[Footnote: Papiers de Famille, MSS.] Believing that his projects, if carried into effect, would prove a source of immense wealth to all concerned in them, and gifted with a rare power of persuasion when he chose to use it, La Salle addressed himself to various merchants and officials of the colony, and induced some of them to become partners in his adventure. But here we are anticipating. Clearly to understand his position, we must revert to the first year of Frontenac's government.
No sooner had that astute official set foot in the colony than, with an eagle eye, he surveyed the situation, and quickly comprehended it. It was somewhat peculiar. Canada lived on the fur-trade, a species of commerce always liable to disorders, and which had produced, among other results, a lawless body of men known as coureurs de bois, who followed the Indians in their wanderings, and sometimes became as barbarous as their red associates. The order-loving king who swayed the destinies of France, taking umbrage at these irregularities, had issued mandates intended to repress the evil, by prohibiting the inhabitants of Canada from leaving the limits of the settled country; and requiring the trade to be carried on, not in the distant wilderness, but within the bounds of the colony. The civil and military officers of the crown, charged with the execution of these ordinances, showed a sufficient zeal in enforcing them against others, while they themselves habitually violated them; hence, a singular confusion, with abundant outcries, complaint, and recrimination. Prominent among these officials was Perrot, Governor of Montreal, who must not be confounded with Nicolas Perrot, the voyageur. The Governor of Montreal, though subordinate to the Governor-General, held great and arbitrary power within his own jurisdiction. Perrot had married a niece of Talon, the late Intendant, to whose influence he owed his place. Confiding in this powerful protection, he gave free rein to his headstrong-temper, and carried his government with a high hand, berating and abusing anybody who ventured to remonstrate. The grave fathers of St. Sulpice, owners of Montreal, were the more scandalized at the behavior of their military chief, by reason of a certain burlesque and gasconading vein which often appeared in him, and which they regarded as unseemly levity. [Footnote: Perrot received his appointment from the Seminary of St. Sulpice, on Talon's recommendation, but he afterwards applied for and gained a royal commission, which, as he thought, made him independent of the priests.]
Perrot, through his wife's uncle, had obtained a grant of the Island above Montreal, which still bears his name. Here he established a trading house which he placed in charge of an agent, one Brucy, who, by a tempting display of merchandise and liquors, intercepted the Indians on their yearly descent to trade with the French, and thus got possession of their furs, in anticipation of the market of Montreal. Not satisfied with this, Perrot, in defiance of the royal order, sent men into the woods to trade with the Indians in their villages, and it is said even used his soldiers for this purpose, under cover of pretended desertion. [Footnote: The original papers relating to the accusations against Perrot are still preserved in the ancient records of Montreal.] The rage of the merchants of Montreal may readily be conceived, and when Frontenac heard of the behavior of his subordinate he was duly incensed.
It seems, however, to have occurred, or to have been suggested to him, that he, the Governor-General might repeat the device of Perrot on a larger scale and with more profitable results. By establishing a fortified trading post on Lake Ontario, the whole trade of the upper country might be engrossed, with the exception of that portion of it which descended by the river Ottawa, and even this might in good part be diverted from its former channel. At the same time, a plan of a fort on Lake Ontario might be made to appear as of great importance to the welfare of the colony; and in fact, from one point of view, it actually was so. Courcelles, the late governor, had already pointed out its advantages. Such a fort would watch and hold in check the Iroquois, the worst enemy of Canada; and, with the aid of a few small vessels, it would intercept the trade which the upper Indians were carrying on through the Iroquois country with the English and Dutch of New York. Frontenac learned from La Salle that the English were intriguing both with the Iroquois and with the tribes of the Upper Lakes, to induce them to break the peace with the French, and bring their furs to New York. [Footnote: Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert, 13 Nov. 1678.] Hence the advantages, not to say the necessity, of a fort on Lake Ontario were obvious. But, while it would turn a stream of wealth from the English to the French colony, it was equally clear that the change might be made to inure, not to the profit of Canada at large, but solely to that of those who had control of the fort; or, in other words, that the new establishment might become an instrument of a grievous monopoly. This Frontenac and La Salle well understood, and there can be no reasonable doubt that they aimed at securing such a monopoly: but the merchants of Canada understood it, also; and hence they regarded with distrust any scheme of a fort on Lake Ontario.
