The Great Intendant

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In spite of the company's apparent overlordship, Talon
thought that, as the king's agent, he was bound to exercise
the powers appertaining to his office for the good of
the colony. By the end of the year 1665 he had planned
a new settlement in the vicinity of Quebec on lands
included in the limits of the seigneury of Notre-Dame-
des-Anges at Charlesbourg, which he had withdrawn from
the grant to the Jesuits, under the king's authority.
This was the occasion of some friction between the Jesuits
and the intendant. Talon gave the necessary orders for
the erection of about forty dwellings which should be
ready to receive new settlers during the following year.
These were to be grouped in three adjacent villages named
Bourg-Royal, Bourg-la-Reine, and Bourg-Talon. We shall
learn more of them in a following chapter.

Another enterprise of the intendant was numbering the
people. Under his personal supervision, during the winter
of 1666-67, a general census of the colony was taken--the
first Canadian census of which we have any record. The
count showed, as we have already said, a total population
of 3215 in Canada at that time--2034 males and 1181
females. The married people numbered 1109, and there were
528 families. Elderly people were but few in number, 95
only being from fifty-one to sixty years old, 43 from
sixty-one to seventy, 10 from seventy-one to eighty, and
4 from eighty-one to ninety. In regard to professions
and occupations, there were then in New France 3 notaries,
5 surgeons, 18 merchants, 4 bailiffs, 3 schoolmasters,
36 carpenters, 27 joiners, 30 tailors, 8 coopers, 5
bakers, 9 millers, 3 locksmiths. The census did not
include the king's troops, which formed a body of 1200
men. The clergy consisted of the bishop, 18 Priests and
aspirants to the priesthood, and 35 Jesuit fathers. There
were also 19 Ursulines, 23 Hospitalieres, and 4 Sisters
of the Congregation. The original record of this, the
first Canadian census, has been preserved and is without
question a most important historical document. It is
likewise full of living interest, for in it are recorded
the names of many families whose descendants are now to
be found all over Canada.

CHAPTER III

THE IROQUOIS SUBDUED

It was the special task of Tracy and Courcelle to rid
the colony of the Iroquois scourge. The Five Nations
[Footnote: The Iroquois league consisted of five tribes
or nations--the Mohawks, the Cayugas, the Senecas, the
Onondagas, and the Oneidas.] had heard with some disquietude
of the body of trained soldiers sent by the French king
to check their incursions and crush their confederacy.
At the beginning of December 1665, the Marquis de Tracy
received an embassy from the Onondagas. They desired to
enter into a peace negotiation, and one of the most noted
chiefs, Garakonthie, delivered on that occasion a long
and eloquent address to the viceroy. A treaty was signed
by them on behalf of their own and two of the other
tribes, the Senecas and the Oneidas. But meanwhile the
Oneidas did not cease from hostilities, and the Mohawks
also continued their bloody raids against the French
settlements. Courcelle therefore decided to march at once
against their villages beyond Lake Champlain, in what is
now New York state and to teach them a lesson. But he
did not know the nature of a winter expedition in this
northern climate. Leaving Quebec on January 9, he reached
Three Rivers on the 16th, and proceeded to Fort Saint-Louis
on the Richelieu, where he had fixed the rendezvous of
the troops. The cold was very severe, and many soldiers
were frozen at the outset. On January 29 the little band,
five or six hundred French and Canadians, left Fort
Saint-Louis, unfortunately without waiting for a party
of Algonquins who should have acted as scouts. It was a
distressing march. The soldiers had to walk through deep
snow, and the unfamiliar use of snowshoes was a great
trial to the Europeans. At night, no shelter! They had
to sleep in the open air, under the canopy of the sky
and the cold light of the glimmering stars. Having no
guides, Courcelle and his men lost their way in that
unknown country. After seventeen days of extreme toil
they found that, instead of reaching the Mohawk district,
they were near Corlaer in the New Netherlands, sixty
miles distant. The vanguard had a brush with two hundred
Iroquois, who slipped away after killing six French
soldiers and leaving four of their own number dead. The
governor could go no farther with his exhausted troops
and was forced to retrace his steps. The retreat was
worse than the forward march. The supply of provisions
failed, and to the suffering from cold was soon added
hunger. Many soldiers died of exposure and starvation.
In reading the account of the ill-fated expedition, one
is reminded of the disastrous retreat of Napoleon's army
in 1812 through the icy solitudes of Russia. By this sad
experience the military commanders of New France found
that they had something to learn of the art of making
war in North America, and must respect the peculiarities
of the climate and country. Nevertheless Courcelle's
winter expedition had made an impression on the minds of
the Iroquois and had even surprised the Dutch and the
English. The author of a narrative entitled Relation of
the March of the Governor of Canada into New York wrote:
'Surely so bold and hardy an attempt hath not happened
in any age.'

