The Fighting Governor
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Charles W. Colby >> The Fighting Governor
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Madame de Frontenac was beautiful, and to beauty she
added the charm of wit. With these endowments she made
her way despite her slender means--and to be well-born
but poor was a severe hardship in the reign of Louis XIV.
Her portrait at Versailles reflects the striking personality
and the intelligence which won for her the title La
Divine. Throughout an active life she never lacked powerful
friends, and Saint-Simon bears witness to the place she
held in the highest and most exclusive circle of court
society.
Frontenac and his wife lived together only during the
short period 1648-52. But intercourse was not wholly
severed by the fact of domestic separation. It is clear
from the Memoirs of the Duchesse de Montpensier that
Frontenac visited his wife at Saint-Fargeau, the country
seat to which the duchess had been exiled for her part
in the wars of the Fronde. Such evidence as there is
seems to show that Madame de Frontenac considered herself
deeply wronged by her husband and was unwilling to accept
his overtures. From Mademoiselle de Montpensier we hear
little after 1657, the year of her quarrel with Madame
de Frontenac. The maid of honour was accused of disloyalty,
tears flowed, the duchess remained obdurate, and, in
short, Madame de Frontenac was dismissed.
The most sprightly stories of the Frontenacs occur in
these Memoirs of La Grande Mademoiselle. Unfortunately
the Duchesse de Montpensier was so self-centred that her
witness is not dispassionate. She disliked Frontenac,
without concealment. As seen by her, he was vain and
boastful, even in matters which concerned his kitchen
and his plate. His delight in new clothes was childish.
He compelled guests to speak admiringly of his horses,
in contradiction of their manifest appearance. Worst of
all, he tried to stir up trouble between the duchess and
her own people.
Though Frontenac and his wife were unable to live together,
they did not become completely estranged. It may be that
the death of their son--who seems to have been killed in
battle--drew them together once more, at least in spirit.
It may be that with the Atlantic between them they
appreciated each other's virtues more justly. It may have
been loyalty to the family tradition. Whatever the cause,
they maintained an active correspondence during Frontenac's
years in Canada, and at court Madame de Frontenac was
her husband's chief defence against numerous enemies.
When he died it was found that he had left her his
property. But she never set foot in Canada.
Frontenac was forty-one when Louis XIV dismissed Fouquet
and took Colbert for his chief adviser. At Versailles
everything depended on royal favour, and forty-one is an
important age. What would the young king do for Frontenac?
What were his gifts and qualifications?
It is plain that Frontenac's career, so vigorously begun
during the Thirty Years' War, had not developed in a like
degree during the period (1648-61) from the outbreak of
the Fronde to the death of Mazarin. There was no doubt
as to his capacity. Saint-Simon calls him 'a man of
excellent parts, living much in society.' And again, when
speaking of Madame de Frontenac, he says: 'Like her
husband she had little property and abundant wit.' The
bane of Frontenac's life at this time was his extravagance.
He lived like a millionaire till his money was gone. Not
far from Blois he had the estate of Isle Savary--a,
property quite suited to his station had he been prudent.
But his plans for developing it, with gardens, fountains,
and ponds, were wholly beyond his resources. At Versailles,
also, he sought to keep pace with men whose ancestral
wealth enabled them to do the things which he longed to
do, but which fortune had placed beyond his reach. Hence,
notwithstanding his buoyancy and talent, Frontenac had
gained a reputation for wastefulness which did not
recommend him, in 1661, to the prudent Colbert. Nor was
he fitted by character or training for administrative
duty. His qualifications were such as are of use at a
post of danger.
His time came in 1669. At the beginning of that year he
was singled out by Turenne for a feat of daring which
placed him before the eyes of all Europe. A contest was
about to close which for twenty-five years had been waged
with a stubbornness rarely equalled. This was the struggle
of the Venetians with the Turks for the possession of
Crete. [Footnote: This was not the first time that
Frontenac had fought against the Turks. Under La Feuillade
and Coligny he had taken part in Montecuculli's campaign
in 1664 against the Turks in Hungary, and was present at
the great victory of St Gothard on the Raab. The regiment
of Carignan-Salieres was also engaged on this occasion.
