The Great Company Part 13

Neither Troyes nor Iberville knew its precise situation; but a little reconnoitring soon discovered it. Fort Albany was built in a sheltered inlet forty yards from the borders of the Bay. Two miles to the north-east was an _estrapade_ on the summit of which was placed a seat for a sentinel to sight the ships expected from England and to signal them if all was well. But on this morning, unhappily, no sentinel was there to greet with a waving flag the Company's ship, on the deck of which young Iberville stood.

[Sidenote: Attack on Fort Albany.]

Two Indians, however, brought Governor Sargeant tidings of the approach of the enemy, and his previous successes at Moose and Rupert rivers. The Governor immediately resolved upon making a bold stand; all was instantly got in readiness to sustain a siege, and the men were encouraged to behave with fort.i.tude. Two hours later the booming of cannon was heard, and soon afterwards a couple of skirmishers were sighted at a distance. Despite the Governor's example, the servants at the fort were thrown into the greatest confusion. Two of their number were deputed by the rest to inform the Governor that they were by no means disposed to sacrifice their lives without provision being made for themselves and families in case of a serious issue. They were prevailed upon by the Governor to return to their posts, and a bounty was promised them. Bombardment by the French soon afterwards began, and lasted for two days, occasionally replied to by the English. But it was not until the evening of the second day that the first fatality occurred, when one of the servants was killed, and this brought about a mutiny. Elias Turner, the chief gunner, declared to his comrades that it was impossible for the Governor to hold the place and that, for his part, he was ready to throw himself on the clemency of the French. Sargeant overhearing this declaration, drew his pistol and threatened to blow out the gunner's brains if he did not return to his post, and this form of persuasion proved effective. The French now profited by the darkness to bring their cannon through the wood closer to the fort; and by daybreak a series of heavy b.a.l.l.s struck the bastions, causing a breach. Bridgar and Captain Outlaw, then at Fort Albany, were convinced that the enemy was undermining the powder magazine, in which case they would certainly be blown up.

The French from the ship had thrown up a battery, which was separated from the moat surrounding the fort by less than a musket shot. None ventured to show himself above ground at a moment of such peril. A sh.e.l.l exploded at the head of the stairway and wounded the cook. The cries of the French could now be distinctly heard outside the fort--"Vive le Roi, vive le Roi." In their fright and despair the English echoed the cry "Vive le Roi," thinking thereby to propitiate their aggressors. But the latter mistook the cry for one of defiance, as a token of loyalty to an altogether different monarch, and the bullets whistled faster and thicker. Sargeant desired to lower the flag floating above his own dwelling, but there was none to undertake so hazardous a task. Finally Dixon, the under-factor, offered to show himself and propitiate the French. He first thrust a white cloth from a window and waved a lighted torch before it. He then called in a loud voice, and the firing instantly ceased. The under-factor came forth, fully dressed, and bearing two huge flagons of port wine. Walking beyond the parapets he encountered both Troyes and Iberville, and by the light of a full moon the little party of French officers and the solitary Englishman sat down on the mounted cannon, or on the ground beside it, broached the two flagons and drank the health of the two kings, their masters.

"And now, gentlemen," said Dixon, "what is it you want?"

"Possession of your fort in the name of his Most Christian Majesty, King Lewis XIV."

Dixon, explaining that he was not master there, offered to conduct this message to Sargeant, and in a very short time the French commanders were seated comfortably within the house of the Governor.

The demand was again preferred, it being added that great offence had been given by the action of the English in taking captive three French traders, the previous autumn, and keeping them prisoners on ground owned and ruled by the King of France. For this reason reparation was demanded, and Sargeant was desired at once to surrender the fort. The Governor was surprised at such extreme measures, for which he was totally unprepared, but was willing to surrender upon terms of capitulation. On the following morning these were arranged.

[Sidenote: Capitulation of the fort.]

It was agreed that Sargeant should continue to enjoy all his personal effects; and further, that his deputy, Dixon, three domestics and his servant, should accompany him out of the fort. It was also agreed that Troyes should send the clerks and servants of the Company to Charlton Island, there to await the arrival of the Company's ships from England. In case of their non-arrival within a reasonable time, Troyes promised to a.s.sist them to such vessel as he could command for the purpose. The Frenchman also gave Sargeant the provisions necessary to keep him and his companions from starvation. All quitted the fort without arms, save Sargeant and his son, whose swords and pistols hung at their sides. The Governor and his suite were provided with pa.s.sage to Hays Island, where he afterwards made his escape to Port Nelson.