Apparently the Five Nations were somewhat uneasy, for in
March the Senecas sent ambassadors to the Marquis de
Tracy to ratify the treaty signed in December. In July
delegates came from the Oneida tribe; they presented a
letter written by the English authorities at Orange which
assured the viceroy that the Mohawks were well disposed
and wished for peace. A new treaty of ratification was
accordingly signed. But the lieutenant-general wanted
something more complete and decisive. He demanded of the
delegates a general treaty to include the whole of the
Five Nations, and stated that he would allow forty days
for all the Iroquois tribes to send their ambassadors to
Quebec. Moreover, he instructed Father Beschefer to go
to Orange with some of the Oneida delegates for the
purpose of meeting the ambassadors and escorting them to
Quebec. Unfortunately, a few days after the priest's
departure, news came that four Frenchmen on a hunting
expedition had been killed near Fort Sainte-Anne by a
party of Mohawks, and that three others had been taken
prisoners. One of the slain was a cousin of Tracy, and
one of the captives his nephew. Father Beschefer was at
once recalled and Captain de Sorel was ordered to march
with some two hundred Frenchmen and ninety Indians to
strike a blow at the raiders. Sorel lost no time and had
nearly reached the enemy's villages when he met Tracy's
nephew and the other prisoners under escort of an Iroquois
chief and three warriors, who were bound for Quebec to
make amends for the treacherous murder recently perpetrated
and to sue for peace. Under these circumstances Captain
de Sorel did not think it necessary to proceed farther,
and marched his men home again with the Iroquois and the
rescued prisoners. On August 31 a great meeting was held
at Quebec in the Jesuits' garden. The delegates of the
Five Nations were present, and speeches were made enlarging
on the desirability of peace. But it soon became apparent
that no peace could be lasting except after a successful
expedition against the Mohawks. Tracy, Courcelle, and
Talon held a consultation, and the intendant submitted
a well-prepared document in which he reviewed the reasons
for and against a continuance of the war. In Talon's mind
the arguments in favour of it had undoubtedly the greater
weight. Tracy and Courcelle concurred in this opinion.
Thirteen hundred men were drafted for an expedition--six
hundred regular soldiers, six hundred Canadians, and a
hundred Indians. All was soon ready, and on September
14, the day of the Exaltation of the Cross, Tracy and
Courcelle left Quebec, at the head of their troops. It
was a spectacle that did not fail to impress the Iroquois
chiefs detained in Quebec. One of them, deeply moved,
said to the viceroy: 'I see that we are lost, but you
will pay dearly for your victory; my nation will be
exterminated, but I tell you that many of your young men
will not return, for our young warriors will fight
desperately. I beg of you to save my wife and children.'
Many who witnessed that martial exit of Tracy and Courcelle
from the Chateau Saint-Louis, surrounded by a staff of
noble officers, must have realized that this was a
memorable day in the history of New France. At last a
crushing blow was to be struck at the ferocious foe who
for twenty-five years had been the curse and terror of
the wretched colony. What mighty cheers were shouted on
that day by the eager and enthusiastic spectators who
lined the streets of Quebec!

On September 28, the troops taking part in the expedition
were assembled at Fort Sainte-Anne. [Footnote: On isle
La Mothe at the northern end of Lake Champlain.] Charles
Le Moyne commanded the Montreal contingent, one hundred
and ten strong; the Quebec contingent marched under Le
Gardeur de Repentigny. Father Albanel and Father Raffeix,
Jesuit priests, the Abbe Dollier de Casson, a Sulpician,
and the Abbe Dubois, chaplain of the Carignan regiment,
accompanied the army. Three hundred light boats had been
launched for the crossing of Lakes Champlain and
Saint-Sacrement. Courcelle, always impetuous, was the
first to leave the fort; he led a vanguard of four hundred
men which included those from Montreal. The main body of
the army under Tracy set out on October 3. Captains
Chambly and Berthier were to follow four days later with
the rear-guard.

