The Case of Peter du Calvet

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THE OF PETER DU CALVET, Esq. Of Montreal in the Province of Quebeck.

CONTAINING,

(Amongst other Things worth Notice,)

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THE following Case of Mr. DU CALVET has been drawn up under his inspection and from materials furnished by him; and every page of it has been explained to him in the French language as soon as it has been written; and such alterations and corrections have been made in different parts of it as he thought were necessary to make it perfectly express his meaning: So that it may be justly considered as being as much his own statement of the facts it relates as if it had been all written by himself in the French language.

Introductory biography

MR. du Calvet is a French protestant; born in the province of Guyenne in Old France, of a good family at or near Toulouse. He was heir to a handsome estate in land in that country, which has since fallen to him upon the death of his father in the year 1762.

In the year 1758, while the province of Quebeck, then called Canada, was yet subject to the crown of France, he resolved to go and settle in it as a merchant, and, with that view, he procured an assortment of goods suited to the trade of that country, with which he set sail for Quebeck in the beginning of April, 1758. He was ship-wrecked in the river Saint Lawrence, about 100 miles below the town of Quebeck, and lost his goods; but pursued his voyage without them to Quebeck, and arrived there in the month of June. He stayed at Quebeck but a short time, and went soon after, about the end of July, to Miramichi, a French port in that part of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, which is out of the peninsula of that name, with a new assortment of goods which he had procured at Quebeck, where he was appointed Garde-magasin en chef, or principal commissary of the French king's provisions and stores at that port, at which many of the poor French settlers in different parts of Nova Scotia, or Acadia, who are generally known by the name of the Acadians, and who had lately been expelled from their settlements by the British government, had taken refuge. These unhappy people, to the number of three or four thousand souls, were at that time maintained at the French king's expense upon provisions furnished from his stores. At this port of Miramichi there were at that time above a hundred English prisoners, chiefly officers and soldiers; to whom Mr. Du Calvet did all the services in his power during the whole time of his continuance in that office of Commissary, both at the aforesaid post of Miramichi and at the post of Ristigouche in the Baie des Chaleurs, to which Mr. du Calvet removed the French king's magazines of provisions in the following month of May, 1759, and which was about 200 miles from the former post, on the north side of it. Of this good treatment of the English prisoners at this post, the following extract from a certificate given him by lieutenant Caesar McCormick, of major Rogers's body of Rangers, who was one of them, will be allowed to be sufficient proof.

But before Mr. Du Calvet quitted this employment, he had an opportunity of doing Mr. McCormick and about thirty of his soldiers, a more important service. Many of their companions had been released by order of the French commander at the aforesaid post of Miramichi, and sent by sea to Fort Cumberland or Halifax in Nova Scotia, in consequence of the inconvenience of keeping them there as prisoners, where they helped to consume the provisions in the French king's magazines, which began to run short, and for which there was so large a demand for the poor Acadians in the country, and the Indians in the French interest who were assembled there. And now, as it was thought that Quebeck either was, or would soon be, taken by General Wolfe's army, a resolution was taken by Monsieur Bourdon, (the principal officer of the king of France, that was at that time at the post of Ristigouche,) with the knowledge and approbation of the Acadians at that post, to release Lieutenant McCormick, with the remaining English prisoners, who were upwards of thirty in number, in like manner, and to convey them by sea to Fort Cumberland, near Halifax. This was about the end of August, 1759.

As soon as the Indians at this post and its neighbourhood, to the number of about two hundred, became acquainted with this resolution, they met together, and determined to endeavour to prevent the execution of it. They said, "That hitherto the post of Ristigouche was unknown to the English, and therefore not liable to be attacked by them, as the former post of Miramichi had been: but that, if these prisoners were set free, and permitted to go from thence to Fort Cumberland or Halifax, they would acquaint their countrymen with the situation of it; and that the consequence would be, that a party of English troops would be sent to invade it, and burn their huts, and drive them out of the country; — and that therefore it was necessary to put all these prisoners to death." And accordingly they determined to fall upon the prisoners and murder them without delay, to prevent the intended release of them. This resolution of the Indians alarmed Mr. Du Calvet and Monsieur Bourdon, (the principal officer at Ristigouche) exceedingly; and they therefore called a meeting of the Acadians under their direction, to consult about the best method of protecting the prisoners from their fury; and it was there resolved, that the said prisoners should be immediately sent on board a vessel of about 60 tons burthen, with thirty chosen men to guard them against any attempt of the savages, and that the vessel should immediately be placed at an anchor in the middle of several others that were then in the harbour, in order to its greater security.

