Voyages of Peter Esprit Radisson | Page 8

Baily, with whom went Radisson and ten or
twenty men, took out with him Mr. Thomas Gorst as his secretary, who
at his request kept a journal, which eventually passed into the
possession of Oldmixon. The following extracts give some idea of the
life led by the fur-traders at the Fort: "They were apprehensive of being
attacked by some Indians, whom the French Jesuits had animated
against the English and all that dealt with them. The French used many
artifices to hinder the natives trading with the English; they gave them
great rates for their goods, and obliged Mr Baily to lower the price of
his to oblige the Indians who dwelt about Moose river, with whom they
drove the greatest trade. The French, to ruin their commerce with the
natives, came and made a settlement not above eight days' journey up
that river from the place where the English traded. 'Twas therefore
debated whether the Company's Agents should not remove from
Rupert's to Moose river, to prevent their traffick being interrupted by
the French. On the 3d of April, 1674, a council of the principal persons
in the Fort was held, where Mr Baily, the Governor, Captain
Groseilliers, and Captain Cole were present and gave their several
opinions. The Governor inclined to move. Captain Cole was against it,
as dangerous, and Captain Groseilliers for going thither in their bark to
trade. [Footnote: Oldmixon, Vol. I. p. 552.] ... The Governor, having

got everything ready for a voyage to Moose river, sent Captain
Groseilliers, Captain Cole, Mr Gorst, and other Indians to trade there.
They got two hundred and fifty skins, and the Captain of the Tabittee
Indians informed them the French Jesuits had bribed the Indians not to
deal with the English, but to live in friendship with the Indian nations
in league with the French.... The reason they got no more peltry now
was because the Indians thought Groseilliers was too hard for them,
and few would come down to deal with him." [Footnote: Oldmixon,
Vol. I. p. 554.] After Captain Baily [Footnote: _Ibid._, Vol. I. p. 555.]
had returned from a voyage in his sloop to trade to the fort, "on the 30th
Aug a missionary Jesuit, born of English parents, arrived, bearing a
letter from the Governor of Quebec to Mr Baily, dated the 8th of
October, 1673.
"The Governor of Quebec desired Mr Baily to treat the Jesuit civilly,
on account of the great amity between the two crowns. Mr Baily
resolved to keep the priest till ships came from England. He brought a
letter, also, for Capt Groseilliers, which gave jealousy to the English of
his corresponding with the French. His son-in-law lived in Quebec, and
had accompanied the priest part of the way, with three other Frenchmen,
who, being afraid to venture among strange Indians, returned....
Provisions running short, they were agreed, on the 17th Sept, they were
all to depart for Point Comfort, to stay there till the 22d, and then make
the best of their way for England. In this deplorable condition were
they when the Jesuit, Capt Groseilliers, & another papist, walking
downwards to the seaside at their devotions, heard seven great guns fire
distinctly. They came home in a transport of joy, told their companions
the news, and assured them it was true. Upon which they fired three
great guns from the fort to return the salute, though they could ill spare
the powder upon such an uncertainty." The ship "Prince Rupert" had
arrived, with Captain Gillam, bringing the new Governor, William
Lyddel, Esq.
Groseilliers and Radisson, after remaining for several years under the
Hudson's Bay Company, at last in 1674 felt obliged to sever the
connection, and went over again to France. Radisson told his nephew in
1684 that the cause was "the refusal, that showed the bad intention of
the Hudson's Bay Company to satisfy us." Several influential members
of the committee of direction for the Company were desirous of

retaining them in their employ; among them the Duke of York, Prince
Rupert their first Governor, Sir James Hayes, Sir William Young, Sir
John Kirke, and others; but it is evident there was a hostile feeling
towards Radisson and his brother-in-law on the part of several
members of the committee, for even after his successful expedition in
1684 they found "some members of the committee offended because I
had had the honour of making my reverence to the King and to his
Royal Highness."
From 1674 to 1683, Radisson seems to have remained stanch in his
allegiance to Louis XIV. In his narrative of the years 1682 and 1683 he
shews that Colbert endeavored to induce him to bring his wife over into
France, it would appear to remain there during his absence in Hudson's
Bay, as some sort