The journey by water was uneventful; but the portage
between the two lakes was hard and trying. Yet it was
nothing compared with the difficulties of the march beyond
Lake Saint-Sacrement. One hundred miles of forest,
mountains, rivers, and swamps lay between the troops and
the Iroquois villages. No roads existed, only narrow
footpaths interrupted by quagmires, bristling with stumps,
obstructed by the entanglement of fallen trees, or abruptly
cut by the foaming waters of swollen streams. Heavily
laden, with arms, provisions, and ammunition strapped on
their backs, French and Canadians slowly proceeded through
the great woods, whose autumnal glories were vanishing
fast under the influence of the chill winds of October.
Slipping over moist logs, sinking into unsuspected swamps,
climbing painfully over steep rocks, they went forward
with undaunted determination. At night they had to sleep
in the open on a bed of damp leaves. The crossing of
rivers was sometimes dangerous. Tracy, who unfortunately
had been seized with an attack of gout, was nearly drowned
in one rapid stream. A Swiss soldier had undertaken to
carry him across on his shoulders, but his strength
failed, and if a rock had not stood near, the viceroy's
career might have ended there. A Huron came to the rescue
and carried the helpless viceroy to the other side. The
sufferings of the army were increased by a scarcity of
food. The troops were famishing. Luckily they came upon
some chestnut-trees and stayed their hunger with the nuts.

At last, on October 15, the scouts reported that the
Mohawk settlements were near at hand. It was late in the
day, darkness was setting in, and a storm of wind and
rain was raging. But Tracy decided to push on. They
marched all night, and in the morning, emerging from the
woods, saw before them the first of the Mohawk towns or
villages. Without allowing a moment's pause, the viceroy
ordered an advance. The roll of the drums seemed to give
the troops new strength and ardour; French, Canadians,
and Indians ran forward to the assault. The Mohawks,
apprised of the coming attack, had determined beforehand
to make a stand and had sent their women and children to
another village. But, at the sight of the advancing army,
whose numbers appeared to them three times as great as
they really were, and at the sound of the drums, like
the voice of demons, they fled panic-stricken. The first
village was taken without striking a blow. The viceroy
immediately ordered a march against the second, which
was also found abandoned. Evidently the Iroquois were
terrified, for a third village was taken in the same way,
without a show of defence. It was thought that the
invaders' task was finished, when an Algonquin squaw,
once a captive of the Iroquois, informed Courcelle that
there were two other villages. The soldiers pushed forward,
and the fourth settlement of the ever-vanishing enemy
fell undefended into the hands of the French. The sun
was setting; the exertions of the day and of the night
before had been arduous, and it seemed impossible to go
farther. But the squaw, seizing a pistol and grasping
Courcelle's hand, said, 'Come on, I will show you the
straight path.' And she led the way to the town and fort
of Andaraque, the most important stronghold of the Mohawks.
It was surrounded with a triple palisade twenty feet high
and flanked by four bastions. Vessels of bark full of
water were distributed on the platforms behind the palisade
ready for use against fire. The Iroquois might have made
a desperate stand there, and such had been their intention.
But their courage failed them at the fearful beating of
the drums and the appearance of that mighty army, and
they sought safety in flight.

The victory was now complete, and the army could go to
rest after nearly twenty-four hours of continuous exertion.
Next morning the French were astonished at the sight of
Andaraque in the light of the rising sun. instead of a
collection of miserable wigwams, they saw a fine Indian
town, with wooden houses, some of them a hundred and
twenty feet long and with lodging for eight or nine
families. These houses were well supplied with provisions,
tools, and utensils. An immense quantity of Indian corn
and other necessaries was stored in Andaraque-'food enough
to feed Canada for ten years'--and in the surrounding
fields a plentiful crop was ready for harvest. All this
was to be destroyed; but first an impressive ceremony
had to be performed. The army was drawn up in battle
array. A French officer, Jean-Baptiste Dubois, commander
of the artillery, advanced, sword in hand, to the front,
and in the presence of Tracy and Courcelle, declared that
he was directed by M. Jean Talon, king's counsellor and
intendant of justice, police, and finance for New France,
to take possession of Andaraque, and of all the country
of the Mohawks, in the name of the king. A cross was
solemnly planted alongside a post bearing the king's coat
of arms. Mass was celebrated and the Te Deum sung. Then
the work of destruction began. The palisades, the dwellings,
the bastions, the stores of grain and provisions, except
what was needed by the invaders, the standing crops-all
were set on fire; and when night fell the glaring
illumination of that tremendous blaze told the savages
that at last New France had asserted her power, and that
the soldiers of the great king had come far enough through
forest and over mountain and stream to chastise in their
own country the bloodthirsty tribes who for a quarter of
a century had been the terror of the growing settlements
on the St Lawrence.

