A half-century of conflict. France and England in North America. Part ...

42 SEARCH FOR THE PACIFIC, [1761.of his futile enterprise in the hands of Duquesne, thenew governor. 1Canada was approaching her last agony. In thedeath-struggle of the Seven Years' War there was notime for schemes of western discovery.The brothersLa V^rendrye sank into poverty and neglect. Alittle before the war broke out, we find the eldest atthe obscure Acadian post of Beausdjour, where hewrote tothe colonial minister a statement of his services,which appears to have received no attention.After the fall ofCanada, the Chevalier de la Vdrendrye,he whose eyesthefirst beheld the snowy peaks ofRocky Mountains, perished in the wreck of theship "Auguste," on the coast of Cape Breton, inNovember, 1761.2^ Journal sommaire du Voyage de Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre, charge de la D^couverte de la Mer de l' Quest (British Museum).2 The above narrative rests mainly on contemporary documents,official in character, of which the originals are preserved in thearchives of the French Government. These papers have recentlybeen printed by M. Pierre Margry, late custodian of the Archivesof the Marine and Colonies at Paris, in the sixth volume of hisD^couvertes et 2^tablissements des Frangais dans I'Am^rique Septentrionale,— a documentary collection of great value, published atthe expense of the American Government. It was M. Margry whofirst drew attention to the achievements of the family of La Verendrye,by an article in the Moniteur in 1852. I owe to his kindnessthe opportunity of using the above-mentioned documents in advanceof publication. I obtained copies from duplicate originalsof some of the principal among them from the De'pot des Cartesde la Marine, in 1872. These answer closely, with rare and trivialvariations, to the same documents as printed from other sources by'M. Margry. Some additional papers preserved in the Archives ofthe Marine and Colonies have also been used.My friends, Hon. William C. Endicott, then Secretary of AVar,