THE FOUNDERS OF ACADIA
The name Acadia, [Footnote: The origin of the name is
uncertain. By some authorities it is supposed to be
derived from the Micmac algaty, signifying a camp or
settlement. Others have traced it to the Micmac akade,
meaning a place where something abounds. Thus, Sunakade
(Shunacadie, C. B.), the cranberry place; Seguboon-akade
(Shubenacadie), the place of the potato, etc. The earliest
map marking the country, that of Ruscelli (1561), gives
the name Lacardie. Andre Thivet, a French writer, mentions
the country in 1575 as Arcadia; and many modern writers
believe Acadia to be merely a corruption of that classic
name.] which we now associate with a great tragedy of
history and song, was first used by the French to
distinguish the eastern or maritime part of New France
from the western part, which began with the St Lawrence
valley and was called Canada. Just where Acadia ended
and Canada began the French never clearly defined--in
course of time, as will be seen, this question became a
cause of war with the English--but we shall not be much
at fault if we take a line from the mouth of the river
Penobscot, due north to the St Lawrence, to mark the
western frontier of the Acadia of the French. Thus, as
the map shows, Acadia lay in that great peninsula which
is flanked by two large islands, and is washed on the
north and east by the river and gulf of St Lawrence, and
on the south by the Atlantic Ocean; and it comprised what
are to-day parts of Quebec and Maine, as well as the
provinces of New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward
Island. When the French came, and for long after, this
country was the hunting ground of tribes of the Algonquin
race--Micmacs, Malecites, and Abnakis or Abenakis.
By right of the discoveries of Jean Verrazano (1524) and
Jacques Cartier (1534-42) the French crown laid claim to
all America north of the sphere of Spanish influence.
Colonial enterprise, however, did not thrive during the
religious wars which rent Europe in the sixteenth century;
and it was not until after the Edict of Nantes in 1598
that France could follow up the discoveries of her seamen
by an effort to colonize either Acadia or Canada. Abortive
attempts had indeed been made by the Marquis de la Roche,
but these had resulted only in the marooning of fifty
unfortunate convicts on Sable Island. The first real
colonizing venture of the French in the New World was
that of the Sieur de Monts, the patron and associate of
Champlain. [Footnote: See The founder of New France in
this Series, chap. ii.] The site of this first colony
was in Acadia. Armed with viceregal powers and a trading
monopoly for ten years, De Monts gathered his colonists,
equipped two ships, and set out from Havre de Grace in
April 1604. The company numbered about a hundred and
fifty Frenchmen of various ranks and conditions, from
the lowest to the highest--convicts taken from the prisons,
labourers and artisans, Huguenot ministers and Catholic
priests, some gentlemen of noble birth, among them Jean
de Biencourt, Baron de Poutrincourt, and the already
famous explorer Champlain.
The vessels reached Cape La Heve on the south coast of
Nova Scotia in May. They rounded Cape Sable, sailed up
the Bay of Fundy, and entered the Annapolis Basin, which
Champlain named Port Royal. The scene here so stirred
the admiration of the Baron de Poutrincourt that he
coveted the place as an estate for his family, and begged
De Monts, who by his patent was lord of the entire country,
to grant him the adjoining lands. De Monts consented;
the estate was conveyed; and Poutrincourt became the
seigneur of Port Royal.
The adventurers crossed to the New Brunswick shore, turned
their vessel westward, passed the mouth of the river St
John, which they named, and finally dropped anchor in
Passamaquoddy Bay. Here, on a small island near the mouth
of the river St Croix, now on the boundary-line between
New Brunswick and Maine, De Monts landed his colonists.
They cleared the ground; and, within an enclosure known
as the Habitation de l'Isle Saincte-Croix, erected a few
buildings--'one made with very fair and artificial
carpentry work' for De Monts, while others, less ornamental,
were for 'Monsieur d'Orville, Monsieur Champlein, Monsieur
Champdore, and other men of high standing.'
