326

SETTLEMENT OF NEW FRANCE.

few instances, they had formed political combinations, yet there had occurred nothing calculated to awaken a common feeling in all the colonies, and cause them to unite their energies in the attainment of one common object. The time had now arrived, however, when such a union was to be made; and from 1754, when the French war commenced, the generalizing of their political history is the natural consequence of the progress of events.

Before entering on the narrative of that war, it becomes necessary to give a brief outline of the growth of the French settlements, and of the relative position of the territories of the combatants, previous to the commencement of hostilities.

According to the rights of discovery, the early visits of Cartier to the river St. Lawrence and the adjacent country, established the claim of France to the territory on its shores, and directed the attention of the French to the advantages to be derived from effecting settlements in those parts.

Although New France had not the smiling and luxurious aspect of Florida or Virginia, yet it opened into regions of vast extent, and presented more than common attraction to curiosity and adventure; and the fisheries on its coasts and the lucrative fur trade of its interior, offered great advantages to an enterprising, commercial nation.

De la Roche, a Breton, was the first who attempted to colonize these regions. He obtained from Henry IV. a patent of the same extensive character as those granted in England to Gilbert and Raleigh. The nation did not approve of his design, and being obliged to take the greater part of his sailors from the jails, his experiment proved a complete failure. De Monts made the next attempt; but Champlain was the real founder of New France or Canada.

He built and fortified Quebec, and finding the southern bank of the river and lakes occupied by two powerful Indian nations, the Algonquins and Hurons, he made an alliance with them. This connection, as we have already had occasion to

* The origin of these settlements is noticed in the third chapter of this work.

JOLIET AND MARQUETTE.

327

remark, was unfortunate.* Another tribe, the Iroquois, was engaged in perpetual war with these nations; and the French resolved to assist their allies in the extermination of the Iroquois, who also united themselves with the English, and they obtained their assistance in the war. Thus, at the outset, the French colony found themselves engaged in hostilities with both the natives and the English. The charter of the company, under whose direction Champlain acted, was soon after abrogated, and from its ashes rose one on a grander scale, which aimed to convert New France into a colony of the first magnitude; but the jealousy of the English could not brook a rival, and they not only drove the French completely out of Acadia, but besieged and took Quebec, so that the colony appeared for ever lost to the mother country. The English ministry were strongly inclined to the preservation of peace with France; and in a convention in March, 1632, agreed to the reinstatement of France in the sovereignty of both Acadia and Quebec.

For thirty years, the attention of the government was directed to the consolidation and improvement of the colony; when Talon, the intendant of New France, displayed a more enterprising spirit than had hitherto been exhibited on the theatre of Canadian affairs. From some dark hints of the Indians, he understood that a yet more mighty river than the St. Lawrence poured its waters into some far distant ocean, which lay in the south and west. This stream, they told him, originated in the north-west. Talon supposed it to be some mighty river, emptying into the Gulf of California, and affording a passage to the golden regions of the East Indies. He strained every nerve in the effort to discover it, and, in the prosecution of his design, he found no lack of bold and fitting instruments. Two of the colonists, Joliet and Marquette, undertook, with two little Indian bark canoes, and three men in each, to explore these unknown regions of America. They sailed onward until they ascertained that the river emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, when, fearful of falling into the hands * Vol. i. p. 51.

328

ERECTION OF FRENCH FORTS.

of the Spaniards, they returned. In 1699, M. d'Iberville entered the Mississippi, and founded a colony in Louisiana. The year 1717 witnessed the first attempts to settle New Orleans. This settlement continued to languish until the year 1730, when its affairs began to wear a more prosperous aspect, and the French settlements were extended up the Mississippi. Having possession of the Lakes in the North, and the mouth of the Mississippi in the South, with considerable military strength in Quebec, Montreal, and the other settlements in New France, they conceived the design of restricting the English colonists to the eastern side of the Alleghanies, by a chain of forts along the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi.

In 1753 it became known to the English colonists that the French had crossed the lakes from Canada, and were about to erect forts on the Ohio river. Alarmed at this intelligence, Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia despatched a messenger over the mountains, to ascertain the designs of the French and of the Indians. His mission was imperfectly executed, but his report served to confirm the intelligence previously received.

In the meantime the British ministry, anticipating a rupture with France, had sent orders to Dinwiddie to build two forts near the Ohio river, to maintain possession of the territory; and supplies of cannon and powder were sent out for the use of the forts. This measure, however, had been anticipated by the French, who had already gained a footing by establishing forts in the heart of the disputed territory.

As a preliminary to the execution of the orders which he had received from the ministry, Governor Dinwiddie resolved to send a commissioner to the commander of the French forts, to inquire "by what authority he presumed to invade the king's dominions, and what were his designs." This delicate and hazardous commission was intrusted to Major George Washington, then but twenty-one years of age. The reply

of M. de St. Pierre, the French commander, when summoned by Washington to retire from the territory, was, "that it did not belong to him to discuss treaties; that such a message 'should have been sent to the Marquis Du Quesne, Governor

of Canada, by whose instructions he acted, and whose orders he should be careful to obey, and that the summons to retire could not be complied with."* Washington encountered many perils in his journey through the wilderness; and his journal, published in this country and in Europe, gave him, at this early period, a brilliant reputation.

The assembly now resolved to use forcible measures to expel the French from the Ohio territory. A small force was raised, and the command given to Colonel Frey; Washington, now promoted to the rank of colonel, being second in coinmand. He marched with a detachment to the Great Meadows, near which he encountered and defeated a body of French and Indians, commanded by M. de Jumonville, who was killed in the action. He then advanced towards Fort Du Quesne, at the junction of the Ohio and Alleghany, where the French had established themselves. On his way, he encountered a large body of French and Indians, under De Villiers. He retreated and hastily erected a small stockade fort at the * Sparks's Life of Washington.

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