CHAPTER IX.
CHAMPLAIN'S RETURN FROM THE HURON COUNTRY AND VOYAGE TO FRANCE.—THE CONTRACTED VIEWS OF THE COMPANY OF MERCHANTS.—THE PRINCE DE CONDÉ SELLS THE VICEROYALTY TO THE DUKE DE MONTMORENCY.—CHAMPLAIN WITH HIS WIFE RETURNS TO QUEBEC, WHERE HE REMAINS FOUR YEARS.—HAVING REPAIRED THE BUILDINGS AND ERECTED THE FORTRESS OF ST. LOUIS, CHAMPLAIN RETURNS TO FRANCE.—THE VICEROYALTY TRANSFERRED TO HENRY DE LEVI, AND THE COMPANY OF THE HUNDRED ASSOCIATES ORGANIZED.
About the 20th of May, Champlain, accompanied by the missionary, Le Caron, escorted by a delegation of savages, set out from the Huron capital, in the present county of Simcoe, on their return to Quebec. Pursuing the same circuitous route by which they had come, they were forty days in reaching the Falls of St. Louis, near Montreal, where they found Pont Gravé, just arrived from France, who, with the rest, was much rejoiced at seeing Champlain, since a rumor had gone abroad that he had perished among the savages.
The party arrived at Quebec on the 11th of July. A public service of thanksgiving was celebrated by the Recollect Fathers for their safe return. The Huron chief, D'Arontal, with whom Champlain had passed the winter and who had accompanied him to Quebec, was greatly entertained and delighted with the establishment of the French, the buildings and other accessories of European life, so different from his own, and earnestly requested Champlain to make a settlement at Montreal, that his whole tribe might come and reside near them, safe under their protection against their Iroquois enemies.
Champlain did not remain at Quebec more than ten days, during which he planned and put in execution the enlargement of their houses and fort, increasing their capacity by at least one third. This he found necessary to do for the greater convenience of the little colony, as well as for the occasional entertainment of strangers. He left for France on the 20th day of July, in company with the Recollect Fathers, Joseph le Caron and Denis Jamay, the commissary of the mission, taking with them specimens of French grain which had been produced near Quebec, to testify to the excellent quality of the soil. They arrived at Honfleur in France on the 10th of September, 1616.
The exploration in the distant Indian territories which we have just described in the preceding pages was the last made by Champlain. He had plans for the survey of other regions yet unexplored, but the favorable opportunity did not occur. Henceforth he directed his attention more exclusively than he had hitherto done to the enlargement and strengthening of his colonial plantation, without such success, we regret to say, as his zeal, devotion, and labors fitly deserved. The obstacles that lay in his way were insurmountable. The establishment or factory, we can hardly call it a plantation, at Quebec, was the creature of a company of merchants. They had invested considerable sums in shipping, buildings, and in the employment of men, in order to carry on a trade in furs and peltry with the Indians, and they naturally desired remunerative returns. This was the limit of their purpose in making the investment. The corporators saw nothing in their organization but a commercial enterprise yielding immediate results. They were inspired by no generosity, no loyalty, or patriotism that could draw from them a farthing to increase the wealth, power, or aggrandizement of France. Under these circumstances, Champlain struggled on for years against a current which he could barely direct, but by no means control.
Champlain made voyages to New France both in 1617 and in 1618. In the latter year, among the Indians who came to Quebec for the purpose of trade, appeared Étienne Brulé, the interpreter, who it will be remembered had been despatched in 1615, when Champlain was among the Hurons, to the Entouhonorons at Carantouan, to induce them to join in the attack of the Iroquois in central New York. During the three years that had intervened, nothing had been heard from him. Brulé related the story of his extraordinary adventures, which Champlain has preserved, and which may be found in the report of the voyage of 1618, in Volume III. of this work. [84]
At Quebec, he met numerous bands of Indians from remote regions, whom he had visited in former years, and who, in fulfilment of their promises, had come to barter their peltry for such commodities as suited their need or fancy, and to renew and strengthen their friendship with the French. By these repeated interviews, and the cordial reception and generous entertainment which he always gave them, the Indians dwelling on the upper waters of the Ottawa, along the borders of Lake Huron, or on the Georgian Bay, formed a strong personal attachment to Champlain, and yearly brought down their fleets of canoes heavily freighted with the valuable furs which they had diligently secured during the preceding winter. His personal influence with them, a power which he exercised with great delicacy, wisdom, and fidelity, contributed largely to the revenues annually obtained by the associated merchants.
But Champlain desired more than this. He was not satisfied to be the agent and chief manager of a company organized merely for the purpose of trade. He was anxious to elevate the meagre factory at Quebec into the dignity and national importance of a colonial plantation. For this purpose he had tested the soil by numerous experiments, and had, from time to time, forwarded to France specimens of ripened grain to bear testimony to its productive quality. He even laid the subject before the Council of State, and they gave it their cordial approbation. By these means giving emphasis to his personal appeals, he succeeded at length in extorting from the company a promise to enlarge the establishment to eighty persons, with suitable equipments, farming implements, all kinds of feeds and domestic animals, including cattle and sheep. But when the time came, this promise was not fulfilled. Differences, bickerings, and feuds sprang up in the company. Some wanted one thing, and some wanted another. Even religion cast in an apple of discord. The Catholics wished to extend the faith of their church into the wilds of Canada, while the Huguenots desired to prevent it, or at least not to promote it by their own contributions. The company, inspired by avarice and a desire to restrict the establishment to a mere trading post, raised an issue to discredit Champlain. It was gravely proposed that he should devote himself exclusively to exploration, and that the government and trade should henceforth be under the direction and control of Pont Gravé. But Champlain was not a man to be ejected from an official position by those who had neither the authority to give it to him or the power to take it away. Pont Gravé was his intimate, long-tried, and trusted friend; and, while he regarded him with filial respect and affection, he could not yield, even to him, the rights and honors which had been accorded to him as a recognition, if not a reward, for many years of faithful service, which he had rendered under circumstances of personal hardship and danger. The king addressed a letter to the company, in which he directed them to aid Champlain as much as possible in making explorations, in settling the country, and cultivating the soil, while with their agents in the traffic of peltry there should be no interference. But the spirit of avarice could not be subdued by the mandate of the king. The associated merchants were still, obstinate. Champlain had intended to take his family to Canada that year, but he declined to make the voyage under any implication of a divided authority. The vessel in which he was to sail departed without him, and Pont Gravé spent the winter in charge of the company's affairs at Quebec.
Champlain, in the mean time, took such active measures as seemed necessary to establish his authority as lieutenant of the viceroy, or governor of New France. He appeared before the Council of State at Tours, and after an elaborate argument and thorough discussion of the whole subject, obtained a decree ordering that he should have the command at Quebec and at all other settlements in New France, and that the company should abstain from any interference with him in the discharge of the duties of his office.
