erable; well peopled; but three times more people than it possesses could be easily located there. The misfortune is that we have not enough of people in the colony."

This continued to be the misfortune until Canada became a British province. Colonies had grown to greatness under English neglect, and in the shadow of governmental disfavor; but under the fostering care of French supervision and nursing, they could only languish in the weakness of absolute dependence. When Canada became British there was within the limits of Michigan no settlement which, under existing conditions, gave promise of substantial growth and expansion. At Sault Ste. Marie the Chevalier de Repentigny, under a large grant made to him with manorial rights, had made some effort to plant a settlement, but it took no root and was soon forgotten. At Michilimackinac a trading post and a mission were still maintained, and Indians had their vil lages about it, and practiced such imperfect agriculture as sufficed for the limited needs of their indolent and unthrifty mode of living. Detroit alone had pretensions to be called a settlement; but when its age and its magnificent natural advantages are considered, the pretensions must be called but slight. For sixty years the Indians had gathered in considerable numbers about it, and raised their scanty crops in its vicinity, and been given such Christian instruction as they

FRENCH POLICY IN COLONIES.

39

would consent to receive, and far more than they were capable of understanding; but they still remained savages, and were watched more than they were trusted. The few French agricultural settlers kept within easy reach of the shelter and protection of the fort. Sixty years of the French system of governmental absolutism, official venality, trade monopoly, and individual dependence had maintained for the king a nominal sovereignty over the Lake country, but it had established no colony worthy the name. On all the upper lakes not a vessel unfurled sails to the breeze; the canoe and other row-boats met the wants of such transportation as the existing traffic called for. There was no printing-press in Michigan, for there was none in all New France. The time was to come when at many a waterfall and crossing of trails in the peninsula, some small company, less numerous than that with which La Motte Cadillac founded Detroit, coming with their axes and other agricultural implements, but above all with their families for permanent homes, would within a single year have more of permanent worth to show for their labors.

CHAPTER III.

PONTIAC'S VAIN STRUGGLE FOR THE HOMES OF HIS PEOPLE.

ON the memorable eighteenth of September, 1759, the garrison of Quebec sorrowfully opened its gates, and the investing British army marched in and took possession. It was the stronghold of all Canada; and from New Hampshire to Georgia Americans welcomed the news with exuberant rejoicings as the prelude to the inevitable submission of all New France, and the termination of the savage warfare that under French inspiration had so long disquieted and at times devastated their northern and western borders. Canada also was alive to the significance of the great event ; for it was plain to all men that the permanent occupation of Quebec by British forces involved the overthow of French power in America. Accordingly a vigorous effort was made to recover the place the following year, but it proved abortive, and on September 8, 1760, M. de Vaudreuil, the governor-general, surrendered Montreal, and with it all Canada, to General Amherst, the British commander. By the articles of capitulation the

ROGERS, THe partisan leader.

41

undisturbed enjoyment of their property and the free exercise of their religion were guarantied to the people, but an article stipulating for the preservation of existing laws was refused, and the people were given to understand that they had become subjects of the British crown, and would be treated as such.

Four days later General Amherst issued an order to Major Robert Rogers, directing him to proceed with a military force to Detroit and Michilimackinac and take possession of those posts and administer oaths of allegiance to the inhabitants. Rogers was the most noted partisan leader of the day he had been active and conspicuous in the war from the first; no Indian had surpassed him in woodcraft or in cunning, and few either white or red had equaled him in daring or in prowess. He had suffered hardships of every nature incident to war: sickness, and wounds, and captivity, and starvation; but his endurance was equal to every emergency, and he had come out of every trial with no abatement of courage or determination. From Lake Champlain to Quebec forest glens had echoed the deadly reports of his rifle, and were red with the bloody footsteps of his men. He received with pleasure the order which was to complete on the upper lakes the victory at Quebec, and started the next day, taking the route by Lake Ontario, the Niagara River, and Lake Erie to Presque Isle, from which he diverged for

the delivery of dispatches to General Monckton at Pittsburgh. Returning to Presque Isle he resumed his journey along the south shore of Lake Erie until November 7th, when he encamped at the mouth of a river which he called the Chogage, and which has been variously conjectured to have been the Chagrin, the Cuyahoga, and the Grand. Here he was met by a party of Indians who announced themselves messengers of Pontiac, the ruler and king of all that country, and who admonished the British commander in the name of their master, that no further advance should be made until Pontiac, who was near at hand, should arrive and give permission. The chief soon followed the embassy, and in haughty tones demanded of Rogers how he dared to enter his country without permission. Rogers replied that he had come with no hostile purpose against the Indians, and that his sole business was to remove from the country the French, who had been an obstacle to peace and trade between the Indians and the English. In token of friendship, strings of wampum were then delivered to Pontiac, who received them graciously, but signified his will that the party should proceed no farther until the morning; and after exchange of friendly courtesies he took his departure. The next morning he again appeared, smoked the pipe of peace with Major Rogers, gave consent to his proceeding on his journey, and offered to