by Edmund Burke
These last mentioned islands were left neutral at the last peace; or in other words, they were left at the extinction of the old, in just the order proper for kindling a new flame (though such a design, I am convinced, was far from the intentions of one of the parties) and in all respects as if things were expressly ordered for that very purpose. Indeed nothing can be attended with worse consequences than these political after-reckonings, which the party who has the advantage at making the peace, never finds it his account to settle or adjust; but there they lie, full of matter of litigation; full of idle occasions for formal business; full of strife, and of ill blood; and when a proper time occurs of bloody and expensive wars. It were better, at any rate, all at once to know what we are to depend upon; the best or the worst we have to expect. If on the conclusion of a peace, things should take for us such an unfortunate turn, we have still great resources in the territories we possess. Jamaica is nothing like fully cultivated. The Bahamas, our undisputed right, where it is highly probable sugars might be cultivated to advantage, remain at present utterly neglected, as if unworthy of all notice, though they are many in number, large in extent, fruitful in their soil, situated in a very happy climate, and are in a manner the keys of the West-India navigation. But we shall pass by all reflections on this subject for the present, to look at the possessions and claims of France upon the continent, which, if they were as well cultivated as they are fruitful and extensive, or as convenient objects of the French industry as their islands, they would, I make no doubt, be at least as advantageous to the trade, and add as much to the wealth and power of that flourishing kingdom.
CHAP. IV.
THE French possessions and claims in North-America consist of an immense inland country, communicating with the sea by the mouths of two great rivers; both of difficult and dangerous navigation at the entrance; and one of which is quite frozen for almost half the year, and covered with thick exhalations and fogs for the greater part of the rest. They divide this vast country, which has our colonies on the East and North-East; the Spanish on the South-West and South-East; and to the Westward that unknown tract of land which stretches to the South-Sea; into two great provinces; the Northern of which they call Canada, and the Southern Louisiana. But how far the bounds of these countries, extended to dimensions almost as great as all Europe, by the ambition of France, ought to be contracted by the rights of other powers, I shall not undertake to determine; as after all, such questions must be decided in a manner altogether different from any thing that can be said here.
Canada, which borders upon our provinces of Nova-Scotia, New-England, and New-York, is of a climate not altogether different from theirs; but as it is much further from the sea, and more Northerly than a great part of those provinces, it has a much severer winter; though the air is generally clear. The soil is various; mostly barren; but the French have settlements where the land is equal in goodness to that in any of our colonies, and wants nothing but a better convenience of market to make it equally advantageous to the proprietors. It yields Indian corn very well in most parts, and very fine wheat in some. All sorts of garden stuff which grows in Europe flourishes here. But they raise no staple commodity to answer their demands upon Old France; their trade with the Indians produces all their returns for that market. They are the furrs of the beaver principally, and those of foxes and racoons, with deer-skins, and all the branches of the Peltry. These, with what corn and lumber they send to the West-Indies, to a people not very luxurious, nor extremely numerous, furnish though very little money, yet wherewithal in a plentiful country, to render life easy and agreeable.
The nature of the climate severely cold for the most part, and the people manufacturing nothing, shews what the country wants from Europe; wine, brandy, cloths, chiefly coarse, linen, and wrought iron. The Indian trade requires brandy, tobacco, a sort of duffil blankets, guns, powder and ball, kettles, hatchets, and tomahawks, with several toys and trinkets. The Indians supply the Peltry, and the French have traders, whom they call coureurs de bois, who, in the manner of the original inhabitants, traversing the vast lakes and rivers that divide this country, in canoes of bark, with incredible industry and patience, carry their goods into the remotest parts of America, and amongst nations entirely unknown to us. This again brings the market home to them, as the Indians are hereby habituated to trade with them. For this purpose, people from all parts, even from the distance of a thousand miles, come to the French fair of Mont-Real, which is held in June. On this occasion many solemnities are observed; guards are placed, and the governor assists to preserve order in such a concourse of such a variety of savage nations. The trade is now in that channel, for though many, if not most of these nations, actually pass by our settlement of Albany in New-York, where they may have the goods they want cheaper considerably than at Mont-Real, they travel on above two hundred miles further, to buy the same commodities at the second hand, and enhanced by the expence of so long a land carriage, at the French fair. For the French find it cheaper to buy our goods from the New-York merchants than to have them from their own, after so bad and so tedious a passage as it is from the mouth of the river St. Laurence to Mont-Real. So much do the French exceed us in industry, oeconomy, and the arts of conciliating the affections of mankind; things that even ballance all the disadvantages they naturally labour under in this country. Our fort of Oswego was well planned for securing the Indian trade, and actually brought us a great part of it. But it is now no longer an interruption to the French commerce.
Having mentioned Mont-Real, I have only to observe, that this town is situated in an island in the river of St. Laurence, in the country of the Iroquois. The river is only navigable hither by canoes, or small craft, having several falls between this town and Quebec. Yet this Indian fair, and the trade of the same kind, which they drive more or less for the whole year, make it no inconsiderable place. It contains about three thousand inhabitants.