In the next year it came to Canada, and Lorin thinks that
the association of Frontenac with the Carignan regiment
in this campaign may have been among the causes of his
nomination to the post of governor.] To Venice defeat
meant the end of her glory as an imperial power. The
Republic had lavished treasure upon this war as never
before--a sum equivalent in modern money to fifteen
hundred million dollars. Even when compelled to borrow
at seven per cent, Venice kept up the fight and opened
the ranks of her nobility to all who would pay sixty
thousand ducats. Nor was the valour of the Venetians who
defended Crete less noble than the determination of their
government. Every man who loved the city of St Mark felt
that her fate was at stake before the walls of Candia.
Year by year the resources of the Venetians had grown
less and their plight more desperate. In 1668 they had
received some assistance from French volunteers under
the Duc de la Feuillade. This was followed by an application
to Turenne for a general who would command their own
troops in conjunction with Morosini. It was a forlorn
hope if ever there was one; and Turenne selected Frontenac.
Co-operating with him were six thousand French troops
under the Duc de Navailles, who nominally served the
Pope, for Louis XIV wished to avoid direct war against
the Sultan. All that can be said of Frontenac's part in
the adventure is that he valiantly attempted the impossible.
Crete was doomed long before he saw its shores. The best
that the Venetians and the French could do was to fight
for favourable terms of surrender. These they gained. In
September 1669 the Venetians evacuated the city of Candia,
taking with them their cannon, all their munitions of
war, and all their movable property.
The Cretan expedition not only confirmed but enhanced
the standing which Frontenac had won in his youth. And
within three years from the date of his return he received
the king's command to succeed the governor Courcelles at
Quebec.
Gossip busied itself a good deal over the immediate causes
of Frontenac's appointment to the government of Canada.
The post was hardly a proconsular prize. At first sight
one would not think that a small colony destitute of
social gaiety could have possessed attractions to a man
of Frontenac's rank and training. The salary amounted to
but eight thousand livres a year. The climate was rigorous,
and little glory could come from fighting the Iroquois.
The question arose, did Frontenac desire the appointment
or was he sent into polite exile?
There was a story that he had once been a lover of Madame
de Montespan, who in 1672 found his presence near the
court an inconvenience. Others said that Madame de
Frontenac had eagerly sought for him the appointment on
the other side of the world. A third theory was that,
owing to his financial straits, the government gave him
something to keep body and soul together in a land where
there were no great temptations to spend money.
Motives are often mixed; and behind the nomination there
may have been various reasons. But whatever weight we
allow to gossip, it is not necessary to fall back on any
of these hypotheses to account for Frontenac's appointment
or for his willingness to accept. While there was no
immediate likelihood of a war involving France and England,
[Footnote: By the Treaty of Dover (May 20, 1670) Charles
II received a pension from France and promised to aid
Louis XIV in war with Holland.] and consequent trouble
from the English colonies in America, New France required
protection from the Iroquois. And, as a soldier, Frontenac
had acquitted himself with honour. Nor was the post
thought to be insignificant. Madame de Sevigne's son-in-law,
the Comte de Grignan, was an unsuccessful candidate for
it in competition with Frontenac. For some years both
the king and Colbert had been giving real attention to
the affairs of Canada. The Far West was opening up; and
since 1665 the population of the colony had more than
doubled. To Frontenac the governorship of Canada meant
promotion. It was an office of trust and responsibility,
with the opportunity to extend the king's power throughout
the region beyond the Great Lakes. And if the salary was
small, the governor could enlarge it by private trading.
Whatever his motives, or the motives of those who sent
him, it was a good day for Frontenac when he was sent to
Canada. In France the future held out the prospect of
little but a humiliating scramble for sinecures. In Canada
he could do constructive work for his king and country.
Those who cross the sea change their skies but not their
character. Frontenac bore with him to Quebec the sentiments
and the habits which befitted a French noble of the sword.
[Footnote: Frontenac's enemies never wearied of dwelling
upon his uncontrollable rage. A most interesting discussion
of this subject will be found in Frontenac et Ses Amis
by M. Ernest Myrand (p. 172). For the bellicose qualities
of the French aristocracy see also La Noblesse Francaise
sous Richelieu by the Vicomte G. d'Avenel.] The more we
know about the life of his class in France, the better
we shall understand his actions as governor of Canada.
His irascibility, for example, seems almost mild when
compared with the outbreaks of many who shared with him
the traditions and breeding of a privileged order.