On their return march the troops suffered great hardships.
A storm on Lake Champlain upset two boats and eight men
were drowned. Tracy reached Quebec on November 5. The
expedition had lasted seven weeks, during which time he
had covered nine hundred miles. The news of his success
had been received with joy. Since the first days of
October the whole colony had been praying for victory.
As soon as the destruction of the Iroquois towns was
known, prayers were changed to thanksgiving. The Te Deum
was solemnly chanted, and on November 14 a mass was said
in the church of Notre-Dame-de-Quebec, followed by a
procession in gratiarum actionem. New France might well
rejoice. A great result had been attained. True it was
that the Mohawks, panic-stricken, had not been met and
crushed. in a set encounter. None the less they had had
their lesson. They had learned that distance and natural
impediments were no protection against the French. Their
towns were a heap of ashes, their fields were despoiled,
their country was ruined. The fruit of that expedition
was to be eighteen years of peace for New France. Eighteen
years of peace after twenty-five years of murderous
incursions! Was not that worth a Te Deum?

After his return Tracy ordered one of the Iroquois detained
at Quebec to be hanged as a penalty for his share in the
murder of the French hunters. He then directed three
other prisoners, the Flemish Batard [Footnote: A half-breed
Mohawk leader.] and two Oneida chiefs, to go and inform
their respective tribes that he would give them four
months to send hostages and make peace; otherwise he
would lead against them another expedition more calamitous
for their country than the first one. At length, in the
month of July of the following year, ambassadors of the
Iroquois nations arrived at Quebec with a number of
Iroquois families who were to remain as hostages in the
colony. The chiefs asked that missionaries be sent to
reside among their tribes. This petition was granted.
New France could now breathe freely. The hatchet was
buried.

CHAPTER IV

A COLONIAL COLBERT

Tracy had led a successful expedition against the Iroquois
and coerced them into a lasting peace. He had seen order
and harmony restored in the government of the colony.
His mission was over and he left Canada on August 28,
1667, Courcelle remaining as governor and Talon as
intendant. From that moment the latter, though second in
rank, became really the first official of New France, if
we consider his work in its relation to the future welfare
of the colony.

We have already seen something of his views for the
administration of New France. He would have it emancipated
from the jurisdiction of the West India Company; he tried
also to impress on the king and his minister the
advisability of augmenting the population in order to
develop the resources of the colony--in a word, he sought
to lay the foundations of a flourishing state. Undoubtedly
Colbert wished to help and strengthen New France, but he
seemed to think that Talon's aim was too ambitious. In
one of his letters the intendant had gone the length of
submitting a plan f or the acquisition of New Netherlands,
which had been conquered by the English in 1664. He
suggested that, in the negotiations for peace between
France, England, and Holland, Louis XIV might stipulate
for the restoration to Holland of its colony, and in the
meantime come to an understanding with the States-General
for its cession to France. Annexation to Canada would
follow. But Colbert thought that Talon was too bold. The
intendant had spoken of New France as likely to become
a great kingdom. In answer, the minister said that the
king saw many obstacles to the fulfilment of these
expectations. To create on the shores of the St Lawrence
an important state would require much emigration from
France, and it would not be wise to draw so many people
from the kingdom--to 'unpeople France for the purpose of
peopling Canada.' Moreover if too many colonists came to
Canada in one season, the area already under cultivation
would not produce enough to feed the increased population,
and great hardship would follow. Evidently Colbert did
not here display his usual insight. Talon never had in
mind the unpeopling of France. He meant simply that if
the home government would undertake to send out a few
hundred settlers every year, the result would be the
creation of a strong and prosperous nation on the shores
of the St Lawrence. The addition of five hundred immigrants
annually during the whole period of Louis XIV's reign
would have given Canada in 1700 a population of five
hundred thousand. It was thought that the mother country
could not spare so many; and yet the cost in men to France
of a single battle, the bloody victory of Senef in 1674,
was eight thousand French soldiers. The wars of Louis
XIV killed ten times more men than the systematic
colonization of Canada would have taken from the mother
country. The second objection raised by Colbert was no
better founded than the first. Talon did not ask for the
immigration of more colonists than the country could
feed. But he rightly thought that with peace assured the
colony could produce food enough for a very numerous
population, and that increase in production would speedily
follow increase in numbers.

