But the old warrior was then no more. On returning to Quebec from his war against the Onondagas he had thrown himself into an active quarrel with Champigny, the intendant, as to the establishment and maintenance of French posts throughout the West. To the last Frontenac remained an advocate of the policy which sought to place France in control {153} of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi. Champigny complained of the expense and the Jesuits lamented the immorality which life in the forest encouraged among young men. It was an old quarrel renewed under conditions which made the issue more important than ever, for with open war between French and English it became of vital moment to control points which were, or might be, strategic.

This dispute with Champigny was the last incident in Frontenac's stormy life. It remains to the credit of both governor and intendant that their differences on matters of policy did not make them irreconcilable enemies. On the 28th of November 1698 Frontenac died at the Chateau St Louis after an illness of less than a month. He had long been a hero of the people, and his friendship with the Recollets shows that he had some true allies among the clergy. No one in Canada could deny the value of his services at the time of crisis—which was not a matter of months but of years. Father Goyer, of the Recollets, delivered a eulogy which in fervour recalls Bossuet's funeral orations over members of the royal family. But the most touching valedictory was that from Champigny, who after many differences had become {154} Frontenac's friend. In communicating to the Colonial Office tidings of the governor's death, Champigny says: 'On the 28th of last month Monsieur le Comte de Frontenac died, with the sentiments of a true Christian. After all our disputes, you will hardly believe, Monseigneur, how truly and deeply I am touched by his death. He treated me during his illness in a manner so obliging that I should be utterly devoid of gratitude if I did not feel thankful to him.'

There is a well-known portrait of Madame de Frontenac, which may still be seen at Versailles. Of Frontenac himself no portrait whatever exists. Failing his likeness from brush or pencil, we must image to ourselves as best we may the choleric old warrior who rescued New France in her hour of need. In seeking to portray his character the historian has abundant materials for the period of his life in Canada, though we must regret the dearth of information for the years which separate his two terms of office. There is also a bad gap in our sources for the period which precedes his first appointment as governor. What we have from Madame de Montpensier and Saint-Simon is useful, but their statements {155} are far from complete and provoke many questions which must remain unanswered. His letters and reports as governor of Canada exist in considerable numbers, but it must remain a source of lasting regret that his private correspondence has perished.

Some one has said that talent should be judged at its best and character at its worst; but this is a phrase which does not help us to form a true estimate of Frontenac. He touched no heights of genius and he sank to no depths of crime. In essential respects his qualities lie upon the surface, depicted by his acts and illustrated by his own words or those of men who knew him well. Were we seeking to set his good traits against his bad, we should style him, in one column, brave, steadfast, daring, ambitious of greatness, far-sighted in policy; and in the other, prodigal, boastful, haughty, unfair in argument, ruthless in war. This method of portraiture, however, is not very helpful. We can form a much better idea of Frontenac's nature by discussing his acts than by throwing adjectives at him.

As an administrator he appears to least advantage during his first term of office, when, in the absence of war, his energies were directed against adversaries within the colony. {156} Had he not been sent to Canada a second time, his feud with Laval, Duchesneau, and the Jesuits would fill a much larger space in the canvas than it occupies at present. For in the absence of great deeds to his credit obstinacy and truculence might have been thought the essentials rather than the accidents of his character. M. Lorin, who writes in great detail, finds much to say on behalf of Frontenac's motives, if not of his conduct, in these controversies. But viewing his career broadly it must be held that, at best, he lost a chance for useful co-operation by hugging prejudices and prepossessions which sprang in part from his own love of power and in part from antipathy towards the Jesuits in France. He might not like the Jesuits, but they were a great force in Canada and had done things which should have provoked his admiration. In any case, it was his duty to work with them on some basis and not dislocate the whole administration by brawling. As to Duchesneau, Frontenac was the broader man of the two, and may be excused some of the petulance which the intendant's pin-pricks called forth.

Frontenac's enemies were fond of saying that he used his position to make illicit profits {157} from the fur trade. Beyond question he traded to some extent, but it would be harsh to accuse him of venality or peculation on the strength of such evidence as exists. There is a strong probability that the king appointed him in the expectation that he would augment his income from sources which lay outside his salary. Public opinion varies from age to age regarding the latitude which may be allowed a public servant in such matters. Under a democratic regime the standard is very different from that which has existed, for the most part, under autocracies in past ages. Frontenac was a man of distinction who accepted an important post at a small salary. We may infer that the king was willing to allow him something from perquisites. If so, his profits from the fur trade become a matter of degree. So long as he kept within the bounds of reason and decency, the government raised no objection. Frontenac certainly was not a governor who pillaged the colony to feather his own nest. If he took profits, they were not thought excessive by any one except Duchesneau. The king recalled him not because he was venal, but because he was quarrelsome.