The Prince de Condé having recently been liberated from an imprisonment of three years, governed by his natural avarice, was not unwilling to part with his viceroyalty, and early in 1620 transferred it, for the consideration of eleven thousand crowns, or about five hundred and fifty pounds sterling, to his brother-in-law, the Duke de Montmorency, [85] at that time high-admiral of France. The new viceroy appointed Champlain his lieutenant, who immediately prepared to leave for Quebec. But when he arrived at Honfleur, the company, displeased at the recent change, again brought forward the old question of the authority which the lieutenant was to exercise in New France. The time for discussion had, however, passed. No further words were now to be wasted. The viceroy sent them a peremptory order to desist from further interferences, or otherwise their ships, already equipped for their yearly trade, would not be permitted to leave port. This message from the high-admiral of France came with authority and had the desired effect.
Early in May, 1620, Champlain sailed from Honfleur, accompanied by his wife and several Recollect friars, and, after a voyage of two months, arrived at Tadoussac, where he was cordially greeted by his brother-in-law, Eustache Boullé, who was very much astonished at the arrival of his sister, and particularly that she was brave enough to encounter the dangers of the ocean and take up her abode in a wilderness at once barren of both the comforts and refinements of European life.
On the 11th of July, Champlain left Tadoussac for Quebec, where he found the whole establishment, after an absence of two years, in a condition of painful neglect and disorder. He was cordially received, and becoming ceremonies were observed to celebrate his arrival. A sermon composed for the occasion was delivered by one of the Recollect Fathers, the commission of the king and that of the viceroy appointing him to the sole command of the colony were publicly read, cannon were discharged, and the little populace, from loyal hearts, loudly vociferated Vive le Roy!
The attention of the lieutenant was at first directed to restoration and repairs. The roof of the buildings no longer kept out the rain, nor the walls the piercing fury of the winds. The gardens were in a state of ruinous neglect, and the fields poorly and scantily cultivated. But the zeal, energy, and industry of Champlain soon put every thing in repair, and gave to the little settlement the aspect of neatness and thrift. When this was accomplished, he laid the foundations of a fortress, which he called the Fort Saint Louis, situated on the crest of the rocky elevation in the rear of the settlement, about a hundred and seventy-two feet above the surface of the river, a position which commanded the whole breadth of the St. Lawrence at that narrow point.
This work, so necessary for the protection and safety of the colony, involving as it did some expense, was by no means satisfactory to the Company of Associates. [86] Their general fault-finding and chronic discontent led the Duke de Montmorency to adopt heroic measures to silence their complaints. In the spring of 1621, he summarily dissolved the association of merchants, which he denominated the "Company of Rouen and St. Malo," and established another in its place. He continued Champlain in the office of lieutenant, but committed all matters relating to trade to William de Caen, a merchant of high standing, and to Émeric de Caen the nephew of the former, a good naval captain. This new and hasty reorganization, arbitrary if not illegal, however important it might seem to the prosperity and success of the colony, laid upon Champlain new responsibilities and duties at once delicate and difficult to discharge. Though in form suppressed, the company did not yield either its existence or its rights. Both the old and the new company were, by their agents, early in New France, clamoring for their respective interests. De Caen, in behalf of the new, insisted that the lieutenant ought to prohibit all trade with the Indians by the old company, and, moreover, that he ought to seize their property and hold it as security for their unpaid obligations. Champlain, having no written authority for such a proceeding, and De Caen, declining to produce any, did not approve the measure and declined to act. The threats of De Caen that he would take the matter into his own hands, and seize the vessel of the old company commanded by Pont Gravé and then in port, were so violent that Champlain thought it prudent to place a body of armed men in his little fort still unfinished, until the fury of the altercation should subside. [87] This decisive measure, and time, the natural emollient of irritated tempers, soon restored peace to the contending parties, and each was allowed to carry on its trade unmolested by the other. The prudence of Champlain's conduct was fully justified, and the two companies, by mutual consent, were, the next year, consolidated into one.
Champlain remained at Quebec four years before again returning to France. His time was divided between many local enterprises of great importance. His special attention was given to advancing the work on the unfinished fort, in order to provide against incursions of the hostile Iroquois, [88] who at one time approached the very walls of Quebec, and attacked unsuccessfully the guarded house of the Recollects on the St. Charles. [89] He undertook the reconstruction of the buildings of the settlement from their foundations. The main structure was enlarged to a hundred and eight feet [90] in length, with two wings of sixty feet each, having small towers at the four corners. In front and on the borders of the river a platform was erected, on which were placed cannon, while the whole was surrounded by a ditch spanned by drawbridges.
Having placed every thing at Quebec in as good order as his limited means would permit, and given orders for the completion of the works which he had commenced, leaving Émeric de Caen in command, Champlain determined to return to France with his wife, who, though devoted to a religious life, we may well suppose was not unwilling to exchange the rough, monotonous, and dreary mode of living at Quebec for the more congenial refinements to which she had always been accustomed in her father's family near the court of Louis XIII. He accordingly sailed on the 15th of August, and arrived at Dieppe on the 1st of October, 1624. He hastened to St. Germain, and reported to the king and the viceroy what had occurred and what had been done during the four years of his absence.
The interests of the two companies had not been adjusted and they were still in conflict. The Duke de Montmorency about this time negotiated a sale of his viceroyalty to his nephew, Henry de Levi, Duke de Ventadour. This nobleman, of a deeply religious cast of mind, had taken holy orders, and his chief purpose in obtaining the viceroyalty was to encourage the planting of Catholic missions in New France. As his spiritual directors were Jesuits, he naturally committed the work to them. Three fathers and two lay brothers of this order were sent to Canada in 1625, and others subsequently joined them. Whatever were the fruits of their labors, many of them perished in their heroic undertaking, manfully suffering the exquisite pains of mutilation and torture.
Champlain was reappointed lieutenant, but remained in France two years, fully occupied with public and private duties, and in frequent consultations with the viceroy as to the best method of advancing the future interests of the colony. On the 15th of April, 1626, with Eustache Boullé, his brother-in-law, who had been named his assistant or lieutenant, he again sailed for Quebec, where he arrived on the 5th of July. He found the colonists in excellent health, but nevertheless approaching the borders of starvation, having nearly exhausted their provisions. The work that he had laid out to be done on the buildings had been entirely neglected. One important reason for this neglect, was the necessary employment of a large number of the most efficient laborers, for the chief part of the summer in obtaining forage for their cattle in winter, collecting it at a distance of twenty-five or thirty miles from the settlement. To obviate this inconvenience, Champlain took an early opportunity to erect a farm-house near the natural meadows at Cape Tourmente, where the cattle could be kept with little attendance, appointing at the same time an overseer for the men, and making a weekly visit to this establishment for personal inspection and oversight.
The fort, which had been erected on the crest of the rocky height in the rear of the dwelling, was obviously too small for the protection of the whole colony in case of an attack by hostile savages. He consequently took it down and erected another on the same spot, with earthworks on the land side, where alone, with difficulty, it could be approached. He also made extensive repairs upon the storehouse and dwelling.