The others were distributed between Forts Moose and Albany, and were treated with considerable severity and hardship.

Having attended to the disposition of his prisoners and their property, Troyes, accompanied by Iberville, departed on 10th August for Montreal. The gallant Chevalier and his a.s.sociates would have been glad to have pursued their successes, by crossing the Bay and capturing York Factory. But although two ships belonging to the Company had fallen to their lot, yet they could find none competent to command them. The distance between Albany and Port Nelson was by water two hundred and fifty leagues, and the road overland was as yet unknown to the French. But it was not their purpose that it should long remain so. In a letter to his official superior at Quebec, Denonville, pursuing his way amongst the tribes of the Upper Mississippi region, boasted that the next year would not pa.s.s without their becoming acquainted with it.

Wherefore Troyes suffered himself to be prevailed upon by Iberville, and be content with the victories already won. They carried with them in their journey more than 50,000 beaver as a trophy of their arms.

Many of the Hudson's Bay Company's servants were employed in bearing the spoils. Along the dreary march several of these unhappy captives were killed through the connivance of the French with the Indians; and the survivors reached Quebec in a dreadfully emaciated and halt condition.

Troyes' victories were ludicrously exaggerated: his return, therefore, was attended with much pomp.

[Sidenote: French prisoners taken by the "Churchill."]

Ignorant of Troyes and his conquests, the Company sent out its annual expedition as usual in 1687. In the autumn of this year the _Churchill_ was caught in the ice near Charlton Island. Iberville was quickly apprised of this mishap, and sent a party of four across the ice to reconnoitre. They appear to have been somewhat careless, for, while one sank down from utter exhaustion, the others were surprised by the Company's crew, seized and bound. One of the three, however, managed to escape the fate of his companions, who were manacled and placed in the bottom of the ship's hold, where they pa.s.sed the winter.

But the three Frenchmen enjoyed no monopoly of misfortune. The captain of the ship, while hunting on the island in the early days of spring, lost his life by drowning; and there were numerous minor calamities.

In May, preparation was made for departure, and as the English were short-handed the two Frenchmen were forced to lend their aid. This they did willingly, glad to exchange the open air of heaven for that of the hold of the ship. One day, while most of the crew were aloft, one of the Frenchmen, perceiving only two of his captors on deck, furtively secured an axe. With this implement he silently split the skulls of both men, and then ran to release his comrade temporarily chained below. The pair seized fire-arms which they came upon in a corner of the hold, and brandishing these in skilful fashion, they suddenly changed from captives into masters. In opprobrious terms and with violent gesticulations they dared the crew to come down from the rigging, or indeed to lay a hand upon the fringe of a shroud; and while one watched with two drawn pistols in hand the shivering seamen in the shrouds and rigging, the other steered the ship towards Rupert's River. How long this drama might have lasted it is hard to say, for within a few hours Iberville and his ship hove in sight. He had fitted out an expedition to rescue his men as soon as the ice would permit, and now came and took charge of the _Churchill_ and all on board.

[Sidenote: News of the disaster reaches England.]

The tidings of this expedition of the Chevalier Troyes, following close upon the harrowing tale of Smithsend, the mate of the _Merchant of Perpetuana_, excited the Adventurers to a pitch of fury. An extraordinary general meeting was held and London was placarded with an account of the outrages. A news-letter was issued at the Company's expense detailing the events, and carrying them into the remotest parts of the kingdom. Lord Churchill, who had succeeded King James in the governorship of the Company, personally presented a pet.i.tion of the outraged Company of Adventurers to the King, wherein it was prayed "that James would be pleased to afford them his Royal a.s.sistance and Protection and that Your Majesty will demand and procure satisfaction to be made them for all losses and damages they have suffered as well formerly as by this last invasion."

It is now necessary to mention what had been happening between the two crowns between 1685 and 1688.

In the first named year, in response to the pressure brought to bear upon both by their subjects, James had agreed with Lewis to appoint a joint commission to examine into the disputes between the two nations and, if possible, effect a pacific settlement.

Their respective possessions in America were giving the two Crowns so much trouble and expense that they were ready to welcome any arrangement which would reduce the burden. War between England and France in the old days had been a simple matter, confined to contiguous territory of whose geography and physical features they knew something. But now the mother countries could not offer each other hostilities without a score or so of their offspring colonies springing at each other's throats.

If war between France and England could only be confined to war between France and England, and not be allowed to spread itself over innumerable savage tribes and dependencies in North America, it was felt that a great end would thereby be gained.

