The Great Company Part 14

Upon William the Third's accession to the throne, the Company renewed its claims to its property, and for reparation for the damages it had suffered at the hands of the French in time of peace.

"As to the article of the Company's losses, it will appear," it said, "by a true and exact estimate, that the French took from the Company, in full peace between 1682 and 1688, seven s.h.i.+ps with their cargoes, and six forts and factories, from which they carried away great stores of goods laid up for trading with the Indians. The whole amounts to 38,332 15s."

To such effect was this memorial presented to the King that William caused the hostile proceedings of Lewis in the Company's territory to be inserted in one of the articles of his Declaration of War, in these words:--

"But that the French King should invade our Caribbee Islands and possess himself of our territories of the Province of New York and Hudson's Bay, in hostile manner, seizing our forts, burning our subjects' houses and enriching his people with the spoil of our goods and merchandises, detaining some of our subjects under the hards.h.i.+ps of imprisonment, causing others to be inhumanly killed, and driving the rest to sea in a small vessel without food or necessaries to support them, are actions not even becoming an enemy; and yet he was so far from declaring himself so, that at that very time he was negotiating here in England, by his Ministers, a treaty of neutrality and good correspondence in America."

Much has been made by later writers, hostile to the Company, of a circ.u.mstance which soon afterwards took place.

[Sidenote: The Company's charter confirmed.]

Owing to the state of public feeling in England towards the Stewarts at the time of the Revolution, the Company, keenly alive to the fact of the exiled king's having been so recently its Governor, sought at the beginning of William's reign to strengthen its position by an Act of Parliament for the charter granted by Charles II. Why, have asked its enemies, if the Company had the utmost confidence in its charter did it resort to the Lords and Commons to have it confirmed? And why was this confirmation limited to but seven years? I have already answered the first question; as to the second, the Company itself asked for no longer period. The proceeding was no secret; it was done openly. Parliament made but one stipulation, and that at the instance of the Felt-makers' Company; that the adventurers "should be obliged to make at least two sales of 'coat beaver' annually, and not exceeding four. These should be proportioned in lotts of about 100 sterling each, and not exceeding 200. In the intervals of public sales the Company should be debarred from selling beaver by private Contract, or at any price than was sett up at the last Publick sale."

The Company asked for a confirmation of its charter by Parliament as a prudent course in uncertain times; and also in order to more firmly establish its claim to reparation for damages. The nation's representatives saw no reason why they should not issue a confirmation; there being none, save the Felt-makers, to oppose it.

[Sidenote: The Company increases its capital.]

The charter being confirmed, it was decided that the nominal capital of the Company should be increased to 31,500, several good reasons being put forward in committee for thus trebling the stock. These reasons are quaintly enumerated as follows:

I--That the Company have actually in Warehouse above the value of their first original stock.

II--That they have set out an Expedition this Yeare in their s.h.i.+pps and Cargoe to more than the Value of their First Stock again; the trading of which Goods may well be estimated, in expectation as much more.

III--That our Factories at Port Nelson River and New Severne are under an increasing Trade; and that our Returns in Beavers this yeare (by G.o.d's Blessing) are modestly expected to be worth 20,000_l._

IV--Our Forts, Factories, Guns and other Materials, the prospect of new Settlements and further Trade, are also reasonably to be estimated at a considerable intrinsic Value.

V--And lastly, our just Expectancy of a very considerable reparation and satisfaction from the French and the close of this War and the restoring our places and Trade at the Bottom of the Bay; which upon proof, hath been made out above 100,000_l._

Some years later the Treaty of Ryswick, in securing to the French the fruits of Iberville's victory, powerfully affected for ill the fortunes of the Company. Nevertheless, the whole nation was then in sympathy with its cause, knowing that but for the continued existence of the Honourable Adventurers as a body corporate the chances of the western portion of the Bay reverting to the English were small.

But the Felt-makers were implacable. They would like to have seen the beaver trade in their own hands. At the expiration of the seven years for which the confirmation was allowed, they again, as will be shown, evinced, yet vainly, their enmity.

Because this parliamentary confirmation was limited to so short a period, some writers have conjectured that at the expiration of that period the charter ceased to be valid. So absurd a conclusion would scarcely appear to stand in need of refutation. Could those who pretend to draw this inference have been ignorant that if some of the rights conferred by the charter required the sanction of Parliament, there were other rights conferred by it which required no such sanction, because they were within the prerogative of the Crown? Even a.s.suming that at the end of the term for which the act of William and Mary was pa.s.sed, such of the provisions of the charter (if there could be found any such) as derived their efficacy only from parliamentary support should be considered inefficient, still all the rights similar to those of the charters for former governments and plantations in America would continue to exist. That they were so regarded as existing is made evident by the repeated references to them in various subsequent international treaties and acts of Parliament. King George and his advisers completely recognized the Company as proprietors of a certain domain. In establis.h.i.+ng the limits of the newly-acquired Province of Canada, it was enacted that it should be bounded on the north by "the territory granted to the Merchants-Adventurers of England trading into Hudson's Bay," a boundary which by statute was long to subsist.