Assuming the standards of his own age, a {158} reasonable plea can also be made on Frontenac's behalf respecting the conduct of his wars. 'Man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn' in our own day no less than in the seventeenth century; while certain facts of recent memory are quite lurid enough to be placed in comparison with the border raids which, under Frontenac, were made by the French and their Indian allies. It is dreadful to know that captured Iroquois were burned alive by the French, but after the Lachine massacre and the tortures which French captives endured, this was an almost inevitable retaliation. The concluding scenes of King Philip's War prove, at any rate, that the men of New England exercised little more clemency towards their Indian foes than was displayed by the French. The Puritans justified their acts of carnage by citations from the Old Testament regarding the Canaanites and the Philistines. The most bitter chronicler of King Philip's War is William Hubbard, a Calvinist pastor of Ipswich. On December 19, 1675, the English of Massachusetts and Connecticut stormed the great stronghold of the Narragansetts. To quote John Fiske: 'In the slaughter which filled the rest of that Sunday afternoon till the sun went down behind a {159} dull gray cloud, the grim and wrathful Puritan, as he swung his heavy cutlass, thought of Saul and Agag, and spared not. The Lord had delivered up to him the heathen as stubble to his sword. As usual the number of the slain is variously estimated. Of the Indians probably not less than a thousand perished.'

For the slaughter of English women and children by French raiders there was no precedent or just provocation. Here Frontenac must be deemed more culpable than the Puritans. The only extenuating circumstance is that those who survived the first moments of attack were in almost all cases spared, taken to Canada, and there treated with kindness.

Writers of the lighter drama have long found a subject in the old man whose irascibility is but a cloak for goodness of heart. It would be an exaggeration to describe Frontenac as a character of this type, for his wrath could be vehement, and benevolence was not the essential strain in his disposition. At the same time, he had many warm impulses to his credit. His loyalty to friends stands above reproach, and there are little incidents which show his sense of humour. For instance, he once fined a woman for lampooning him, but {160} caused the money to be given to her children. Though often unfair in argument, he was by nature neither mean nor petty. In ordinary circumstances he remembered noblesse oblige, and though boastfulness may have been among his failings, he had a love of greatness which preserved him from sordid misdemeanours. Even if we agree with Parkman that greatness must be denied him, it yet remains to be pointed out that absolute greatness is a high standard attained by few. Frontenac was a greater man than most by virtue of robustness, fire, and a sincere aspiration to discharge his duty as a lieutenant of the king.

He doubtless thought himself ill-used in that he lacked the wealth which was needed to accomplish his ambitions at court. But if fortune frowned upon him at Versailles, she made full compensation by granting him the opportunity to govern Canada a second time. As he advanced in years his higher qualities became more conspicuous. His vision cleared. His vanities fell away. There remained traces of the old petulance; but with graver duties his stature increased and the strong fibre of his nature was disclosed. For his foibles he had suffered much throughout his whole life. {161} But beneath the foibles lay courage and resolve. It was his reward that in the hour of trial, when upon his shoulders rested the fate of France in America, he was not found wanting.



[1] Etienne da Carheil was the most active of the Jesuit missionaries in Canada during the period of Frontenac. After fifteen years among the Iroquois at Cayuga (1668-83) he returned for three years to Quebec. He was then sent to Michilimackinac, where he remained another fifteen years. Shortly after the founding of Detroit (1701) he gave up life in the forest. Despite the great hardships which he endured, he lived to be ninety-three. None of the missionaries was more strongly opposed to the brandy trade.



{162}

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE

Of the literature on Frontenac and his period the greater part is in French. The books in English to which attention may be specially called are:

Parkman, Francis: Count Frontenac and New France under Louis XIV.

Le Sieur, William Dawson: Count Frontenac in the 'Makers of Canada' series.

Winsor, Justin: Cartier to Frontenac.

Stewart, George: 'Frontenac and his Times' in the Narrative and Critical History of America, edited by Justin Winsor, vol. iv.

In French the most important works are:

Lorin, Henri: Le Comte de Frontenac.

Myrand, Ernest: Frontenac et ses Amis; Phips devant Quebec.

Rochemonteix, Le Pere Camille de: Les Jesuites et la Nouvelle France, vol. iii.

Gosselin, L'Abbe: La Vie de Mgr Laval.

Sulte, B.: Histoire des Canadiens-Francais.

