16

FAUX-SAULNIERS.

[CHAP. II.

went from necessity, and to save themselves from starving. This was practically admitted by the government itself. In 1713, when the colonial government had begun to realize the value of population, Mons. de Vaudreuil the Governor General wrote very urgently to France to obtain one hundred and fifty faux-saulniers (or contraband salt makers) who were sent to the galleys for interfering with the salt monopolies of the Farmers General; these would not consent to their going at large in France, but the offenders were not spoken of as in any respect undesirable colonists.'

In 1717 eighty of these faux-saulniers were sent to begin the town of New Orleans."

These bushrangers were the pioneers of French enterprise and discovery; and in all the military movements in the remote regions, as well as nearer the sea, they were the chief reliance of the government. Their intimacy with the tribes led to a great ascendancy in the Indian councils, and the attachment of the savages for these men who were familiar guests in their wigwams, and often married into the tribes, led to alliances in war. The British governors and agents attributed the whole military success of the French colonies to the bushrangers. In 1700, Robert Livingston in an official report declares, that "we can never rancounter the French, unless we have bushlopers as

1 2 Charlevoix, 403.

2 2 Charlevoix, 434.

CHAP. II.]

IRREGULAR POSTS.

17

well as they." And Pownall in his elaborate report to the Congress of Albany in 1754, points out very forcibly the advantages of the French military settlements for colonizing purposes on the

borders.2

The numbers of these bushrangers were great, and they frequently consorted in large companies. There is every reason to believe that they went into the wilderness and formed temporary or permanent trading posts much earlier than the date of any of the recognized establishments. And while the existence of these posts was doubtless known to the governors and colonial authorities, they were unlawful settlements and obtained no place in the annals of the colony.

In all expeditions towards the unsettled regions, these men formed a necessary part. The fur companies from the earliest days to our own time were obliged to employ their services, and their hardy endurance and untiring good nature are familiar to every one whose memory takes in any reminiscences of the northwestern fur trade. The Jesuit missionaries, however, seem to have held them in great abhorrence. They were no doubt somewhat indisposed to extreme subservience to the clergy, while the claims of the Jesuits went far beyond what was allowed to be their due by the French government or its local repreTheir roving habits led in many

sentatives.

* 4 N. Y. Doc., 650.

2 6 N. Y. Doc., 893.

18

JESUIT MISSIONARIES.

[CHAP. II.

cases to conduct which was very censurable, and interfered with the success of the missions. But it is impossible to believe that these men were as bad as their enemies have painted them; and in judging them we must not forget that those who opposed them most strenuously were opposed also to the policy of extending French settlements at all. The motives of their opponents have been discussed very sharply by most of the writers. who have succeeded them, and the documents in the Marine Department have shown beyond controversy that the French government found some of its most serious difficulties in dealing with an order whose devotion and courage deserve high eulogiums, but who did not make the interests of France or Canada their primary consideration. But at the same time that as a body the Jesuit missionaries did not desire French settlements in the Northwest, we are indebted to some of them, of whom Marquette is a noble example, for great services in exploring the country, and accurate geographical information. They were second to none in their contributions to geographical knowledge in both hemispheres: and as remarkable for courage and perseverance as for scientific research. Whatever may have been the truth in regard to the reasons which led them to act as they did, there is no ground for suspecting them of individual selfishness. Their zeal for their order was unbounded, but they were devoted and unselfish in obeying it.

CHAP. II.]

EARLY NORTHERN POSTS.

19

We may assume, whatever may have been the previous acquaintance of the French with this region, that the Michigan settlements began with those at Michilimackinac and the Sault de Ste. Marie. The creation of military posts and civil settlements at these places was almost contemporaneous with the missions, and began the policy which, although opposed and hindered, was at length to prevail. Had this policy of settlement begun earlier and continued unopposed, the destiny of Canada might have been changed.

CHAPTER III.

PREPARATIONS FOR WESTERN OCCUPATION.

THE movements for the settlement of the Northwest began in earnest about the year 1670. Louis XIV. had developed into a king of boundless ambition, and had a natural anxiety to extend his dominions into remote regions. China and the East Indies were at that time looked upon as mines of wealth, open to any European monarch with courage and enterprise enough to reach out for them. The reports which had come in various forms from the Northwest brought rumors of short and easy ways through the American woods and rivers to the South Sea, and it was believed the rich countries of the east were within no very long distance across the continent. Louis and his ministers determined to open and control this passage; and the extension of Canadian settlements was in their view a necessary step to that end. The royal designs had always favored settlements, but it was very difficult to know what course was best, when secret intrigues and conflicting interests kept up a series of contradictory representations.

The governors, who were generally anxious to extend the colony, were entangled in all man