with Champlain on board. About twenty-five leagues from Quebec, a ship
was discovered which, on seeing the English, endeavoured to escape. It
turned out to be a vessel of the elder De Caen, commanded by his
nephew, Emery, who was endeavouring to get secretly to Quebec, to bring
away the peltry and other property claimed by the uncle, and to
endeavour to trade with the Indians. Kerk fired a gun to bring the
Frenchman to, and was answered with a broadside, which killed one of
his men. The enemy still endeavouring to get the advantage of the wind,
Kerk determined to board, and thereupon ordered Champlain and his
companions to go below. It should appear that Kerk was badly seconded
by his men, as they went below also, and he was obliged to drive them
to the deck with the flat of his sword. He was in a great strait, as
few even then would follow him, when, luckily, Emery De Caen, who seems
to have been as much afraid as Kerk's men were, cried out for quarter,
which Kerk was very glad to grant. De Caen asked to speak with
Champlain, whom Kerk rather unwarrantably warned that, if another shot
was fired, he should be put to death; telling him to recommend the
French to surrender promptly, as if two English ships, then in sight,
should come up before the flag was struck, they would all be killed. To
which Champlain replied, "that Kerk could certainly kill him, being in
his power, but that he would be for ever dishonoured by so retracting
the pledge, which both he and his brother Louis had given for the
safety of them all; that he could not command the people of the other
ship, or prevent them doing their duty as brave men should do, and for
which Kerk should rather praise than blame them." Kerk then desired him
to offer good terms, which being done, De Caen and his lieutenant went
on board the English ship to make their submission.
They then continued their route to Tadoussac, where they found the
"General" David Kerk, who received them very kindly. Champlain also met
his brother-in-brother, Boulle, who had been made prisoner, and the
arch-traitor and rebel, Jacques Michel, who had guided the English in
both their expeditions. He was vice-admiral of the fleet, which
consisted of five large ships of four to five hundred tons, and about
one hundred and twenty men each. "With the exception of the officers,"
says Champlain, "they were no great things."
The commander in chief, David Quer, Guer, Kertk, or Kerk (for his name
is spelt in all these ways), proceeded up the river to Quebec, to see
how matters were going on, while Champlain remained at Tadoussac,
"passing the time as well as we could till his return." The "General"
came back in ten or twelve days, and at supper a few days after, to
Champlain's great amazement and anger, produced a letter which he had
received from a certain Marsolet, a deserter from the settlement and an
abominable scoundrel, who acted as interpreter to the English, to the
effect that a canoe had arrived at Quebec, bringing intelligence of a
council having been held by the Indians to deliberate whether Champlain
should take the two little girls, whom they had given him, to France;
and that the result had been that the girls were not to be allowed to
go, and the General was requested to detain them.
"I judged immediately," says Champlain, "that the gallant had invented
this cunning story to keep the girls," as one of them, named Esperance,
had shortly before told him that Marsolet had solicited her to leave
Champlain and go with him, promising all sorts of things if she would
consent. Champlain represented to the "General" that the girls had been
freely given him by the Indians to be brought up in the Christian
faith, and that he loved them as his own daughters. He entreated him to
allow them to go with him to France, otherwise "they might, by
remaining in the country, fall back into the hands of the devil, from
which he had extricated them"; and that Marsolet had invented the tale
of the Indian council to gain his ends and ruin the poor girls, as he,
Champlain, knew, that at the council which had been held at Trois
Rivieres, there had been no question whatever either of the girls or of
Marsolet, and that two men, whom he could produce, could prove that the
Indians were very glad that the girls should remain with him. The
"General," however, for some reason or other which he did not mention,
was not disposed to let the young "sauvagesses" go, notwithstanding the
intervention of his brother Thomas and of Michel, and the bitter
weeping of the poor girls themselves, "who could neither eat nor drink
for crying," begging him, whom they loved as a father, not to abandon
them.