Ferland, L'Abbe: Cours d'Histoire du Canada.

Faillon, L'Abbe: Histoire de la Colonie Francaise en Canada, vol. iii.

Gagnon, Ernest: Le Fort et le Chateau Saint-Louis.

{163}

Garneau, F.-X.: Histoire du Canada, edited by Hector Garneau.

Among the original sources for this period the following are likely to be found in any large library:

Jugements et Deliberations du Conseil Souverain.

Edits et Ordonnances.

Relations des Jesuites. Ed. Thwaites.

Memoires et Documents pour servir a l'histoire des origines francaises des pays d'outre-mer, ed. P. Margry.

Les Lettres de La Hontan.

Histoire de l'Hotel-Dieu de Quebec, par la mere Juchereau de Saint-Denis.



{164}

INDEX

Abnakis, the, raid New England settlements, 147-8.

Aillebout de Mantet, d', 118, 119.

Andros, Sir Edmund, his Indian policy, 89, 90, 109.

Bellomont, Earl of, and Frontenac, 151.

Bernieres, Abbe de, 59.

Bienville, Francois Le Moyne de, 118.

Brucy, Perrot's chief agent, 49.

Callieres-Bonnevue, Louis Hector de, 116, 150; at the defence of Quebec, 128; repulses Schuyler's invasion, 146; makes peace with the Iroquois, 152.

Canada. See New France.

Cannehoot, a Seneca chief, 138.

Carheil, Etienne de, a Jesuit missionary, 139 n.

Cataraqui, Frontenac's conference with Iroquois at, 41-4.

Champigny, intendant, his relations with Frontenac, 152-4.

Champlain, Samuel de, 8.

Chateau St Louis, 9, 34.

Clermont, Chevalier de, killed at Quebec, 129.

Colbert, minister of Louis XIV, 30; and New France, 54, 58, 62, 65-8.

Courcelles, Sieur de, governor of New France, 34.

Coureurs de bois, the, 12-13, 46, 49.

Denonville, Marquis de, governor of New France, 103-4; his correspondence with Dongan, 104-6, 108; fails to cope with the Iroquois, 103-11, 135-136, 138; recalled, 115-16.

Dongan, Thomas, governor of New York, 90-1, 96, 97, 104-5, 109.

Duchesneau, Jacques, intendant, 51-2, 64; his relations with Frontenac, 52-3, 63-70, 80, 94; and the coureurs de bois, 79-80.

Du Lhut, Daniel Greysolon, explorer and pioneer, 77-81, 106, 109, 150.

Fenelon, Abbe, espouses Perrot's cause against Frontenac, 48-9, 50, 74.

Five Nations. See Iroquois.

Fort Frontenac, 38, 43, 44, 45, 76, 98, 106-7; destroyed, 135-6.

France, under the Bourbons, 1-4, 11, 29 n., 31-2, 85, 90; her policy in New France, 5, 10-11, 68; the Thirty Years' War, 19-21; the outbreak of the Fronde, 21; the dispute between Gallicans and Ultramontanes, 55-7; war with Holland, 85, 90; war with Britain, 114; her colonial system compared with that of Britain, 131-4. See New France.

Frontenac, Comte de, his birth and parentage, 17-18; his early career, 18-21, 26 n.; his marriage and domestic affairs, 21-6, 113; selected by Turenne to assist Venice in the defence of Crete, 26-8; gossip concerning his appointment as governor of New France, 28-30; his arrival in Quebec, 33-4; summons the Three Estates, 35-7, 44-5; his tour of inspection and conference with the Iroquois, 38-44, 95; his quarrel with Perrot, 45-50; and Laval, 51-3, 55, 58-63; and Duchesneau, 52-3, 63-70, 80; and the Sulpicians, 54; his antagonism towards the Jesuits, 54-5, 57-8, 69-70, 81-3; favours the Recollets, 55; upholds the brandy traffic, 61-3; his influence with the Indians, 72-3, 93-4; encourages exploration, 74-5, 79; supports the coureurs de bois, 80; his recall, 70-2; an estimate of his work, 72-4, 83-86, 93-4; his return to New France, 112-15, 116, 135-6; his campaign against New England, 117-19, 121; his reply to Phips, 125-7; his Indian policy, 135-7, 138, 141; at war with the Iroquois, 137-42, 144, 148-50; his expedition against the Onondagas and Oneidas, 148-50; his reply to Bellomont's threat, 151-2; his dispute with Champigny, 152-3; his death, 153-4; his character, 24, 25-26, 31, 32, 44, 57, 58, 150, 154-161.