This was a great disappointment to the savages, who immediately resolved to go to a place called Carraquet, at the mouth of the Baie des Chaleurs, near which they knew the vessel, in which the prisoners were, must pass in its way to Fort Cumberland, and where, in all probability, it would even be necessary that they should stop and lie at an anchor for some time, on account of the rocks and breakers with which that part of the Baie des Chaleurs abounds, and which make it very dangerous and difficult to go through it, except in very favourable weather. Here the savages resolved to way-lay the vessel, attack and put to death the English prisoners. And they accordingly set out for this place immediately in about fifteen canoes, containing from four to six men in each canoe, all well armed, with which they went very near the shore so as to avoid those rocks and breakers which were dangerous to vessels of greater depth.

This motion of the savages very much alarmed Mr. du Calvet, and Mr. Bourdon, (the commanding officer at Ristigouche,) and made them resolve to use every possible means to prevent so cruel an outrage. They therefore called together several of the Acadians who were under their direction there, and exhorted them in the strongest manner, and upon every motive of religion, humanity, and policy, to join with them in endeavouring to protect the English prisoners from the attack of the savages. The Acadians readily consented to use their utmost endeavour for that purpose; and Mr. du Calvet immediately picked out sixty of the stoutest of them, and went with them, well armed, into another vessel of about sixty tons burthen, called the Jason, to attend and guard the vessel in which the English prisoners were, till they should have passed through that dangerous part of the Baie des Chaleurs in which the savages were lying in wait for them, and should have entered fully into the Gulph of Saint Lawrence, so as to be completely out of the reach of any farther danger from those savages.

Under this escort, the English prisoners begun their voyage from Ristigouche towards Fort Cumberland, or Halifax, on the 7th of September, 1759; and the next day both vessels arrived at a place called Chipagan, at the distance of about 90 miles from Ristigouche, and about 9 miles from the above mentioned place called Carraquet, where the savages were lying in wait for them. Both vessels continued at Chipagan from the 8th of September to the 10th, when they set sail again and went to Carraquet, and there they lay at anchor till the next day. This was the place at which the savages had resolved to fall on the English prisoners and murder them: but when they saw them so well protected, they were afraid to make the attempt, and gave the usual marks of their vexation at the disappointment, by wrapping themselves up in their blanket coverings and standing with their head down in a pensive and melancholy posture.

On the following day, the 11th of September 1759, the vessel, in which the English prisoners were, set sail again from Carraquet towards Fort Cumberland; but Mr. du Calvet with his Acadians continued at Carraquet till the 14th, when it was almost impossible that the other vessel could by any accident be brought within the reach of any attempt of these savages, and from the winds that had prevailed in the mean time, it was next to certain that they must have passed the Gulph of St. Lawrence, and reached Fort Cumberland. On the 14th Mr. du Calvet and the Acadians returned from Carraquet to Ristigouche.

Of this humane conduct of Mr. du Calvet and the Acadians under his direction to these English prisoners, the following certificate of Lieutenant McCormick, which was given him at Chipagan on the 10th of September, 1759, is an indisputable proof, if any were necessary, of a transaction that was at that time so well known in all the English army that was concerned in the expedition to Quebeck.

Soon after this event Mr. du Calvet returned into Canada; but, finding the town of Quebeck in the hands of the English, in consequence of General Wolfe's victory, he went to Montreal, where he continued till the following month of January, in the year 1760, when he was again employed by the French government at Montreal, to go to the same parts of Acadia, or Nova Scotia, at which he had been the foregoing year, and to take an exact account of the number of Acadians who had taken refuge there, that the French government might know the state of that country, and what quantity of provisions it would be necessary to send there for their support.

He went upon this business on the 18th of January, 1760, accompanied by a party of about sixty Acadians, who were then at Montreal, and three or four Indian savages for guides, and returned to Montreal, the 5th of April following, and continued there till the following month of September, when the whole province of Canada was surrendered by the Marquis de Vaudreuil to General Amherst, now Lord Amherst. Here he had the pleasure of meeting again Lieutenant McCormick, whose life he had been so instrumental in preserving from the fury of the savages in Acadia the preceeding year. The Lieutenant gratefully acknowledged the service, and made General Amherst acquainted with it; who thereupon sent for Mr. du Calvet, and made him many acknowledgements for his humane conduct on that occasion, and many offers of doing him services in return.

