The Great Intendant | Page 7

18 Priests and aspirants to the
priesthood, and 35 Jesuit fathers. There were also 19 Ursulines, 23
Hospitalieres, and 4 Sisters of the Congregation. The original record of
this, the first Canadian census, has been preserved and is without
question a most important historical document. It is likewise full of
living interest, for in it are recorded the names of many families whose
descendants are now to be found all over Canada.

CHAPTER III
THE IROQUOIS SUBDUED
It was the special task of Tracy and Courcelle to rid the colony of the
Iroquois scourge. The Five Nations [Footnote: The Iroquois league
consisted of five tribes or nations--the Mohawks, the Cayugas, the
Senecas, the Onondagas, and the Oneidas.] had heard with some
disquietude of the body of trained soldiers sent by the French king to
check their incursions and crush their confederacy. At the beginning of
December 1665, the Marquis de Tracy received an embassy from the
Onondagas. They desired to enter into a peace negotiation, and one of
the most noted chiefs, Garakonthie, delivered on that occasion a long
and eloquent address to the viceroy. A treaty was signed by them on
behalf of their own and two of the other tribes, the Senecas and the
Oneidas. But meanwhile the Oneidas did not cease from hostilities, and
the Mohawks also continued their bloody raids against the French
settlements. Courcelle therefore decided to march at once against their
villages beyond Lake Champlain, in what is now New York state and
to teach them a lesson. But he did not know the nature of a winter

expedition in this northern climate. Leaving Quebec on January 9, he
reached Three Rivers on the 16th, and proceeded to Fort Saint-Louis on
the Richelieu, where he had fixed the rendezvous of the troops. The
cold was very severe, and many soldiers were frozen at the outset. On
January 29 the little band, five or six hundred French and Canadians,
left Fort Saint-Louis, unfortunately without waiting for a party of
Algonquins who should have acted as scouts. It was a distressing march.
The soldiers had to walk through deep snow, and the unfamiliar use of
snowshoes was a great trial to the Europeans. At night, no shelter! They
had to sleep in the open air, under the canopy of the sky and the cold
light of the glimmering stars. Having no guides, Courcelle and his men
lost their way in that unknown country. After seventeen days of
extreme toil they found that, instead of reaching the Mohawk district,
they were near Corlaer in the New Netherlands, sixty miles distant. The
vanguard had a brush with two hundred Iroquois, who slipped away
after killing six French soldiers and leaving four of their own number
dead. The governor could go no farther with his exhausted troops and
was forced to retrace his steps. The retreat was worse than the forward
march. The supply of provisions failed, and to the suffering from cold
was soon added hunger. Many soldiers died of exposure and starvation.
In reading the account of the ill-fated expedition, one is reminded of the
disastrous retreat of Napoleon's army in 1812 through the icy solitudes
of Russia. By this sad experience the military commanders of New
France found that they had something to learn of the art of making war
in North America, and must respect the peculiarities of the climate and
country. Nevertheless Courcelle's winter expedition had made an
impression on the minds of the Iroquois and had even surprised the
Dutch and the English. The author of a narrative entitled Relation of
the March of the Governor of Canada into New York wrote: 'Surely so
bold and hardy an attempt hath not happened in any age.'
Apparently the Five Nations were somewhat uneasy, for in March the
Senecas sent ambassadors to the Marquis de Tracy to ratify the treaty
signed in December. In July delegates came from the Oneida tribe; they
presented a letter written by the English authorities at Orange which
assured the viceroy that the Mohawks were well disposed and wished
for peace. A new treaty of ratification was accordingly signed. But the

lieutenant-general wanted something more complete and decisive. He
demanded of the delegates a general treaty to include the whole of the
Five Nations, and stated that he would allow forty days for all the
Iroquois tribes to send their ambassadors to Quebec. Moreover, he
instructed Father Beschefer to go to Orange with some of the Oneida
delegates for the purpose of meeting the ambassadors and escorting
them to Quebec. Unfortunately, a few days after the priest's departure,
news came that four Frenchmen on a hunting expedition had been
killed near Fort Sainte-Anne by a party of Mohawks, and that three
others had been taken prisoners. One of the slain was