rn down and the French flag raised.[9] A
veteran Jesuit missionary of the Saguenay, Charles Albanel, two French
companions, and some Indian guides had ensconced themselves in the
empty houses.[10] The priest now presented Governor Bayly with letters
from Count Frontenac commending the French to the good offices of
Governor Bayly.[11]

France had not been idle.

When it was too late, the country awakened to the injustice done
Radisson and Groseillers. While Radisson was still in Boston, all
restrictions were taken from the beaver trade, except the tax of
one-fourth to the revenue. The Jesuit Dablon, who was near the western
end of Lake Superior, gathered all the information he could from the
Indians of the way to the Sea of the North. Father Marquette learned
of the Mississippi from the Indians. The Western tribes had been
summoned to the Sault, where Sieur de Saint-Lusson met them in treaty
for the French; and the French flag was raised in the presence of Pere
Claude Allouez, who blessed the ceremony. M. Colbert sent instructions
to M. Talon, the intendant of New France, to grant titles of nobility
to Groseillers' nephew in order to keep him in the country.[12] On the
Saguenay was a Jesuit, Charles Albanel, loyal to the French and of
English birth, whose devotion to the Indians during the small-pox
scourge of 1670 had given him unbounded influence. Talon, the
intendant of New France, was keen to retrieve in the North what
D'Argenson's injustice had lost. Who could be better qualified to go
overland to Hudson Bay than the old missionary, loyal to France, of
English birth, and beloved by the Indians? Albanel was summoned to
Quebec and gladly accepted the commission. He chose for companions
Saint-Simon and young Couture, the son of the famous guide to the
Jesuits. The company left Quebec on August 6, 1671, and secured a
guide at Tadoussac. Embarking in canoes, they ascended the shadowy
canon of the Saguenay to Lake St. John. On the 7th of September they
left the forest of Lake St. John and mounted the current of a winding
river, full of cataracts and rapids, toward Mistassini. On this stream
they met Indians who told them that two European vessels were on Hudson
Bay. The Indians showed Albanel tobacco which they had received from
the English.

It seemed futile to go on a voyage of discovery where English were
already in possession. The priest sent one of the Frenchmen and two
Indians back to Quebec fo