Quebec, the capital, lies many leagues nearer the sea; from which, however, it is one hundred and fifty leagues distant. The river, which from the sea hither is ten or twelve miles broad, narrows all of a sudden to about a mile wide. The town is divided into an upper and a lower. In both the fortifications are strong, and the houses well built. They have a grand cathedral and episcopal palace, a handsome college of jesuits; three monasteries of men, and as many of women; and the town is covered by a regular and beautiful citadel, in which the governor resides. This city, though the capital of Canada, is however not very large. It contains about seven or eight thousand inhabitants at the utmost. Ships of any burthen load and unload here, and a good many are built.
From Quebec to Mont-Real, which is about one hundred and fifty miles distance, the country on both sides the river is very well settled, and has an agreeable effect upon the eye. The farms lie pretty close all the way; several gentlemen’s houses, neatly built, shew themselves at intervals; and there is all the appearance of a flourishing colony; but there are no towns or villages. It is pretty much like the well-settled parts of our colonies of Virginia and Maryland, where the planters are wholly within themselves.
With all the attention of the court of France to the trade and peopling of this, as well as their other colonies on the continent, they have not been yet able thoroughly to overcome the consequences of those difficulties which the climate, whilst the place was unsettled, threw in their way; their losses in the wars with that brave and fierce nation the Iroquois, who more than once reduced their colony to the last extremity, and the bad navigation of the river St. Laurence, which is an evil incurable, have kept back the colony. Therefore, though it is the oldest of all the French establishments, and prior to our settlement of New-England, the inhabitants are not above one hundred thousand souls. Some indeed of late reckon them but at forty thousand. An error this very prejudicial to our affairs, whilst we overvalued our own strength, and underrated the force of the enemy, and acted in a good measure in conformity to such ideas; but even this number, as I estimate it, which
I believe is not far from the reality, might be no just cause of dread to our colonies, if they managed the strength they have, and which is certainly much superior, with skill and effect. The French from theirs, though inferior, have seven or eight thousand militia hardy and well disciplined, always in readiness to cooperate with their regular troops; and there is nothing which may hinder or retard their operations from within themselves. It is therefore not more the French intrigues and their intermarriages with the Indians, which fix that people in the French interest, than the succours which they are always sure to have from such a force, ever in readiness to protect them whilst they remain their friends, or to punish them whenever they dare to appear as enemies. With us the case is quite otherwise. This savage people commence hostilities against us without any previous notice, and often without any provocation, they commit the most horrid ravages for a long time with impunity. But when at last their barbarities have roused the sleeping strength of our people, at the same time too that they have considerably lessened it, they are not ashamed to beg a peace; they know we always grant it readily; they promise it shall endure as long as the sun and moon; and then all is quiet, till the French intrigues, co-operating with our indolence, give them once more an opportunity of ravaging our colonies, and of once more renewing a peace to be broken like all the former.
The great river St. Laurence is that only upon which the French have settlements of any note; but if we look forward into futurity, it is nothing improbable that this vast country, whoever then shall be the possessors of it, will be enabled of itself to carry on a vast trade upon these great seas of fresh water which it environs. Here are five lakes, the smallest of which is a piece of sweet water greater than any in the other parts of the world; this is the lake Ontario, which is not less than two hundred leagues in circumference; Erie longer, but not so broad, is about the same extent. That of the Hurons spreads greatly in width, and is in circumference not less than three hundred; as is that of Michigan, though like lake Erie, it is rather long and comparatively narrow. But the lake Superior, which contains several large islands, is five hundred leagues in the circuit. All of these are navigable by any vessels, and they all communicate with one another, except that the passage between Erie and Ontario is interrupted by the stupendous cataract of Niagara, where the water tumbles down a precipice of twenty-six fathom high, and makes in this fall a thundering noise, which is heard all round the country at the distance of several miles. The river St. Laurence is the outlet of these lakes; by this they discharge themselves into the ocean. The French have built forts at the several straits, by which these lakes communicate with each other, as well as where the last of them communicates with the river St. Laurence. By these they effectually secure to themselves the trade of the lakes, and an influence upon all the nations of Americans which confine upon them.
They have but one settlement more in the Northern part of their territories in America, which deserves consideration; but that settlement, though a small one, is perhaps of more consequence than all the rest. It is the island of Cape Breton. This island properly belongs to the division of Acadia or Nova-Scotia, and it is the only part of it which has not been ceded by treaty to Great-Britain. It is about one hundred and forty miles in length, full of mountains and lakes, and intersected by a vast number of creeks and bays, almost meeting each other upon every side; which seems in general both for the coast and inland, very much to resemble the coast and inland parts of most Northern countries. Scotland is so; so is Iceland; and Denmark and Sweden have such shores, such mountains, and such lakes. However, the soil is in many places sufficiently fruitful; and in every part abounds with timber fit for all uses. In the earth are coal-pits; and on the shores one of the most valuable fisheries in the world. The only town in this island is Louisbourg. It stands upon one of the finest harbours in all America. This harbour is four leagues in circumference, landlocked every way but at the mouth, which is narrow; and within there is fine anchorage every where in seven fathom water. The town itself is of a tolerable size, and well built and fortified. The harbour is defended by batteries of cannon and forts, which secure it at this day, perhaps too effectually. This harbour is open the whole year. The French ships that carry goods to Quebec can very seldom get their full loading there, therefore on their return they put into Louisbourg, and there take in a quantity of fish, coal, and some lumber, and then sail away to the French islands in the West-Indies, where they vend these, and soon complete their cargo with sugars. It is needless to observe that this island was taken by us in the late war, but restored by the treaty of Aix la Chapelle, in which we certainly were not in such a condition as to intitle us to prescribe the terms.
