CHAPTER XI.
ÉMERIC DE CAEN TAKES POSSESSION OF QUEBEC.—CHAMPLAIN PUBLISHES HIS VOYAGES.—RETURNS TO NEW FRANCE, REPAIRS THE HABITATION, AND ERECTS A CHAPEL.—HIS LETTER TO CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU.—CHAMPLAIN'S DEATH.
In breaking up the settlement at Quebec, the losses of the De Caens were considerable, and it was deemed an act of justice to allow them an opportunity to retrieve them, at least in part; and, to enable them to do this, the monopoly of the fur-trade in the Gulf of St. Lawrence was granted to them for one year, and, on the retirement of the English, Émeric de Caen, as provisional governor for that period, took formal possession of Quebec on the 13th of July, 1632. In the mean time, Champlain remained in France, devoting himself with characteristic energy to the interests of New France. Beside the valuable counsel and aid which he gave regarding the expedition then fitting out and to be sent to Quebec by the Company of New France, he prepared and carried through the press an edition of his Voyages, comprising extended extracts from what he had already published, and a continuation of the narrative to 1631. He also published in the same volume a Treatise on Navigation, and a Catechism translated from the French by one of the Fathers into the language of the Montagnais. [110]
On the 23d of March, 1633, having again been commissioned as governor, Champlain sailed from Dieppe with a fleet of three vessels, the "Saint Pierre," the "Saint Jean," and the "Don de Dieu," belonging to the Company of New France, conveying to Quebec a large number of colonists, together with the Jesuit fathers, Enemond Massé and Jean de Brébeuf. The three vessels entered the harbor of Quebec on the 23d of May. On the announcement of Champlain's arrival, the little colony was all astir. The cannon at the Fort St. Louis boomed forth their hoarse welcome of his coming. The hearts of all, particularly of those who had remained at Quebec during the occupation of the English, were overflowing with joy. The three years' absence of their now venerable and venerated governor, and the trials, hardships, and discouragements through which they had in the mean time passed, had not effaced from their minds the virtues that endeared him to their hearts. The memory of his tender solicitude in their behalf, his brave example of endurance in the hour of want and peril, and the sweetness of his parting counsels, came back afresh to awaken in them new pulsations of gratitude. Champlain's heart was touched by his warm reception and the visible proofs of their love and devotion. This was a bright and happy day in the calendar of the little colony.
Champlain addressed himself with his old zeal and a renewed strength to every interest that promised immediate or future good results. He at once directed the renovation and improvement of the habitation and fort, which, after an occupation of three years by aliens, could not be delayed. He then instituted means, holding councils and creating a new trading-post, for winning back the traffic of the allied tribes, which had been of late drawn away by the English, who continued to steal into the waters of the St. Lawrence for that purpose. At an early day after his re-establishment of himself at Quebec, Champlain proceeded to build a memorial chapel in close proximity to the fort which he had erected some years before on the crest of the rocky eminence that overlooks the harbor. He gave it the appropriate and significant name, NOTRE DAME DE RECOUVRANCE, in grateful memory of the recent return of the French to New France. [111] It had long been an ardent desire of Champlain to establish a French settlement among the Hurons, and to plant a mission there for the conversion of this favorite tribe to the Christian faith. Two missionaries, De Brébeuf and De Nouë, were now ready for the undertaking. The governor spared no pains to secure for them a favorable reception, and vigorously urged the importance of their mission upon the Hurons assembled at Quebec. [112] But at the last, when on the eve of securing his purpose, complications arose and so much hostility was displayed by one of the chiefs, that he thought it prudent to advise its postponement to a more auspicious moment. With these and kindred occupations growing out of the responsibilities of his charge, two years soon passed away.
During the summer of 1635, Champlain addressed an interesting and important letter to Cardinal de Richelieu, whose authority at that time shaped both the domestic and foreign policy of France. In it the condition and imperative wants of New France are clearly set forth. This document was probably the last that Champlain ever penned, and is, perhaps, the only autograph letter of his now extant. His views of the richness and possible resources of the country, the vast missionary field which it offered, and the policy to be pursued, are so clearly stated that we need offer no apology for giving the following free translation of the letter in these pages. [113]
LETTER OF CHAMPLAIN TO CARDINAL DE RICHELIEU.
