which the fleet sailed from Boston, General Nicholson proceeded to Albany, where in a short time he found himself at the head of 4000 Provincial troops and 600 Indians, prepared to move upon Montreal. In the west, the Foxes, desirous to expel the French from Michigan, appeared as the allies of the English to effect a diversion in their favour.

Intelligence of the intended expedition was seasonably received at Quebec, and the measures of defence began by a renewal of friendship with the Canadian and north-west Indians. Joncaire, at the same time, was successful in retaining the Senecas in neutrality, and the Onondagas remained faithful to their promises; but the rest of the confederates ranged themselves on the side of the British. Leaving De Boncourt to strengthen the defences of Quebec, De Vaudreuil proceeded to Montreal, where he rapidly organised a force of 3000 soldiers, militia, and a few Indians, and placing it under the command of De Longueil, directed him to encamp at Chambly, and there await Nicholson.

Admiral Walker arrived in the St Lawrence on the 14th of August, and after lingering a few days in the Bay of Gaspe, owing to an unfavourable wind, proceeded up the river. Little was then known in England with regard to the peculiarities of the St Lawrence, and Walker, sharing the apprehensions of the vulgar, imagined that a current, where vessels floated on water one hundred fathoms deep, would be frozen to the bottom during winter, and puzzled his brains to know how he would preserve his ships. "To secure them on the dry ground in frames and cradles till the thaw," he sagely imagined to be the true mode of procedure.

On the evening of the 22d of August a thick fog came on with an easterly breeze. Next morning both the French and English pilots thought it right to bring the vessels of the fleet to with their heads to the southward, as the best course to keep the mid-channel and drive clear of the north shore. The day passed safely over, but just as Walker was going to bed, the captain of his ship came down to say that land could be seen, and without going on deck he wantonly ordered the fleet to head to the north. Goddard, a captain in the land service, at the instigation of the pilot, Paradis, rushed to the cabin in great haste, and importuned the admiral at least to come on deck; but the self-willed man laughed at his fears and refused. A second time Goddard returned; "For the Lord's sake come on deck," cried he, "or we shall certainly be lost; I see breakers all around us." Walker came on deck and found he had spoken the truth; "But still," the admiral exclaimed, "I see no land to the

leeward." Just then the moon broke through the mist and showed him his error. Now he believed Paradis, and made sail for the middle of the river, but not before eight ships had been wrecked among the reefs of the Egg Islands, and 884 men drowned. As soon as the scattered fleet was collected a council of war was held, at which the craven-hearted leaders voted unanimously "that it was impossible to proceed, and that it was for the interests of her Majesty's service that the British troops do forthwith return to England, and the colonial troops to Boston."

"*

The failure of the expedition against Quebec compelled Nicholson to retreat. The French scouts soon brought intelligence of this movement to the camp at Chambly. For the moment the news was doubted: "it was almost too good to be true," and Hertel de Rouville was despatched with 200 men to procure more certain information. He marched far on the way to Albany till he was joined by three Frenchmen, set at liberty by Nicholson on his return, who told him of the consternation of the British colonists when they learned the misfortune which had befallen the fleet. Barques were soon despatched down the river from Quebec. At the Egg Islands the remains of eight large vessels were found, out of which the cannon and stores had been taken, and the many dead bodies that strewed the shores of the river told unmistakably the disaster which had befallen the British fleet.

In the west, however, new dangers menaced French power. The Foxes resolved to burn Detroit, and pitched their wigwams 1712. near the fort, now defended only by a score of Frenchmen. But the Indian allies of the little garrison came to their relief, and the warriors of the Fox nation, instead of destroying Detroit, were themselves besieged, and at last compelled to surrender at discretion. Those who were found in arms were ruthlessly massacred, and the rest were distributed as slaves among the victors. Thus did the fidelity of their allies preserve Detroit to the French. Cherished as the loveliest spot in Canada, its possession secured the road to the upper Indians. Its loss would have been the ruin of the Canadian fur-trade, and shut out the French for ever from the great highway to the Mississippi. Still, these successes did not alter the great current of western commerce, which continued to flow steadily towards Albany and New York. The Indian loved the Frenchman as a com

* Admiral Walker's Journal, pp. 122, 123. Smith's Hist. Can. vol. i. pp. 167– 177. Heriot's Hist. Can. pp. 399-404. Conquest of Can. vol. i. pp. 333-335. Brit. N. Amer. vol. i. pp. 201-303. Ban. Hist. United States, London Edition, pp. 853-858.

panion, but the British merchant paid a higher price for beaver, and self-interest, that great motive-power of human nature among the civilised and the savage, led him to prefer the traffic of the latter.

Weakened by defeat-driven back from the banks of the Danube, the Tagus, and the Po, Louis, now an old and feeble man, earnestly desired peace even on humiliating terms. The debility of France became its safety. England was satiated with costly continental victories, and public opinion demanded a peace. Marlborough, who hesitated not to say "that the enmity between France and England was irreconcilable,” was dismissed from power; the Whigs fell with him, and the Tories took their places to inaugurate a new era of peace. A congress of ambassadors assembled at 1713. Utrecht to regulate its conditions. Louis strove to preserve his Canadian possessions intact, but the sufferings of Massachusetts made Great Britain resolute to retain Nova Scotia, and finally it was fully ceded to her, with the fisheries of Newfoundland, the vast unknown regions of Hudson's Bay, and the nominal sovereignty of the Iroquois.