It must not be supposed that Colbert was indifferent to
the development of New France. No other minister of the
French king did more for Canada. It was under his
administration that the strength which enabled the colony
so long to survive its subsequent trials was acquired.
But Colbert was entangled in the intricacies of European
politics. Obliged to co-operate in ventures which in his
heart he condemned, and which disturbed him in his work
of financial and administrative reform, he yielded
sometimes to the fear of weakening the trunk of the old
tree by encouraging the growth of the young shoots.

Talon had to give in. But he did so in such a way as to
gain his point in part. He wrote that he would speak no
more of the great establishment he had thought possible,
since the minister was of opinion that France had no
excess of population which could be used for the peopling
of Canada. At the same time he insisted on the necessity
of helping the colony, and assured Colbert that, could
he himself see Canada, he would be disposed to do his
utmost for it, knowing that a new country cannot make
its own way without being helped effectively at the
outset. Talon's tact and firmness of purpose had their
reward, for the next year Colbert gave ample proof that
he understood Canada's situation and requirements.

On the question of the West India Company also there was
some divergence of view between the minister and the
intendant. As we have seen in a preceding chapter, Talon
had expressed his apprehension of the evils likely to
spring from the wide privileges exercised by the company.
But this trading association was Colbert's creation. He
had contended that the failure of the One Hundred Associates
was due to inherent weakness. The new one was stronger
and could do better. Perhaps difficulties might arise in
the beginning on account of the inexperience and greed
of some of the company's agents, but with time the
situation would improve. It was not surprising that
Colbert should defend the company he had organized.
Nevertheless, on that point as on the other, Colbert
contrived to meet Talon half-way. The Indian trade, he
said, would be opened to the colonists, and for one year
the company would grant freedom of trade generally to
all the people of New France.

In connection with the rights of this company another
question, affecting the finances, was soon to arise. By
its charter the company was entitled to collect the
revenues of the colony; that is to say, the taxes levied
on the sale of beaver and moose skins. The tax on beaver
skins was twenty-five per cent, called le droit du quart;
the tax on moose skins was two sous per pound, le droit
du dixieme. There was also the revenue obtained from the
sale or farming out of the trading privileges at Tadoussac,
la traite de Tadoussac. All these formed what was called
le fonds du pays, the public fund, out of which were paid
the emoluments of the governor and the public officers,
the costs of the garrisons at Quebec, Montreal, and Three
Rivers, the grants to religious communities, and other
permanent yearly disbursements. The company had the right
to collect the taxes, but was obliged to pay the public
charges.

Writing to Colbert, Talon said he would have been greatly
pleased if, in addition to these rights, the king had
retained the fiscal powers of the crown. He declared that
the taxes were productive, yet the company's agent seemed
very reluctant to pay the public charges. Colbert, of
course, decided that the company, in accordance with its
charter, was entitled to enjoy the fiscal rights upon
condition of defraying annually the ordinary public
expenditure of the country, as the company which preceded
it had done. Immediately another point was raised. What
should be the amount of the public expenditure, or rather,
to what figure should the company be allowed to reduce
it? Talon maintained that the public charges defrayed by
the former company amounted to 48,950 livres. [Footnote:
The livre was equivalent to the later franc, about twenty
cents of modern Canadian currency.] The company's agent
contended that they amounted only to 29,200 livres and
that the sum of 48,950 livres was exorbitant, as it
exceeded by 4000 livres the highest sum ever received
from farming out the revenue. [Footnote: It was the
custom in New France to sell or farm out the revenues.
Instead of collecting direct the fur taxes and the proceeds
of the Tadoussac trade, the government granted the rights
to a corporation or a private individual in return for
a fixed sum annually.] To this the intendant replied by
submitting evidence that the rights were farmed out for
50,000 livres in 1660 and in 1663; moreover, the rights
were more valuable now, for with the conclusion of peace
trade would prosper. In the end Colbert decided that the
sum payable by the company should be 36,000 livres
annually. The ordinary revenue of New France was thus
fixed, and remained at that sum for many years.

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