[Sidenote: Negotiations for Colonial neutrality.]

The point sought by both kings was to make America neutral. Such a thing would have been excellent, had it but been possible. But the futility of such an arrangement was instantly made manifest. Both races in America were too eager and too anxious to reap the advantages of war. It was not likely that the Colonial English would allow a rich prize to pa.s.s them, only to be seized a hundred leagues farther east by the home authorities. The Colonial French were not to be expected in time of war to suffer tamely from compet.i.tion in the fur-trade, when the very principles of their allegiance urged them to forcible retaliation.

Even without the episode of the _Merchant of Perpetuana_ the rivalry between the two nations for the fur-trade was so bitter as to be a perpetual danger to peace. For this reason, and in order to mark some delimitation to the trade of the two countries, the joint commission had sat and examined into the matter.

On the sixth of November, 1686, a treaty of neutrality had been concluded between the two kings. It stipulated for a "firm peace, union and concord, and good understanding between the subjects" of James and Lewis. No vessels of either sovereign were thereafter to be employed in attacking the subjects of the other in any of the colonies. No soldiers of either king stationed in any of the colonies were to engage in any act of hostility such as giving aid or succour to men, or provisions to savages, at war with one another. But the fourth article of this treaty was productive of much confusion and misunderstanding.

"It has been agreed," it ran, "that each of the said kings shall hold the domains, rights, pre-eminences in the seas, straits and other waters of America which, and in the same extent, of right belongs to them; and in the same manner which they enjoy at present."

Now, at the very moment this treaty was signed, the French, by the victory of Troyes, were in possession of Fort Albany and the English still held Port Nelson. As the liberty of navigation was not disturbed by the Treaty it would appear that the French retained the right to sail in the Bay.

Commissioners were appointed to consider the carrying out of the treaty, the Sieurs Barillon and Bonrepas acting on behalf of France, and Lords Sutherland, Middleton and G.o.dolphin for James. To these commissioners the Company presented a further memorial, which dwelt upon their grievances "for five years past, in a time of peace and good correspondence between the two crowns."

[Sidenote: Impracticability of the Treaty.]

These commissioners appear to have done their best to arrange matters satisfactorily; but such a result was impossible under the conditions.

They were privately instructed by their respective masters to agree to hold the trade of Port Nelson in common. Such a proposal was extremely impracticable, as that well-informed subject, Denonville, made haste to inform his royal master. The proximity of the English, he declared, in such a remote part would be a certain source of hostility on both sides, and a dangerous temptation for numbers of "libertines," whom the least dissatisfaction would induce to take refuge at Port Nelson.

The "libertines" he thus alluded to were the bushrangers, who were already giving the French great trouble and uneasiness through their wild, undisciplined habits and their freedom from restraint.

Denonville added that the Hudson's Bay Company, paying higher prices for beaver than the French could do, would always have a preference, and consequently would almost monopolize the trade. It was therefore better, in his opinion, to effect a compromise in the Bay, restoring the three forts Troyes had taken in exchange for Port Nelson, which, so he stated, was worth more than the other three together for trading purposes. Besides, on the first rupture, it would be very easy to retake them by an overland march, as Troyes had done.

But such proposals on the part of the French were indignantly rejected by the English Company. There was, therefore, nothing for it but a _modus vivendi_, under which no further encroachments in the Bay were to be made by either party.

But whatever the intent of the negotiations, there was nothing to compel the parties directly interested to observe them. The elated French Company was too much inclined to retain what Troyes had wrested from the English to adhere to sophistries and weak-kneed arguments. It engaged Iberville to return to Fort Albany, upon which establishment it had bestowed the name of St. Anne, and repulse the English should their ships arrive and endeavour to land. Captain Moon, returning from Port Nelson, did make an attempt with twenty-four men to surprise the French. He built a station some eight miles distant; but Iberville heard of it, marched thither with great despatch, and pursued them for twenty miles. He then made preparations for seizing Captain Moon's ship, embarking upwards of forty men in canoes and small boats for this purpose. But those aboard her defeated his intention in the night, by setting her on fire and making their escape to the sh.o.r.e, where they rejoined their companions and made the best of their way overland to New Severn, a fort which had been erected in the previous year as a means of drawing trade away from the French conquerors in the eastern parts of the Bay.

Iberville was not long ignorant of the retreat of those who had escaped him; nor of the prosperity which attended the new factory. He arrived before New Severn in October, 1689, obtained its surrender and took the Company's Governor prisoner.

