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n French colonial documents of a very respectable antiquity, we meet with the name Toronto again and again. It is given as an appellation that is well-known, and its form in the greater number of instances is exactly that which it has now permanently assumed, but here and there its orthography varies by a letter or two, as is usually the case with strange terms when taken down by ear. In a Memoir on the state of affairs in Canada, transmitted to France in 1686, by the Governor in Chief of the day, the Marquis de Denonville, the familiar word appears. Addressing the Minister de Seignelay, the Marquis says: "The letters I wrote to Sieurs du Lhu and de la Durantaye, of which I sent you copies, will inform you of my orders to them to fortify the two passages leading to Michilimaquina. Sieur du Lhu is at that of the Detroit of Lake Erie, and Sieur de la Durantaye at that of the portage of Toronto. These two posts" the marquis observes, "will block the passage against the English, if they undertake to go again to Michilimaquina, and will serve as retreats to the savages our allies either while hunting or marching against the Iroquois."

Again, further on in the same Despatch, Denonville says: "I have heard that Sieur du Lhu is arrived at the post of the Detroit of Lake Erie, with fifty good men well-armed, with munitions of war and provisions and all other necessaries sufficient to guarantee them against the severe cold, and to render them comfortable during the whole winter on the spot where they will entrench themselves. M. de la Durantaye is collecting people to entrench himself at Michilimaquina and to occupy the other pass which the English may take by Toronto, the other entrance to lake Huron. In this way" the marquis assures de Seignelay, "our Englishmen will have somebody to speak to. All this, however," he reminds the minister, "cannot be accomplished without considerable expense, but still" he adds, "we must maintain our honour and our prosperity."

Du Lhu and de la Durantaye here named were the French agents or superintendents in what was then the Far West. Du Lhu is the same person whose name, under the form of Duluth, has become in recent times so well known, as appertaining to a town near the head of Lake Superior, destined in the future to be one of the great Railway Junctions of the continent, like Buffalo or Chicago.

The Englishmen for whom M. de Denonville desired an instructive reception to be prepared were some of the people of Governor Dongan of the province of New York. Governor Dongan either could not or would not restrain his people from poaching for furs on the French King's domain. When Denonville wrote his despatch in 1686 some of these illicit traders had been recently seen in the direction of Michilimackinac, having passed up by the way of Lake Erie. To intercept them on their return, the Marquis reports that he has stationed "a bark, some canoes and twenty good men" at the river communicating from Lake Erie with that of Ontario near Niagara, by which place the English who ascended Lake Erie must of necessity pass on their return home with their peltries. "I regard, Monseigneur," continues Denonville to the minister, "as of primary importance the prohibition of this trade to the English, who, without doubt, would entirely ruin ours both by the cheaper bargains they could give the Indians, and by attracting to them the Frenchmen of our colony who are accustomed to go into the woods." Governor Dongan was also always holding communications with the Iroquois and spiriting them on to resist French encroachments. He even audaciously asserted that his own sovereign—it soon became doubtful who that was, whether James II. or William of Orange—was the rightful supreme lord of the Iroquois territory.

As to the particular spot intended when Denonville says M. de la Durantaye is about to occupy "the pass which the English may take by Toronto," there may seem at first to be some ambiguity.

In 1686 the vicinage of Lake Simcoe, especially the district between Lake Simcoe and Lake Huron, appears to have been commonly known as the Toronto region. We deduce this from the old contemporary maps, on one or other of which Matchedash bay is the Bay of Toronto; the river Severn is the Toronto river; Lake Simcoe itself is Toronto Lake; the chain of Lakes passing south-eastward from the neighbourhood of Lake Simcoe and issuing by the Trent in the Bay of Quinté is also the Toronto river or lake-chain, and again, the Humber, running southwesterly from the vicinity of Lake Simcoe into Lake Ontario, is likewise occasionally the Toronto river; the explanation of all which phraseology is to be found in the supposition that the Severn, the Trent chain of lakes, and the Humber, were, each of them, a commonly-frequented line of water-communication with a Toronto region—a well-peopled district—"a place of meeting," the haunt of numerous allied families and friendly bands. (That such is the most probable interpretation of the term Toronto, we shall hereafter see at large.)

The spot to be occupied by de la Durantaye for the purpose of defending "the Pass at Toronto" might therefore be either in the Toronto region itself at the Lake Huron end of the trail leading from Lake Ontario, or at the Lake Ontario end of the same trail, at the point where English trespassers coming from the direction of the Iroquois territory would disembark, when intending to penetrate to Michilimackinac by this route.

At the first-mentioned point, viz, the Lake Huron end of the trail, it was early recommended that a fort should be established, as we learn from letter twenty-three of Lahontan, but we do not hear that such a structure was ever erected there. The remains of solid buildings that have been found in that quarter are those of Jesuit mission-houses, and not of a formal fort established by the French government. At the last-mentioned spot, on the contrary, viz, the Lake Ontario end of the trail, it is certain that a fortified trading-post was early erected; the official designation of which, as we shall presently learn, was Fort Rouillé, but the name by which it came in the course of time to be popularly known was Fort Toronto, as being the object which marked and guarded the southern terminus of the trail or portage leading to the district in the interior commonly called the Toronto region.

It was here then, near the embouchure of the modern Canadian Humber, that "our Englishmen," as Denonville expressed himself, crossing over on illicit errands from Governor Dongan's domain to that of the King of France, were to find "somebody to speak to."

1687.

