XVIII. CHAP. drove Parris from their village. Many of those who had participated in the delusion, and given their influence in 1692. favor of extreme measures, deeply repented and publicly asked forgiveness of their fellow-citizens. But Cotton Mather expressed no regret for the part he had taken, or the influence he exerted in increasing the delusion; his vanity never would admit that he could possibly have been in error. Instead of being humbled on account of the sorrows he had brought upon innocent persons, he labored to convince the world that, after all, he had not been so very active in promoting the delusion. Stoughton passed the remainder of his days the same cold, proud, and heartless man; nor did he ever manifest the least sorrow, that on such trifling and contradictory evidence, he had sentenced to death some of the best of men and women. It is a pleasure to record that, thirty years after this melancholy delusion, Cotton Mather with fearless energy advocated the use of inoculation for the prevention of 1721. small-pox. He had learned that it was successful in Turkey, in arresting or modifying that terrible disease, and he persuaded Dr. Boylston to make the experiment. Mather stood firm, amid the clamors of the ignorant mob, who even threw a lighted grenade filled with combustibles into his house, and paraded the streets of Boston, with halters in their hands, threatening to hang the inoculators. The majority of the physicians opposed inoculation on theological grounds, contending, "it was presumptuous for men to inflict disease on man, that being the prerogative of the Most High." "It was denounced as an infusion of malignity into the blood; a species of poisoning; an attempt to thwart God, who had sent the small-pox as a punishment for sins, and whose vengeance would thus be only provoked the more." Nearly all the ministers were in favor of the system, and they replied with arguments drawn from medical science. An embittered war of pam INOCULATION IN BOSTON. 195 XVIII. phlets ensued. The town authorities took decided ground CHAP. against the innovation, while the General Court passed a bill prohibiting the practice, but the Council wisely 1721 refused to give it their sanction. At length science and common sense prevailed, and the inoculists completely triumphed. CHAPTER XIX. MISSIONS AND SETTLEMENTS IN NEW FRANCE. The Emigrants few in number.-The Jesuits; their zeal as Teachers and Explorers.-Missions among the Hurons.-Ahasistari.-The Five Nations, or Iroquois.-Father Jogues.-The Abenakis; Dreuilettes.-The Dangers of the Missions.-French Settlers at Oswego.-James Marquette. The Mississippi.-La Salle; his Enterprise; his Failure and tragical End. CHAP. WE have already given an account of the discoveries XIX. made in New France, and the settlements founded under 1634, the direction of Samuel Champlain. We now intend to trace the history of these settlements and missions, from that period till the time when the Lilies of France were supplanted by the Banner of St. George. The climate offered but few inducements to cultivators of the soil, and emigrants came but slowly; they established trading houses, rather than agricultural settlements. To accumulate wealth their main resource was in the peltries of the wilderness, and these could be obtained only from the Indians, who roamed over the vast regions west and north of the lakes. A partial knowledge of the country had been obtained from a priest, Father Le Caron, the friend and companion of Champlain. He had, by groping through the woods, and paddling over the waters his birch-bark canoe, penetrated far up the St. Lawrence, explored the south shore of Lake Ontario, and even found his way to Lake Huron. XIX. Three years before the death of Champlain, Louis CHAP. XIII. gave a charter to a company, granting them the control of the valley of the St. Lawrence and all its trib- 1634. utaries. An interest was felt for the poor savages, and it was resolved to convert them to the religion of Rome ;not only convert them, but make them the allies of France. Worldly policy had as much influence as religious zeal. It was plain, the only way to found a French empire in the New World, was by making the native tribes subjects, and not by transplanting Frenchmen. The missions to the Indians were transferred to the supervision of the Jesuits. This order of priests was founded expressly to counteract the influence of the Reformation under Luther. As the Reformers favored 1534. education and the diffusion of general intelligence, so the Jesuit became the advocate of education-provided it was under his own control. He resolved to rule the world by influencing its rulers; he would govern by intellectual power and the force of opinion, rather than by superstitious fears. He endeavored to turn the principles of the Reformation against itself. His vows enjoined upon him perfect obedience to the will of his superior,-to go on any mission to which he might be ordered. No clime so deadly that he would not brave its danger; no people so savage that he would not attempt their conversion. With their usual energy and zeal, the Jesuits began to explore the wilds of New France, and to bring its wilder inhabitants under the influence of the Catholic faith. To the convert was offered the privileges of a subject of France. From this sprang a social equality, friendly relations were established, and intermarriages took place between the traders and the Indian women. Companies of Hurons, who dwelt on the shores of the lake which bears their name, were on a trading expedition to Quebec. On their return home the Jesuits Brebeuf and Daniel accompanied them. They went up the Ot XIX. CHAP. tawa till they came to its largest western branch, thence to its head waters, and thence across the wilderness to 1634. their villages on Georgian bay and Lake Simcoe. The faith and zeal of these two men sustained them during their toilsome journey of nine hundred miles, and though their feet were lacerated and their garments torn, they rejoiced in their sufferings. Here in a grove they built, with their own hands, a little chapel, in which they celebrated the ceremonies of their church. The Red Man came to hear the morning and evening prayers; though in a language which he could not understand, they seemed to him to be addressed to the Great Spirit, whom he himself worshipped. Six missions were soon established in the villages around these lakes and bays. Father Brebeuf spent four hours of every morning in private prayer and self-flagellations, the rest of the day in catechizing and teaching. Sometimes he would go out into the village, and as he passed along would ring his little bell and thus invite the grave warriors to a conference, on the mysteries of his religion. Thus he labored for fifteen years. These teachings had an influence on the susceptible heart of the great Huron chief Ahasistari. He professed himself a convert and was baptized. Often as he escaped uninjured from the perils of battle, he thought some powerful spirit watched over him, and now he believed that the God whom the white man worshipped was that guardian spirit. In the first flush of his zeal he exclaimed: "Let us strive to make all men Christians." Thousands of the sons and daughters of the forest listened to instruction, and the story of their willingness to hear, when told in France, excited a new interest. The king and queen and nobles vied with each other in manifesting their regard by giving encouragement and aid to the missionaries, and by presents to the converts. A college, to educate men for these missions, was founded at Quebec, two years before the founding of Harvard. Two |