During the winter of 1626-27, the friendly Indians, the Montagnais, Algonquins, and others gave Champlain much anxiety by unadvisedly entering into an alliance, into which they were enticed by bribes, with a tribe dwelling near the Dutch, in the present State of New York, to assist them against their old enemies, the Iroquois, with whom, however, they had for some time been at peace. Champlain justly looked upon this foolish undertaking as hazardous not only to the prosperity of these friendly tribes, but to their very existence. He accordingly sent his brother-in-law to Three Rivers, the rendezvous of the savage warriors, to convince them of their error and avert their purpose. Boullé succeeded in obtaining a delay until all the tribes should be assembled and until the trading vessels should arrive from France. When Émeric de Caen was ready to go to Three Rivers, Champlain urged upon him the great importance of suppressing this impending conflict with the Iroquois. The efforts of De Caen were, however, ineffectual. He forthwith wrote to Champlain that his presence was necessary to arrest these hostile proceedings. On his arrival, a grand council was assembled, and Champlain succeeded, after a full statement of all the evils that must evidently follow, in reversing their decision, and messengers were sent to heal the breach. Some weeks afterward news came that the embassadors were inhumanly massacred.
Crimes of a serious nature were not unfrequently committed against the French by Indians belonging to tribes, with which they were at profound peace. On one occasion two men, who were conducting cattle by land from Cape Tourmente to Quebec, were assassinated in a cowardly manner. Champlain demanded of the chiefs that they should deliver to him the perpetrators of the crime. They expressed genuine sorrow for what had taken place, but were unable to obtain the criminals. At length, after consulting with the missionary, Le Caron, they offered to present to Champlain three young girls as pledges of their good faith, that he might educate them in the religion and manners of the French. The gift was accepted by Champlain, and these savage maidens became exceedingly attached to their foster-father, as we shall see in the sequel.
The end of the year 1627 found the colony, as usual, in a depressed state. As a colony, it had never prospered. The average number composing it had not exceeded about fifty persons. At this time it may have been somewhat more, but did not reach a hundred. A single family only appears to have subsisted by the cultivation of the soil. [91] The rest were sustained by supplies sent from France. From the beginning disputes and contentions had prevailed in the corporation. Endless bickerings sprung up between the Huguenots and Catholics, each sensitive and jealous of their rights. [92] All expenditures were the subject of censorious criticism. The necessary repairs of the fort, the enlargement and improvement of the buildings from time to time, were too often resisted as unnecessary and extravagant. The company, as a mere trading association, was doubtless successful. Large quantities of peltry were annually brought by the Indians for traffic to the Falls of St. Louis, Three Rivers, Quebec, and Tadoussac. The average number of beaver-skins annually purchased and transported to France was probably not far from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand, and in a most favorable year it mounted up to twenty-two thousand. [93] The large dividends that they were able to make, intimated by Champlain to be not far from forty per centum yearly, were, of course, highly satisfactory to the company. They desired not to impair this characteristic of their enterprise. They had, therefore, a prime motive for not wishing to lay out a single unnecessary franc on the establishment. Their policy was to keep the expenses at the minimum and the net income at the maximum. Under these circumstances, nearly twenty years had elapsed since the founding of Quebec, and it still possessed only the character of a trading post, and not that of a colonial plantation. This progress was satisfactory neither to Champlain, to the viceroy, nor the council of state. In the view of these several interested parties, the time had come for a radical change in the organization of the company. Cardinal de Richelieu had risen by his extraordinary ability as a statesman, a short time anterior to this, into supreme authority, and had assumed the office of grand master and chief of the navigation and commerce of France. His sagacious and comprehensive mind saw clearly the intimate and interdependent relations between these two great national interests and the enlargement and prosperity of the French colonies in America. He lost no time in organizing measures which should bring them into the closest harmony. The company of merchants whose finances had been so skilfully managed by the Caens was by him at once dissolved. A new one was formed, denominated La Compagnie de la Nouvelle-France, consisting of a hundred or more members, and commonly known as the Company of the Hundred Associates. It was under the control and management of Richelieu himself. Its members were largely gentlemen in official positions about the court, in Paris, Rouen, and other cities of France. Among them were the Marquis Deffiat, superintendent of finances, Claude de Roquemont, the Commander de Razilly, Captain Charles Daniel, Sébastien Cramoisy, the distinguished Paris printer, Louis Houêl, the controller of the salt works in Brouage, Champlain, and others well known in public circles.
The new company had many characteristics which seemed to assure the solid growth and enlargement of the colony. Its authority extended over the whole domain of New France and Florida. It provided in its organization for an actual capital of three hundred thousand livres. It entered into an obligation to send to Canada in 1628 from two to three hundred artisans of all trades, and within the space of fifteen years to transport four thousand colonists to New France. The colonists were to be wholly supported by the company for three years, and at the expiration of that period were to be assigned as much land as they needed for cultivation. The settlers were to be native-born Frenchmen, exclusively of the Catholic faith, and no foreigner or Huguenot was to be permitted to enter the country. [94] The charter accorded to the company the exclusive control of trade and all goods manufactured in New France were to be free of imposts on exportation. Besides these, it secured to the corporators other and various exclusive privileges of a semifeudal character, supposed, however, to contribute to the prosperity and growth of the colony.
The organization of the company, having received the formal approbation of Richelieu on the 29th of April, 1627, was ratified by the Council of State on the 6th of May, 1628.
ENDNOTES:
84. The character of Étienne Brulé, either for honor or veracity, is not improved by his subsequent conduct. He appears in 1629 to have turned traitor, to have sold himself to the English, and to have piloted them up the river in their expedition against Quebec. Whether this conduct, base certainly it was, ought to affect the credibility of his story, the reader must judge. Champlain undoubtedly believed it when he first related it to him. He probably had no means then or afterwards of testing its truth. In the edition of 1632, Brulé's story is omitted. It does not necessarily follow that it was omitted because Champlain came to discredit the story, since many passages contained in his preceding publications are omitted in the edition of 1632, but they are not generally passages of so much geographical importance as this, if it be true. The map of 1632 indicates the country of the Carantouanais; but this information might have been obtained by Champlain from the Hurons, or the more western tribes which he visited during the winter of 1615-16.—Vide ed. 1632, p. 220.
85. Henry de Montmorency II was born at Chantilly in 1595, and was beheaded at Toulouse Oct 30, 1632. He was created admiral at the age of seventeen. He commanded the Dutch fleet at the siege of Rochelle. He made the campaigns of 1629 and 1630 in Piedmont, and was created a marshal of France after the victory of Veillane. He adopted the party of Gaston, the Duke of Orleans, and having excited the province of Languedoc of which he was governor to rebellion, he was defeated, and executed as guilty of high treason. He was the last scion of the elder branch of Montmorency and his death was a fatal blow to the reign of feudalism.
