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munication with the Mississippi; Canada was to be " made insig- 1906 

 nificant for the French." The entire free trade of North America Severance 

 was to fall into the hands of the English. And finally, with a 

 burst of sentiment which recalls the devout aspirations of the 

 French missionaries, but is an anomaly in the plans of British 

 traders, he exclaims : " How glorious would it be for us at the 

 same time to civilize so many Nations, and improve so large and 

 spacious a country ! by communicating our Constitution and Lib- 

 erties, both civil and religious, to such immense Numbers, whose 

 Happiness and Pleasure would increase, at the same Time that 

 an Increase of Wealth and Power would be added to Britain." 



To the period we are now considering, belongs — if it belongs 

 to history at all — the Niagara visit of the Sieur C. Le Beau, 

 " avocat en parlement" romancer and adventurer at large. 

 According to his own testimony, this young man, a native of 

 Rochelle, went to Paris in 1 729, and in the same year was drawn 

 from his legal studies into a voyage to Canada. Shipwrecked in 

 the St. Lawrence, he arrived at Quebec, in sad plight, June 18, 

 1729. He found employment as a clerk in the fur business 

 (" bureau du castor ") where he continued, making his home 

 with the Recollect Fathers, for more than a year. He ran away 

 from sober pursuits, in March, 1731 ... and under sufficiently 

 fantastic conditions. He was accompanied, with other Indians, by 

 his mistress, an Abenaki maiden, with whom he had exchanged 

 clothes. He had resorted to this and other disguise to avoid 

 arrest by the French as a deserter. A long story is made of his 

 encounter with soldiers from Fort Niagara, and of his final sanc- 

 tuary in Seneca villages. He says that letters were received from 

 Montreal, by the commandant at Fort Niagara, ordering his 

 arrest, if he appeared in the neighborhood. 



Needless to say, no mention of Le Beau is found in the official 

 correspondence. His book has for the most part the air of truth ; 



1 See "An account of the Countries adjoining to Hudson's Bay,'* 

 etc., by Arthur Dobbs. Lond, 1 744. 



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