"I did all I could," says Champlain, "to save their poor souls"; so he
told the "General" that, supposing Marsolet's story to be true, there
was still a way to settle the matter, which was to make the Indians a
present, and that he would abandon for that purpose beaver-skins and
other property to the value of a thousand livres; but the "General" was
deaf to his entreaties. One day, however, when in good humour, he gave
some hopes of their deliverance when Marsolet should come to Tadoussac;
but the artful rascal, on his arrival, persuaded Kerk that the Indians
would not accept any present, and that he had better keep the girls as
hostages for the good behaviour of the savages; besides, if he should
suffer them to depart, and if anything should happen to them
afterwards, the Indians would consider it as his (the General's) fault,
and much evil might come of it; whereupon the "General" "stiffened"
himself anew, and would not hear of the girls' departure. The poor
"sauvagesses" continued to weep and lament, but in vain; nevertheless
they kept a high spirit, which manifested itself one day in the
presence and greatly to the surprise of the "General" and his officers
while at supper, when Esperance roundly reproached Marsolet with his
indecency, his villainies and treachery. "You know," she exclaimed,
"wretch that you are, that I wished to go to France with Monsieur
Champlain, who has brought me up, with every possible kindness,
teaching me to pray to God, and many other virtuous things, and that
the whole country had consented; but you, instead of having compassion
on two poor girls, behave worse than a dog to them; but, remember this,
though I am only a girl, I will contrive your death, if possible; and
if in future you ever shall dare to approach me, I will plant a knife
in your breast, if I should die for it. A dog is better than you: he
follows those who have given him existence, but you betray and destroy
those among whom you received your being, selling your countrymen for
money." Marsolet said that "she had learned her lesson well," and
turning to her sister, Charite, sneeringly asked "if she had nothing to
say to him." "All that I can tell you," she replied, "my companion has
said; I can only add, that if I held your heart, I would eat it, and
with better appetite than the meats on that table!"--"Every body
admired the courage and discourse of this girl," says Champlain, "who
did not speak at all like a 'sauvagesse.'" Some of my readers may
possibly differ with him.
Marsolet was astounded at this speech from a girl of twelve years old;
but for all that, the general's heart remained unmoved; so the poor
young girls were raised to the dignity of hostages, to preserve the
peace of the country from attacks or inroads of tribes to which they
did not belong, or which might not know or care about them. Champlain
consoled them, as he best might, with hopes of the return of the
French, giving them such useful presents as he could, and telling them
to take courage, be good and virtuous, and continue to say the prayers
that he had taught them. At his request also, one of the interpreters,
named Coulart, promised to let them stay with his wife, which much
relieved Champlain's anxiety; as for the girls, they gratefully
promised to be to Coulart and his wife, as daughters, till he should
return.
About this time, the arch-renegade, Jacques Michel, "being suddenly
seized with great heaviness," remained thirty-five hours without
speaking, and then died, "rendering his soul," writes Champlain;
"which, if we may judge from the works and actions that he had
committed, even on the previous day swearing in a horrible manner, and
dying in the 'pretended' religion, I doubt not, is in hell."
There was more gladness than regret among the English at Michel's
death; however, he was buried with all the honours of his rank; but the
"mourning" lasted but a very little while; on the contrary, the English
were never more happy, particularly on board his own ship, "where,"
slily insinuates Champlain, "there were certain casks of Spanish wine."
The "General," or Admiral, having furnished the fort and settlement at
Quebec with all that was necessary for defence and support, and
careened and refitted his ships, set sail for England; and on the 20th
November, 1629, anchored at "Plemue" (Plymouth), where they heard that
peace had been concluded some months before, which greatly displeased
the said "General." On the 27th, the Jesuits, Recollets, and all those
who wished to return to France, were disembarked in Dover roads, and
Champlain proceeded with the ship to London, where he arrived on the
29th.
On the morrow, he obtained an interview with the French Ambassador, to
whom he gave a full account of his proceedings, and of all that had
happened, complaining bitterly of his fort and himself having been
taken fully two months after peace had been proclaimed; but shewing
that his surrender had been solely from want of ammunition and
provisions, relating the hardships endured, being obliged to seek for
roots in the woods for his people's bare subsistence, etc.; all of
which the ambassador laid before the king of England, who "gave him
good hope of the restoration of the colony, together with all peltry
and other goods which had been seized."
Champlain remained nearly five weeks in London, preparing a report for
the king of all that had occurred; the capitulation with General Kerk,
and a map of all the country taken by the English and claimed by the
French in virtue of first discovery; and waiting for news from France,
but none arriving, the ambassador allowed him to depart, giving him
letters for the Cardinal (Richelieu), with the assurance that the
English government had promised to give up the colony, and all property
captured. He accordingly left London on the 30th December, for "Larie"
(Rye), as being the nearest port to Dieppe, meeting on the road the
elder De Caen, on his way to London, in the hope of recovering his
peltries and other property.[27] Embarking the next day, he arrived
safely at Dieppe.