In the following year 1761, General Gage, who was at the time the commanding officer in the district of Montreal, gave Mr. du Calvet a pass-port to go to Quebeck, in order to take his passage from thence to Europe. The town of Quebeck, and a district of land about it, were at this time under the command of General Murray, as the town of Montreal, with the district belonging to it, was under that of General Gage, and the town and district of Trois-Rivières, or Three Rivers, (which lies between the two former) were under that of General Burton. When Mr. du Calvet came to Quebeck with General Gage's pass-port, General Murray desired him to postpone his voyage to Europe, in order to render the English government a service, for which he was better qualified than any other person the General could then employ, by reason of his acquaintance with, and influence over, the Acadians above-mentioned, who, after being driven from their settlements by the English in the year 1757, had taken refuge on the sea-coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the above-mentioned posts of Miramichi, Ristigouche, and at Nipissiguit, and other places on that coast, and far as the Gaspé Bay.

These Acadians had been considered by the English government as subjects of the crown of Great Britain; because they had been settled in Nova Scotia, which, by the treaty of Utrecht, had been ceded to Great Britain, nevertheless, as little or no notice had been taken of them by the British government for many years after the peace of Utrecht, they had continued to consider themselves as French subjects, and to be so considered by the French government. At last, in the year 1757, they were expelled by the English troops from their settlements in Nova Scotia, where they had lived for many years, with the reputation of a very harmless, virtuous, and industrious people; and they had thereupon taken refuge in the more remote parts of the province of Nova Scotia, at a distance from the peninsula of that name, along the fourth coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, from Miramichi to the Bay of Gaspé, which borders on Canada. Here they were maintained, in a great measure, (as has been related) at the expense of the French king, by provisions allowed them from his store-houses; and continuing to consider themselves as subjects of France, they occasionally exercised hostilities against the English, and particularly by sea, by taking, when they had an opportunity, some of their ships that were laden with provisions or military stores for the use of the army, then employed in the expedition against Quebeck. And in this kind of warfare they had had considerable success, having taken no less than fifteen or sixteen ships of this kind, during General Wolfe's expedition.

This conduct was resented by the British government, as being contrary to their duty as subjects of the crown of Great Britain, as the British government esteemed them. And accordingly General Amherst refused to comprehend them in the 39th article of the capitulation at Montreal, in September, 1760, by which he engaged that none of the Canadians should be sent either into any of the English provinces in America, or to Old England, or be troubled in any manner, for having borne arms against the crown of Great Britain. Being in this insecure condition, they continued to commit hostilities against the English for some time after the said surrender of Canada, in September, 1760, and made captures of English vessels in the Gulf and River of St. Lawrence, through the winter of the year 1760, and the spring of the year 1761.

The hostilities created a good deal of uneasiness at Quebeck, and were a great check to the navigation of the river Saint Lawrence. And therefore General Murray, who commanded (as we before observed) in the district of Quebeck, resolved to put a stop to them as soon as possible. With this view he sent out a brave and active Canadian, whose name was Grandmaison, towards the above-mentioned country, in which the Acadians had taken refuge, on the south coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, to persuade them to submit to the British government, and to promise them, in General Murray's name, an indemnity for all their past acts of hostility against the crown, upon their doing so, and likewise to assure them that, if they behaved as obedient subjects of the crown, they should be brought into the province of Canada, and have good lands assigned them there in lieu of those from which they had been driven in Nova Scotia.

This was the principal part of Mr. Grandmaison's commission: but he was likewise authorized by General Murray to make prisoner, if possible, and bring up to Quebeck, one Car, a wicked serjeant of an English regiment, who had deserted from the British army, and taken refuge amongst those Acadians, and the Indians that were with them, and had been active in instigating the former to stand out against the authority of Great Britain, after the Canadians had submitted to it, and to commit the above-mentioned hostilities against British vessels in the river Saint Lawrence. Mr. Grandmaison set out by land, with seven or eight men to assist him upon this business, about the month of March, 1761. But soon after his arrival in the country, Car, the deserter, getting intelligence of his design, assembled a small party of his friends, with whom he attacked Mr. Grandmaison by surprize, and broke his arm with a musket-ball; which obliged him to return to Quebeck without doing the business he had undertaken. This Mr. Grandmaison is still living, and enjoys at this day a pension from the British government, as a compensation for the lost of his arm, in this endeavour to serve the crown.

It was soon after the failure of this attempt of Mr. Grandmaison, that General Murray desired Mr. du Calvet to undertake the same business. He carried with him a letter from General Murray to the captains of the militia amongst the Acadians, that is, to the leading men in their several villages, dated the 7th of July, 1761, in which the General informed them, "That he had represented the forlorn and unfortunate situation of the Acadians to the king's ministers in very lively colours, and that they had, in consequence of such representations, sent out orders to him to remove the said Acadians from the country where they then were, near the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, into Canada, and there to furnish them with provisions out of the king's store-houses, till they could be conveniently settled upon some lands in Canada, which the government intended to grant them."