86. Among other annoyances which Champlain had to contend against was the contraband trade carried on by the unlicensed Rochellers, who not only carried off quantities of peltry, but even supplied the Indians with fire-arms and ammunition. This was illegal, and endangered the safety of the colony—Vide Voyages par De Champlain, Paris, 1632, Sec Partie, p 3.
87. Vide ed 1632, Sec Partie, Chap III.
88. Vide Hist. New France, by Charlevoix, Shea's. Trans., Vol. II. p. 32.
89. The house of the Recollects on the St. Charles was erected in 1620, and was called the Conuent de Nostre Dame Dame des Anges. The Father Jean d'Olbeau laid the first stone on the 3d of June of that year.—Vide Histoire du Canada par Gabriel Sagard, Paris, 1636, Tross ed., 1866, p. 67; Découvertes et Êtablissements des Français, dans l'ouest et dans le sud de L'Amerique Septentrionale 1637, par Pierre Margry, Paris, 1876, Vol. I. p. 7.
90. Hundred and eight feet, dix-huit toyses. The toise here estimated at six feet. Compare Voyages de Champlain, Laverdière's ed., Vol. I. p. lii, and ed. 1632, Paris, Partie Seconde, p. 63.
91. There was but one private house at Quebec in 1623, and that belonged to Madame Hébert, whose husband was the first to attempt to obtain a living by the cultivation of the soil.—Vide Sagard, Hist, du Canada, 1636, Tross ed. Vol. I. p. 163. There were fifty-one inhabitants at Quebec in 1624, including men, women, and children.—Vide Champlain, ed. 1632, p. 76.
92. Vide Champlain, ed. 1632, pp. 107, 108, for an account of the attempt on the part of the Huguenot, Émeric de Caen, to require his sailors to chaunt psalms and say prayers on board his ship after entering the River St. Lawrence, contrary to the direction of the Viceroy, the Duke de Ventadour. As two thirds of them were Huguenots, it was finally agreed that they should continue to say their prayers, but must omit their psalm-singing.
93. Father Lalemant enumerates the kind of peltry obtained by the French from the Indians, and the amount, as follows. "En eschange ils emportent des peaux d'Orignac, de Loup Ceruier, de Renard, de Loutre, et quelquefois il s'en rencontre de noires, de Martre, de Blaireau et de Rat Musqué, mais principalement de Castor qui est le plus grand de leur gain. On m'a dit que pour vne année ils en auoyent emporté iusques à 22000. L'ordinaire de chaque année est de 15000, ou 20000, à une pistole la pièce, ce n'est pas mal allé."—Vide Rélation de la Nouvelle France en l'Année 1626, Quebec ed. p. 5.
94. This exclusiveness was characteristic of the age. Cardinal Richelieu and his associates were not qualified by education or by any tendency of their natures to inaugurate a reformation in this direction. The experiment of amalgamating Catholic and Huguenot in the enterprises of the colony had been tried but with ill success. Contentions and bickerings had been incessant, and subversive of peace and good neighborhood. Neither party had the spirit of practical toleration as we understand it, and which we regard at the present day as a priceless boon. Nor was it understood anywhere for a long time afterward. Even the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay did not comprehend it, and took heroic measures to exclude from their commonwealth those who differed from them in their religious faith. We certainly cannot censure them for not being in advance of their times. It would doubtless have been more manly in them had they excluded all differing from them by plain legal enactment, as did the Society of the Hundred Associates, rather than to imprison or banish any on charges which all subsequent generations must pronounce unsustained.—Vide Memoir of the Rev. John Wheelwright, by Charles H. Bell, Prince Society, ed. 1876, pp. 9-31 et passim; Hutchinson Papers, Prince Society ed., 1865, Vol. I. pp. 79-113. American Criminal Trials, by Peleg W. Chandler, Boston, 1841, Vol. I. p. 29.
CHAPTER X.
THE FAVORABLE PROSPECTS OF THE COMPANY OF NEW FRANCE.—THE ENGLISH INVASION OF CANADA AND THE SURRENDER OF QUEBEC—CAPTAIN DANIEL PLANTS A FRENCH COLONY NEAR THE GRAND CIBOU—CHAMPLAIN IN FRANCE, AND THE TERRITORIAL CLAIMS OF THE FRENCH AND ENGLISH STILL UNSETTLED
The Company of New France, or of the Hundred Associates, lost no time in carrying out the purpose of its organization. Even before the ratification of its charter by the council, four armed vessels had been fitted out and had already sailed under the command of Claude de Roquemont, a member of the company, to convoy a fleet of eighteen transports laden with emigrants and stores, together with one hundred and thirty-five pieces of ordnance to fortify their settlements in New France.
The company, thus composed of noblemen, wealthy merchants, and officials of great personal influence, with a large capital, and Cardinal Richelieu, who really controlled and shaped the policy of France at that period, at its head possessed so many elements of strength that, in the reasonable judgment of men, success was assured, failure impossible. [95]
To Champlain, the vision of a great colonial establishment in New France, that had so long floated before him in the distance, might well seem to be now almost within his grasp. But disappointment was near at hand. Events were already transpiring which were destined to cast a cloud over these brilliant hopes. A fleet of armed vessels was already crossing the Atlantic, bearing the English flag, with hostile intentions to the settlements in New France. Here we must pause in our narrative to explain the origin, character, and purpose of this armament, as unexpected to Champlain as it was unwelcome.
The reader must be reminded that no boundaries between the French and English territorial possessions in North America at this time existed. Each of these great nations was putting forth claims so broad and extensive as to utterly exclude the other. By their respective charters, grants, and concessions, they recognized no sovereignty or ownership but their own.
Henry IV. of France, made, in 1603, a grant to a favorite nobleman, De Monts, of the territory lying between the fortieth and the forty-sixth degrees of north latitude. James I. of England, three years later, in 1606, granted to the Virginia Companies the territory lying between the thirty-fourth and the forty-eighth degrees of north latitude, covering the whole grant made by the French three years before. Creuxius, a French historian of Canada, writing some years later than this, informs us that New France, that is, the French possessions in North America, then embraced the immense territory extending from Florida, or from the thirty-second degree of latitude, to the polar circle, and in longitude from Newfoundland to Lake Huron. It will, therefore, be seen that each nation, the English and the French, claimed at that time sovereignty over the same territory, and over nearly the whole of the continent of North America. Under these circumstances, either of these nations was prepared to avail itself of any favorable opportunity to dispossess the other.
