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SACRIFICES OF MISSIONARIES; FATE OF JOGUES.

gratify the senses or to flatter vanity stumbling blocks too common even in the holiest grace worked without obstacle. The Lord, who never allows himself to be outdone, communicates himself without measure to those who sacrifice themselves without reserve; who, dead to all, detached entirely from themselves and the world, possess their souls in unalterable peace, perfectly established in that child-like spirituality which Jesus Christ has recommended to his disciples as that which ought to be the most marked trait of their character." "Such is the portrait," adds Charlevoix, "drawn of the missionaries of New France by those who knew them best. I myself knew some of them in my youth, and I found them such as I have painted them, bending under the labor of long apostleship, with bodies exhausted by fatigues and broken with age, but still preserving all the vigor of the apostolic spirit, and I have thought it but right to do them here the same justice universally done them in the country of their labors." *

With the Iroquois or Five Nations, the French missionaries had little success, but, on the contrary, they met with fierce opposition. The Five Nations consisted of the Senecas, the Cayugas, the Onondagas, the Oneidas, and the Mohawks, and they occupied the territory between the St. Law

* Hildreth, History of the United States, vol. ii., p. 86.

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rence and the Hudson. As we have already mentioned, in 1609, and again in 1615, Champlain had joined the Algonquins and the Hurons in expeditions against these tribes, which impolitic interference not only was punished shortly after by these implacable savages, but resulted in inveterate hostility to the French, which was not overcome for a long time.* The Iroquois menaced the little settlement of Quebec and, as we have seen, waylaid, captured and tortured the Jesuit missionaries, until the French were compelled to sue for peace. Nothing, therefore, was so much desired as their conversion, and in 1645, during a temporary peace,† Jogues again started out on his mission, from which he never returned; on October 18, 1646, he was put to death with indescribable tortures, soon after his arrival among the Mohawks.‡ Joseph Bressani during the years 1644 to 1650 underwent almost the same experience as Jogues, but was fortunate enough to escape with his life, on November 2, 1650, returning to France, where he became a noted preacher.||

*For the details see Parkman, Pioneers of France, p. 339 et seq.; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 96-97, 116-120.

For the events leading up to which see Parkman, The Jesuits, pp. 357-393.

Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 30-41; Shea, American Catholic Missions, pp. 214–218; l'arkman, The Jesuits, pp. 394-403; Johnson, French Pathfinders, pp. 161–164.

Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 42-60; Shea, American Catholic Missions, pp. 185, 212214.

In 1646 war again broke out with increased ferocity, the Indians being supplied with fire-arms through the Dutch, though this was contrary to the orders of the Company in Holland. Soon after the war broke out, other missionaries were taken and put to death by the Indians, among them being Daniel (July 4, 1648) and Brébeuf and Gabriel Lalemant (March, 1650).* Even Quebec itself was not safe from the savages, and her terrified colonists suffered tortures and misery. The Huron missions were entirely broken up, and the French finally became so discouraged and dispirited that they asked the aid of New England to subdue the Indians; but in 1653 the Iroquois consented to peace.‡

After hostilities had ceased, the Jesuits again renewed their efforts to plant the cross among their late adversaries, and this time their efforts met with better success. Thus far they had been unable to approach the Mohawks, but some Christian Hurons, who had become captives of the Mohawks, paved the way for the missionaries, and this and other tribes were visited by Simon Le

*Parkman, The Jesuits, p. 475 et seq.; Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. 11., pp. 165-183, 232234; Shea, pp. 185-191; Bancroft, vol. ii., pp. 144

146.

† Miles, Canada, p. 113; McMullen, Canada, p. 35 et seq.; Heriot, History of Canada, p. 72 et seq.; Smith, History of Canada, vol. i., p. 29 et seq.

Parkman, Old Régime in Canada, pp. 1-6 (17th ed.).

Moyne,* René Ménard,† Joseph Marie Chaumonot,‡ Claude Dablon,|| and Paul Ragueneaug and several other priests. While at first the efforts of these priests seemed to be. bringing good results, they soon discovered that the passions of the Indians had only been lulled and not subdued, and that their lives as well as those of the settlers near the coast hung by a single thread.¶

The Jesuits, however, did little toward opening up trade with the Indians and it was chiefly through the efforts of outside independent parties that the fur trade was secured by the French. Prominent among these early commercial adventurers were Pierre Esprit Radisson and his brother-in-law, Médard Chouart, Sieur des Groseilliers, the latter being the elder of the two and having several years of experience among the Indians with the Jesuits. Radisson came to Canada in May, 1651, and in 1652, while out hunting, was captured by the Mohawks, who spared his life and adopted him into their

*For his adventures see Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 175 et seq.; Parkman, Old Régime, pp. 8-16; Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 75-100; Shea, American Catholic Missions, pp. 220-222.

Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 158171; Shea, p. 351 et seq.; Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, vol. xlviii., pp. 115-143; H. C. Campbell's monograph in Parkman Club Publications, no. xi. (Milwaukee, 1897).

Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 125-140. || Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 101-116. § Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 141-157. ¶ Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 220 et seq., gives details.

EXPEDITIONS OF RADISSON AND GROSEILLIERS.

tribe. After a few months of cap-
tivity, he attempted to escape, having
almost reached home when he was
captured by another band of Iro-
quois. Taken back to the Mohawks,
he was tortured, but finally allowed
to live, through the intercession of his
adoptive parents. In the latter part
of 1653, however, he succeeded in
escaping to the Dutch settlement at
Fort Orange and then made his way,
via Amsterdam, to France." How-
ever, it was not until 1654 that
Groseilliers joined Radisson in the
expedition which resulted in their
discovery of Lake Superior.†
1658 Groseilliers was again in the
Superior region and in the spring of
1659 returned to the St. Lawrence,
where he met Radisson. The two
men then again started for Lake Su-
perior. Joining a band of 70 French
and Indians, they soon afterward fell
into an ambush of the Iroquois, and
thirteen of the party were killed or
captured. Many others deserted the
party, but the two brothers continued
on their journey and finally reached
Lake Huron. Crossing this, they came
to St. Mary's River, and next to the

In

* Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Régime, pp. 199–201; Johnson, French Pathfinders, pp. 191-199.

This is only a conjecture, as there seems to be no absolute authority for the statement regarding the identity of the two men who were supposed to have discovered it. The statement is supported, however, by Sulte and by Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 183, but denied by Henry C. Campbell, Radisson and Groseilliers, in American Historical Review, vol. v., pp. 226237. See also Moore, The Northwest Under Three Flags, p. 9 et seq.

423

Sault Ste. Marie. After resting for

a day, they again embarked and reached the south shore of Lake Superior, where much copper was found. The two adventurers then traversed a wide stretch of territory hitherto unexplored (probably encountering in their travels some of the eastern tributaries of the Mississippi), returning to Montreal with a large party of Indians and an immensely valuable cargo of furs. In 1661, having been refused a trading license by the governor unless they gave him one-half the profits, the two men again set forth secretly upon a journey westward and were absent for two years, probably carrying their explorations to the Lake of the Woods. Again accumulating a large freight of furs, they returned to Montreal in 1663, and were subjected to a heavy fine by the governor because they had conducted their fur trading without a license. Radisson subsequently joined the English in their Hudson Bay projects.*

*

Colby, Canadian Types of the Old Régime, p. 201 et seq.; Johnson, French Pathfinders, pp. 199-221. See also the Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson, being an account of his Travels and Experiences among the North American Indians from 1652 to 1684, transcribed from the original manuscripts in the British Museum and the Bodleian Library, and published by the Prince Society (Boston, 1885); Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, vol. xiv., p. 235; Campbell, Radisson's Journal: Its Value in History, in Proceedings of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 43d annual meeting, December 12, 1895; Thwaites' reprints of Radisson's third and fourth Voyages in Wisconsin Historical Collections, vol. xi., pp. 64-69; the sketch of the two men by Henry C. Campbell, in Parkman Club Publications, no. ii. (Milwaukee,

424

COMPANY OF THE WEST; INVASION OF THE LONG HOUSE.

In 1656 the French had established

a colony on the banks of the Oswego;* collisions soon took place with the Indians and for a third time war burst forth.† In 1663 the settlements in Canada had proved of so little profit that the Company of New France resigned their patent to the king. On May 24, 1664, the king transferred the patent to the Company of the West upon the advice of his prime minister Jean Baptiste Colbert, and the new Company was granted a monopoly of trade for forty years. The new Company was better able to give the Jesuits the protection that they implored and in 1665 a French regiment, commanded by Alexander de Prouville, Marquis de Tracy, who was appointed lieutenantgeneral, was sent to Quebec, a measure which restrained the depredations of the Five Nations.

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Douglas, Quebec, pp. 345-359; Parkman, Old Régime, p. 41 et seq.; McMullen's Canada, pp. 36-41; Heriot's Canada, p. 77 et seq.; Murray's British America, vol. i., p. 174 et seq.; Colden's History of the Five Nations, vol. i.

On the events leading up to this see Parkman, Old Régime, p. 131 et seq.

|| Morris, History of Colonization, vol. i., p. 371 et seq.; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 189191; Parkman, Old Régime, p. 169 et seq.; Douglas, Quebec, pp. 371–383; Miles, Canada, pp. 140144, 154, 169–170; Bancroft, vol. ii., p. 150.

