the conquest of new france-第4章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
should be hanged。 Frontenac knew well how to deal with such a
situation。 He threw the letter in the envoy's face and turned his
back upon him。 The unhappy man; who understood French; heard the
Governor give orders that a gibbet should be erected on which he
was to be hanged。 When the Bishop and the Intendant pleaded for
mercy; Frontenac seemed to yield。 He would not take; he said; an
hour to reply; but would answer at once。 He knew no such person
as King William。 James; though in exile; was the true King of
England and the good friend of the King of France。 There would be
no surrender to a pirate。 After this outburst; the envoy asked if
he might have the answer in writing。 〃No!〃 thundered Frontenac。
〃I will answer only from the mouths of my cannon and with my
musketry!〃
Phips could not take Quebec。 In carrying out his plans; he was
slow and dilatory。 Nature aided his foe。 The weather was bad; the
waters before Quebec were difficult; and boats grounded
unexpectedly in a falling tide。 Phips landed a force on the north
side of the basin at Beauport but was held in check by French and
Indian skirmishing parties。 He sailed his ships up close to
Quebec and bombarded the stronghold; but then; as now; ships were
impotent against well…served land defenses。 Soon Phips was short
of ammunition。 A second time he made a landing in order to attack
Quebec from the valley of the St。 Charles but French regulars
fought with militia and Indians to drive off his forces。 Phips
held a meeting with his officers for prayer。 Heaven; however;
denied success to his arms。 If he could not take Quebec; it was
time to be gone; for in the late autumn the dangers of the St。
Lawrence are great。 He lay before Quebec for just a week and on
the 23d of October sailed away。 It was late in November when his
battered fleet began to straggle into Boston。 The ways of God had
not proved as simple as they had seemed to the Puritan faith; for
the stronghold of Satan had not fallen before the attacks of the
Lord's people。 There were searchings of heart; recriminations;
and financial distress in Boston。
For seven years more the war endured。 Frontenac's victory over
Phips at Quebec was not victory over the Iroquois or victory over
the colony of New York。 In 1691 this colony sent Peter Schuyler
with a force against Canada by way of Lake Champlain。 Schuyler
penetrated almost to Montreal; gained some indecisive success;
and caused much suffering to the unhappy Canadian settlers。
Frontenac made his last great stroke in duly; 1696; when he led
more than two thousand men through the primeval forest to destroy
the villages of the Onondaga and the Oneida tribes of the
Iroquois。 On the journey from the south shore of Lake Ontario;
the old man of seventy…five was unable to walk over the rough
portages and fifty Indians shouting songs of joy carried his
great canoe on their shoulders。 When the soldiers left the canoes
and marched forward to the fight; they bore Frontenac in an easy
chair。 He did not destroy his enemy; for many of the Indians
fled; but he burned their chief village and taught them a new
respect for the power of the French。 It was the last great effort
of the old warrior。 In the next year; 1697; was concluded the
Peace of Ryswick; and in 1698 Frontenac died in his seventy…ninth
year; a hoary champion of France's imperial designs。
The Peace of Ryswick was an indecisive ending of an indecisive
war。 It was indeed one of those bad treaties which invite renewed
war。 The struggle had achieved little but to deepen the
conviction of each side that it must make itself stronger for the
next fight。 Each gave back most of what it had gained。 The peace;
however; did not leave matters quite as they had been。 The
position of William was stronger than before; for France had
treated with him and now recognized him as King of England。
Moreover France; hitherto always victorious; with generals who
had not known defeat; was really defeated when she could not
longer advance。
CHAPTER II。 Quebec And Boston
At the end of the seventeenth century it must have seemed a far
cry from Versailles to Quebec。 The ocean was crossed only by
small sailing vessels haunted by both tempest and pestilence; the
one likely to prolong the voyage by many weeks; the other to
involve the sacrifice of scores of lives through scurvy and other
maladies。 Yet; remote as the colony seemed; Quebec was the child
of Versailles; protected and nourished by Louis XIV and directed
by him in its minutest affairs。 The King spent laborious hours
over papers relating to the cherished colony across the sea。 He
sent wise counsel to his officials in Canada and with tactful
patience rebuked their faults。 He did everything for the
colonistsgave them not merely land; but muskets; farm
implements; even chickens; pigs; and sometimes wives。 The defect
of his government was that it tended to be too paternal。 The
vital needs of a colony struggling with the problems of barbarism
could hardly be read correctly and provided for at Versailles。
Colonies; like men; are strong only when they learn to take care
of themselves。
The English colonies present a vivid contrast。 London did not
direct and control Boston。 In London the will; indeed; was not
wanting; for the Stuart kings; Charles II and James H; were not
less despotic in spirit than Louis XIV。 But while in France there
was a vast organism which moved only as the King willed; in
England power was more widely distributed。 It may be claimed with
truth that English national liberties are a growth from the local
freedom which has existed from time immemorial。 When British
colonists left the motherland to found a new society; their first
instinct was to create institutions which involved local control。
The solemn covenant by which in 1620 the worn company of the
Mayflower; after a long and painful voyage; pledged themselves to
create a self…governing society; was the inevitable expression of
the English political spirit。 Do what it would; London could
never control Boston as Versailles controlled Quebec。
The English colonist kept his eyes fixed on his own fortunes。
》From the state he expected little; from himself; everything。 He
had no great sense of unity with neighboring colonists under the
same crown。 Only when he realized some peril to his interests;
some menace which would master him if he did not fight; was he
stirred to warlike energy。 French leaders; on the other hand;
were thinking of world politics。 The voyage of Verrazano; the
Italian sailor who had been sent out by Francis I of France in
1524; and who had sailed along a great stretch of the Atlantic
coast; was deemed by Frenchmen a sufficient title to the whole of
North America。 They flouted England's claim based upon the
voyages of the Cabots nearly thirty years earlier。 Spain; indeed;
might claim Florida; but the English had no real right to any
footing in the New World。 As late as in 1720; when the fortunes
of France were already on the wane in the New World; Father Bobe;
a priest of the Congregation of Missions; presented to the French
court a document which sets forth in uncompromising terms the
rights of France to all the land between the thirtieth and the
fiftieth parallels of latitude。 True; he says; others occupy much
of this territory; but France must drive out intruders and in
particular the English。 Boston rightly belongs to France and so
also do New York and Philadelphia。 The only regions to which
England has any just claim are Acadia; Newfoundland; and Hudson
Bay; ceded by France under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713。 This
weak cession all true Frenchmen regret and England must hand the
territories back。 She owes France compensation for her long
occupation of lands not really hers。 If she makes immediate
restitution; the King of France; generous and kind; will forego
some of his rights and allow England to retain a strip som