Frontenac had grown to manhood in the age of Richelieu,
a period when fierceness was a special badge of the
aristocracy. Thus duelling became so great a menace to
the public welfare that it was made punishable with death;
despite which it flourished to such an extent that one
nobleman, the Chevalier d'Andrieux, enjoyed the reputation
of having slain seventy-two antagonists.
Where duelling is a habitual and honourable exercise,
men do not take the trouble to restrain primitive passions.
Even in dealings with ladies of their own rank, French
nobles often stepped over the line where rudeness ends
and insult begins. When Malherbe boxed the ears of a
viscountess he did nothing which he was unwilling to talk
about. Ladies not less than lords treated their servants
like dirt, and justified such conduct by the statement
that the base-born deserve no consideration. There was,
indeed, no class--not even the clergy--which was exempt
from assault by wrathful nobles. In the course of an
altercation the Duc d'Epernon, after striking the Archbishop
of Bordeaux in the stomach several times with his fists
and his baton, exclaimed: 'If it were not for the respect
I bear your office, I would stretch you out on the
pavement!'
In such an atmosphere was Frontenac reared. He had the
manners and the instincts of a belligerent. But he also
possessed a soul which could rise above pettiness. And
the foes he loved best to smite were the enemies of the
king.
CHAPTER III
FRONTENAC'S FIRST YEARS IN CANADA
Frontenac received his commission on April 6, 1672, and
reached Quebec at the beginning of September. The king,
sympathetic towards his needs, had authorized two special
grants of money: six thousand livres for equipment, and
nine thousand to provide a bodyguard of twenty horsemen.
Gratified by these marks of royal favour and conscious
that he had been assigned to an important post, Frontenac
was in hopeful mood when he first saw the banks of the
St Lawrence. His letters show that he found the country
much less barbarous than he had expected; and he threw
himself into his new duties with the courage which is
born of optimism. A natural fortress like Quebec could
not fail to awaken the enthusiasm of a soldier. The
settlement itself was small, but Frontenac reported that
its situation could not be more favourable, even if this
spot were to become the capital of a great empire. It
was, indeed, a scene to kindle the imagination. Sloping
down to the river-bank, the farms of Beauport and Beaupre
filled the foreground. Behind them swept the forest, then
in its full autumnal glory.
Awaiting Frontenac at Quebec were Courcelles, the late
governor, and Talon the intendant. Both were to return
to France by the last ships of that year; but in the
meantime Frontenac was enabled to confer with them on
the state of the colony and to acquaint himself with
their views on many important subjects. Courcelles had
proved a stalwart warrior against the Iroquois, while
Talon possessed an unrivalled knowledge of Canada's wants
and possibilities. Laval, the bishop, was in France, not
to return to the colony till 1675.
The new governor's first acts went to show that with the
king's dignity he associated his own. The governor and
lieutenant-general of a vast oversea dominion could not
degrade his office by living like a shopkeeper. The
Chateau St Louis was far below his idea of what a viceregal
residence ought to be. One of his early resolves was to
enlarge and improve it. Meanwhile, his entertainments
surpassed in splendour anything Canada had yet seen. Pomp
on a large scale was impossible; but the governor made
the best use of his means to display the grace and majesty
of his office.
On the 17th of September Frontenac presided for the first
time at a meeting of the Sovereign Council; [Footnote:
In the minutes of this first meeting of the Sovereign
Council at which Frontenac presided the high-sounding
words 'haut et puissant' stand prefixed to his name and
titles.] and the formal inauguration of his regime was
staged for the 23rd of October. It was to be an impressive
ceremony, a pageant at which all eyes should be turned
upon him, the great noble who embodied the authority of
a puissant monarch. For this ceremony the governor summoned
an assembly that was designed to represent the Three
Estates of Canada.
The Three Estates of clergy, nobles, and commons had
existed in France from time immemorial. But in taking
this step and in expecting the king to approve it Frontenac
displayed his ignorance of French history; for the ancient
meetings of the Three Estates in France had left a memory
not dear to the crown. [Footnote: The power of the
States-General reached its height after the disastrous
battle of Poitiers (1356). For a short period, under the
leadership of Etienne Marcel, it virtually supplanted
the power of the crown.] They had, in truth, given the
kings moments of grave concern; and their representatives
had not been summoned since 1614. Moreover, Louis XIV
was not a ruler to tolerate such rival pretensions as
the States-General had once put forth.