Daniel de Rémy, Sieur de Courcelles, was appointed governor of Canada, and Jean Baptiste Talon, intendent,* and in a short time 2,000 fresh colonists came over and 1,200 veteran infantry. Tracy, Courcelles and Talon were aggressive men; they intended to occupy the interior of the country and to use the mouths of the southern rivers as places from which to emerge in force and threaten the Spanish settlements in Mexico. The preliminary step necessary to carry out the program was to pacify or if necessary to conquer the Indian tribes, and in January and February, 1666, Courcelles engaged in an expedition to invade the Long House. He proceeded as far as Schenectady, but learning that the English had taken possession of New Netherland, he returned. In the following autumn an expedition of 600 regulars, commanded by Courcelles and Tracy, penetrated the greater part of the Mohawk valley and created such an impression on the Long House that the Indians were comparatively quiet for twenty years.†

Owing to this favorable change of affairs, the missionaries again re

* Talon's commission and instructions are in N. Y. Col. Docs., vol. ix., pp. 22-29.

† Abbe Faillon's Histoire de la Colonie Française en Canada, vol. iii., pp. 130-158; Parkman, The Old Régime, pp. 177-206; Doyle, Middle Colonies, pp. 121-124; Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, p. 194; Miles, Canada, pp. 155-168; Parker, Old Quebec, pp. 90-92; Roberts, New York, vol. i., pp. 153-155; McMullen's Canada, pp. 46-50; Heriot's Canada, pp. 117-121; Documentary History of New York, vol. i., pp. 69-71; Smith's Canada, vol. i., p. 53.

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LABORS OF THE JESUITS; JOLIET AND MARQUETTE.

newed their efforts among the savages of the interior. In 1665 Claude Jean Allouez coasted Lake Superior, founding the mission of the Holy Spirit,* and in 1668, accompanied by Dablon and Jacques Marquette, established the mission of St. Mary, the first white settlement in Michigan or within the limits of our northwestern States. Nicholas Perrot also did some excellent work among the Indians of Wisconsin.‡ Various missions were established and explorations made, Dablon in his Relations of 1669-71, also describing in detail the rich copper deposits of Lake Superior. Into the labors of James Frémin, James Bruyas, John Pierron, John de Lamberville, Peter Millet, Stephen de Carheil, Peter Ruffeix, Francis Boniface, James de Lamberville, Julien Garnier, Enemond Massé, Gabriel Lalemant, Anne de Noue, Charles and Jerome Lalemant, Charles Garnier, Noel Chabanel, Leonard Garreau, and others we can

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* Winsor, Cartier to Frontenac, pp. 198–199; Shea, American Catholic Missions, pp. 357-359. It was upon this site that René Ménard, five years before, had established his unsuccessful mission. See Thwaites, The Story of La Pointe, in How George Rogers Clark Won the Northwest and Other Essays in Western History; Of the Mission of Pointe du Sainte Esprit in the Country of the Outaouac Algonquins, in Thwaites, Jesuit Relations, vol. ii., pp. 199-213; and the description of Lake Superior by Allouez in the Jesuit Relations, vol. 1., pp. 265-267.

Cooley, Michigan, p. 10.

For the details of which see Wisconsin Eistorical Collections, vol. xvi., pp. 32-50.

|| Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., p. 117 et seq.; Shea, p. 360 et seq.

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not enter, though their work to a great extent was of equal importance.*

At about this time there were rumors of a great river in the west, which Talon determined to locate; for this purpose, he despatched Marquette into the interior,† accompanied by Louis Joliet, a Quebec merchant, and five Frenchmen, and two Algonquin guides. Marquette and his party ascended to the head of the Fox River on June 10, 1673, and carrying their canoes across the intervening space, they launched them upon the waters of the Wisconsin. There they were deserted by the Indian guides, who were fearful of advancing any further into the territory of hostile Indians. Left to make their way alone, they floated for several days down the stream until they finally emerged upon the waters of the Mississippi.‡ Passing the mouths

The details will be found in Campbell, Pioneer Priests, vol. i., pp. 172–333, vol. ii., pp. 49–6!, 175-183, 187-193, 247-324, 327-364, 367-373, 377403; Shea, American Catholic Missions, p. 253 et seq.

This is so stated by Charlevoix, Historie Generale de la Nouvelle France (trans. by Shea), vol. iii., p. 179, and by Sparks, Robert de Lu Salle, p. 4, and others, but Ogg, in his Opening of the Mississippi, p. 66, says that this is not so, but that Joliet was the governmental agent and Marquette, a mere associate, other writers having been led astray by Charlevoix, who, though interesting, is not always accurate.

Ogg, in his Opening of the Mississippi (copyright by Macmillan Co.), p. 60, says: "There are some older authorities who avow that Allouez did reach the Mississippi; but a similar claim is made by somebody for almost every missionary and explorer in the west from Nicolet down, and all are alike without foundation until we come to Joliet and Marquette in 1673."

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