The war had scarcely terminated when the active mind of the Canadian Governor began to devise means for strengthen1714. ing the defences and peopling the colony, which instead of increasing, was actually decreasing in population. He stated to the French ministry that Canada possessed only 4480 inhabitants, between fourteen and sixty years, able to carry arms, while the regular soldiers barely amounted to 628. This small number of persons was spread over a country 100 leagues in extent. He added, the English colonies had 60,000 men able to bear arms, and that on the first rupture they would make a powerful effort to get possession of Canada. He proposed that additional troops should be sent out, and that 150 convicts should be shipped annually to this country, to aid in the labours of agriculture. Fortunately for Canada the latter proposition was never carried out, and she escaped the indignity and difficulty of becoming a penal settlement.

The bitter lesson which the Foxes had received at Detroit, instead of making the remainder of their tribe more peacefully in1715. clined, thoroughly exasperated them against the French. Not only did they interrupt the trappers in Michigan, their native country, but they infested the routes leading to the distant posts of the colony, and inflicted all the injury possible upon the Indian allies of the French. The Governor at length detached a strong force to bring them to reason. Shut up in their fort, against which two field

1716.

pieces were brought to bear, they finally offered favourable terms of accommodation, which were accepted. But they soon evinced little respect for the treaty they had been forced to enter into, and though greatly reduced in numbers, rendered the routes towards Louisiana unsafe, and ever after remained the deadliest enemies of the French.

1717.

The success of the expedition against the Foxes established peace in all the borders of Canada, and for many years it presented few events of importance to record. The attention of the Governor was now turned to the careless and improper manner in which notaries frequently performed their duties, and stringent regulations were made to correct this abuse. In 1718 considerable excitement was caused in the colony by the dis1718. covery of ginsing, a plant highly esteemed by the Chinese, in the forests, which for a time promised to be a valuable article of commerce. But the Canadians were unacquainted with its proper mode of preservation, and it soon became unsaleable.

1721.

The two succeeding years were alike barren of events. Charlevoix, one of the early historians of Canada, came out from France in 1720, remained here during the ensuing year, and visited the principal settlements, which he describes in his journal. Quebec embraced even then an Upper and Lower Town, and contained about 7000 inhabitants. Its best society, composed of military officers and nobles, was extremely agreeable, and he states that nowhere was the French language spoken in greater purity. Under a gay exterior was concealed a very general poverty. "The English," the Canadians said, "knew better how to accumulate wealth, but they alone were acquainted with the most agreeable way of spending it." The only employment suited to their taste was the fur-trade, the roving and adventurous habits of which they especially liked. They male money by it occasionally, which was usually soon squandered again in pleasure and display. Many who had made a handsome figure in society were now suffering pecuniary distress; still, while they curtailed the luxuries of their tables, they continued as long as possible to be richly dressed. Agriculture received very little attention, and the timber trade was yet in its infancy.

The banks of the St Lawrence for some distance below Quebec were already laid out in seigniories and partially cultivated. Some of the farmers were in easy circumstances, and richer than their landlords, whose necessities compelled them to let their land at low quit-rents. At one point Charlevoix found a baron, holding the office of inspector of highways, who lived in the forest, and derived

his support from a traffic with the neighbouring Indians. Three Rivers was an agreeable place, containing 800 inhabitants, and surrounded by well-cultivated fields. Its fur-trade had been in a great measure transferred to Montreal, and the iron mines had not yet been worked. He found the country thinly peopled as he ascended the river, till he arrived at the Island of Montreal, the beauties of which he describes in glowing terms. He does not state the population of the town, but very probably it was about 4000.

After leaving Montreal, he only met with detached posts, established solely for defence or trade. Passing up the river in bark canoes, he reached Fort Frontenac, which he describes as merely a small military station. After a tedious voyage along the shores of the lake, he came to a log block-house on the Niagara river, occupied by Joncaire and a few officers and troops, but saw neither a village nor cultivated fields. Passing up Lake Erie he visited Detroit and several of the stations on the upper lakes, but beyond small trading posts, encountered nothing worthy of the name of settlement. Such was Canada West 135 years ago: it now presents a very different aspect.

Hitherto the fortifications of Quebec had been very incomplete, but the French ministry now resolved to strengthen and extend them, agreeable to the plan of De Lery. Montreal was defended 1720. by wooden works, which were in a most dilapidated condition. Orders were given to fortify it with stone. The King advanced the money, but the town and seminary were to repay one 1722. half in annual instalments of 6000 livres. Barracks were likewise constructed for the regular troops. No provision was made, however, for the militia, who only existed in the colony from its necessities and the will of the Governor. As an institution in the State, they had never been recognised by any French law or edict.* Ten years' peace had added considerably to the trade and population of Canada. Nineteen vessels sailed this year from 1723. Quebec for the ocean. Six new ships were built for the merchant service, and two men-of-war. The exports to France embraced furs, lumber, staves, tar, tobacco, flour, peas, and pork; the imports from thence were wines, brandies, and cotton and woollen goods.

1725.

On the 10th of October 1725, the Marquis De Vaudreuil closed his useful career. The sorrow manifested by the people for this event, was proportionate to the satisfaction they had displayed when he was first appointed Governor. For the long * Smith's Hist. Can. vol. i. pp. 185, 186.