Parkman thinks that, 'like many of his station, Frontenac
was not in full sympathy with the centralizing movement
of his time, which tended to level ancient rights,
privileges and prescriptions under the ponderous roller
of the monarchical administration.' This, it may be
submitted, is only a conjecture. The family history of
the Buades shows that they were 'king's men,' who would
be the last to imperil royal power. The gathering of the
Three Estates at Quebec was meant to be the fitting
background of a ceremony. If Frontenac had any thought
beyond this, it was a desire to unite all classes in an
expression of loyalty to their sovereign.
At Quebec it was not difficult to secure representatives
of clergy and commons. But, as nobles seldom emigrated
to Canada, some talent was needed to discover gentlemen
of sufficient standing to represent the aristocracy. The
situation was met by drawing upon the officers and the
seigneurs. The Estates thus duly convened, Frontenac
addressed them on the glory of the king and the duty of
all classes to serve him with zeal. To the clergy he
hinted that their task was not finished when they had
baptized the Indians. After that came the duty of
converting them into good citizens.
Frontenac's next step was to reorganize the municipal
government of Quebec by permitting the inhabitants to
choose two aldermen and a mayor. Since these officials
could not serve until they had been approved by the
governor, the change does not appear to have been wildly
radical. But change of any kind was distasteful to the
Bourbon monarchy, especially if it seemed to point toward
freedom. So when in due course Frontenac's report of
these activities arrived at Versailles, it was decided
that such innovations must be stopped at once. The king
wished to discourage all memory of the Three Estates,
and Frontenac was told that no part of the Canadian people
should be given a corporate or collective status. The
reprimand, however, did not reach Canada till the summer
of 1673, so that for some months Frontenac was permitted
to view his work with satisfaction.
His next move likewise involved a new departure. Hitherto
the king had discouraged the establishment of forts or
trading-posts at points remote from the zone of settlement.
This policy was based on the belief that the colonists
ought to live close together for mutual defence against
the Iroquois. But Frontenac resolved to build a fort at
the outlet of Lake Ontario. His enemies stated that this
arose out of his desire to make personal profit from the
fur trade; but on public grounds also there were valid
reasons for the fort. A thrust is often the best parry;
and it could well be argued that the French had much to
gain from a stronghold lying within striking distance of
the Iroquois villages.
At any rate, Frontenac decided to act first and make
explanations afterwards. On June 3, 1673, he left Quebec
for Montreal and beyond. He accommodated himself with
cheerfulness to the bark canoe--which he described in
one of his early letters as a rather undignified conveyance
for the king's lieutenant--and, indeed, to all the
hardships which the discharge of his duties entailed.
His plan for the summer comprised a thorough inspection
of the waterway from Quebec to Lake Ontario and official
visits to the settlements lying along the route. Three
Rivers did not detain him long, for he was already familiar
with the place, having visited it in the previous autumn.
On the 15th of the month his canoe came to shore beneath
Mount Royal.
Montreal was the colony's farthest outpost towards the
Iroquois. Though it had been founded as a mission and
nothing else, its situation was such that its inhabitants
could not avoid being drawn into the fur trade. To a
large extent it still retained its religious character,
but beneath the surface could be detected a cleavage of
interest between the missionary zeal of the Sulpicians
and the commercial activity of the local governor, Francois
Perrot. And since this Perrot is soon to find place in
the present narrative as a bitter enemy of Frontenac, a
word concerning him may fitly be written here. He was an
officer of the king's army who had come to Canada with
Talon. The fact that his wife was Talon's niece had put
him in the pathway of promotion. The order of St Sulpice,
holding in fief the whole island of Montreal, had power
to name the local governor. In June 1669 the Sulpicians
had nominated Perrot, and two years later his appointment
had been confirmed by the king. Later, as we shall see,
arose the thorny question of how far the governor of
Canada enjoyed superiority over the governor of Montreal.
