The French in the Heart of AmericaFinley, John H. (John Huston)
History
The French in the Heart of America
Finley, John H. (John Huston)
Canada -- History -- To 1763 (New France); French -- North America; Mississippi River Valley -- History
"But look likewise at that other post, to which are affixed the armorial
bearings of the great Captain of France whom we call King. He lives beyond
the sea; he is the Captain of the greatest Captains, and has not his equal
in the world. All the Captains you have ever seen, or of whom you have
ever heard, are mere children compared with him. He is like a great tree,
and they, only like little plants that we tread under foot in walking. You
know about Onnontio, that famous Captain of Quebec. You know and feel that
he is the terror of the Iroquois, and that his very name makes them
tremble, now that he has laid waste their country and set fire to their
Villages. Beyond the sea there are ten thousand Onnontios like him, who
are only the Soldiers of that great Captain, our Great King, of whom I am
speaking. When he says, 'I am going to war,' all obey him; and those ten
thousand Captains raise Companies of a hundred soldiers each, both on sea
and on land. Some embark in ships, one or two hundred in number, like
those that you have seen at Quebec. Your Canoes hold only four or five
men--or, at the very most, ten or twelve. Our ships in France hold four or
five hundred, and even as many as a thousand. Other men make war by land,
but in such vast numbers that, if drawn up in a double file, they would
extend farther than from here to Mississaquenk, although the distance
exceeds twenty leagues. When he attacks, he is more terrible than the
thunder: the earth trembles, the air and the sea are set on fire by the
discharge of his Cannon; while he has been seen amid his squadrons, all
covered with the blood of his foes, of whom he has slain so many with his
sword that he does not count their scalps, but the rivers of blood which
he sets flowing. So many prisoners of war does he lead away that he makes
no account of them, letting them go about whither they will, to show that
he does not fear them. No one now dares make war upon him, all nations
beyond the sea having most submissively sued for peace. From all parts of
the world people go to listen to his words and to admire him, and he alone
decides all the affairs of the world. What shall I say of his wealth? You
count yourselves rich when you have ten or twelve sacks of corn, some
hatchets, glass beads, kettles, or other things of that sort. He has towns
of his own, more in number than you have people in all these countries
five hundred leagues around; while in each town there are warehouses
containing enough hatchets to cut down all your forests, kettles to cook
all your moose, and glass beads to fill all your cabins. His house is
longer than from here to the head of the Sault"--that is, more than half a
league--"and higher than the tallest of your trees; and it contains more
families than the largest of your Villages can hold." [Footnote: "Jesuit
Relations" (Thwaites), 55:111-113.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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