THE HISTORY OF CANADA

FROM THE EARLIEST DATE OF FRENCH RULE.

CHAPTER I.

The definitive treaty between Great Britain and France, of 1763,* did not confer on North America the peace hoped for; within three months of its signature, hostilities broke out in a quarter where they were the least expected. As the power of France had been uprooted from the seaboard to the lakes, it was considered that there was no longer inducement or encouragement for the Indian tribes, which in the war had ranged themselves on the side of Canada, to continue their feeling of enmity; on the contrary, that it would disappear with the influence which had nourished it into being, and that British power would be accepted by them unquestioned. In the cities and settled parts of Canada, many of the new subjects had hoped and believed, that at the peace, the colony would be restored to France; but as time advanced during the years. from 1759 to 1762, when Canada was held as a conquered country, this feeling became much modified. The considerate treatment which the new subjects received, generally gained their confidence, certainly their respect. Their religious faith was professed without interference; their habits and customs. remained unmodified; civil differences were adjusted in accordance with the law of the former regime; while criminal. justice was administered according to the merciful procedure of English practice. Population ceased with the island of Montreal. Some slight settlement had been made on Ile

The treaty was signed the 10th of February. The first attack on Detroit took place on the 9th of May.

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Perrot, and at Vaudreuil, but the country remained a wilderness to Detroit. There was not a solitary French Canadian established in what constitutes the present province of Ontario. A wearisome navigation through the Saint Lawrence and lakes, of nearly six hundred miles, formed the highway to the first abode of civilization at Detroit. During the five months of winter, access to it was possible only on snow-shoes. A few hundred souls were gathered here without schools; removed from the world; nursing their prejudices, forming their convictions by their hopes and their material wants; their one occupation the observance of their ceremonial religion, which, while it bestowed consolation, was the limit of their intellectual life. With this segregated small community, the firm conviction still prevailed that in a few months the ancient condition of life would be restored, and France would regain the sovereignty she had only temporarily abandoned.

A chain of forts was constructed on the Saint Lawrence to preserve the communication. The first forts to be met with. were William Augustus at the head of the rapids, a few miles east of Ogdensburg, and Oswego, on the south shore of lake Ontario. They were simply military posts, having little relation with the west, although the Albany traders made Oswego their starting point in their expeditions. They contained small garrisons. Oswego had been re-established in 1759, William Augustus, the following year, on that fort being taken by Amherst, in his descent to Montreal. Niagara was of greater importance, being the first post in connection with the lakes, and it formed the basis of supply to the western garriTwo secondary forts were in connection with Niagara, one at the foot of the rapids, where Lewiston now stands, one above the falls at fort Schlosser, opposite the mouth of the river Welland [Chippewa creek]. These three forts assured the connection between lakes Ontario and Erie.*

sons.

The communication with fort Pitt, at the forks of the Ohio, was maintained by the three forts on the line of waters to the north. Presqu'ile, on the southern shore of lake Erie, was

1763]

FORT DETROIT.

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the first of the series; at the end of the portage, fort Le Bœuf was constructed, and Venango stood at the junction of French creek with the Alleghany. It was the route established by the French to maintain a passage from the lakes to the Ohio. To the west on the southern shore of lake Erie, a post had been placed at Sandusky. Fort Miami was situated at the head of the portage of the stream, now known as the river Maumee, which discharges into the southwest angle of that lake: the portage leads to the Wabash, on which fort Outanon was situated. Further down on this stream was fort Vincennes approximately on the latitude of Saint Louis: according to the memorandum left by Gage, this post was not visited by the British traders.*

Second in importance to Niagara was fort Detroit, on the river flowing from lake Saint Claire to lake Erie, about five miles from the mouth of the former. It had been established on the site it occupied in 1701, by Lamothe Cadillac.+ At this date it formed a parallelogram with about half a mile of front, surrounded by a picket fence twenty-five feet high, with a bastion at each corner for light artillery, and a block-house over the main gateway. It contained a range of barracks, some quarters for the officers, a council house and a church. A hundred small houses were included in the enceinte. The streets were narrow, but a wide passage immediately within the pickets ran around the whole extent of the fort. On the west of the river, the small white-washed cottages of the Canadians extended nearly to the entrance of lake Saint Claire, about two miles, and for two miles of distance below the fort. On the eastern side, settlement commenced nearly two miles lower down, and was continued for seven miles, skirting it to the lake. The settlement was confined to a single line of dwellings on both banks of the river. Rogers reported the number of souls in 1760 to be about one thousand. There were no forts on lake Huron. On passing through the straits of Mackinaw, the first to be met was Michillimack

* Ante, vol. IV., p. 455.