Fort Albany did not prove a success in the hands of the French. The Quebec Company were losing money, and they had no s.h.i.+ps. They were, besides, severely handicapped by physical conditions, owing to the inaccessibility of the Bay by land and the impracticability of carrying merchandise by the overland route. It seemed clear that, after all, the trade of the Bay could only be made profitable by sea.[23] The French were consequently most anxious to exchange the forts on James' Bay for Fort Nelson, because they were aware that better furs were to be had in the north; and because it would enable them to intercept the tribes who hunted about Lake Nepigon.

[Sidenote: Denonville plans the capture of Fort Nelson.]

Denonville is now found writing long despatches to Seignely, a.s.suring him that their affairs at Hudson's Bay would prosper if the Northern Company continued to co-operate with and second the designs of Iberville, whose fixed resolve was to go and seize Fort Nelson. For that purpose Denonville regarded it as necessary that the Minister should inform M. de Lagny that the King desired the capture of that fort, and to "furnish Iberville with everything he requires to render his designs successful." The Governor himself thought one s.h.i.+p added to those they had captured in 1689 from the English would suffice. He sought to obtain for Iberville some honourable rank in the navy, as this would, he urged, excite honourable emulation amongst the Canadians who were ready to follow the sea. Denonville suggested a lieutenancy, adding his opinion that his young friend was "a very fine fellow, capable of rendering himself expert and doing good service."

The plea of the Governor was successful and Lewis was pleased to confer upon Iberville the rank of lieutenant in the French Royal Navy, the first distinction of the kind then on record. It fired the blood and pride of not a few of the Canadian youth, one Peter Gauthier de Varennes amongst the rest. Many years later he, under the name of Verandrye, was the first of the great pioneers through the territories of the Great Company.

All negotiations for an exchange of forts having fallen through, the _Compagnie du Nord_ determined to make a valiant attempt to obtain their desires by force. For this purpose they made powerful application to the Court; and in the autumn of 1691 their pet.i.tion resulted in the arrival at Quebec of Admiral Tast with no fewer than fourteen s.h.i.+ps.

It was said in Quebec that while Lewis XIV. surprised his enemies by his celerity in taking the field in Europe, the vessels sent out to America by his order always started two or three months too late for Canada and the Bay. This tardiness, it was declared, was the sole cause of all the losses and want of success attending French enterprises in that part of the New World.[24]

However this may be, there was beyond question another and not less potent reason for the failure which overtook the proposed expedition of Tast on behalf of the Northern Company. Iberville's successes had up to this moment tended to bolster up the waning popularity of the Company in Canada. This popular hero had just returned from the Bay with 80,000 francs value in beaver skins, and 6,000 livres in small furs, but he now refused point blank to have anything to do with the expedition. He did not care to share such glory and profit as he might obtain with his own followers, with the Company and Admiral Tast.

Without this powerful auxiliary and the support of the populace, Tast's fleet abandoned its expedition to the Bay, and sailed away to Acadia and Newfoundland.

[Sidenote: Burning of Fort Nelson.]

Nevertheless, while Governor Phipps was in charge of Fort Nelson this year, a French frigate belonging to the enemy appeared at the entrance of Bourbon River. As it chanced that nearly the whole of his garrison were absent from the fort on a hunting expedition, it seemed to the Governor that armed resistance would be futile. Rather, therefore, than allow the fort to pa.s.s again into the hands of the French under circ.u.mstances so humiliating, he resolved to burn it, together with a large part of its merchandise, valued at about 8,000, well knowing that without the merchandise the French could not procure furs from the Indians.

Whilst the flames of the fort were ascending, Phipps and three men he had with him retreated into ambush and established themselves with some Indians in the interior.

The Frenchman landed, saw the perdition of his hopes in the ruin of the fort and its contents, and returned to the s.h.i.+p with a few hatchets and knives as the sole trophy of his enterprise.

On the arrival of the Company's s.h.i.+p in the spring however, York Factory was re-built stronger and on a larger scale than before.

Iberville at this time finds great cause of complaint in the fact of the French Company's poverty, and its inability to occupy the region after it had been won for them. More than a single s.h.i.+p was required; and a larger number of men in the vicinity of Fort Nelson would have served to keep the English off perpetually.

In 1693 the Northern Company pet.i.tioned Pontchartrain, who had succeeded Seignely at Court, respecting operations in the Bay. The Company declared that it could hold everything if it were only enabled to seize Fort Nelson; but that continued hostilities and losses had so weakened it as to oblige it to have recourse to his Excellency to obtain sufficient force in a suitable time to drive out the English.

In another pet.i.tion it is alleged that this "single fort which remains in the possession of the English is of so much importance that the gain or loss of everything in Hudson's Bay depends upon it. The Company's establishment in Quebec, to carry on this commerce, claims anew the protection of your Excellency, that you may give it a sufficient force to enable it to become master of Fort Nelson, which the English took by an act of treason against this Company in time of peace. This they hope from the strong desire which you have for the aggrandizement of the kingdom, and from your affection for this colony."