[27] De Caen found means not only to disarm suspicion of his
treachery and collusion with Michel, but contrived to obtain a
sort of compensation for his exclusion from the company of the
"Cent Associes." On the 1st January, 1633, Cardinal Richelieu
gave permission to the Sieur Guillaume De Caen to establish
colonies on certain islands in the West Indies, with exclusive
privileges for a term of years, "provided the said islands were
not already inhabited by Christians, and that none but Roman
Catholics should be allowed to settle there." I cannot find any
further mention of De Caen and his enterprises.
After a few days repose at Dieppe and Rouen, Champlain proceeded to
Paris, where he presented himself to the king, Cardinal Richelieu, and
the "associates" of the company, giving a full account of his
proceedings, etc. Letters were despatched from the French government,
to London, to demand restitution of the fort and settlement of Quebec,
and the other places captured in Canada, and on the coast of Acadia.
Restitution of Quebec was promised by the king of England, but no
mention made of Acadia. These promises were renewed from time to time,
without any appearance even of performance, so that the company finding
that "restitution" seemed as far off as ever, supplicated the king to
send six ships of war, in company with four of their vessels, to the
St. Lawrence, to resume possession of the colony according to
agreement; and that if the English should not consent to give it up,
that they "should be constrained by all just and legal methods,"
_i.e._, by force. The company proposed to pay the interest of the sum
requisite for the equipment of the royal ships. This petition was
granted, and the Chevalier de Rasilly was appointed commander of the
fleet; and the vessels were prepared for sailing, when the English
government, taking umbrage at this extraordinary armament,
remonstrated; and the French king, fully occupied with his Italian
wars, put off all interference till they should be over; so that the
armament was countermanded, the voyage abandoned, and matters remained
for the present _in statu quo_.
Champlain has not left any relation of his subsequent proceedings. The
account of his Voyages in New France, which in fact is his
autobiography for twenty-seven eventful years of the most interesting
period of his life, terminates in 1629-30. He subsequently added a
short notice of the events which occurred in the colony, of which he
was justly styled the father, during the year 1631; and in 1632, he
published the whole narrative, with the addition of a "Treatise on
Navigation and of the Duties of a good Mariner,"[28] and an abridgement
of the Christian doctrine in the French and Huron languages. He appears
to have been fully occupied during his stay in France, from the end of
1629 to 1632, with the preparation and publication of his voyages and
discoveries, and with pleading the cause of his favourite colony, his
own creation, which was in danger of being abandoned, some considering
it as not worth preserving, having cost large sums, without having
returned any adequate profit. However, he gained his point, and Canada
was restored to France by the treaty of St. Germain in 1632.
[28] "Traite de la Marine et du Devoir d'un bon Marinier."
In 1633 the "Company of New France" resumed all its rights; and
Champlain was again named Governor of the Colony of Quebec and all its
dependencies, where affairs had gone on but badly during the English
occupation, and his absence. The worthy Father Francois Du Creux, or
"Creuxius," of the Society of Jesus, thus notices Champlain's arrival
at Quebec: "To the incredible delight both of the French and natives,
Champlain returned. On the 11th of June, at sunrise, a great explosion
of bombards was heard, which threw the settlement into great agitation,
lest an English ship, whose arrival at Tadoussac had been announced
three days before, should have turned out to be an enemy or a pirate;
and what if the peace between England and France should be at an end?
But persons sent to explore, brought back the news of Champlain's
coming; then fear was changed to gratulation: all would now be well,
and the proper administration of Canadian affairs would be restored to
full activity by Champlain." The "father of the colony" brought with
him ample supplies in men, arms, and munitions of all kinds, for the
defence and support of the settlement; and, for its spiritual comfort,
a reinforcement of Jesuits. He continued to govern the colony with his
usual wisdom and goodness, endeavouring by all means in his power to
promote Christianity among the Indians, and he succeeded in
establishing a mission with the Hurons. Under his firm and equitable
rule, the colony rapidly increased in numbers, wealth, and consequent
importance; and at the time of his death some progress was made in the
foundation of a college at Quebec.