+ Ante, vol. II., p. 408.

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inac, on the western shore of the present state of Michigan, a post dependent on Detroit, but controlling the secondary posts of Green bay, Saint Joseph and Saint Mary. Its name has been derived from the Indian word for the green turtle, the back of which the island in the straits is said to resemble. It had been established nearly a century. The first attempt at settlement was the mission of St. Ignace, founded by the cele brated Marquette in 1661, after the Sioux had broken up the Huron mission of La Pointe at lake Superior. The mission was subsequently transferred to the southern shore, and became an important centre of the more western fur trade. It is best remembered as the basis of de La Salle's operation in his descent of the Mississippi in 1679, when the arrival of the "Griffon" was an event in its history. The post at the head of Green bay, to the west of lake Michigan, as I have stated, was held as an outpost of Michillimackinac. When Jolliet and Marquette ascended the Fox river to the Mississippi, in 1673, they found a mission established at its head. known to the French as la grande baye, the term Green bay being a corruption of this name. It was the most western post on these waters in connection with Canada. Fort Saint Joseph stood at the south of lake Michigan, on the eastern shore, at the mouth of the river Saint Joseph. It had been long established, the original post having been constructed by de La Salle. There was no attempt by the British traders to extend their operations further west. Outanon, on the Wabash, held as a post, was geographically to the east, access being obtained to it from the Maumee.

The French still remained in possession on the east of the Mississippi, retaining Vincennes, on the Wabash, and fort Chartres, on the Mississippi. The trade of the former passed to the Ohio, and thence to the Mississippi. It was a stockade fort, situate some sixty leagues up the Wabash, the mouth of that river being sixty leagues from the mouth of the Ohio, garrisoned by twenty soldiers; and some few inhabitants were gathered in the neighbourhood.* Fort Chartres was on the eastern bank Can. Arch., A. & W. I., 121.1, p. 139.

1763]

FORT CHARTRES.

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of the Mississippi, ninety miles north of the mouth of the Ohio, and was the central point of the French operations. Settlement commenced at the village of Kaskaskia, on the tributary of the Mississippi of that name, falling into the main stream some six miles to the south. This village, the most important of the Illinois country, was situated chiefly on the left bank of the stream. A fort, on a height commanding the town, had been constructed on the opposite side. Within a mile and a half was an Indian village of the Illinois; a tribe described as lazy and fond of liquor, with a population of about four hundred. Ascending the Mississippi there was a considerable village called Laprairie de Roche. Fort Chartres, on the river bank, was an important structure built of stone capable of containing three hundred men and mounted with twenty cannon. One hundred French inhabitants lived in the neighbourhood. A road ran along the Mississippi at a varying distance, to Cahokia, a point some five miles below the present city of Saint Louis, with about one hundred and twenty inhabitants. Settlement was not commenced at the present site of Saint Louis until 1763. In August of that year Pierre Laclede, whose operations were conducted from New Orleans, built a store house on the western bank of the river. Previous to this date the trade had been confined to the eastern bank. Four hundred negro servants are reported to have been domiciled in the locality. The inhabitants lived in tolerable comfort, and they are spoken of as making good wine from the wild grape, also excellent beer, and as producing much maple sugar. In case of emergency, they could turn out one thousand armed men, but the population was for the most part in movement, fluctuating between New Orleans and the Illinois. All of these places were founded by Frenchmen or their descendants from New Orleans. After the Indian peace of 1765, the majority, with the Indians in the neighbourhood, passed over to the western bank to remain under Spanish rule. They have little connection with Canadian history. The only ground for mention of them, and it is sufficiently serious, is their continual intrigues in inciting the Indians to attack the