STRANGE DOINGS AT PORT ROYAL
We left the loyal, undaunted Charles de la Tour, whom his Huguenot
father, Sir Claude, had tempted in vain to enter the English service,
master once more of Port Royal in Acadia, and in high favour with
King Louis the Thirteenth. All Acadia as well as Canada was given
back to the French by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, and King
Louis and his Court were now inclined to abandon their policy of
indifference and begin the work of colonising anew. In the spring of
1632 a nephew of Richelieu's, Captain de Razilly, arrived in Acadia
with a shipload of colonists, including artisans, farmers, several
Capuchin friars, and some gentry. Amongst the latter were Nicholas
Denys and an extraordinary person, Charles de Menou, Chevalier de
Charnisay.
The new Governor-General of Acadia was so struck by the natural
beauties of La Heve that he fixed his residence there, in preference
to Port Royal, which the Scotch had taken care to dismantle before
sailing away. Naturally young De la Tour was very jealous at
Razilly's coming. He thought the King ought to have appointed him
Governor, instead of giving him the mere lordship over a limited
territory. {94} With Razilly's death in the following year De la
Tour thought his chance had come. But again his hopes were
frustrated. It appeared that Razilly had ceded all his rights to
Charnisay, his Deputy-Governor, whose first act was to remove from La
Heve and take up residence at Port Royal, where he built a new fort.
From this time forward Charnisay and De la Tour were sworn enemies.
De la Tour believed in his heart that it was Charnisay's aim to
dispossess him of those rights which he had acquired in Acadia by so
much energy and sacrifice. It is certain that Charnisay had much
more influence at home in France than had his rival. The King tried
to settle the dispute by fixing the limits of Charnisay's government
at the New England frontiers on the one hand, and at a line north
from the Bay of Fundy on the other. Westward of this line was to be
De la Tour's province. But in vain. Both rivals appealed to their
monarch, and Charnisay's friends having poisoned the King's mind by
alleging that De la Tour was a Huguenot in disguise, orders were sent
to his foe to arrest him and send him a prisoner to France. By this
time De la Tour was dwelling with his young wife and children, his
soldiers and Indian followers, in a strong fort he had built at the
mouth of the St. John's River, to which he had given his own name.
When, to his amazement, he heard that his foe had succeeded in
depriving him of his rank as King's Lieutenant, of his charter, and
of his share in the fur trade; that Charnisay had, moreover, orders
to take him a prisoner to France, his indignation was {95}
overwhelming. He took instant measures. Having strengthened Fort la
Tour, he defied his enemy to do his worst.
Charnisay was a crafty man and moved slowly. Not until the spring of
1643 was he ready to wreak vengeance on the "traitor," as he called
De la Tour. The snows had scarce melted, the trees were putting
forth their first pale verdure, when De la Tour perceived several
armed ships creeping stealthily into the harbour. Aboard these ships
were 500 men whom Richelieu had sent to Charnisay to overpower the
loyal subject who had, in a time of stress and temptation, held all
Acadia for the French King. Duly the attacking force landed, and
Charnisay, his eye kindling with hate and expected triumph, himself
led the assault. But he deceived himself: the fort proved too strong
and the besieged too valiant. After an hour of hot fighting,
Charnisay was fain to acknowledge himself baffled. Yet although he
could not storm the fort, he had another resource. He could, he
thought, starve it into capitulation. Thus was begun a close siege
by sea and land. But in spite of Charnisay's care, a loophole in the
line of ships was left, and through this loophole one day De la
Tour's keen vision saw, far on the horizon, the long-expected ship,
with provisions, merchandise, and gunpowder for Fort de la Tour. To
reach that ship was now the hope of De la Tour and his wife, no whit
less valiant than himself. In it both would sail to Boston, and
there seek to obtain reinforcements from the sturdy New Englanders.
In his hazardous extremity De la Tour remembered the lesson his
father, now dead, {96} had tried to teach him, and what he had tried
to forget all these years, that he was a baronet of England, doubly
so, once in his own right and once by right of inheritance. By
virtue of the rank the English King had given him, King Charles's
transatlantic subjects would not refuse him succour. The next night,
therefore, De la Tour and his lady slipped unperceived into a waiting
boat and rowed with muffled oars through the blockade. The captain
of the _St. Clement_ was delighted to see De la Tour. Placing
himself under his orders, they sailed for Boston, where, although
they dared not give him direct assistance, the Puritan elders of the
new town had no objection to striking a bargain, and at a good price
permitted their visitor to hire four stout ships and seventy men.
