VOLUMES X.— XV

1634 — 1639, THE HuRONS, Québec, Three Rivers.

Thèse six volumes form a séries by themselves and must be examined together. They represent six years of sanguine expectation of progress entertained by the Frenchmen in Canada. They tell us of the bright promises received from the mother country and also of the openings the missionaries expected to hâve on the Great Lakes through the apparent good dispositions of the Hurons and other allied tribes. The reading of anterior Jesuits' Relations had truly excited the piety of several men and women of some influence in three or four cities of France, and there was a movement on foot tending to help the missionaries, even by colonization, but this latter part of the programme was soon paralyzed by the indifférence of the Hundred Partners. What resulted from the sudden ardor of those well-intending persons was merely the commencement of a hospital and an Ursuline school in 1639. The scheme to establish the Knights of Malta at the head of the colony fell through, on account of the Order being called to do duty in the East; and on the side of the Hurons war prevented any development of the religious missions in Upper Canada. During thèse years of expectation the Jesuits were prompted to furnish as much information as they could obtain concerning the country and to suggest measures of gênerai improvement. This situation renders the letters of 1634-39 most interesting, and when we know that they were written by men like Fathers Le Jeune and Brebœuf they attract necessarily the utmost attention.

THE JESUITS' RELATIONS AND ALLIED DOCUMENTS lol

Six résidences or Jesuits ' missions existed in New- France : Sainte-Anne of Cape Breton, Saint-Charles at Miscou, Notre-Dame-de-Recouvrance at Québec near the fort, Notre-Dame-des-Anges half a league from Québec, Conception at Three Rivers, Saint-Joseph at Ihonatiria among the Hurons, this latter being the mother house of five or six other missions spread throughout Upper Canada between Lakes Huron and Erie. Fourteen priests, besides their assistants, were distributed in this manner from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the eastern shores of Lake Huron.

It was not without a sort of spite that the Algonquins of the Ottawa noticed the arrivai of Brebœuf in the Huron country, for they were jealous of the facilities the Frenchm'en would impart to the Hurons in the way of traffic if they were allowed to hâve close intercourse. The mind of the Algonquins, as well as that of the Hurons and the Iroquois, never realized in those days the purpose of the missionaries : they naturally saw nothing but trade and commerce in the doings of ail classes of Europeans. Hence from the moment the Jesuits took permanent résidence in the Huron country the Iroquois determined upon a war to the death against thèse people, because they felt that the French were becoming the masters of the furtrade around the lakes. Brebœuf says that, in 1635, the Iroquois having alarmed some Huron villages, a rumor circulated that the Algonquins had warned the Hurons of the sad resuit of the coming of the black gowns amongst them. They had not foreseen the nature of the trouble which they predicted. Soon after, the Iroquois having shown some désire to attack Allumettes Island, the Algonquins ran to the Hurons for assistance. By that time

the Iroquois had made up their minds to destroy both nations and they entered (1636) openly upon the exécution of that plan. Father Breboeuf and his missionaries in the Huron country had no means to detect the danger nor to repuise it. They wrote in full belief that the omens were most favorable. It is painful to us when reading those enthusiastic letters to think that the enterprise of the missions was on the verge of the most terrible tragedy destined to take place in the annals of this new continent.

In brief the little headvvay made from 1632 to 1639 may be considered as marking a period of prosperity if compared with the years that followed.

July 189a