THE COLONIZATION OF ACADIA.
ENGLAND'S DEVELOPMENT--REIGN OF ELIZABETH--INFLUENCE OF THE
BIBLE--TYRANNY OF THE KINGS--JACQUES CARTIER--DISCOVERY OF THE
ST. LAWRENCE--QUEBEC FOUNDED--ACADIA COLONIZED--TRANSFERRED TO
ENGLAND--EXTRACTS FROM LONGFELLOW'S POEM--VIRGINIA SETTLED.
In previous chapters we have traced the instrumentalities which God
used in the unshackling of the minds of men from the superstitions of
the past, and disciplining them for the reception of higher truths.
We have seen how, amidst the rage of tyrants and in spite of the
opposition of the powers of evil, society had gradually climbed to a
loftier intellectual eminence than that to which she had attained in
any previous age. The time had at length arrived, when, far from the
jarring scenes of Europe's strife, a nation was to come into existence,
earnest in its love of human liberty, and vigorous in the execution of
its purposes--a nation, which should accomplish some of the mightiest
achievements of the human race; and where, under the benign influences
of its political institutions, and in the Lord's due time, the gospel
should be again revealed and the Kingdom of God set up among the
children of men.
To rightly understand the history and character of an individual, we
must know something of his parentage and the circumstances of his early
life. Hence to understand the character of the American people, we must
know something of their great national mother, the people of England.
The defeat of the great Spanish armada delivered England from the
control of continental Europe, and marked a critical epoch in her
development. From that hour England's destiny {124} was fixed. She was
to be the great protestant power. Her sphere of action was to be upon
the seas. She was to take a leading part in the new world of the west.
The time was coming when her commerce should surpass all the nations of
ancient or modern times; but, above all, her language and literature
were fast developing, by means of which her laws and influence would
effect the remotest nations of the earth. Hitherto England had lagged
behind in the intellectual development of Europe. In the single
reign of Elizabeth she leaped to the first rank among the nations
of the earth; nay more, she was to become the mother of nations.
An impression, vague and shadowy indeed, but none the less real,
penetrated the minds of the English people, that they were to be the
repository of the divine will, and the executor of His purposes--that
the blessings and prerogatives of ancient Israel, were to be their
inheritance.
Beneath the rough exterior and blunt manners of that age, lay the new
sense of a prophetic power--the sense of a divine commission. And who
will say that they were wrong, or prove that they were not divinely
commissioned to break down the barriers to human progress, and to some
extent prepare society for the "dispensation of the fullness of times?"
The English translation of the Bible, became the great rule of life.
The whole moral effect which is now produced by the newspaper, the
sermon, the lecture and the circulating library was then produced by
the Bible alone; and its effect on the national character was simply
amazing. Religion was no longer confined to the cloister and cathedral,
but became a subject of thought for every individual. The profound
meditations that Shakspeare puts into the mouth of Hamlet were but a
transcript of the thoughts and feelings of the earnest men of that
age, who saw themselves day by day in the theater of a mighty struggle
between the powers of light and the powers of darkness--their souls the
prize of an eternal conflict between heaven and hell.
It was this phase of thought that gave to the world the sublime
conceptions of Milton, the realistic dreams of Bunyan, as well as the
stern and solemn character of Oliver Cromwell and his followers; and
made these liberty-loving peasants more {125} than a match for the
chivalry and iron-clad knights of King Charles I.
Nor was this feeling confined to any one class. It permeated all ranks
and conditions, even to the sovereign. Tradition still points out the
tree in Hatfield Park, beneath which Elizabeth was sitting when she
received the news of her peaceful accession to the throne. She fell
on her knees and exclaimed: "It is the Lord's doing, and marvelous in
our eyes." To the end of her reign these words remained stamped on the
golden coinage of the realm. Through all her long and eventful life,
the feeling seems never to have left her, that her preservation and her
reign were the issues of a direct interposition of God.
The foregoing may help us to understand the character of the English
people at the time they commenced to plant the institutions of liberty
on this continent. Who can read the thrilling narrative of English
history during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries without
acknowledging the hand of God, in moulding the character of the British
people?
It was not a pleasant world which the men and women of Europe had
to live in during the sixteenth century. Fighting was the constant
occupation of the kings of that time; civil wars were also frequent.