The English, however, had, at this period, particular and special reasons for desiring to accomplish this important object. Sir William Alexander, [96] Secretary of State for Scotland at the court of England, had received, in 1621, from James I., a grant, under the name of New Scotland, of a large territory, covering the present province of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and that part of the province of Quebec lying east of a line drawn from the head-waters of the River St. Croix in a northerly direction to the River St. Lawrence. He had associated with him a large number of Scottish noblemen and merchants, and was taking active measures to establish Scottish colonies on this territory. The French had made a settlement within its limits, which had been broken up and the colony dispersed in 1613, by Captain Samuel Argall, under the authority of Sir Thomas Dale, governor of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia. A desultory and straggling French population was still in occupation, under the nominal governorship of Claude La Tour. Sir William Alexander and his associates naturally looked for more or less inconvenience and annoyance from the claims of the French. It was, therefore, an object of great personal importance and particularly desired by him, to extinguish all French claims, not only to his own grant, but to the neighboring settlement at Quebec. If this were done, he might be sure of being unmolested in carrying forward his colonial enterprise.
A war had broken out between France and England the year before, for the ostensible purpose, on the part of the English, of relieving the Huguenots who were shut up in the city of Rochelle, which was beleaguered by the armies of Louis XIII, under the direction of his prime minister, Richelieu, who was resolved to reduce this last stronghold to obedience. The existence of this war offered an opportunity and pretext for dispossessing the French and extinguishing their claims under the rules of war. This object could not be attained in any other way. The French were too deeply rooted to be removed by any less violent or decisive means. No time was, therefore, lost in taking advantage of this opportunity.
Sir William Alexander applied himself to the formation of a company of London merchants who should bear the expense of fitting out an armament that should not only overcome and take possession of the French settlements and forts wherever they should be found, but plant colonies and erect suitable defences to hold them in the future. The company was speedily organized, consisting of Sir William Alexander, junior, Gervase Kirke, Robert Charlton, William Berkeley, and perhaps others, distinguished merchants of London. [97] Six ships were equipped with a suitable armament and letters of marque, and despatched on their hostile errand. Capt. David Kirke, afterwards Sir David, was appointed admiral of the fleet, who likewise commanded one of the ships. [98] His brothers, Lewis Kirke and Thomas Kirke, were in command of two others. They sailed under a royal patent executed in favor of Sir William Alexander, junior, son of the secretary, and others, granting exclusive authority to trade, seize, and confiscate French or Spanish ships and destroy the French settlements on the river and Gulf of St. Lawrence and parts adjacent.
Kirke sailed, with a part if not the whole of his fleet, to Annapolis Basin in the Bay of Fundy, and took possession of the desultory French settlement to which we have already referred. He left a Scotch colony there, under the command of Sir William Alexander, junior, as governor. The fleet finally rendezvoused at Tadoussac, capturing all the French fishing barques, boats, and pinnaces which fell in its way on the coast of Nova Scotia, including the Island of Cape Breton.
From Tadoussac, Kirke despatched a shallop to Quebec, in charge of six Basque fishermen whom he had recently captured. They were bearers of an official communication from the admiral of the English fleet to Champlain. About the same time he sent up the river, likewise, an armed barque, well manned, which anchored off Cape Tourmente, thirty miles below Quebec, near an outpost which had been established by Champlain for the convenience of forage and pasturage for cattle. Here a squad of men landed, took four men, a woman, and little girl prisoners, killed such of the cattle as they desired for use and burned the rest in the stables, as likewise two small houses, pillaging and laying waste every thing they could find. Having done this, the barque hastily returned to Tadoussac.
We must now ask the reader to return with us to the little settlement at Quebec. The proceedings which we have just narrated were as yet unknown to Champlain. The summer of 1628 was wearing on, and no supplies had arrived from France. It was obvious that some accident had detained the transports, and they might not arrive at all. His provisions were nearly exhausted. To subsist without a resupply was impossible. Each weary day added a new keenness to his anxiety. A winter of destitution, of starvation and death for his little colony of well on towards a hundred persons was the painful picture that now constantly haunted his mind. To avoid this catastrophe, if possible, he ordered a boat to be constructed, to enable him to communicate with the lower waters of the gulf, where he hoped he might obtain provisions from the fishermen on the coast, or transportation for a part or the whole of his colony to France.
On the 9th of July, two men came up from Cape Tourmente to announce that an Indian had brought in the news that six large ships had entered and were lying at anchor in the harbor of Tadoussac. The same day, not long after, two canoes arrived, in one of which was Foucher, the chief herds-man at Cape Tourmente, who had escaped from his captors, from whom Champlain first learned what had taken place at that outpost.
Sufficiently assured of the character of the enemy, Champlain hastened to put the unfinished fort in as good condition as possible, appointing to every man in the little garrison his post, so that all might be ready for duty at a moment's warning. On the afternoon of the next day a small sail came into the bay, evidently a stranger, directing its course not through the usual channel, but towards the little River St. Charles. It was too insignificant to cause any alarm. Champlain, however, sent a detachment of arquebusiers to receive it. It proved to be English, and contained the six Basque fishermen already referred to, charged by Kirke with despatches for Champlain. They had met the armed barque returning to Tadoussac, and had taken off and brought up with them the woman and little girl who had been captured the day before at Cape Tourmente.
The despatch, written two days before, and bearing date July 8th, 1628, was a courteous invitation to surrender Quebec into the hands of the English, assigning several natural and cogent reasons why it would be for the interest of all parties for them to do so. Under different circumstances, the reasoning might have had weight; but this English admiral had clearly conceived a very inadequate idea of the character of Champlain, if he supposed he would surrender his post, or even take it into consideration, while the enemy demanding it and his means of enforcing it were at a distance of at least a hundred miles. Champlain submitted the letter to Pont Gravé and the other gentlemen of the colony, and we concluded, he adds, that if the English had a desire to see us nearer, they must come to us, and not threaten us from so great a distance.
Champlain returned an answer declining the demand, couched in language of respectful and dignified politeness. It is easy, however, to detect a tinge of sarcasm running through it, so delicate as not to be offensive, and yet sufficiently obvious to convey a serene indifference on the part of the French commander as to what the English might think it best to do in the sequel. The tone of the reply, the air of confidence pervading it, led Kirke to believe that the French were in a far better condition to resist than they really were. The English admiral thought it prudent to withdraw. He destroyed all the French fishing vessels and boats at Tadoussac, and proceeded down the gulf, to do the same along the coast.
We have already alluded, in the preceding pages, to De Roquemont, the French admiral, who had been charged by the Company of the Hundred Associates to convoy a fleet of transports to Canada. Wholly ignorant of the importance of an earlier arrival at Quebec, he appears to have moved leisurely, and was now, with his whole fleet, lying at anchor in the Bay of Gaspé. Hearing that Kirke was in the gulf, he very unwisely prepared to give him battle, and moved out of the bay for that purpose. On the 18th of July the two armaments met. Kirke had six armed vessels under his command, while De Roquemont had but four. The conflict was unequal. The English vessels were unencumbered and much heavier than those of the French. De Roquemont [99] was soon overpowered and compelled to surrender his whole fleet of twenty-two vessels, with a hundred and thirty-five pieces of ordnance, together with supplies and colonists for Quebec, were all taken. Kirke returned to England laden with the rich spoils of his conquest, having practically accomplished, if not what he had intended, nevertheless that which satisfied the avarice of the London merchants under whose auspices the expedition had sailed. The capture of Quebec had from the beginning been the objective purpose of Sir William Alexander. The taking of this fleet and the cutting off their supplies was an important step in this undertaking. The conquest was thereby assured, though not completed.
