and the original anthorities of the period, and we may look forward to see them widely quoted and adduced as authority in any disputed narratives. They establish the claim that Bouquet has on our gratitude in this respect, totally beyond the record of the more important service I have humbly striven to relate.

Copies of these volumes have been obtained for the Canadian Archives branch, and have been calendared by Mr. Brymner the Archivist, with the judg ment and care observable in his work. Vide Report, 1889.

I have made an unsuccessful attempt to determine the precise date of Bouquet's death and the spot where he was buried. I addressed the British consul at Pensacola, Mr. Osmond G. Howe, on the subject. After bestowing some trouble in the investigation, Mr. Howe was good enough to place me in communication with Mr. R. L. Campbell, of Pensacola, who has for many years studied the archives of his native state, particularly of the city of Pensacola. I learn from this gentlemen, that there are no state papers bearing upon the British occupation, excepting some few relating exclusively to land. The episcopal church records go no farther back than 1830. Indeed, there is nothing to shew that during the twenty years of British dominion there was a building known as the English

church, or even any organization as such, outside the garrison. There is no memorial to establish Bouquet's grave, or any tradition to determine the date of his death, or where he was buried, or indeed that he was ever in Pensacola. "There is no sign above earth," writes Mr. Campbell, "of a single one of the English population who must have died in Pensacola during the British rule of twenty years. Of their place of burial there is satisfactory evidence. It was situated on a bluff in the bay, not many feet above the water level. The spot was gradually undermined by the waters of the gulf, and towards 1870 several skeletons became exposed."

"There is, however, a passage in the volume of the Canadian Archives, 1885, sup., p. 153, which shews that Bouquet was buried in Pensacola. It is given in the calendar of the Haldimand papers, [B., 15, p. 84] being a certificate of John Vollam, dated Feb. 1st, 1770, of bricks used in Bouquet's monument."

"We have in this record a proof of a structure of some magnitude, or at least of a size sufficient not to have utterly perished in the lapse of time which intervened to my boyhood. As a boy I was observant, and I can recall nothing in or around this locality of even an unpretentious structure of the character, built of brick. The erosion of the shore, mentioned by me, by which the English cemetery was washed away, occurred in the sixties. Vandalism is therefore the explanation of the disappearance of the structure. During Spanish rule, bricks were wanted, and, being costly, probably Bouquet's tomb supplied the demand." The student of history, both of our own land and of Pennsylvania will, I am sure, join me in my acknowledgment of Mr. Campbell's assistance in placing before us, all the information which, it may be said, can ever be obtained on the subject.

It would be a graceful act on the part of the legislature of Pennsylvania on a site in the neighbourhood, protected from the breakers of the gulf of Mexico, to raise a monument to the man whose health was shattered in the defence of their territory, placing upon the column the words of the vote of 1765, in which the representatives of that day acknowledged Bouquet's "great services;" nearly the last of the many rendered by the mother country to their state.

The reference to which Mr. Campbell directed my attention, sets forth that one thousand English gray stock bricks expended on general Bouquet's monument were lent for that service at general Haldimand's request, by his honour Montford Browne, the lieutenant-governor. As 1,000 bricks will give only about 50 cubic feet of work, it may be inferred that this quantity was asked to complete the tomb, and does not represent the extent of the structure.

1765]

FRENCH INTRIGUE.

113

CHAPTER VIII.

The peace had been concluded, but the occupation of the Illinois territory remained to be effected. Bouquet had considered that, quiet being established on the Ohio, the river could be safely followed to the Mississippi, and by this line of communication fort Chartres could be occupied by a British garrison. It was not expected it could be effected without. opposition, or that the French would discontinue their intrigues to prevent it. "We may accuse the French," wrote Gage,* "in general terms, though we cannot fix the blame upon any one particular commander." But such evidence was not wanting. Major Smallman, a provincial major, a prisoner released by the Shawanees, bore testimony to the arrival of a French officer from the Illinois, who, in an assembly of the Indians, told them that a trader was coming to supply them with powder and shot, and he exhorted all present to put hatchets in their hands to attack the English. The powder and shot were delivered; a second supply came in September. The trader bringing it, hearing of the march of Bouquet's expedition, distributed nearly eight cwt. of this powder, and then left the place. Bradstreet wrote to de Saint Ange complaining of the influence exercised on the Indians to continue the war, and protesting against the false reports of the arrival of French troops. Especially he commented on the conduct of one Saint Vincent at the mouth of the Miami, urging the savages to attack Detroit. Bradstreet called de Saint Ange's attention to this infamous behaviour, and asked that a stop be put to it. There was never any absence of professions on the part of the French officials of their desire to promote amicable feeling, and to control the Indians, and in this case

* Gage to Halifax, 13th Dec., 1764. Can. Arch., A. & W. I., 121.2, p. 398.