Then as the season waned the vessels, which linked them
to the world they had left, unfurled their sails and set
out for France. Seventy-nine men remained at St Croix,
among them De Monts and Champlain. In the vast solitude
of forest they settled down for the winter, which was
destined to be full of horrors. By spring thirty-five of
the company had died of scurvy and twenty more were at
the point of death. Evidently St Croix was not a good
place for a colony. The soil was sandy and there was no
fresh water. So, in June, after the arrival of a vessel
bringing supplies from France, De Monts and Champlain
set out to explore the coasts in search of a better site.
But, finding none which they deemed suitable, they decided
to tempt fortune at Poutrincourt's domain of Port Royal.
Thither, then, in August the colonists moved, carrying
their implements and stores across the Bay of Fundy, and
landing on the north side of the Annapolis Basin, opposite
Goat Island, where the village of Lower Granville now
stands.
The colony thus formed at Port Royal in the summer of
1605--the first agricultural settlement of Europeans on
soil which is now Canadian--had a broken existence of
eight years. Owing to intrigues at the French court, De
Monts lost his charter in 1607 and the colony was
temporarily abandoned; but it was re-established in 1610
by Poutrincourt and his son Charles de Biencourt. The
episode of Port Royal, one of the most lively in Canadian
history, introduces to us some striking characters.
Besides the leaders in the enterprise, already mentioned
--De Monts, Champlain, Poutrincourt, and Biencourt--we
meet here Lescarbot, [Footnote: Lescarbot was the historian
of the colony. His History of New France, reprinted by
the Champlain Society (Toronto, 1911), with an English
translation, notes, and appendices by W. L. Grant, is a
delightful and instructive work.] lawyer, merry philosopher,
historian, and farmer; likewise, Louis Hebert, planting
vines and sowing wheat--the same Louis Hebert who afterwards
became the first tiller of the soil at Quebec. Here,
also, is Membertou, sagamore of the Micmacs, 'a man of
a hundred summers' and 'the most formidable savage within
the memory of man.' Hither, too, in 1611, came the Jesuits
Biard and Masse, the first of the black-robed followers
of Loyola to set foot in New France. But the colony was
to perish in an event which foreshadowed the struggle in
America between France and England. In 1613 the English
Captain Argall from new-founded Virginia sailed up the
coasts of Acadia looking for Frenchmen. The Jesuits had
just begun on Mount Desert Island the mission of St
Sauveur. This Argall raided and destroyed. He then went
on and ravaged Port Royal. And its occupants, young
Biencourt and a handful of companions, were forced to
take to a wandering life among the Indians.
Twenty years passed before the French made another
organized effort to colonize Acadia. The interval, however,
was not without events which had a bearing on the later
fortunes of the colony. Missionaries from Quebec, both
Recollets and Jesuits, took up their abode among the
Indians, on the river St John and at Nipisiguit on Chaleur
Bay. Trading companies exploited the fur fields and the
fisheries, and French vessels visited the coasts every
summer. It was during this period that the English Puritans
landed at Plymouth (1620), at Salem (1628), and at Boston
(1630), and made a lodgment there on the south-west flank
of Acadia. The period, too, saw Sir William Alexander's
Scots in Nova Scotia and saw the English Kirkes raiding
the settlements of New France. [Footnote: See The Jesuit
Missions in this Series, chap. iv.]
The Baron de Poutrincourt died in 1615, leaving his estate
to his son Biencourt. And after Biencourt's own death in
1623, it was found that he had bequeathed a considerable
fortune, including all his property and rights in Acadia,
to his friend and companion, that interesting and
resourceful adventurer, Charles de la Tour. This man,
when a lad of fourteen, and his father, Claude de la
Tour, had come out to Acadia in the service of Poutrincourt.
After the destruction of Port Royal, Charles de la Tour
had followed young Biencourt into the forest, and had
lived with him the nomadic life of the Indians. Later,
the elder La Tour established himself for trade at the
mouth of the Penobscot, but he was driven away from this
post by a party from the English colony at Plymouth. The
younger La Tour, after coming into Biencourt's property,
built Fort Lomeron, afterwards named St Louis, at the
place now known as Port Latour, near Cape Sable. This
made him in fact, if not in name, the French ruler of
Acadia, for his Fort St Louis was the only place of any
strength in the whole country.
By 1627 the survivors of Biencourt's wandering companions
had settled down, some of them in their old quarters at
Port Royal, but most of them with La Tour at Cape Sable.