Towards the end of the year 1635 Champlain died, after an illness of
two months and a half, exhibiting during his malady the same firmness,
piety, and solicitude for the colony, for which he had always been
remarkable; "giving," says De Creux, "in the hour of death, such
illustrious evidence of virtue and courage that everyone was
astonished. His remains were followed to the grave by the whole
population with unfeigned grief."
From this notice of his career, it will be seen that Champlain was no
ordinary man. Unintimidated by the repeated failures of preceding
attempts, he followed up his plans with as much resolution as sagacity.
But for him Quebec would probably have never existed. Undeterred by the
cabals and intrigues, lay and clerical, constantly going on in France;
unmoved by the continual discords and quarrels of rival companies, he
steered a straightforward course, avoiding giving umbrage to any, if
not satisfying all. Trusting nothing to others that he could do
himself, he penetrated, almost alone, to the unexplored countries of
distant Indian tribes; exhibiting rare perseverance, energy, and
courage, rebuking cruelty, encouraging the good, and omitting no
opportunity of promulgating the truths of Christianity.
Notwithstanding a considerable dose of credulity,[29] he was endowed
with rare penetration. His views were just, and no one knew better how
to decide in difficulties, or to support them with more patience and
constancy; no dangers daunted him, and he never lost sight of his
object. His zeal for the interests of his country was ardent and
disinterested. With a feeling heart he was always ready to succour the
unfortunate, more careful of the welfare of others than of his own. A
faithful narrator, an enterprising and active traveller; nothing
escaped his attention and observation. He was a good geometrician and
able navigator. The war to which he seems to have incited, or in which
at least he joined, the Algonquins, Hurons, and other tribes against
the Iroquois, can hardly be justified; but the result of his policy, if
policy it was, proved favourable, in bringing to and confirming in his
alliance the tribes more immediately surrounding the infant colony.
[29] In 1604 Champlain published a relation of his first voyage
to Canada; in it he mentions a strange and frightful monster
called "gougou," giving at the same time the names of his
authorities. This story, which, in a great measure, gave rise to
the accusation of credulity, was suppressed in the general
relation of his voyages in 1632. The "dragon," the two legs of
the camelion, and the no-legs of the bird of Paradise, the mode
of hatching the same, etc., described in the present manuscript,
show that, however he may have got over extreme credulity in
later years, in his first voyages he had a strong belief in the
marvellous--but that quality belonged in a degree to the age in
which he lived.
[Illustration: PEARL FISHERY.]
BRIEF NARRATIVE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE THINGS THAT SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN OF
BROUAGE, OBSERVED IN THE WESTERN INDIES;
DURING THE VOYAGE WHICH HE MADE TO THE SAME, IN THE YEARS ONE THOUSAND
FIVE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE TO ONE THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND TWO,--AS
FOLLOWS.
Having been employed in the army of the king, which was in Brittany,
under Messieurs the Marechal d'Aumont de St. Luc,[30] and the Marechal
de Brissac,[31] during some years in the quality of marechal de
logis,[32] until his majesty, in the year one thousand five hundred and
ninety-eight, had reduced the said country of Brittany to obedience,[33]
and dismissed his army; and finding myself by this means without any
charge or employment, I resolved, in order not to remain idle, to find
means of making a voyage to Spain, and, being there, to acquire and
cultivate acquaintance, in order, by their favour and interposition, to
arrange so as to be able to embark in one of the ships of the fleet,
which the king of Spain sends every year to the western Indies; to the
end, in so embarking, to be able at my return to make a true report to
his majesty (Henry IV) of the particularities which could not be known
to any Frenchman, for the reason that they have not free access there.
[30] Marechal d'Aumont. Jean d'Aumont, born in 1522, of an
ancient and noble family, entered the career of arms very early,
and distinguished himself by his bravery during the Piedmontese
war. Henry III created him Knight of the Saint Esprit in 1578,
and Marshal of France in the following year. D'Aumont signalized
himself at the battle of Ivry. He was named governor of Poitou by
Henry IV, and by his prudent conduct kept that province from
rising for the League. The king sent him to Brittany to oppose
the Duke de Mercoeur. He was killed by a musket-shot at the
siege of Camper, on the 19th of August, 1595, aged seventy-three
years.