Sailing back with his force, De la Tour was able now to make his
enemy flee before him. The siege of his own fort being raised, he
followed the foiled Charnisay to Port Royal, captured a shipload of
rich furs, and would have taken Charnisay himself and his settlement,
had it not been for the scruples of his New England allies, who
succeeded in patching up a peace. But none knew better than De la
Tour that there could be no lasting truce between him and Charnisay.
While his wife went to France to obtain help, the brave Charles set
about strengthening Fort la Tour. Once across the Atlantic, Madame
de la Tour had a narrow escape from falling into the hands of their
enemy, Charnisay, who had also gone to France on the same mission.
But she eluded her enemies as well as the King's officers sent to
arrest {97} her, and reached England in safety. After many months,
she took passage home in a small vessel. She had many adventures.
Once she hid in the hold of the vessel while her enemies searched for
her. The ship suffered delay after delay ere, to her joy, Fort la
Tour at length was reached. Her husband received her with raptures,
and at once set out to bribe the Boston folk once more to lend him a
helping hand to avert the danger which again threatened him. Now was
Charnisay's opportunity. Hardly was his rival gone than he mustered
all his ships and men and fell upon the fort. What an easy prey it
seemed! Charnisay forgot that a woman sometimes can play a man's
part. The fort received him with so hot a fire--so hot that
thirty-three of his men were slain--that Charnisay, with loud curses,
withdrew to his ships. Long he lay in wait for De la Tour, who dared
not now return, and after a second onslaught on the fort, Charnisay
began in earnest to despair of success. At this critical junction a
scoundrelly traitor, bought by Charnisay's gold, appeared in the
fort. In vain the heroic woman spurred on her valiant band to repel
the invaders. The latter had been told that her food and powder were
nearly spent, and finally, at a signal, the traitor threw open the
outer gates of the fort, and the host of the enemy rushed in. Yet
even then for three days Madame de la Tour kept them at bay, and
Charnisay at last, weary of the bloodshed, was fain to offer her fair
terms if she would surrender and depart. She hesitated a moment,
but, to spare the lives of her brave garrison, she {98} caused the
gates of the inner fort to be opened, and so yielded.
Then it was that Charnisay covered his name to the end of all time
with the blackest infamy. His eyes dwelt on the smallness of the
garrison, and, ashamed of the terms he had offered, he cried out, "I
have been deceived! I have been deceived! Take these wretches out
and hang them all one by one!" He ordered a halter to be placed
about the neck of the splendid heroine, their intrepid mistress,
Marie de la Tour. He forced her to witness the cold-blooded murder
of her men, so that she swooned with horror. To Port Royal Charnisay
then bore her away, where she fell ill, and in three short weeks was
dead.
Alas, poor Marie de la Tour! Her husband was now an exile from
Acadia. By the capture of the fort he had lost not only his wife,
but all his merchandise, jewels, plate, and furniture worth ten
thousand pounds. His debts to the Bostonians being heavy, he became
bankrupt. So while Charnisay flourished and grew rich at Port Royal,
reigning supreme throughout Acadia, Charles de la Tour was a wanderer
on the face of the earth. As a _coureur de bois_ he hunted and
bartered for furs in the far north. Years passed, when, through a
faithful follower, tidings reached him which filled his breast anew
with hope. His enemy was dead, drowned in an Acadian river in the
very flush and midsummer of his success, which, however, by the
wildest extravagance, he had grossly abused. No sooner did De la
Tour learn of this event than he took ship {99} immediately for
France and poured out the story of his wrongs at the foot of the
throne. The King acknowledged the injustice with which his faithful
subject had been treated, and, to make amends, created him sole
Governor of Acadia, with a monopoly of the fur trade. Once again
back in the colony he loved, his fortunes grew bright. His coffers
soon filled with gold. But the sight of the widow and children of
his life-long enemy troubled him. He knew that they regarded him as
profiting by their misfortunes. To make what reparation he could, he
presented himself before Madame Charnisay. She did not spurn his
attentions, and so he courted, then wedded her, and took her children
under his protection.
