La Barre, &
Imbark'd For France With My Brother-In-Law, The 11 9ber, 1683, In The
Frigat That Brought The Soldiers, And Arrived At Rochell The 18 Of Xber,
Where I Heard Of The Death Of Monsr.
Colbert; yet I continued my jorney to
Paris, to give the Court an account of my proceedings.
I arriv'd at Paris
with my Brother-in-Law the 15th January, wher I understood ther was great
complaints made against me in the King's Councill by my Lord Preston, his
Majesty's Envoy Extrordinary, concerning what had past in the River and
Port Nelson, and that I was accus'd of having cruelly abused the English,
Robbed, stoln, and burnt their habitation; for all which my Lord Preston
demanded satisfaction, and that exemplary punishment might bee inflicted on
the offenders, to content his majesty. This advice did not discourage me
from presenting myself before the Marquiss De Signalay, & to inform him of
all that had past betwixt the English and me during my voyadge. Hee found
nothing amiss in all my proceedings, wherof I made him a true relation; and
so farr was it from being blamed in the Court of france, that I may say,
without flattering my self, it was well approved, & was comended.
[Footnote: Louis XIV. to De la Barre, to April, 1684: "The King of England
has authorized his ambassador to speak to me respecting what occurred in
the river Nelson between the English and Radisson and des Grozelliers,
whereupon I am happy to inform you that, as I am unwilling to afford the
King of England any cause of complaint, & as I think it important,
nevertheless, to prevent the English establishing themselves on that river,
it would be well for you to have a proposal made to the commandant at
Hudson's Bay that neither the French nor the English should have power to
make any new establishments; to which I am persuaded he will give his
consent the more readily, as he is not in a position to prevent those which
my subjects wish to form in said Nelson's river."] I doe not say that I
deserv'd it, only that I endeavor'd, in all my proceedings, to discharge
the part of an honnest man, and that I think I did no other. I referr it to
bee judged by what is contain'd in this narrative, which I protest is
faithfull & sincere; and if I have deserved the accusations made against me
in the Court of ffrance, I think it needlesse to say aught else in my
justification; which is fully to bee seen in the Relation of the voyadge I
made by his Majesty's order last year, 1684, for the Royal Company of
Hudson's Bay; the successe and profitable returns whereof has destroyed,
unto the shame of my Ennemys, all the evell impressions they would have
given of my actions.
VOYAGES OF PETER ESPRIT RADISSON.
Relation of the Voyage of Peter Esprit Radisson, Anno 1684.
(Translated from the French.)
* * * * *
I have treated at length the narrative of my voyage in the years 1682 and
1683, in Hudson's Bay, to the North of Canada. Up to my arrival in the city
of Paris, all things were prepared for the fitting out of the ships with
which I should make my return to the North of Canada, pending the
negotiations at Court for the return to me of every fourth beaver skin that
the very Christian King took for the customs duty, which had been promissed
to me in consideration of my discoveries, voyages, and Services; by which I
hoped to profit over & above my share during the first years of that
establishment. It was also at the same time that my Lord Viscount Preston,
Minister Extraordinary from the King at the Court of France, continued to
pursue me concerning the things of which I was accused by the account
against me of the gentlemen of the Royal Hudson's Bay Company; my enemies
having taken due care to publish the enormous crimes of which I was
charged, & my friends taking the pains to support me under it, & to give me
advice of all that passed. Although at last no longer able to suffer any
one to tax my conduct, I considered myself obliged to undeceive each one. I
resolved at length within myself to speak, to the effect of making it
appear as if my dissatisfaction had passed away. For that effect I made
choice of persons who did me the honor of loving me, and this was done in
the conversations that I had with them upon the subject. That my heart,
little given to dissimulation, had avowed to them, on different occasions,
the sorrow that I had felt at being obliged to abandon the service of
England because of the bad treatment that I had received from them, & that
I should not be sorry of returning to it, being more in a condition than I
had been for it, of rendering service to the king and the nation, if they
were disposed to render me justice and to remember my services. I spoke
also several times to the English Government. I had left my nephew, son of
Sieur des Groseilliers, my brother-in-law, with other Frenchmen, near Port
Nelson, who were there the sole masters of the beaver trade, which ought to
be considerable at that port, and that it depended upon me to make it
profitable for the English. All these things having been reported by one of
my particular friends to the persons who are in the interest of the
Government, they judged correctly that a man who spoke freely in that
manner, & who made no difficulty in letting his sentiments be known, & who
shewed by them that it was possible to be easily led back, by rendering
justice to him, to a party that he had only abandoned through
dissatisfaction, I was requested to have some conferences with these same
persons. I took in this matter the first step without repugnance, & upon
the report that was made to my Lord Preston of things that we had treated
upon in the interviews, & of that of which I claimed to be capable of
doing, I was exhorted from his side of re-entering into my first
engagements with the English; assuring me that if I could execute that
which I had proposed, I should receive from His majesty in England, & from
His Royal Highness of the Hudson's Bay Company, & from the Government, all
kinds of good treatment & an entire satisfaction; that, moreover, I need
not make myself uneasy of that which regarded my interests, this minister
being willing himself to be charged with the care of me, to preserve them,
& of procuring me other advantages after that I should be put in a position
of rendering service to the King his master.
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