The order sent to Durantaye was indeed not immediately executed. In 1687 Denonville reports as follows to the authorities at Paris: "I have altered" he says, "the orders I had originally given last year to M. de la Durantaye to pass by Toronto and to enter Lake Ontario at Gandatsi-tiagon to form a junction with M. du Lhu at Niagara. I have sent him word," he continues, "by Sieur Juchereau, who took back the two Hurons and Outaouas chiefs this winter, to join Sieur du Lhu at the Detroit of Lake Erie, so that they may be stronger, and in a condition to resist the enemy, should he go to meet them at Niagara."

In 1687 the business in contemplation was something more serious than the mere repression of trespass on the part of a few stray traders from Governor Dongan's province. The confederated Iroquois were, if possible, to be humbled once for all. From the period of Montmagny's arrival in 1637 the French settlements to the eastward had suffered from the fierce inroads of the Iroquois. The predecessor of Denonville, de la Barre, had made a peace with them on terms that caused them to despise the French; and their boldness had since increased to such a degree that the existence of the settlements was imperilled. In a Report to the minister at Paris on this subject M. de Denonville again names Toronto; and he clearly considers it a post of sufficient note to be classed, for the moment, with Fort Frontenac, Niagara and Michilimackinac. To achieve success against the Iroquois, he informed the minister, 3000 men would be required. Of such a force, he observes, he has at the time only one half; but he boasts of more, he says, for reputation's sake: "for the rest of the militia are necessary to protect and cultivate the farms of the country; and a part of the force," he then adds, "must be employed in guarding the posts of Fort Frontenac, Niagara, Toronto, and Michilimackinac, so as to secure the aid which he expects from Illinois and from the other Indians, on whom however he cannot rely," he says, "unless he shall be able alone to defeat the five Iroquois nations."

The campaign which ensued, though nominally a success, was attended with disastrous consequences. The blows struck, not having been followed up with sufficient vigour, simply further exasperated "the five Iroquois nations," and entailed a frightful retaliation. In 1689 took place the famous massacre of Lachine and devastation of the island of Montreal. Denonville was superseded as his predecessor de la Barre had been. The Count de Frontenac was appointed his successor, sent out for the second time, Governor General of New France.

1749.

Some years now elapse before we light on another notice of Toronto. But at length we again observe the familiar word in one of the Reports or Memoirs annually despatched from Canada to France. In 1749 M. de la Galissonière, administrator in the absence of the Governor in Chief, de la Jonquière, informs the King's minister in Paris that he has given orders for erecting a stockade and establishing a royal trading post at Toronto.

This was expected to be a counterpoise to the trading-post of Choueguen on the southern side of the Lake, newly erected by the English at the mouth of the Oswego river, on the site of the present town of Oswego. Choueguen itself had been established as a set-off to the fort at the mouth of the Niagara river, which had been built there by the French in spite of remonstrances on the part of the authorities at New York.

Choueguen at first was simply a so-called "beaver trap" or trading-post, established by permission, nominally obtained, of the Iroquois; but it speedily developed into a strong stone-fort, and became, in fact, a standing menace to Fort Frontenac, on the northern shore of the Lake. Choueguen likewise drew to itself a large share of the valuable peltries of the north shore, which used before to find their way down the St. Lawrence to Montreal and Quebec. The goods offered at the English trading-post of Choueguen were found to be superior to the French goods, and the price given for furs was greater there than on the French side of the water. The storekeeper at Niagara told the Abbé Picquet, of whom we shall hear again presently, that the Indians compared the silver-trinkets which were procured at Choueguen with those which were procured at the French Stores; and they found that the Choueguen articles were as heavy as the others, of purer silver and better workmanship, but did not cost them quite two beavers, whilst for those offered for sale at the French King's post, ten beavers were demanded. "Thus we are discredited" the Abbé complained, "and this silver-ware remains a pure loss in the King's stores. French brandy indeed," the Abbé adds, "was preferred to the English: nevertheless that did not prevent the Indians going to Choueguen. To destroy the trade there," he affirms, "the King's posts ought to have been supplied with the same goods as Choueguen and at the same price. The French ought also," he says, "to have been forbidden to send the domiciliated Indians thither: but that" he confesses, "would have been very difficult."

Choueguen had thus, in the eyes of the French authorities, come to be a little Carthage that must be put down, or, at all events, crippled to the greatest possible extent.

Accordingly, as a counterpoise in point of commercial influence, Toronto, as we have seen, was to be made a fortified trading post. "On being informed" says M. de la Galissonière, in the document referred to, bearing date 1749, "that the northern Indians ordinarily went to Choueguen with their peltries by way of Toronto on the northwest side of Lake Ontario, twenty-five leagues from Niagara, and seventy-five from Fort Frontenac, it was thought advisable to establish a post at that place and to send thither an officer, fifteen soldiers, and some workmen, to construct a small stockade-fort there. Its expense will not be great," M. de la Galissonière assures the minister, "the timber is transported there, and the remainder will be conveyed by the barques belonging to Fort Frontenac. Too much care cannot be taken," remarks the Administrator, "to prevent these Indians continuing their trade with the English, and to furnish them at this post with all their necessaries, even as cheap as at Choueguen. Messrs. de la Jonquière and Bigot will permit some canoes to go there on license and will apply the funds as a gratuity to the officer in command there. But it will be necessary to order the commandants at Detroit, Niagara, and Fort Frontenac, to be careful that the traders and store-keepers of these posts furnish goods for two or three years to come, at the same rates as the English. By these means the Indians will disaccustom themselves from going to Choueguen, and the English will be obliged to abandon that place."

De la Galissonière returned to France in 1749. He was a naval officer and fond of scientific pursuits. It was he who in 1756, commanded the expedition against Minorca, which led to the execution of Admiral Byng.