And now, you will think, this surely is the end of the drama. Nay,
there is more to come. Charnisay in his day had had many dealings
with a certain merchant of Rochelle named Le Borgne. This fellow now
came forward with a trumped-up tale for De la Tour's undoing. He
swore that Charnisay had died owing him a quarter of a million
livres, and this story he duly unfolded before Cardinal Mazarin, the
great Richelieu's successor. Mazarin, an intriguing bigot, suspected
De la Tour's loyalty and religion, and ended by giving Le Borgne
power to seize the dead Charnisay's estate. On the strength of this
authority a force was got together, and Le Borgne sailed away to oust
De la Tour and make himself, if possible, master of Acadia. He fell
first upon Nicholas Denys, who commanded a fort under De la Tour,
captured him, took Port Royal, and made all in readiness to storm
Fort la Tour. Matters were {100} in this posture when, like a
bombshell, burst a surprise for all parties.
At this time, far away across the Atlantic in England, the Civil War
had come to an end. King Charles was beheaded, and Oliver Cromwell
ruled in his stead as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. When war
broke out with Holland, Cromwell despatched a fleet to capture the
Dutch colonies in America; but not long after the ships arrived at
Boston, where they were to be joined by 500 of the English colonists,
the latter were chagrined to hear that the war was over. The New
Englanders had, however, in the meantime been petitioning Cromwell to
make himself master of Nova Scotia, which they said was English by
right and a source of danger to themselves. A glorious opportunity
was now at hand of carrying out their schemes. The expedition
intended for the Dutch was turned against the French in Acadia, and
both De la Tour and Le Borgne were compelled to surrender. Nova
Scotia once more flew the English flag, and at Port Royal an English
Governor was installed, who made the settlers understand that no harm
or oppression should befall them.
When these things happened, in the year 1654, De la Tour was long
past his prime. After waiting a year he began to see how hopeless it
was to expect that France would do anything to save Acadia. He
crossed the ocean, this time to England. As Sir Charles de la Tour
he obtained audience of the Lord Protector and stated his case fully
and frankly. "I am the man for that country, {101} my Lord. For
more than sixty years I have laboured there, and settlers and Indians
know me. With me it may prosper; without me it is nothing."
Cromwell was a keen judge of character. He liked De la Tour's
address, and decreed that he should come into his own again. An
English Company was formed, consisting of De la Tour, Thomas Temple,
one of Cromwell's colonels, and a Puritan minister named William
Crowne, to take over the whole of Acadia, both the peninsula of Nova
Scotia and the mainland. The partners were given besides the usual
trading monopoly. Great projects were planned, and so firm was
Temple's belief in Acadia's future that he spent his whole fortune in
developing the estate. Long before his death, in 1666, Charles de la
Tour sold out his interests to his partners. He divined further
trouble, for the Restoration of Charles the Second put a new aspect
on the situation. His seventy years of strenuous life made him long
for peace and quiet. But the worst he did not live to see. A year
after De la Tour died, King Charles put his royal hand to the
disgraceful Treaty of Breda, by which all Acadia, Nova Scotia, New
Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island, was given back to France, and
Temple became a ruined man.
For forty-three years did Nova Scotia remain in the possession of the
French. At length in 1713, by the Treaty of Utrecht, it passed to
Great Britain, and in British possession it remains to this day. The
New Englanders never ceased to regard French Acadia with jealousy.
There were constant quarrels about the boundary-line between it and
New England, {102} and many deadly raids on both sides. Among the
chief characters of Acadia at this time was the Baron St. Castin. He
was a French noble who flung off the mantle of civilisation when he
arrived in Canada with the Carignan-Callières regiment, and, marrying
a squaw, took up his residence with the Indians. St. Castin dwelt in
a strong fort on the Penobscot River and made himself lord and master
over hundreds of Abenakis Indians. He was greatly dreaded by the
English of Maine and Massachusetts.
During this long period, while Frontenac was ruling far away in
Quebec, the population of Acadia slowly increased. Settlement was
made at Chignecto and in the district called the Basin of Minas. It
was the descendants of these settlers whose opposition to British
rule caused them in the next century to be banished from the country.
In the meantime you must bear in mind that by water more than a
thousand miles separated Port Royal from Quebec. Communication was
slow and difficult. There was no high-road, and consequently the
colonists on the St. Lawrence showed for a long time hardly more
interest in Acadia's fortunes than if it were one of France's
far-distant West Indian possessions. Louisburg, that mighty fortress
which was to awaken their interest and to centre in itself so much of
the power and glory of New France, was not yet built. It was not yet
even a dream.
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