Champlain, having despatched his reply to Kirke, naturally supposed he would soon appear before Quebec to carry out his threat. He awaited this event with great anxiety. About ten days after the messengers had departed, a young Frenchman, named Desdames, arrived in a small boat, having been sent by De Roquemont, the admiral of the new company, to inform Champlain that he was then at Gaspé with a large fleet, bringing colonists, arms, stores, and provisions for the settlement. Desdames also stated that De Roquemont intended to attack the English, and that on his way he had heard the report of cannon, which led him to believe that a conflict had already taken place. Champlain heard nothing more from the lower St. Lawrence until the next May, when an Indian from Tadoussac brought the story of De Roquemont's defeat.
In the mean time, Champlain resorted to every expedient to provide subsistence for his famishing colony. Even at the time when the surrender was demanded by the English, they were on daily rations of seven ounces each. The means of obtaining food were exceedingly slender. Fishing could not be prosecuted to any extent, for the want of nets, lines, and hooks. Of gunpowder they had less than fifty pounds, and a possible attack by treacherous savages rendered it inexpedient to expend it in hunting game. Moreover, they had no salt for curing or preserving the flesh of such wild animals as they chanced to take. The few acres cultivated by the missionaries and the Hébert family, and the small gardens about the settlement, could yield but little towards sustaining nearly a hundred persons for the full term of ten months, the shortest period in which they could reasonably expect supplies from France. A system of the utmost economy was instituted. A few eels were purchased by exchange of beaver-skins from the Indians. Pease were reduced to flour first by mortars and later by hand-mills constructed for the purpose, and made into a soup to add flavor to other less palatable food. Thus economising their resources, the winter finally wore away, but when the spring came, their scanty means were entirely exhausted. Henceforth their sole reliance was upon the few fish that could be taken from the river, and the edible roots gathered day by day from the fields and forests. An attempt was made to quarter some of the men upon the friendly Indians, but with little success. Near the last of June, thirty of the colony, men, women, and children, unwilling to remain longer at Quebec, were despatched to Gaspé, twenty of them to reside there with the Indians, the others to seek a passage to France by some of the foreign fishing-vessels on the coast. This detachment was conducted by Eustache Boullé, the brother-in-law of Champlain. The remnant of the little colony, disheartened by the gloomy prospect before them and exhausted by hunger, continued to drag out a miserable existence, gathering sustenance for the wants of each day, without knowing what was to supply the demands of the next.
On the 19th of July, 1629, three English vessels were seen from the fort at Quebec, distant not more than three miles, approaching under full sail. [100] Their purpose could not be mistaken. Champlain called a council, in which it was decided at once to surrender, but only on good terms; otherwise, to resist to their utmost with such slender means as they had. The little garrison of sixteen men, all his available force, hastened to their posts. A flag of truce soon brought a summons from the brothers, Lewis and Thomas Kirke, couched in courteous language, asking the surrender of the fort and settlement, and promising such honorable and reasonable terms as Champlain himself might dictate.
To this letter Champlain [101] replied that he had not, in his present circumstances, the power of resisting their demand, and that on the morrow he would communicate the conditions on which he would deliver up the settlement; but, in the mean time, he must request them to retire beyond cannon-shot, and not attempt to land. On the evening of the same day the articles of capitulation were delivered, which were finally, with very little variation, agreed to by both parties.
The whole establishment at Quebec, with all the movable property belonging to it, was to be surrendered into the hands of the English. The colonists were to be transported to France, nevertheless, by the way of England. The officers were permitted to leave with their arms, clothes, and the peltries belonging to them as personal property. The soldiers were allowed their clothes and a beaver-robe each; the missionaries, their robes and books. This agreement was subsequently ratified at Tadoussac by David Kirke, the admiral of the fleet, on the 19th of August, 1629.
On the 20th of July, Lewis Kirke, vice-admiral, at the head of two hundred armed men, [102] took formal possession of Quebec, in the name of Charles I., the king of England. The English flag was hoisted over the Fort of St. Louis. Drums beat and cannon were discharged in token of the accomplished victory.
The English demeaned themselves with exemplary courtesy and kindness towards their prisoners of war. Champlain was requested to continue to occupy his accustomed quarters until he should leave Quebec; the holy mass was celebrated at his request; and an inventory of what was found in the habitation and fort was prepared and placed in his hand, a document which proved to be of service in the sequel. The colonists were naturally anxious as to the disposition of their lands and effects; but their fears were quieted when they were all cordially invited to remain in the settlement, assured, moreover, that they should have the same privileges and security of person and property which they had enjoyed from their own government. This generous offer of the English, and their kind and considerate treatment of them, induced the larger part of the colonists to remain.
On the 24th of July, Champlain, exhausted by a year of distressing anxiety and care, and depressed by the adverse proceedings going on about him, embarked on the vessel of Thomas Kirke for Tadoussac, to await the departure of the fleet for England. Before reaching their destination, they encountered a French ship laden with merchandise and supplies, commanded by Émeric de Caen, who was endeavoring to reach Quebec for the purpose of trade and obtaining certain peltry and other property stored at that place, belonging to his uncle, William de Caen. A conflict was inevitable. The two vessels met. The struggle was severe, and, for a time, of doubtful result. At length the French cried for quarter. The combat ceased. De Caen asked permission to speak with Champlain. This was accorded by Kirke, who informed him, if another shot were fired, it would be at the peril of his life. Champlain was too old a soldier and too brave a man to be influenced by an appeal to his personal fears. He coolly replied, It will be an easy matter for you to take my life, as I am in your power, but it would be a disgraceful act, as you would violate your sacred promise. I cannot command the men in the ship, or prevent their doing their duty as brave men should; and you ought to commend and not blame them.
De Caen's ship was borne as a prize into the harbor of Tadoussac, and passed for the present into the vortex of general confiscation.
Champlain remained at Tadoussac until the fleet was ready to return to England. In the mean time, he was courteously entertained by Sir David Kirke. He was, however, greatly pained and disappointed that the admiral was unwilling that he should take with him to France two Indian girls who had been presented to him a year or two before, and whom he had been carefully instructing in religion and manners, and whom he loved as his own daughters. Kirke, however, was inexorable. Neither reason, entreaty, nor the tears of the unhappy maidens could move him. As he could not take them with him, Champlain administered to them such consolation as he could, counselling them to be brave and virtuous, and to continue to say the prayers that he had taught them. It was a relief to his anxiety at last to be able to obtain from Mr. Couillard, [103] one of the earliest settlers at Quebec, the promise that they should remain in the care of his wife, while the girls, on their part, assured him that they would be as daughters to their new foster-parents until his return to New France.