Frontenac, Madame de, 22-5, 154.

Goyer, Father, 115; pronounces eulogy on Frontenac, 153.

Grangula, an Onondaga chief, 99-102, 109.

Great Britain, 29 n., 90; and war with France, 114, 142; her colonial system, 131-4. See New England States.

Hebert, Louis, a seigneur of New France, 14.

Hennepin, Father, his rescue, 78.

Hertel, Francois, his raid on English settlements, 118, 119-121.

Holland, and war with France, 29 n., 85, 90; and the fur trade, 89.

Howard of Effingham, Lord, governor of Virginia, 96.

Hubbard, William, and King Philip's War, 158-9.

Hudson Bay, the struggle between French and English on, 105-6.

Hurons, the, 139.

Iberville, Pierre Le Moyne d', 118, 150.

Illinois, the, 93, 95-6.

Iroquois, the, and Frontenac, 40, 41-4, 93, 95, 137-8; their power and political sagacity, 87-9, 97, 109-10; and the fur trade, 92-3, 95-6; a menace to New France, 94, 95-6, 111; their relations with the English, 96, 97; and La Barre, 95, 98-102; and Denonville, 106-7, 109, 110; at war with New France, 137-42, 149; make peace, 152.

Jesuits, the, in New France, 8, 53-4; and Frontenac, 54-5, 57-8, 69-70, 82-3; and the brandy traffic, 61-3.

King Philip's War, 158-9.

Kondiaronk, a Huron chief, 110-111, 139.

La Barre, Lefebvre de, governor of New France, 91, 92, 135; fails to cope with the Iroquois peril, 94, 95-6, 97, 98-102; recalled, 103.

La Chesnaye, massacre at, 111, 135.

Lachine, massacre by Iroquois at, 111, 135.

La Durantaye, and the Iroquois, 106, 109.

La Hontan, Baron, quoted, 99-102.

Lamberville, his influence with the Iroquois, 97, 109.

Laprairie, English raids on, 123, 146.

La Salle, and Frontenac, 40-1, 45, 74-7, 92, 93; and La Barre, 96.

Laval, Francois de, bishop of Quebec, 6-7, 8-9, 34, 51-3; and Frontenac, 51-3, 55, 58-63; and the brandy traffic, 61-2.

Le Ber, Jacques, 47-8.

Le Moyne, Charles, interpreter, 43, 95, 97, 102. See Bienville, Iberville, and Sainte-Helene.

Louis XIV, his interest in New France, 30, 50, 60, 62, 67, 85, 117; and the Church, 56, 58.

Marlborough, Duke of, 90.

Mazarin, Cardinal, 21.

Meulles, intendant, and La Barre, 91, 92, 97, 102.

Michilimackinac, 13, 78.

Mohawks, the, 145.

Mohegans, the, 145.

Montpensier, Duchesse de, 22-23; and Frontenac, 24.

Montreal, its position in New France, 39-40, 141.

New Amsterdam, and the Iroquois, 89.

New England States, contrasted with New France, 15, 130-4; and the Iroquois, 89-90, 104-5, 151-2; at war with New France, 123-30, 138, 151-152; and the Abnaki raids, 147-8.

New France, in 1672, 1, 8, 14-16, 83; status of the governor and intendant, 5, 9-10, 11; the fur trade, 8; the seigneurial system, 11-12, 14-15; the coureurs de bois, 12-13; the creation of parishes, 58-61; the brandy traffic, 61-3; population and trade during 1673-83, 84-5; the Iroquois peril, 87, 89, 90, 91, 94, 97, 111, 137-40, 142-143, 149; in 1689, 114, 115; at war with New England, 119-123, 128-30, 145-6; her weakness, 130-4; from 1690 to 1693, 142-4, 150; and Acadia, 147-8.

Oneidas, the, 149. See Iroquois.

Onondagas, the, 98-103, 149. See Iroquois.

Ottawas, the, 139, 140, 141.

Ourehaoue, a Cayuga chief, 137.

Parkman, on Frontenac, 36, 160; on Hertel, 120-1.

Perrot, Francois, governor of Montreal, 39-40; his quarrel with Frontenac, 45-50.

Perrot, Nicolas, interpreter, 13 n., 106, 138-9, 140, 150.

Phips, Sir William, his attack on Quebec, 123-30.

Portneuf, his raid, 119.

Port Royal, surrendered to Phips, 124, 127.

Quebec, 91; Phips's siege of, 123-30.

Recollets, the, and Frontenac, 53-4, 55.

