We Then Proceeded All Together In His Canoe As Far As Our Old
Houses, Where I Had The English And French To Enter, & Whilst They
Entertained Each Other With The Recital Of Their Mutual Hardships, I Spoke
Privately To My Nephew In These Terms:
-
"It is within your recollection, without doubt, of having heard your father
relate how many pains & fatigues we have had in serving France during
several years. You have also been informed by him that the recompense we
had reason to hope for from her was a black ingratitude on the part of the
Court as well as on the part of the company of Canada; & that they having
reduced us to the necessity of seeking to serve elsewhere, the English
received us with evidences of pleasure & of satisfaction. You know also the
motives that have obliged your father & myself, after 13 years of service,
to leave the English. The necessity of subsisting, the refusal that showed
the bad intention of the Hudson's Bay Company to satisfy us, have given
occasion to our separation, & to the establishment that we have made, & for
which I left you in possession in parting for France. But you ignore,
without doubt, that the Prince who reigns in England had disavowed the
proceedings of the Company in regard to us, & that he had caused us to be
recalled to his service, to receive the benefits of his Royal protection, &
a complete satisfying of our own discontents. I have left your father in
England, happier than we in this, that he is assured of his subsistance,
and that he commences to taste some repose; whilst I come to inform you
that we are now Englishmen, & that we have preferred the goodness &
kindness of a clement & easy king, in following our inclinations, which are
to serve people of heart & honour in preference to the offers that the King
of France caused to be made to us by his ministers, to oblige us to work
indirectly for his glory. I received an order, before leaving London, of
taking care of you, & of obliging you to serve the English nation. You are
young, & in a condition to work profitably for your fortune. If you are
resolved to follow my sentiments I never will abandon you. You will receive
the same treatment as myself. I will participate even at the expense of my
interests for your satisfaction. I will have a care also of those who
remain under my control in this place with you, & I shall leave nothing
undone that will be able to contribute to your advancement. I love you; you
are of my blood. I know that you have courage & resolution; decide for
yourself promptly, & make me see by your response, that I wait for, that
you are worthy of the goodness of the clement prince that I serve; but do
not forget, above all things, the injuries that the French have inflicted
upon one who has given his life to you, & that you are in my power."
When my nephew had heard all that I had to say to him, he protested to me
that he had no other sentiments but mine, & that he would do all that I
would wish of him, but that he begged me to have care of his mother; to
which I answered that I had not forgotten that she was my sister, & that
the confidence that he gave me evidence of had on that occasion imposed
upon me a double engagement, which obliged me of having care of her & of
him; with which, having been satisfied, he remitted to me the power of
commandant that I had left to him, & having embraced him, I said to him
that he should appear in the assembly of the English & French as satisfied
as he should be, & leave the rest to my management. After which we
re-entered into the house, & I commanded one of the Frenchmen to go out
immediately & inform his comrades that all would go well if they should
have an entire confidence in me & obey all my orders, which doing, they
should want nothing. I ordered also this same Frenchman to inform the
savages to come to me & work immediately with their comrades to bring back
into the house newly built the Beaver skins buried in the wood; & to that
end, to be able to work with more diligence, I told them I would double
their rations. Then I told my nephew to cross the river with the Frenchman
who served him as interpreter, & go by land to the north side at the
rendezvous that I had given to the savages the preceding day, whilst I
would make my way by water to the same meeting-place with Captain Gazer & 2
other men who remained with me; the which having embarked in my nephew's
canoe, I descended the river as far as the mouth, where I found the
savages, who awaited me with impatience, they having been joined the
following day by 30 other canoes of savages that I had had warned to
descend, by their captain who had come towards me. We were all together in
the canoes of the savages & boarded some ships which were stranded upon
Nelson's River.
This was in that strait that the chief of the savages spoke to me of many
things, & who after having received from my hands one of the presents
designed for the chief of these nations, he told me that he & his people
would speak of my name to all the nations, to invite them to come to me to
smoke the pipe of peace; but he blamed strongly the English Governor for
telling him that my brother had been made to die, that I was a prisoner, &
that he had come to destroy the rest of the French. The chief of the
savages added to the blame his complaint also. He said haughtily that the
Governor was unworthy of his friendship & of those of their old brothers
who commenced to establish it amongst them, in telling them such
falsehoods.
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