Then came to Acadia seventy Scottish settlers, sent hither
by Sir William Alexander, who took up their quarters at
Port Royal and named it Scots Fort. The French described
these settlers as 'all kinds of vagabonds, barbarians,
and savages from Scotland'; and the elder La Tour went
to France to procure stores and ammunition, and to petition
the king to grant his son a commission to hold Acadia
against the intruders. But the elder La Tour was not to
come back in the role of a loyal subject of France. He
was returning in 1628 with the ships of the newly formed
Company of One Hundred Associates, under Roquemont, when,
off the Gaspe coast, appeared the hostile sail of the
Kirkes; and La Tour was taken prisoner to England. There
he entered into an alliance with the English, accepted
grants of land from Sir William Alexander, had himself
and his son made Baronets of Nova Scotia, and promised
to bring his son over to the English side. Young La Tour,
when his father returned, accepted the gift, and by some
means procured also, in 1631, a commission from the French
king as lieutenant-general of Acadia. Later, as we shall
see, his dual allegiance proved convenient.
The restoration of Acadia to France in 1632, by the Treaty
of St Germain-en-Laye, was to Cardinal Richelieu the
signal for a renewal of the great colonizing project
which he had set on foot five years earlier and which
had been interrupted by the hostile activities of the
Kirkes. [Footnote: See The founder of New France, chap.
v, and The Jesuit Missions, chap. iv.] Richelieu appointed
lieutenant-general of Acadia Isaac de Razilly, one of
the Company of One Hundred Associates and commander of
the Order of Malta, with authority to take over Acadia
from the Scots. Razilly brought out with him three hundred
settlers, recruited mainly from the districts of Touraine
and Brittany--the first considerable body of colonists
to come to the country. He was a man of more than ordinary
ability, of keen insight and affable manners. 'The
commander,' wrote Champlain, 'possessed all the qualities
of a good, a perfect sea-captain; prudent, wise,
industrious; urged by the saintly motive of increasing
the glory of God and of exercising his energy in New
France in order to erect the cross of Christ and plant
the lilies of France therein.' He planned for Acadia on
a large scale. He endeavoured to persuade Louis XIII to
maintain a fleet of twelve vessels for the service of
the colony, and promised to bring out good settlers from
year to year. Unfortunately, his death occurred in 1635
before his dreams could be realized. He had been given
the power to name his successor; and on his death-bed he
appointed his cousin and companion, Charles de Menou,
Sieur d'Aulnay Charnisay, adjuring him 'not to abandon
the country, but to pursue a task so gloriously begun.'
Years of strife and confusion followed. Razilly had made
La Heve his headquarters; but Charnisay took up his at
Port Royal. [Footnote: Charnisay built his fort about
six miles farther up than the original Port Royal, and
on the opposite side of the river, at the place thenceforth
known as Port Royal until 1710, and since then as Annapolis
Royal or Annapolis.] This brought him into conflict with
Charles de la Tour, who had now established himself at
the mouth of the river St John, and whose commission from
the king, giving him jurisdiction over the whole of
Acadia, had, apparently, never been rescinded. The king,
to whom the dispute was referred, instructed that an
imaginary line should be drawn through the Bay of Fundy
to divide the territory of Charnisay from that of La
Tour. But this arrangement did not prevent the rivalry
between the two feudal chiefs from developing into open
warfare. In the struggle the honours rested with Charnisay.
Having first undermined La Tour's influence at court, he
attacked and captured La Tour's Fort St John. This happened
in 1645. La Tour himself was absent; but his wife, a
woman of heroic mould, made a most determined resistance.
[Footnote: This follows the story as told by Denys (see
p. 18 note), which has been generally accepted by
historians. But Charnisay in an elaborate memoir (Memoire
Instructif) gives a very different version of this affair.]
La Tour was impoverished and driven into exile; his
remarkable wife died soon afterwards; and Charnisay
remained lord of all he surveyed. But Charnisay was not
long to enjoy his dominion. In May 1650 he was thrown by
accident from his canoe into the Annapolis river and died
in consequence of the exposure.