Repentigny de Montesson, 118.

Richelieu, Cardinal, minister to Louis XIII, 18-19, 20, 21, 131.

Rouville, Hertel de, 118.

Ryswick, Peace of, 151.

Saint-Castin, Baron de, raids New England settlements, 147, 148, 150.

Sainte-Helene, Jacques Le Moyne de, 118, 119, 129, 150.

Schenectady, raided by the French, 119, 121, 122, 140.

Schuyler, John, his abortive raid into New France, 123, 145.

Schuyler, Peter, his invasion defeated at Laprairie, 145-6.

Seignelay, Marquis de, 70.

Senecas, the, 107-8. See Iroquois.

Sovereign Council, composition and jurisdiction of, 9-10; and Frontenac, 65-8.

Sulpicians, the, in New France, 39, 53-4.

Superior Council, 9. See Sovereign Council.

Talon, Jean, 6, 34; supports Perrot against Frontenac, 50.

Thury, Father, encourages Abnaki raids on English settlements, 147-8.

Tonty, Henri de, explorer, 76-7, 92, 93, 106, 109, 150.

Turgot, Anne Robert Jacques, 6 and note.

Urfe, Abbe d', supports Perrot against Frontenac, 50.

Valrennes, at Laprairie, 146.

Vaudreuil, governor of New France, 81.

Vercheres, Madeleine de, 144.

West India Company, its trading monopoly, 84.

'William and Mary's War,' 150. See under New France and New England States.



Printed by T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press



THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA

THIRTY-TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED

Edited by GEORGE M. WRONG and H. H. LANGTON



THE CHRONICLES OF CANADA

PART I

THE FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS

1. THE DAWN OF CANADIAN HISTORY By Stephen Leacock.

2. THE MARINER OF ST MALO By Stephen Leacock.

PART II

THE RISE OF NEW FRANCE

3. THE FOUNDER OF NEW FRANCE By Charles W. Colby.

4. THE JESUIT MISSIONS By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.

5. THE SEIGNEURS OF OLD CANADA By William Bennett Munro.

6. THE GREAT INTENDANT By Thomas Chapais.

7. THE FIGHTING GOVERNOR By Charles W. Colby.

PART III

THE ENGLISH INVASION

8. THE GREAT FORTRESS By William Wood.

9. THE ACADIAN EXILES By Arthur G. Doughty.

10. THE PASSING OF NEW FRANCE By William Wood.

11. THE WINNING OF CANADA By William Wood.

PART IV

THE BEGINNINGS OF BRITISH CANADA

12. THE FATHER OF BRITISH CANADA By William Wood.

13. THE UNITED EMPIRE LOYALISTS By W. Stewart Wallace.

14. THE WAR WITH THE UNITED STATES By William Wood.

PART V

THE RED MAN IN CANADA

15. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE OTTAWAS By Thomas Guthrie Marquis.

16. THE WAR CHIEF OF THE SIX NATIONS By Louis Aubrey Wood.

17. TECUMSEH: THE LAST GREAT LEADER OF HIS PEOPLE By Ethel T. Raymond.

PART VI

PIONEERS OF THE NORTH AND WEST

18. THE 'ADVENTURERS OF ENGLAND' ON HUDSON BAY By Agnes C. Laut.

19. PATHFINDERS OF THE GREAT PLAINS By Lawrence J. Burpee.

20. ADVENTURERS OF THE FAR NORTH By Stephen Leacock.

21. THE RED RIVER COLONY By Louis Aubrey Wood.

22. PIONEERS OF THE PACIFIC COAST By Agnes C. Laut.

23. THE CARIBOO TRAIL By Agnes C. Laut.

PART VII

THE STRUGGLE FOR POLITICAL FREEDOM

24. THE FAMILY COMPACT By W. Stewart Wallace.

25. THE 'PATRIOTES' OF '37 By Alfred D. DeCelles.

26. THE TRIBUNE OF NOVA SCOTIA By William Lawson Grant.

27. THE WINNING OF POPULAR GOVERNMENT By Archibald MacMechan.

PART VIII

THE GROWTH OF NATIONALITY

28. THE FATHERS OF CONFEDERATION By A. H. U. Colquhoun.

29. THE DAY OF SIR JOHN MACDONALD By Sir Joseph Pope.

30. THE DAY OF SIR WILFRID LAURIER By Oscar D. Skelton.

PART IX

NATIONAL HIGHWAYS

31. ALL AFLOAT By William Wood.

32. THE RAILWAY BUILDERS By Oscar D. Skelton.



TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY

THE END