Amongst the Governor's papers which he seized was a letter from the secretary of the Company, ordering him, on behalf of the partners, to proclaim the Prince and Princess of Orange King and Queen of England, showing that the chief spirits of the Company were not unfriendly to those who precipitated the Revolution.

Glorying in this new exploit, Iberville now returned to Fort St. Anne, just in time to behold the spectacle of two strange ships standing off in the Bay.

The presence of these vessels was explained by the Company having sent out an expedition, comprising eighty-three men of both crews, with instructions to land on an island close to the Chechouan River and establish a fort, from whence they could sally forth to the re-conquest of Fort Albany. But already the winter had overtaken them, and the two vessels were locked in the ice. Their fort was, however, pretty well advanced, and they had landed a number of pieces of cannon. Iberville lay in ambush and, watching his opportunity, when twenty-one of the English were proceeding for a supply of stores to the ship, intercepted them. The whole party fell into the hands of the French; and Marincourt, with fourteen men, now began to reconnoitre the forces on the island. A brisk cannonading ensued between the two parties. After this had lasted some days Iberville found means to summon the Company's commander to surrender, threatening him with no quarter if he deferred compliance.

[Sidenote: Surrender of the Company's ships to the French.]

[Sidenote: Iberville's treacherous plan.]

To this the Governor responded that he had been given to understand on his departure from London that there was a treaty in force between the two Crowns, and that it occasioned him much astonishment that the French paid so little heed to it. Iberville's response was not exactly truthful, for he declared that whether a treaty existed or not he had not been the first to invade it; and that in any case he could waste no time in parley. The Governor replied that his force was still a strong one; but that he would not be averse to surrender if Iberville would agree to reimburse the Company's officers out of the proceeds of their store of furs; and also accord them a vessel wherewith to sail away. This stipulation was granted; Iberville grimly remarking that it was extraordinary what a large number of officers there were for so small a company of men. He had already captured the captain of one of the vessels and the surgeon; and there now remained thirteen others who thus escaped scot-free from the clutches of the French. The amount of wages demanded was close upon two thousand pounds. All the others were made prisoners, including the pilots, of whom it is said there were a number who had been despatched by the Admiralty to acquire a knowledge of the Bay and Straits. All were carried off by Iberville to Quebec, and Marincourt left behind with thirty-six men to guard the two posts. The young commander did not this time proceed overland, but having got possession of the Company's ship, the _Hampshire_, he sailed northward for the Straits. He had scarcely reached the lat.i.tude of Southampton Island when an English ship hove in sight, proceeding in his direction. They came so close together as to exchange speech.

Iberville had taken the precaution to hoist the English flag, and the presence of the prisoners caused implicit belief in his friendly pretensions. He learned that young Chouart, Radisson's nephew, was on board, and declares that he longed to attack openly the Company's ship, but the insufficiency of his force to guard the prisoners prevented him taking this course. He had, however, recourse to a stratagem which nearly succeeded. The captain of the other ship agreed to sail together in company through the Straits, and on the first clear weather to pay a visit to Iberville's ship. It was, it is almost needless to observe, the Frenchman's intention to seize the guileless Englishman and his companions the moment they had reached his deck.

But storms intervening, this project fell through. The ships separated and did not meet again.

The Hudson's Bay Company was not a little puzzled at the non-arrival of the _Hampshire_, which had been spoken thus happily in Hudson's Straits. For a long time the vessel was believed to be lost; as, indeed, she was, but not quite in the manner apprehended by her owners. Possession was not regained for some years; and when the _Hampshire_ sailed again for the Bay it was to encounter there complete destruction in battle.

As has been foreshadowed, in 1689 an event occurred which had been brewing ever since James had relinquished the governorship of the Company for the governorship of his subjects at large. William of Orange landed at Plymouth, and the Revolution in England put a new king on the English throne.

CHAPTER XIII.

1689-1696.

Company's Claims Mentioned in Declaration of War -- Parliament Grants Company's Application for Confirmation of its Charter -- Implacability of the Felt-makers -- Fort Albany not a Success in the hands of the French -- Denonville urges an Attack upon Fort Nelson -- Lewis Despatches Tast with a Fleet to Canada -- Iberville's Jealousy prevents its Sailing to the Bay -- Governor Phipps Burns Fort Nelson -- Further Agitation on the part of the French to Possess the West Main -- Company Makes another attempt to Regain Fort Albany -- Fort Nelson Surrendered to Iberville -- Its Re-conquest by the Company.