In the year following Charnisay's death Charles de la
Tour reappeared on the scene. Armed with a new patent
from the French king, making him governor and lieutenant-
general of Acadia, he took possession of his fort at the
mouth of the St John, and further strengthened his position
by marrying the widow of his old rival Charnisay. Three
years later (1654), when the country fell again into the
hands of the English, La Tour turned to good account his
previous relations with them. He was permitted to retain
his post, and lived happily with his wife [Footnote: They
had five children, who married and settled in Acadia.
Many of their descendants may be counted among the Acadian
families living at the present time in Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick.] at Fort St John, so far as history records,
until his death in 1666.
By the Treaty of Breda in 1667 Acadia was restored to
France, and a period ensued of unbroken French rule. The
history of the forty-three years from the Treaty of Breda
until the English finally took possession is first a
history of slow but peaceful development, and latterly
of raids and bloody strife in which French and English
and Indians were involved. In 1671 the population,
according to a census of that year, numbered less than
four hundred and fifty. This was presently increased by
sixty new colonists from France. By 1685 this population
had more than doubled and the tiny settlements appeared
to be thriving. But after 1690 war again racked the land.
During this period Acadia was under the government of
Quebec, but there was always a local governor. The first
of these, Hubert de Grandfontaine, came out in 1670. He
and some of his successors were men of force and ability;
but others, such as Brouillan, who issued card money
without authority and applied torture to an unconvicted
soldier, and Perrot, who sold liquor by the pint and the
half-pint in his own house, were unworthy representatives
of the crown.
By 1710 the population of Acadia had grown to about
twenty-one hundred souls, distributed chiefly in the
districts of Port Royal, Minas, and Chignecto. Most of
these were descended from the settlers brought over by
Razilly and Charnisay between 1633 and 1638. On the whole,
they were a strong, healthy, virtuous people, sincerely
attached to their religion and their traditions. The most
notable singularity of their race was stubbornness,
although they could be led by kindness where they could
not be driven by force. Though inclined to litigation,
they were not unwilling to arbitrate their differences.
They 'had none who were bred mechanics; every farmer was
his own architect and every man of property a farmer.'
'The term Mister was unknown among them.' They took pride
in their appearance and wore most attractive costumes,
in which black and red colours predominated. Content with
the product of their labour and having few wants, they
lived in perfect equality and with extreme frugality. In
an age when learning was confined to the few, they were
not more illiterate than the corresponding class in other
countries. 'In the summer the men were continually employed
in husbandry.' They cultivated chiefly the rich marsh-lands
by the rivers and the sea, building dikes along the banks
and shores to shut out the tides; and made little effort
to clear the woodlands. 'In the winter they were engaged
in cutting timber and wood for fuel and fencing, and in
hunting; the women in carding, spinning, and weaving
wool, flax, and hemp, of which their country furnished
abundance; these, with furs from bears, beavers, foxes,
otters, and martens, gave them not only comfortable, but
in some cases handsome clothing.' Although they had large
herds of cattle, 'they never made any merchantable butter,
being used to set their milk in small noggins which were
kept in such order as to turn it thick and sour in a
short time, of which they ate voraciously.' [Footnote:
Public Archives, Canada, Brown Collection, M 651a, 171.]
The lands which the Acadians reclaimed from the sea and
cultivated were fertile in the extreme. A description
has come down to us of what was doubtless a typical
Acadian garden. In it were quantities of 'very fine
well-headed cabbages and of all other sorts of pot herbs
and vegetables.' Apple and pear trees brought from France
flourished. The peas were 'so covered with pods that it
could only be believed by seeing.' The wheat was
particularly good. We read of one piece of land where
'each grain had produced six or eight stems, and the
smallest ear was half a foot in length, filled with
grain.' The streams and rivers, too, teemed with fish.
The noise of salmon sporting in the rivers sounded like
the rush of a turbulent rapid, and a catch such as 'ten
men could not haul to land' was often made in a night.
Pigeons were a plague, alighting in vast flocks in the
newly planted gardens. If the economic progress of the
country had been slow, the reason had lain, not in any
poverty of natural resources, but in the scantiness of
the population, the neglect of the home government, the
incessant turmoil within, and the devastating raids of
English enemies.