I

it was pretended that the hostility of the tribes arose entirely from their unextinguished hatred of the British.

We have seen Pontiac's offer of peace to Gladwin in 1763; we hear of him again in the spring of the following year at fort Chartres, endeavouring to excite hostilities. He was busied until June in this attempt. Great distress had been felt among the Indians, and an appeal had been made to the commandant for aid.

There is little doubt that the Indians were in the habit of using language to suit the occasion, and habitually made the most contradictory professions to both French and British, as their interest suggested. The chiefs who thus found their way to the Illinois belonged to the Miamis, Mascoutins, Kikapoos and Ottawas. De Saint Ange told them that their sufferings were occasioned by their attacks of the English, upon which he received the reply, that they would prefer to die rather than make peace, and it was painful to them even to hear the contingency mentioned. Pontiac had been very active in encouraging this feeling of hate on his part at least sincere; and he engaged in the spring to return to consider how the common cause, for such he declared it to be, could best be sustained.*

It had been a constant custom with the Indians, during the century of war which prevailed between the French and British, to relate different stories to the two nations. Especially in Acadia, in the disputed territory, now constituting the state of Maine, so long the battle-ground on which New England contended with the Abenakis. The latter were urged to continual aggression by the jesuit missionaries, were led by French officers, and flattered by the officials at Quebec. Both in New England and Canada, as those in power listened to the Indian professions, they formed contradictory hopes that there would be peace, or continuous warfare. They seldom questioned the sincerity of what they heard. The later proceedings of Pontiac established that he had in no way abandoned the traditional duplicity of his race. His own interest was always kept in prominence, whatever the character of his professions; what sentiment he felt was on the side of the French. After his negotiations with Gladwin he informed de Saint Ange that the Indians had returned to their first resolution, and that they had assured the English of their fidelity, with the desire only of destroying them. When Morris was made prisoner, the written instructions taken from him were sent to de Saint Ange, with the declaration that his intention was never to make peace, and he described the English as the most cruel of enemies. The stern diplomacy of

1765]

DEATH OF D'ABBADIE.

115

There was at this date a large trade to the Illinois country, in connection with New Orleans, in which d'Abbadie was accused of being directly interested, and it was one of the causes why every sentiment had been awakened in opposition to British interests. Pontiac, who visited New Orleans on his return, went among the Arkansas to increase their exasperation. It attained such intensity, that they searched ascending canoes to see if any Englishman was on board. On one occasion, a wretched deserter of the 22nd was discovered, and killed, for belonging to the service which he had betrayed and dishonoured.

D'Abbadie, the French governor of Louisiana, died at New Orleans on the 4th of February, 1765. His death removed much of the opposition which had been made against possession of fort Chartres being taken by the British. An attempt in another direction to reach the Illinois was more successful. Lieutenant Ross, of the 34th, worked his way up from Mobile through the Chickasaws and Cherokees, finally by the Ohio and Mississippi to arrive at fort Chartres. The Indians coming to the fort shewed such hostility to his presence, that de Saint Ange told him he must leave; his life was not safe, for he could not protect him. D'Abbadie was succeeded by Aubry, the commandant of the troops. He wrote communicating the death of the late governor, and expressed his desire to promote harmony with the colonies. Aubry had been a prisoner with the British during the war, when he had been kindly treated. The intrigues of the traders remained, however, in all their force. Nevertheless, the peace being kept by the Shawanees and Delawares, the attempt to reach fort Chartres by the Ohio was considered. Bouquet, with the Shawanees and Delawares, the firmness with which he had exacted his terms, joined to the consideration shewn to the chiefs after their submission, conveyed teaching which Pontiac could not reject. He had been made to feel, whatever his hate and disappointed rage, that his efforts would prove impotent, however active his hostility, especially after his failure at Detroit. The secret mode, in which ammunition and supplies were furnished, necessarily limited the quantity, and in this embarrassment he was prepared to deceive both sides so long as it was profitable to do so.

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