[31] Marechal de Brissac. Charles, second Duke de Cosse Brissac,
peer and marshal of France. He gave up Paris, of which he was
governor, to Henry IV, on the 22nd March, 1594. He served in the
war in Brittany till its close, and died at Brissac, in Anjou, in
1621.
[32] "Marechal de logis"--quarter-master.
[33] Reduction of Brittany. The greater part of Brittany held out
for the League against the king (Henry IV), under the command of
the Duke de Mercoeur, aided by the Spaniards under the Archduke
Albert of Austria.
Philippe Emanuel de Lorraine, Duke de Mercoeur, was born at
Nomeny, in 1558. Attached to the Duke of Guise, he was about to
be arrested at the States of Blois in 1588, but the queen, Louise
de Lorraine, his sister, gave him timely warning, and he escaped.
He then openly embraced the party of the League, withdrew to his
government of Brittany, called in the aid of the Spaniards, and
gave them possession of the port of Blavet in 1591. He made his
submission to Henry IV in April, 1598, and was pardoned at the
intercession of Gabrielle d'Estrees, lately created Duchess of
Beaufort, who, however, previously stipulated that the duke
should give his daughter, Francoise, one of the richest heiresses
in France, in marriage to the son of Henry IV, Cesar, Duke de
Vendome. In 1601 the Emperor Rodolph offered De Mercoeur the
command of his army in Hungary against the Turks. He endeavoured
with only fifteen thousand men to raise the siege of Chanicha,
which Ibrahim Pacha had invested with sixty thousand. He was
forced to retire, but his retreat passed for one of the most
skilful then known. Obliged in the following year to return to
France, he died on the way, at Nuremberg, in 1602.
In order, then, to accomplish my design, I went to Blavet,[34] where at
that time was a garrison of Spaniards, in which place I found an uncle
of mine called "the Provencal captain," considered to be one of the
good mariners of France, and who, in that year, had been engaged by the
king of Spain as Pilot-General of his sea armies.
[34] Blavet, the last town held by the Spaniards in Brittany,
was, together with all the places they possessed in Picardy,
given up by the treaty of Vervins, in June 1598, and thus the
whole province was submitted to the king's authority.
Blavet, or Port Louis, a fortified town with citadel and harbour
in Brittany, department of the Morbihan, at the embouchure of the
river Blavet; the town being ruined during the wars of the
League, Louis XIII rebuilt it from the former materials, erected
a fort, and gave it his name.
My said uncle having received the commands of Monsieur le Marechal de
Brissac, to conduct the ships in which the Spaniards of the garrison of
Blavet were embarked, in order to repass them to Spain, as it had been
promised, I embarked with him, in a great ship of five hundred tons,
named the "Saint Julian," which had been taken, and engaged for the
said voyage; and having quitted Blavet in the beginning of the month of
August, we arrived ten days afterwards near to Cape Finisterre, which
we could not perceive on account of a great fog which arose from the
sea, in consequence of which all our vessels were separated, and even
our vessel-admiral (admirande), of the fleet was nearly lost, having
touched upon a rock, and taken in much water, in which ship (and over
the whole fleet) the General Soubriago commanded, having been sent by
the king of Spain to Blavet for that purpose.
On the following day, the weather having cleared up, all our vessels
rejoined, and we proceeded to the Isles of Bayona, in Galicia, in order
to refit the admiral's ship which was much injured.
Having sojourned six days at these islands, we made sail, and three
days after came in sight of Cape St. Vincent; having doubled the said
cape, we proceeded to the port of Callix (Cadiz), which, having
entered, the soldiers were disembarked; and after the landing, the
French ships that had been engaged for the voyage, were dismissed, and
sent back, each one to its port, excepting the said ship, the St.
Julian, which, having been observed by the General Soubriago to be a
strong vessel, and a good sailer, was engaged by him for the service of
the king of Spain: and thus the "Provencal captain," my uncle, remained
still in it; and we sojourned at the port of Callix an entire month,
during which I had the opportunity of examining that city.
Departing from the said Callix, we continued to St. Lucar de Barameda,
which is at the entry of the river of Seville, where we remained three
months, during which time I went to Seville, and took drawings of it,
and of the other (St. Lucar de Barameda), which I have judged fitting
to represent in the best manner that I could in the following.
[Illustration: ST LUC DE BARAMEDA.]