The governor of Montreal, attended by his troops and the
leading citizens, stood at the landing-place to offer
full military honours to the governor of Canada. Frontenac's
arrival was then signalized by a civic reception and a
Te Deum. The round of civilities ended, the governor lost
no time in unfolding the real purpose of his visit, which
was less to confer with the priests of St Sulpice than
to recruit forces for his expedition, in order that he
might make a profound impression on the Iroquois. The
proposal to hold a conference with the Iroquois at
Cataraqui (where Kingston now stands) met with some
opposition; but Frontenac's energy and determination were
not to be denied, and by the close of June four hundred
French and Indians were mustered at Lachine in readiness
to launch their canoes and barges upon Lake St Louis.
If Montreal was the outpost of the colony, Lachine was
the outpost of Montreal. Between these two points lay
the great rapid, the Sault St Louis, which from the days
of Jacques Cartier had blocked the ascent of the St
Lawrence to seafaring boats. At Lachine La Salle had
formed his seigneury in 1667, the year after his arrival
in Canada; and it had been the starting-point for the
expedition which resulted in the discovery of the Ohio
in 1671. La Salle, however, was not with Frontenac's
party, for the governor had sent him to the Iroquois
early in May, to tell them that Onontio would meet his
children and to make arrangements for the great assembly
at Cataraqui.
The Five Nations, remembering the chastisement they had
received from Tracy in 1666, [Footnote: See The Great
Intendant, chap. iii.] accepted the invitation, but in
dread and distrust. Their envoys accordingly proceeded
to the mouth of the Cataraqui; and on the 12th of July
the vessels of the French were seen approaching on the
smooth surface of Lake Ontario. Frontenac had omitted
from his equipage nothing which could awe or interest
the savage. He had furnished his troops with the best
possible equipment and had with him all who could be
spared safely from the colony. He had even managed to
drag up the rapids and launch on Lake Ontario two large
barges armed with small cannon and brilliantly painted.
The whole flotilla, including a multitude of canoes
arranged by squadron, was now put in battle array. First
came four squadrons of canoes; then the two barges; next
Frontenac himself, surrounded by his personal attendants
and the regulars; after that the Canadian militia, with
a squadron from Three Rivers on the left flank, and on
the right a great gathering of Hurons and Algonquins.
The rearguard was composed of two more squadrons. Never
before had such a display been seen on the Great Lakes.
Having disclosed his strength to the Iroquois chiefs,
Frontenac proceeded to hold solemn and stately conference
with them. But he did not do this on the day of the great
naval procession. He wished to let this spectacle take
effect before he approached the business which had brought
him there. It was not until next day that the meeting
opened. At seven o'clock the French troops, accoutred at
their best, were all on parade, drawn up in files before
the governor's tent, where the conference was to take
place. Outside the tent itself large canopies of canvas
had been erected to shelter the Iroquois from the sun,
while Frontenac, in his most brilliant military costume,
assumed all the state he could. In treating with Indians
haste was impossible, nor did Frontenac desire that the
speech-making should begin at once. His fort was hardly
more than begun, and he wished the Iroquois to see how
swiftly and how well the French could build defences.
When the proceedings opened there were the usual long
harangues, followed by daily negotiations between the
governor and the chiefs. It was a leading feature of
Frontenac's diplomacy to reward the friendly, and to win
over malcontents by presents or personal attention. Each
day some of the chiefs dined with the governor, who gave
them the food they liked, adapted his style of speech to
their ornate and metaphorical language, played with their
children, and regretted, through the interpreter Le Moyne,
that he was as yet unable to speak their tongue. Never
had such pleasant flattery been applied to the vanity of
an Indian. At the same time Frontenac did not fail to
insist upon his power; indeed, upon his supremacy. As a
matter of fact it had involved a great effort to make
all this display at Cataraqui. In his discourses, however,
he laid stress upon the ease with which he had mounted
the rapids and launched barges upon Lake Ontario. The
sum and substance of all his harangues was this: 'I am
your good, kind father, loving peace and shrinking from
war. But you can see my power and I give you fair warning.
If you choose war, you are guilty of self-destruction;
your fate is in your own hands.'
Apart from his immediate success in building under the
eyes of the Iroquois a fort at the outlet of Lake Ontario,
Frontenac profited greatly by entering the heart of the
Indian world in person. He was able, for a time at least,
to check those tribal wars which had hampered trade and
threatened to involve the colony. He gained much information
at first hand about the pays d'en haut. And throughout
he proved himself to have just the qualities which were
needed in dealing with a North American Indian--firmness,
good-humour, and dramatic talent.
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