Frontenac, therefore, thought it expedient "to make use," as he expresses it, "of address." He gave out merely that he intended to make a tour through the upper parts of the colony with an armed force, in order to inspire the Indians with respect, and secure a solid peace. He had neither troops, money, munitions, nor means of transportation; yet there was no time to lose, for should he delay the execution of his plan it might be countermanded by the king. His only resource, therefore, was in a prompt and hardy exertion of the royal authority; and he issued an order requiring the inhabitants of Quebec, Montreal, Three Rivers, and other settlements to furnish him, at their own cost, as soon as the spring sowing should be over, with a certain number of armed men besides the requisite canoes. At the same time, he invited the officers settled in the country to join the expedition, an invitation which, anxious as they were to gain his good graces, few of them cared to decline. Regardless of murmurs and discontent, he pushed his preparation vigorously, and on the third of June left Quebec with his guard, his staff, a part of the garrison of the Castle of St. Louis, and a number of volunteers. He had already sent to La Salle, who was then at Montreal, directing him to repair to Onondaga, the political centre of the Iroquois, and invite their sachems to meet the Governor in council at the Bay of Quinté on the north of Lake Ontario. La Salle had set out on his mission, but first sent Frontenac a map, which convinced him that the best site for his proposed fort was the mouth of the Cataraqui, where Kingston now stands. Another messenger was accordingly despatched, to change the rendezvous to this point.
Meanwhile, the Governor proceeded, at his leisure, towards Montreal, stopping by the way to visit the officers settled along the bank, who, eager to pay their homage to the newly risen sun, received him with a hospitality, which, under the roof of a log hut, was sometimes graced by the polished courtesies of the salon and the boudoir. Reaching Montreal, which he had never before seen, he gazed we may suppose with some interest at the long row of humble dwellings which lined the bank, the massive buildings of the seminary, and the spire of the church predominant over all. It was a rude scene, but the greeting that awaited him savored nothing of the rough simplicity of the wilderness. Perrot, the local governor, was on the shore with his soldiers and the inhabitants, drawn up under arms, and firing a salute, to welcome the representative of the king. Frontenac was compelled to listen to a long harangue from the Judge of the place, followed by another from the Syndic. Then there was a solemn procession to the church, where he was forced to undergo a third effort of oratory from one of the priests. Te Deum followed, in thanks for his arrival, and then he took refuge in the fort. Here he remained thirteen days, busied with his preparations, organizing the militia, soothing their mutual jealousies, and settling knotty questions of rank and precedence. During this time every means, as he declares, was used to prevent him from proceeding, and among other devices a rumor was set on foot that a Dutch fleet, having just captured Boston, was on its way to attack Quebec. [Footnote: Lettre de Frontenac à Colbert, 13 Nov. 1673, MS. This rumor, it appears, originated with the Jesuit Dablon.—Journal du Voyage du Comte de Frontenac au Lac Ontario. MS. The Jesuits were greatly opposed to the establishment of forts and trading posts in the upper country, for reasons that will appear hereafter.]
Having sent men, canoes, and baggage, by land, to La Salle's old settlement of La Chine, Frontenac himself followed on the twenty-eighth of June. He now had with him about four hundred men, including Indians from the missions, and a hundred and twenty canoes, besides two large flatboats, which he caused to be painted in red and blue, with strange devices, intended to dazzle the Iroquois by a display of unwonted splendor. Now their hard task began. Shouldering canoes through the forest,