"That whatever reasons he might have to complain of their late conduct, he was willing to overlook and pardon all offences committed by them before that time, and even to pardon all the deserters that were at that time among them, excepting Serjeant Car above-mentioned; for the apprehending of whom he offered a reward of a hundred dollars."

"That he sent Mr. du Calvet to them, to take an account of their numbers, and of the quantity of shipping that would be necessary to bring them and their families to Quebeck; and that he desired they would immediately make use of what vessels they had then in good repair and fit for service amongst them, to being this removal to Quebeck."

"And, lastly, that he desired them, the captains of militia amongst the Acadians, (who were the principal men in their respective villages) to use their best endeavours to bring this business to a happy issue."

The letter itself was in the words following.

The direction of this letter was in these words,

With this letter to the captains of militia, or principal men of the several villages, of the Acadians, and a past-port from General Murray, dated the 16th of July, 1761, Mr. du Calvet set out from Quebeck, for the Baie des Chaleurs in a large sloop, called the Sainte-Anne, commanded by Captain Joanis, (a native of Old France, who was at the time settled in Canada) with a crew of eight men.

There was at this time a very strong report current, that the Acadians were cruising in the lower part of the river Saint Lawrence in armed vessels; and several captains of trading ships that had lately arrived at Quebeck, had even declared that they themselves had been chased by some privateers in that part of the river, and had with difficulty escaped from them. This report gave Captain Joanis some uneasiness, and occasioned his stopping at Kamouraska (a little harbour, on the right side of the river Saint Lawrence, as you go down the river, about thirty leagues below Quebeck,) to make inquiries concerning it. Here he received, from the people settled at the place, such an alarming account of these privateers, and of the risk he would run, not only of being taken, but of being murdered by them, if he pursued his voyage, that he was afraid to go any further, and was inclined to return immediately to Quebeck; and it was not without the utmost difficulty that Mr. du Calvet prevailed upon him to go on. However, they did pursue their voyage notwithstanding the dangers of it; against which they endeavoured to guard themselves by extreme watchfulness, and keeping a constant guard and look-out both night and day.

This vigilance proved the means of their safety. For, when, in coasting along the south side of the River and Gulf of Saint Lawrence, they came to a place called Percé, beyond the Bay of Gaspé, they saw a party of Indian savages, with some Frenchmen amongst them, all armed with fire-arms, who were evidently watching their motions with an intention to attack them. To avoid this danger, they went from the coast to a small island called Bonventure, which is over against Percé, and at the distance of a mile and a half from it. They did not, however, venture to land on their island, but cast anchor near it, and passed the night in their sloop, in great anxiety, with their arms in their hands, to be ready to defend themselves as well as they could, against these savages, in case of an attack; and the next morning, at break of day, they pursued their voyage towards the Baie des Chaleurs.

Their danger was not yet over; for the savages pursued them, partly by water in their canoes, and partly by land, for a great part of the following day, till about two o'clock in the afternoon, after which they were no more seen. From that time the sloop pursued its voyage with safety and success, and passed by Port Daniel, and arrived the same night in the Baie des Chaleurs, at a place about 9 miles beyond Paspébiac, which was called by the same name of Bonaventure, as the island near which they had anchored the preceeding night.

Here Mr. du Calvet was received by the Acadians, who were at this place, with open arms. They knew him, and esteemed him, and therefore gave credit to him, when he explained the business he was come upon; which, from a person unknown to them, they probably have suspected of being some artifice to deceive and entrap them. General Murray's offer was received by them with joy and thankfulness; and they immediately sent off messengers, in sloops or canoes, to all the other posts in the Baie of Chaleurs, at which any of their friends were settled, to gave them notice of it; which caused a general joy amongst them all.

The next day two of the Indian savages, who had pursued Mr. du Calvet and his party the day before, came running up to him quite out of breath, and took him by the hand, and wished him joy on his safe arrival there, and told him at the same time, "that he had done well to be so much upon his guard the night before last; for that they and several other Indians, to the number of twenty in all, had been watching an opportunity of falling on him and his party, (no knowing who they were,) and putting them all to death. And, if you had been off your guard a single moment, said they, we should have done it. But now, brother, that we see it was you that was in the sloop, we are glad that we did not succeed in our design, and we are ready to do you any service." They then went and told the rest of their party, who it was that was come amongst them, and for what purpose: and the day after they all, excepting two, came to him, and shewed him the same marks of friendship and satisfaction.