CHAP. V.
THE French have called the South part of the vast tract which they claim in America, Louisiana. It was heretofore a part of Florida. It is bounded by the gulph of Mexico upon the South. But what bounds it is to have to the East and to the West, it is to be wished the next treaty of peace may settle definitively. This is in all respects a much finer country than Canada; in a delicious climate, capable of bearing almost any thing from the temper of the sky, and the goodness of the soil, and from the multitude of long, deep, and beautiful rivers, with which it is every where enriched and adorned; these are most of them navigable for hundreds of miles into the country. They are principally the Missisippi, whose head is unknown, but it almost goes quite through North America, and at certain seasons overflows it’s banks for a vast way on both sides. The Ohio, a river almost equal to the Danube, which falls into the Missisippi; the Ouabache, scarce inferior to the Ohio; the great rivers, Alibama, Mobile, and several others. The face of the country is almost wholly plain, covered with stately woods, or spread into very fine meadows. In short, Louisiana, particularly the Northern part, (for the mouth of the Missisippi is barren) without any of these heightenings which it received, when it was made the instrument to captivate so many to their ruin, is in all respects a most desirable place, though there be no sufficient reasons to believe that it contains any rich metals, which gave it the greatest influence in that remarkable delusion in 1720.
I know not how it has happened, but it has been the fate of this country to create romantic ideas at all times. Very surprising stories were told of it when first the Spaniards discovered the West-India islands. Amongst others, a notion was generally current, that there was a fountain here which perpetually renewed the youth of those who drank it. This was so uniformly and confidently affirmed, that Juan Pontio de Leon, a considerable man amongst the Spanish adventurers, gave credit to it, and made a particular expedition for the discovery of that fairy land, and that fountain of youth. He was the first of the Europeans who landed in Florida. But what success soever he met in his search for that celebrated spring, it is certain he died not long after, having searched every part of the country, and drank of almost every water it contained. Nor do I find that so invaluable a spring is yet discovered there; if it were, it would undoubtedly be the best commodity the country could yield, both for domestic consumption, and for the foreign markets, and would be a far better basis for stocks and funds than the richest mines of gold or silver. Yet, without this, an idea, altogether as romantic, of a trade hither operated so strongly upon a very wise nation, as to serve for the instrument of one of those dangerous master-strokes in politics, by which nations are sometimes saved, individuals undone, and an entire change and reversement brought about, not only in the common ways of thinking of mankind, but of all that seemed most fixed and permanent in a state. The famous Missisippi scheme in France was of this nature, and built upon such a romantic foundation. It is well known to all the world, both on it’s own account, and upon account of a similar madness that prevailed here, without perhaps being attended with such advantageous consequences.
The French settled in Louisiana raise some indigo, a good deal of cotton, some corn and rice, with lumber for their islands; but the colony is not very vigorous, on account of the shoals and sands with which the mouth
of the river Missisippi is in a manner choaked up, and which deny access to vessels of any considerable burthen. This keeps the inhabitants low; but the cause which keeps them from growing rich contributes too to their security; for it is not easy to act with any great force upon that side. But the French have not relied upon this advantage; but according to their usual cautious and wise custom, have erected several forts in the most material places, and fortified New Orleans their capital, and indeed only city in Louisiana, in a regular manner. This city is not remarkably fair, large, or rich. The whole colony is said not to contain above ten thousand souls, whites and negroes. Yet with all it’s disadvantages, this colony is not declining; and if ever they should make the mouth of the Missisippi more tractable; and what is impossible to ambition and industry? if they should come to fully possess and settle the Ohio, which at one season overflows, and makes such flood as to level all the falls almost from it’s very source to the mouth of the Missisippi, and gives a passage all that way to very considerable vessels, (though they have not quite the same easy return); and if by this and other means they should contrive a communication between Canada and the settlement at Louisiana, whilst they entirely confine us between our mountains and the sea, Louisiana in a few years will wear quite another face. It will supply their West-Indies with boards, staves, horses, mules, and provisions. It will send tobacco into France; and increasing the conveniencies of it’s mother country, and sister colonies, it will increase it’s own traffic, it’s inhabitants, and it’s power. We have seen how the French West-Indies in less than forty years, from a condition which could excite no other sentiments than those of compassion, are risen to such a pitch as to be an object of great and just terror to her neighbours; and we now feel too, that the French settlements in North America, even such as they are, are not an undermatch for the whole force of our’s, in the manner at least in which that force is exerted.