Quebec having been provisioned and garrisoned, the fleet sailed for England about the middle of September, and arrived at Plymouth on the 20th of November. On the 27th, the missionaries and others who wished to return to France, disembarked at Dover, while Champlain was taken to London, where he arrived on the 29th.
At Plymouth, Kirke learned that a peace between France and England had been concluded on the 24th of the preceding April, nearly three months before Quebec had been taken; consequently, every thing that had been done by this expedition must, sooner or later, be reversed. The articles of peace had provided that all conquests subsequent to the date of that instrument should be restored. It was evident that Quebec, the peltry, and other property taken there, together with the fishing-vessels and others captured in the gulf, must be restored to the French. To Kirke and the Company of London Merchants this was a bitter disappointment. Their expenditures had been large in the first instance; the prizes of the year before, the fleet of the Hundred Associates which they had captured, had probably all been absorbed in the outfit of the present expedition, comprising the six vessels and two pinnaces with which Kirke had sailed for the conquest of Quebec. Sir William Alexander had obtained, in the February preceding, from Charles I., a royal charter of THE COUNTRY AND LORDSHIP OF CANADA IN AMERICA, [104] embracing a belt of territory one hundred leagues in width, covering both sides of the St. Lawrence from its mouth to the Pacific Ocean. This charter with the most ample provisions had been obtained in anticipation of the taking of Quebec, and in order to pave the way for an immediate occupation and settlement of the country. Thus a plan for the establishment of an English colonial empire on the banks of the St. Lawrence had been deliberately formed, and down to the present moment offered every prospect of a brilliant success. But a cloud had now swept along the horizon and suddenly obscured the last ray of hope. The proceeds of their two years of incessant labor, and the large sums which they had risked in the enterprise, had vanished like a mist in the morning sun. But, as the cause of the English became more desperate, the hopes of the French revived. The losses of the latter were great and disheartening; but they saw, nevertheless, in the distance, the long-cherished New France of the past rising once more into renewed strength and beauty.
On his arrival at London, Champlain immediately put himself in communication with Monsieur de Châteauneuf, the French ambassador, laid before him the original of the capitulation, a map of the country, and such other memoirs as were needed to show the superior claims of the French to Quebec on the ground both of discovery and occupation. [105] Many questions arose concerning the possession and ownership of the peltry and other property taken by the English, and, during his stay, Champlain contributed as far as possible to the settlement of these complications. It is somewhat remarkable that during this time the English pretended to hold him as a prisoner of war, and even attempted to extort a ransom from him, [106] pressing the matter so far that Champlain felt compelled to remonstrate against a demand so extraordinary and so obviously unjust, as he was in no sense a prisoner of war, and likewise to state his inability to pay a ransom, as his whole estate in France did not exceed seven hundred pounds sterling.
After having remained a month in London, Champlain was permitted to depart for France, arriving on the last day of December.
At Dieppe he met Captain Daniel, from whom he learned that Richelieu and the Hundred Associates had not been unmindful of the pressing wants of their colony at Quebec. Arrangements had been made early in the year 1629 to send to Champlain succor and supplies, and a fleet had been organized to be conducted thither by the Commander Isaac de Razilly. While preparations were in progress, peace was concluded between France and England on the 24th of April. It was, consequently, deemed unnecessary to accompany the transports by an armed force, and thereupon Razilly's orders were countermanded, while Captain Daniel of Dieppe, [107] whose services had been engaged, was sent forward with four vessels and a barque belonging to the company, to carry supplies to Quebec. A storm scattered his fleet, but the vessel under his immediate command arrived on the coast of the Island of Cape Breton, and anchored on the 18th of September, novo stylo, in the little harbor of Baleine, situated about six miles easterly from the present site of Louisburgh, now famous in the annals of that island. Here he was surprised to find a British settlement. Lord Ochiltrie, better known as Sir James Stuart, a Scottish nobleman, had obtained a grant, through Sir William Alexander, of the Island of Cape Breton, and had, on the 10th of the July preceding, novo stylo, planted there a colony of sixty persons, men, women, and children, and had thrown up for their protection a temporary fort. Daniel considered this an intrusion upon French soil. He accordingly made a bloodless capture of the fortress at Baleine, demolished it, and, sailing to the north and sweeping round to the west, entered an estuary which he says the savages called Grand Cibou, [108] where he erected a fort and left a garrison of forty men, with provisions and all necessary means of defence. Having set up the arms of the King of France and those of Cardinal Richelieu, erected a house, chapel, and magazine, and leaving two Jesuit missionaries, the fathers Barthélémy Vimond and Alexander de Vieuxpont, he departed, taking with him the British colonists, forty-two of whom he landed near Falmouth in England, and eighteen, including Lord Ochiltrie, he carried into France. This settlement at the Bay of St. Anne, or Port Dauphin, accidentally established and inadequately sustained, lingered a few years and finally disappeared.
Having received the above narrative from Captain Daniel, Champlain soon after proceeded to Paris, and laid the whole subject of the unwarrantable proceedings of the English in detail before the king, Cardinal Richelieu, and the Company of New France, and urged the importance of regaining possession as early as possible of the plantation from which they had been unjustly ejected. The English king did not hesitate at an early day to promise the restoration of Quebec, and, in fact, after some delay, all places which were occupied by the French at the outbreak of the war. The policy of the English ministers appears, however, to have been to postpone the execution of this promise as long as possible, probably with the hope that something might finally occur to render its fulfilment unnecessary. Sir William Alexander, the Earl of Stirling, who had very great influence with Charles I, was particularly opposed to the restoration of the settlement on the shores of Annapolis Basin. This fell within the limits of the grant made to him in 1621, under the name of New Scotland, and a Scotch colony was now in occupation. He contended that no proper French plantation existed there at the opening of the war, and this was probably true; a few French people were, indeed, living there, but under no recognized, certainly no actual, authority or control of the crown of France, and consequently they were under no obligation to restore it. But Charles I had given his word that all places taken by the English should be restored as they were before the war, and no argument or persuasions could change his resolution to fulfil his promise. It was not, however, till after the lapse of more than two years, owing, chiefly, to the opposition of Sir William Alexander, that the restoration of Quebec and the plantation on Annapolis Basin was fully assured by the treaty of St Germain en Laye, bearing date March 29, 1632. The reader must be reminded that the text of the treaty just mentioned and numerous contemporary documents show that the restorations demanded by the French and granted by the English only related to the places occupied by the French before the outbreak of the war, and not to Canada or New France or to any large extent of provincial territory whatever. [109] When the restorations were completed, the boundary lines distinguishing the English and French possessions in America were still unsettled, the territorial rights of both nations were still undefined, and each continued, as they had done before the war, to claim the same territory as a part of their respective possessions. Historians, giving to this treaty a superficial examination, and not considering it in connection with contemporary documents, have, from that time to the present, fallen into the loose and unauthorized statement that, by the treaty of St. Germain en Laye, the whole domain of Canada or New France was restored to the French. Had the treaty of St. Germain en Laye, by which Quebec was restored to the French, fixed accurately the boundary lines between the two countries, it would probably have saved the expenditure of money and blood, which continued to be demanded from time to time until, after a century and a quarter, the whole of the French possessions were transferred, under the arbitration of war, to the English crown.