The two persons that did not come to him, this occasion, (though the had been with the savages in pursuit of the sloop Sainte-Anne,) were Car, the English deserter above-mentioned, and one Roussi, a Frenchman, who had been captain of a large merchant ship, and, after having been taken prisoner by the English, and put on board an English vessel, had risen, with the other French prisoners, upon the English crew, and, seizing the vessel, had carried into the Bay of Gaspé, and there lived in a lawless manner amongst the Indians. These two men had been with the party of savages that had pursued Mr. du Calvet and his party, and had been very active in encouraging them to that attempt. And they were probably sorry that it had not been attended with success: for, as they knew themselves to be obnoxious to the English government, it is natural to suppose that they rather feared than wished to see the Acadians submit to it, ans they might apprehend, that in consequence of such a submission, they themselves might be pursued and taken, and delivered up to the English government to be punished. And it is therefore not at all surprizing, that they did not come to wait upon and welcome Mr. du Calvet upon his arrival at Bonventure, where they might reasonably apprehend that the Acadians themselves (who, they knew, would be delighted with the message brought them by Mr. du Calvet,) would lay hands upon them, and deliver them up to Mr. du Calvet's party to be carried prisoners to Quebeck.

After this cordial reception by both the Acadians and the Indian savages, Mr. du Calvet set about the business of taking an account of the number of the Acadians in all that country. He went in his sloop from Bonaventure, where he had first arrived, along the north side of the Baie des Chaleurs, and up the river Ristigouche to the post of Ristigouche, at the distance of 21 miles from the bottom of the Baie des Chaleurs; and then down the river Ristigouche, and along the south side of the Baie des Chaleurs, by Nipissiguit, and other little places where the Acadians were dispersed, into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence; then, in a southern direction, along the west coast of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, by Carraquet and Chipagan, in the Bay of Miramichi, to the post of Miramichi, which is situated quite at the bottom of the Bay; then back again from Miramichi in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and along the west coast of the said Gulf, in a northern direction, by Chipagan and Carraquet to the Baie des Chaleurs; then across the Bay from Nipissiguit to Port Daniel; and from then again in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and along the west coast of that Gulf to the north of the Baie des Chaleurs, by the Great River and Percé to Gaspé Bay.

In all these places he took as exact an account as he could, of the number of the Acadians that were settled there, and then returned from the Bay of Gaspé up the river Sain Lawrence to Quebeck, where he arrived at the end of October, 1761. He was accompanied in his return by two small vessels full of Acadians from Nipissiguit in the Baie des Chaleurs, who resolved to embrace immediately General Murray's offer of going to Quebeck, and being provided for and setteld under the English government in Canada. And he likewise brought with him a letter from thirty or forty of the principal Acadians in the Baie des Chaleurs, to General Murray, in answer to that which he had carried to them from the General, and which has been above recited. This answer is full of expressions of respect and gratitude to General Murray for the offers he had made them, and of prosessions of submission ot his authority. It was written at Nipissiguit, in the month of August, and delivered to Mr. du Calvet was at Nipissiguit fro the second time, upon his return from Miramichi, and was in the words following.

After this distinguished service to the English government, (of which General Murray has always expressed a very strong an grateful sense,) Mr. du Calvet went back to Montreal about the month of January, 1762, and continued there as a merchant till the year 1764.

In the latter end of the year 1763 his father died, and left him his landed estate in Old France, which made it necessary for him to go back to Europe, in order to take possession of it. But he was so well please with his situation in Canada, and with the favourable terms that had been granted to the Canadians and residents in Canada, by General Amherst in the capitulation of September, 1760, and by the treaty of peace, in February, 1763, and by the promises made in the king's subsequent proclamation of October, 1763, that the inhabitants of the new province of Quebeck, (as well as those of the other three new governments of East Florida, West Florida, and Granada, which had been lately erected in the countries newly conquered and ceded to the crown of Great Britain,) should be governed in the same manner as the other provinces in North America that were governed by the king's commissions, and should enjoy the benefits of the laws of England; he was so well pleased with all these favours and promises, and with the liberty of openly professing the Protestant religion without any danger or inconvenience, (which he could not do at the time in Old France, whatever may be the case there at present;) that he resolved, if possible, to sell his estate in Old France as soon as he should have taken possession of it, and to quit all his connections wit that kingdom, and become a resident in Canada, (where he was then settled,) and a subject of Great Britain for the remainder of his life.