Whence comes the name of Quebec? "Quel bec! Quel bec!"--(What a
beak!)--shouted Jacques Cartier's astonished sailors, when, sailing up
the St. Lawrence, they first beheld the startling promontory of Cape
Diamond, thrust in towering majesty almost across the river. Thus,
says one tradition, by a natural elision, was named Quebec, when the
Europeans first saw the rock in 1535. Another derivation comes from
Candebec on the Seine, which it much resembles. The Indian word
"Kebic," meaning "the fearful rocky cliff," may have been its origin.
The Indian village of Stadacona was here when Cartier found it, a
cluster of wigwams fringing the shore in front of the bold cliff, its
people bearing allegiance to the Montaignais chief, Donnacona. Here
the ancient chronicle records that Cartier saw a "mighty promontory,
rugged and bare, thrust its scarped front into the raging current,"
and he planted the cross and lilies of France and took possession for
his king. Returning to Europe, he took back as prisoners the chief,
Donnacona, and several of his warriors, their arrival making a great
sensation. They were fêted and prayed for, and becoming converted,
were baptised with pomp in the presence of a vast assemblage in the
magnificent Cathedral of Rouen. But the round of pleasure and
feasting, with the excess of excitement, overcame these children of
the forest, and they all died within a year. Colonization on the St.
Lawrence, after Cartier's voyages, languished for seventy years,
various ill-starred expeditions failing, and it was not until 1608
that the city of Quebec was really founded by Samuel de Champlain, who
was sent out by a company of associated noblemen of France to
establish a fur trade with the Indians and open a new field for the
Church, the Roman Catholic religion being then in the full tide of
enthusiasm which in the seventeenth century made what was known as the
"counter reformation." Champlain built a fort and established the
province of New France, but his colony was of slow growth. There
subsequently came out the military and commercial adventurers and
religious enthusiasts, who were the first settlers of the new empire.
The Recollet Fathers came in 1615, and the Jesuit missionary priests
in 1625 and subsequently. The famous Canadian bishop, Laval de
Montmorency, Father Hennepin, and the Sieur de la Salle, all came out
in the same ship at a later period. Thus was founded the great French
Catholic power in North America.
The Church thoroughly ruled the infant colony of Quebec. In the fort,
black-garbed Jesuits and scarfed officers mingled at Champlain's
table. Parkman says, "There was little conversation, but in its place,
histories and the lives of saints were read aloud, as in a monastic
refectory; prayers, masses and confessions followed each other with an
edifying regularity, and the bell of the adjacent chapel, built by
Champlain, rang morning, noon, and night; godless soldiers caught the
infection, and whipped themselves in penance for their sins; debauched
artisans outdid each other in the fury of their contrition; Quebec was
become a mission." Champlain died at Christmas, 1635, after a long
illness, at the age of sixty-eight, the "Father of Canada," and Quebec
was without a Governor for a half-year. Finally, the next summer, the
Father Superior, Le Jeune, who had been directing affairs, espied a
ship, and going down to the landing, was met by the new Governor, de
Montmagny, a Knight of Malta, with a long train of officers and
gentlemen. We are told that "as they all climbed the rock together,
Montmagny saw a crucifix planted by the path. He instantly fell on his
knees before it; and nobles, soldiers, sailors and priests imitated
his example. The Jesuits sang Te Deum at the church, and the cannon
roared from the adjacent fort. Here the new Governor was scarcely
installed, when a Jesuit came in to ask if he would be godfather to an
Indian about to be baptized. 'Most gladly,' replied the pious
Montmagny. He repaired on the instant to the convert's hut, with a
company of gaily-apparelled gentlemen; and while the inmates stared in
amazement at the scarlet and embroidery, he bestowed on the dying
savage the name of Joseph, in honor of the spouse of the Virgin and
the patron of New France. Three days after, he was told that a dead
proselyte was to be buried, on which, leaving the lines of the new
fortification he was tracing, he took in hand a torch, De Lisle, his
lieutenant, took another, Repentigny and St. Jean, gentlemen of his
suite, with a band of soldiers, followed, two priests bore the corpse,
and thus all moved together in procession to the place of burial. The
Jesuits were comforted. Champlain himself had not displayed a zeal so
edifying." The spiritual power thus so zealously exerted thoroughly
controlled Quebec, and its masterful force always continued.