"See," said they, "one of your people has wounded one of ours. You know very well our custom; give us some presents to wipe away this offence." "As there is no police amongst the savages," continues Le Jeune, "if one of them kills or wounds another, he may be quit by giving some presents to the friends of the deceased, or to the person offended. Our interpreter replied, 'You also know our customs when any one acts wrong, we punish him. This boy has wounded one of your people: he will be immediately flogged for it in your presence.' They accordingly had the boy brought out to receive the punishment; but when the Indians saw that the French were in earnest, and were stripping and preparing to flog this little beater of savages and of drums, they began immediately to beg he might be pardoned, saying that the boy was too young to know what he was about; but as our people still continued their preparations to punish him, one of the Indians suddenly stripped himself, and threw his robe over the boy, crying out to the man who was going to flog him, 'Scourge me, if you choose; but do not strike the boy.' Thus the youth escaped. None of the savages, as we are informed, can chastise, or bear to see chastised, any child. This," adds the good Father, "will occasion trouble to us in the design we have to instruct their youth."*

* Relation de la Nouvelle France, 1633, p. 145.

Charlevoix records a circumstance in some degree similar; and which is introduced in one of his works, with the following tribute of praise to the Indian character: "Most of the Indians possess a nobleness of soul and an equanimity which we seldom attain, with all the aid we draw from philosophy and religion. Always masters of themselves, no alteration is perceptible in their countenance, even when they meet with the most unexpected insult. An Indian prisoner, who is well aware what will be the termination of his captivity, or who is perhaps under the still more trying incertitude, respecting his fate, never loses a quarter of an hour of his sleep, nor does any sudden impulse ever lead him into error.-A Huron chief was one day insulted and struck by a youth. Those who witnessed this, were upon the point of instantly punishing the offender for his audacity: 'Let him alone,' said the chief, did you not perceive the earth tremble? The youth is sufficiently conscious of his folly.'

It is unnecessary, in this place, to lay before the reader any additional passages from writers who have noticed the general character of the North American Indians. Similar extracts, if thought requisite, might be selected in abundance, from

Charlevoix, Journal Historique, Lett. 21.

authors of the highest credit- English, French, and American. That the civilization of a numerous race, gifted with the qualities which these writers have so ascribed to them, should have been obstructed, rather than promoted, by their communication with Europeans, affords matter of melancholy reflection. The fact, however, is not to be doubted; and the farther we inquire into the subject, the more shall we be convinced of the truth of what is observed by Lafitau, "that the Indians have lost more by imitating our vices, than they have gained by availing themselves of those arts which might have added to the comforts and conveniences of life."

CHAPTER II.

EARLY CONDUCT OF THE FRENCH WITH RESPECT TO THE INDIANS- - DANGERS AND DIFFICULTIES EXPERIENCED BY THE MISSIONARIES IN NEW

FRANCE.

For many years after the government of France had begun to establish a colony upon the St. Lawrence, very little interest seems to have been taken by the parent state, either in the success of the settlers, or the improvement of the Indians. The newly-acquired country, indeed, came to be dignified with the title of New France, and a prince of the blood royal was appointed by the crown to be viceroy over it. But neither the king nor his viceroy gave themselves much trouble concerning its government; and the entire control over Canada was delegated by letters patent-for a valuable consideration, no doubt-to a company of merchants from Rouen, Saint Malo, and Rochelle. The Prince de Condé, in the year 1620, disposed of his viceroyship to his brother-in-law, the Maréchal de Montmorency, for eleven thousand crowns; and the maréchal, in his turn, sold it in 1622, to his own nephew, the Duc de Ventadour. While the uncle seems thus to have had his own temporal

interest in view, the chief concern of the nephew was the spiritual welfare of those heathen nations who resided within his newly purchased viceroyalty." "The Duke," says Charlevoix, "had retired from the court, and had even entered into holy orders. It was not for the purpose of returning to the bustle and business of the world, but to procure the conversion of the savages, that he took upon himself the charge of the affairs of New France; and, as the Jesuits had the direction of his conscience, he cast his eyes upon them for the execution of his project. He submitted the proposal to the council of the king, and his majesty the more willingly assented to it, because the Recollet Fathers, so far from objecting to the measure, had themselves first recommended it to the duke."*

Thus commenced those celebrated missions into the wilds of Canada, which were principally directed by the society of the Jesuits-that powerful association, whose labours and perseverance were so conspicuous, in whatever quarter of the globe they endeavoured to extend their temporal influence, or to convert the heathen to Christianity. They continued, year after year, to send their missionaries into the savage regions of North America, in order to promote the great work in which they were engaged. The labour and constancy with

* Charlevoix, Histoire de la Nouvelle France, liv. iv.