In these confused strifes men slew their acquaintances and friends
as the only method they knew of deciding who was to fill the throne.
Feeble commerce was crushed under the iron heel of war. No such thing
as security for life and property was expected. The fields of the
husbandman were trodden down by the
march of armies. Disbanded or deserted soldiers wandered as lawless
men over the country and robbed and murdered at their will. Epidemic
diseases of strange type, the result of insufficient and unwholesome
food, and the poisonous air of undrained lands and filthy streets
destroyed the inhabitants. Under what hardships and miseries the men of
the sixteenth century passed their days, it is scarcely possible for us
now to conceive.
From the persecutions of the old world they fled to the wilds of the
new. The thrilling story of their adventures, though indeed real,
sounds more like romance than reality. Unlike the history of eastern
nations, which frequently loses itself in {126} mists of antiquity, the
history of the American people begins at a comparatively recent date.
It is less than four hundred years since Columbus and his companions
first saw the western continent, and less than two hundred and
seventy-five years since the first colony was planted in the territory
which formed the thirteen original states.
Another peculiarity is, that from the very first this land has been an
asylum for the persecuted and oppressed of every nation.
It was in the beautiful month of May, 1535, that Jacques Cartier, a
bold navigator in the service of the king of France, sailed along
the shores of the gulf of St. Lawrence, stopping here and there to
examine the country and lay out plats for future settlements. In July
he entered the river St. Lawrence and sailed on its broad waters,
amidst picturesque scenery in which was realized all his glowing
expectations and dreams. Leaving his vessel at the present site of
Quebec, he proceeded up the river in a small boat, as far as the Indian
settlement of Hochelaga. This place he named Mount Royal. It is now
the magnificent city of Montreal. However, no permanent settlements
were formed, and it was not till 1604 that De Monts, Champlain and
other explorers began to colonize the country, on the banks of the
gulf of St. Lawrence. Quebec was founded in 1608. The whole region on
the south shore of the gulf was then called Acadia. Its history shows
the wonderful influence kindness exerts, even among the savage tribes
of North America. Poutrincourt, the governor of the colony, caused an
immense banqueting hall to be erected, which was well supplied with
deer, moose, bear and all kinds of wild fowl. He made friends of the
Indians and entertained the chiefs at sumptuous feasts. In the Winter
evenings by the blazing pine logs, Champlain would relate the stories
of his wonderful adventures among the hills, and valleys, and lakes,
and streams, and cataracts, and red men of the west.
At length, by the fortunes of war, this colony was transferred to
England; but its heart was still with France. The English distrusted
its loyalty, and sent an armed force to surprise and attack it, and
carry away the once happy people, and scatter them throughout their
American domains. The Acadians were {127} crowded into transports,
their families were separated, their friendships and attachments broken
up, and they were exiled among strangers, never to see each other
again. The name of Acadia was blotted out. Most people are familiar
with Longfellow's beautiful story of Evangeline. It is now almost the
only memorial that remains of the history of that colony.
As a picture of peace and prosperity, contentment and neighborly love,
worthy of imitation in this selfish age, a few lines from Longfellow's
beautiful poem, may not be out of place:
"There, in the midst of its farms reposed the Acadian village,
Strongly built were the houses with frames of oak and of hemlock;
There, in the tranquil evenings when sunset had faded to twilight,
Softly the church-bell sounded calling the people to worship.
Thus dwelt in love these simple Acadian farmers,
Dwelt in the love of God and of man. Alike they were free from
Fear that reigns with the tyrant, and envy the vice of republics,
Neither locks had they to their doors nor bars to their windows,
But their dwellings were open as day and the hearts of the owners;
There the richest was poor, and the poorest lived in abundance."
Meanwhile attempts at colonizing were going on farther south. The
settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, was founded in 1607. The adventures
of Captain John Smith, the virtual founder of the colony, are well
known to most readers, as well as the romantic story of Pocahontas, the
Indian princess. Its early history is a narrative of strife and human
suffering. Many of its early inhabitants were scions of nobility, men
unused to toil; in some cases they were mere adventurers, actuated by
a lust for gold or love of plunder. However, it teaches one important
lesson, that noble birth and high-sounding titles are of little account
when compared with the plain virtues of industry, honesty, and trust in
God--that it is not men of wealth, but men of noble character that are
of most importance in founding a commonwealth.
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