Iberville crossed over to France, and met with a warm reception at Versailles. He unfolded his plans for the capture of Fort Nelson, stated what force he would require for this desirable purpose, and was promised two s.h.i.+ps in the following spring.[25] Highly gratified with his success, he departed for home in the _Envieux_.

[Sidenote: The English regain Fort Albany.]

The Hudson's Bay Company now made another effort to regain its fort at Albany. Three powerfully armed s.h.i.+ps wintered at Fort Nelson and sailed thither in the spring of 1693.[26] From all accounts that had been received, it was not believed that the rival French Company was in a position to maintain a very strong force for an all-winter defence, especially since the alienation of Iberville. Forty men were landed, and approaching the post were met by a brisk fire, which failed to check the English advance. Much to their own astonishment, they were permitted to close upon the fort without check, and a ruse was suspected. A cautious entrance was therefore made: the premises were found apparently deserted. But at length, in a corner of the cellar, emaciated and covered with rags, a human being a victim to scurvy was discovered. His arms and legs were fastened together, and a heavy chain kept him close to the wall. While they were marvelling at this discovery, some of the sailors came to inform the captain that three Frenchmen had been seen at a distance flying as fast as their legs would carry them. Captain Grimington was not long left in doubt as to the facts: these three Frenchmen had formed the garrison of the fort St Anne. The unlucky wretch they now beheld was a bushranger who, in a paroxysm of rage, had murdered the surgeon at the fort.

Horrified, on recovering his reason, at what he had done, and fearing that the only witness of the deed, Father Dalmas, would betray him to the rest, he slew the priest also. The latter, with his expiring breath, disclosed his murderer, and the French, then ten in number, had chained the criminal in the cellar, not themselves relis.h.i.+ng the task of his summary execution.

Iberville did not leave Quebec until the tenth[27] of August, and arrived at Fort Nelson, September 24th. Almost immediately he disembarked with all his people, also with cannons, mortars and a large quant.i.ty of ammunition. Batteries were thrown up about five hundred yards from the palisades, and upon these guns were mounted.[28] A bombardment now took place, lasting from the 25th of September to the 14th of October, when the governor was forced to surrender, owing to the danger of a conflagration as well as to the loss of several of his best men. On this occasion young Henry Kelsey[29] showed great bravery, and a report of his gallantry being forwarded to the Company, he was presented with the sum of forty pounds as a token of their appreciation. This youth was destined to be long in the service of the Company, as first in command at Fort Nelson.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LANDING OF IBERVILLE'S MEN AT PORT NELSON.

(_From an old print._)]

[Sidenote: Iberville takes Fort Nelson.]

Iberville accomplished his entry on the fifteenth of October. The French standard was hoisted and the fort christened Bourbon, and it being St. Theresa's Day, the river was given the name of that saint.

The enemy did not come out of this business unscathed; they having lost several of their men, including a brother of Iberville.

Some of the English were kept prisoners, while others made their way as best they could to New Severn and Albany. At the time of the surrender, the fort was well furnished with merchandise and provisions, and this circ.u.mstance induced the French to remain for the winter, before returning to France.

On the 20th of the following July, Iberville departed for the straits in his two vessels, the _Poli_ and _Salamandre_. He left sixty-seven men under the command of La Forest. Martigny became lieutenant, and Jeremie was appointed ensign, with the additional functions of interpreter and "director of commerce."

La Forest and his men were not long to enjoy security of trade and occupation however. A meeting of the Hudson's Bay Company was held the moment these outrages were reported. The King was besought to send a fleet of four s.h.i.+ps to the rescue and recapture of Fort Nelson. But it was too late to sail that year. News of the proposed despatch of an English fleet having reached France, Serigny was sent in June, 1696, with two of the best craft procurable at Roch.e.l.le. Sailing three days before the English, the two French s.h.i.+ps arrived two hours too late.

It was instantly perceived that they were no match for the English, and accordingly they discreetly withdrew. As the Company's vessels occupied the mouth of the river, there was no safe landing place at hand. Both s.h.i.+ps set sail again for France; but one, the _Hardi_, was destined never to reach her destination. She probably ran against ice at the mouth of the straits and went to the bottom with all on board.

[Sidenote: Fort Nelson surrenders to the English fleet.]

The English commenced the attack on the fort August 29th. On the following day it was decided to land, and the French, seeing the strength of their force, had no alternative but surrender. Perchance by way of retaliation for the affairs of Albany and New Severn, the provisions of capitulation[30] were disregarded; all the French were made prisoners and carried to England. Possession was taken of a vast quant.i.ty of furs, and the English returned, well satisfied with their exploit; but not ignorant of the difficulties which surrounded the maintenance of such a conquest.

FOOTNOTES:

[23] It has been truly observed that the protracted and b.l.o.o.d.y contest between the French and English for the possession of the Bay was the result of a desire of the Governor to have access to those waters, and the resolve of the latter to defeat this purpose. "The truth is," says Mr. Lindsay, "the fur trade was only profitable when carried on by water." At Quebec or Three Rivers forty beaver skins made a canoe load. A single canoe load of northern furs was worth six of the southern.