ENDNOTES:
95. The association was a joint-stock company. Each corporator was bound to pay in three thousand livres, and as there were over a hundred, the quick capital amounted to over 300,000 livres.—Vide Mercure François, Paris, 1628, Tome XIV. p 250. For a full statement of the organization and constitution of the Company of New France, Vide Mercure Francois, Tome XIV pp 232-267 Vide also Charlevoix's Hist. New France, Shea's Trans Vol. II. pp. 39-44.
96. Vide Sir William Alexander and American Colonization, Prince Society, Boston, 1873.
97. Vide Colonial Papers, Vol. V. 87, III. We do not find the mention of any others as belonging to the Company of Merchant Adventurers to Canada.
98. Sir David Kirke was one of five brothers, the sons of Gervase or Gervais Kirke, a merchant of London, and his wife, Elizabeth Goudon of Dieppe in France. The grandfather of Sir David was Thurston Kirke of Norton, a small town in the northern part of the county of Derby, known as the birthplace of the sculptor Chantrey. This little hamlet had been the home of the Kirkes for several generations. Gervase Kirke had, in 1629, resided in Dieppe for the most of the forty years preceding, and his children were probably born there. Sir David Kirke was married to Sarah, daughter of Sir Joseph Andrews. In early life he was a wine- merchant at Bordeaux and Cognac. He was knighted by Charles I in 1633, in recognition of his services in taking Quebec. On the 13th of November, 1637, he received a grant of "the whole continent, island, or region called Newfoundland." In 1638, he took up his residence at Ferryland, Newfoundland, in the house built by Lord Baltimore. He was a friend and correspondent of Archbishop Laud, to whom he wrote, in 1639, "That the ayre of Newfoundland agrees perfectly well with all God's creatures, except Jesuits and schismatics." He remained in Newfoundland nearly twenty years, where he died in 1655-56, having experienced many disappointments occasioned by his loyalty to Charles I.—Vide Colonial Papers, Vol. IX. No. 76; The First English Conquest of Canada, by Henry Kirke, London, 1871, passim; Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, Paris ed. 1632, p. 257.
99. Champlain criticises with merited severity the conduct of De Roquemont, and closes in the following words "Le merite d'un bon Capitaine n'est pas seulement au courage, mais il doit estre accompagné de prudence, qui est ce qui les fait estimer, comme estant suiuy de ruses, stratagesmes, & d'inventions plusieurs auec peu ont beaucoup fait, & se sont rendus glorieux & redoutables"—Vide Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, ed 1632, part II p. 166.
100. On the 13th of March, 1629, letters of marque were issued to Capt. David Kirke, Thomas Kirke, and others, in favor of the "Abigail," 300 tons, the "William," 200 tons, the "George" of London, and the "Jarvis."
101. This correspondence is preserved by Champlain.—Vide Les Voyages par
le Sieur de Champlain, Paris, 1632, pp. 215-219.
102. Vide Abstract of the Deposition of Capt. David Kirke and others.
Calendar of State Papers, Colonial, 1574-1660, p. 103.
103. Couillard. Champlain writes Coulart. This appears to have been William Couillard, the son in-law of Madame Hébert and one of the five families which remained at Quebec after it was taken by the English.—Vide Laverdière's note, Oeuvres de Champlain, Quebec ed Vol. VI p. 249.
104. An English translation of this charter from the Latin original was published by the Prince Society in 1873 Vide Sir William Alexander and American Colonization, Prince Society, Boston, pp. 239-249.
105. Champlain published, in 1632, a brief argument setting forth the claims of the French, which he entitles. Abregé des Descouuertures de la Nouuelle France, tant de ce que nous auons descouuert comme aussi les Anglais, depuis les Virgines iusqu'au Freton Dauis, & de cequ'eux & nous pouuons pretendre suiuant le rapport des Historiens qui en ont descrit, que ie rapporte cy dessous, qui feront iuger à un chacun du tout sans passion.—Vide ed. 1632, p. 290. In this paper he narrates succinctly the early discoveries made both by the French and English navigators, and enforces the doctrine of the superior claims of the French with clearness and strength. It contains, probably, the substance of what Champlain placed at this time in the hands of the French embassador in London.
106. It is difficult to conceive on what ground this ransom was demanded since the whole proceedings of the English against Quebec were illegal, and contrary to the articles of peace which had just been concluded. That such a demand was made would be regarded as incredible, did not the fact rest upon documentary evidence of undoubted authority.—Vide Laverdière's citation from State Papers Office, Vol. V. No. 33. Oeuvres de Champlain, Quebec ed, Vol. VI. p 1413.
107. Vide Relation du Voyage fait par le Capitaine Daniel de Dieppe, année 1629, Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain, Paris, 1632, p. 271. Captain Daniel was enrolled by Creuxius in the Society of New France or the Hundred Associates, as Carolus Daniel, nauticus Capitaneus. Vide Historia Canadensis for the names of the Society of the Hundred Associates.
108. Cibou. Sometimes written Chibou. "Cibou means," says Mr. J. Hammond Trumball, "simply river in all eastern Algonkin languages."—MS. letter. Nicholas Denys, in his very full itinerary of the coast of the island of Cape Breton speaks also of the entree du petit Chibou ou de Labrador. This petit Chibou, according to his description, is identical with what is now known as the Little Bras d'Or, or smaller passage to Bras d'Or Lake. It seems probable that the great Cibou of the Indians was applied originally by them to what we now call the Great Bras d'Or, or larger passage to Bras d'Or Lake. It is plain, however, that Captain Daniel and other early writers applied it to an estuary or bay a little further west than the Great Bras d'Or, separated from it by Cape Dauphin, and now known as St. Anne's Bay. It took the name of St. Anne's immediately on the planting of Captain Daniel's colony, as Champlain calls it, l'habitation saincte Anne en l'ile du Cap Breton in his relation of what took place in 1631.—Voyages, ed. 1632, p. 298. A very good description of it by Père Perrault may be found in Jesuit Relations, 1635, Quebec ed p. 42.—Vide, also, Description de l'Amerique Septentrionale par Monsieur Denys, Paris, 1672, p. 155, where is given an elaborate description of St Anne's Harbor. Gransibou may be seen on Champlain's map of 1632, but the map is too indefinite to aid us in fixing its exact location.
109. Vide Sir William Alexander and American Colonization, Prince Society, 1873, pp. 66-72.—Royal Letters, Charters, and Tracts relating to the Colonisation of New Scotland, Bannatyne Club, Edinburgh, 1867, p. 77 et passim.