In 1667, When Prince Rupert And Other Noblemen Set
Out Two Shipps, Radisson Went In The Eagle, Captain Stannard Commander, And
In That Voyage The Name Of Rupert's River Was Given.
Again in 1668 and in
1669, and in this voyage directed his course to Port Nelson, and went on
shore with one Bayly (designed Governor for the English), fixed the King of
England's arms there, & left some goods for trading.
In 1671 three ships
were set out from London by the Hudson's Bay Company, then incorporated,
and Radisson went in one of them in their service, settled Moose River, &
went to Port Nelson, where he left some goods, and wintered at Rupert's
River. In 1673, upon some difference with the Hudson's Bay Company,
Radisson returned into France and was there persuaded to go to Canada. He
formed severall designs of going on private accounts for the French into
Hudson's Bay, which the Governor, Monsr. Frontenac, would by no means
permitt, declaring it would break the union between the two Kings."
Oldmixon says [Footnote: Oldmixon, Vol. I. p. 549.] that the
above-mentioned Charles 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 of security for her husband's fidelity to the interests of the French
monarch.
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