QO HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY OF NEWFOUNDLAND 



L'Hermitte, the third wheel of the chariot of State, was ' Major 

 at Placentia' (1695-1714). As though these three func- 

 tionaries were insufficient, there were many priests, there was 

 one superior ruler, the Governor of Canada, and a famous 

 adven- French Canadian named D'Iberville received from time to 



turersffom t j me rov j n <r commissions from the King to destroy the 

 the Con- J 



tinent English settlements in Newfoundland. His commissions, like 



..j^. " those of privateers, were to be executed at his own expense, 

 trudin% and the booty was to be shared between him, his associ- 



now and ates anc j ^g King. Privateers usually confined themselves to 

 then. : 



white men and the sea, but D'Iberville preferred forays by 



land, and with red-skinned troops who knew nothing of the 

 sea. He was a born coureur des boi's, had sped by land with 

 his American Indians from Quebec to Hudson's Bay, and from 

 Quebec to Schenectady, and midsummer and midwinter mid- 

 day and mid-night were alike to him. His first plan to destroy 

 the English colony in Newfoundland was laid in 1693, but 

 before it could be carried out this missionary of destruction 

 was spirited aw r ay on a like errand, first to Hudson's Bay, then 

 to Schenectady and Pemaquid, and he only arrived in New- 

 foundland in 1696. 



Before Before his arrival no incidents of importance had occurred. 



. er % At Trepassey, which was the only settlement where Frenchmen 



Williams and Englishmen lived side by side, 1 the former drove the 



"attacked" latter out an(1 burnt their houses in 1690. In 1692 Com- 



Placentia, modore Williams,* and in 1693 Admiral Sir Francis Wheler, on 



id~n'l returnm & homeward from the West Indies, appeared before 



man de- Placentia Harbour with a powerful fleet, fired a few shots and 



Ferruland ret i re d- 2 Privateers damaged the fishing-fleets on both sides. 



1694. ' In 1689 Captain Herman Williamson, a privateer, sailed 



against Grand Placentia, seized it by means of a landing party, 



imprisoned its Governor and inhabitants, plundered it and 



then left; in 1690 French privateers paid return visits to Bay 



1 Canada, Documents relatifs, &c., vol. i, p. 384 ; Calendar of State 

 Papers, July 3, 1697. 



2 La Hontan, Nouveaux Voyages dans I" 1 Amerique, &c., Letter 23. 