MONSEIGNEUR,—The honor of the commands that I have received from your Eminence has inspired me with greater courage to render to you every possible service with all the fidelity and affection that can be desired from a faithful servant. I shall spare neither my blood nor my life whenever the occasion shall demand them.
There are subjects enough in these regions, if your Eminence, after considering the character of the country, shall desire to extend your authority over them. This territory is more than fifteen hundred leagues in length, lying between the same parallels of latitude as our own France. It is watered by one of the finest rivers in the world, into which empty many tributaries more than four hundred leagues in length, beautifying a country inhabited by a vast number of tribes. Some of them are sedentary in their mode of life, possessing, like the Muscovites, towns and villages built of wood; others are nomadic, hunters and fishermen, all longing to welcome the French and religious fathers, that they may be instructed in our faith.
The excellence of this country cannot be too highly estimated or praised, both as to the richness of the soil, the diversity of the timber such as we have in France, the abundance of wild animals, game, and fish, which are of extraordinary magnitude. All this invites you, Monseigneur, and makes it seem as if God had created you above all your predecessors to do a work here more pleasing to Him than any that has yet been accomplished.
For thirty years I have frequented this country, and have acquired a thorough knowledge of it, obtained from my own observation and the information given me by the native inhabitants. Monseigneur, I pray you to pardon my zeal, if I say that, after your renown has spread throughout the East, you should end by compelling its recognition in the West.
Expelling the English from Quebec has been a very important beginning, but, nevertheless, since the treaty of peace between the two crowns, they have returned to carry on trade and annoy us in this river; declaring that it was enjoined upon them to withdraw, but not to remain away, and that they have their king's permission to come for the period of thirty years. But, if your Eminence wills, you can make them feel the power of your authority. This can, furthermore, be extended at your pleasure to him who has come here to bring about a general peace among these peoples, who are at war with a nation holding more than four hundred leagues in subjection, and who prevent the free use of the rivers and highways. If this peace were made, we should be in complete and easy enjoyment of our possessions. Once established in the country, we could expel our enemies, both English and Flemings, forcing them to withdraw to the coast, and, by depriving them of trade with the Iroquois, oblige them to abandon the country entirely. It requires but one hundred and twenty men, light-armed for avoiding arrows, by whose aid, together with two or three thousand savage warriors, our allies, we should be, within a year, absolute masters of all these peoples, and, by establishing order among them, promote religious worship and secure an incredible amount of traffic.
The country is rich in mines of copper, iron, steel, brass, silver, and other minerals which may be found here.
The cost, Monseigneur, of one hundred and twenty men is a trifling one to his Majesty, the enterprise the most noble that can be imagined.
All for the glory of God, whom I pray with my whole heart to grant you ever-increasing prosperity, and to make me, all my life, Monseigneur,
Your most humble,
Most faithful,
and Most obedient servant,
CHAMPLAIN.
AT QUEBEC, IN NEW FRANCE, the 15th of August, 1635.
In this letter will be found the key to Champlain's war-policy with the Iroquois, no where else so fully unfolded. We shall refer to this subject in the sequel.
Early in October, when the harvest of the year had ripened and been gathered in, and the leaves had faded and fallen, and the earth was mantled in the symbols of general decay, in sympathy with all that surrounded him, in his chamber in the little fort on the crest of the rocky promontory at Quebec, lay the manly form of Champlain, smitten with disease, which was daily breaking down the vigor and strength of his iron constitution. From loving friends he received the ministrations of tender and assiduous care. But his earthly career was near its end. The bowl had been broken at the fountain. Life went on ebbing away from week to week. At the end of two months and a half, on Christmas day, the 25th of December, 1635, his spirit passed to its final rest.
This otherwise joyous festival was thus clouded with a deep sorrow. No heart in the little colony was untouched by this event. All had been drawn to Champlain, so many years their chief magistrate and wise counsellor, by a spontaneous and irresistible respect, veneration, and love. It was meet, as it was the universal desire, to crown him, in his burial, with every honor which, in their circumstances, they could bestow. The whole population joined in a mournful procession. His spiritual adviser and friend, Father Charles Lalemant, performed in his behalf the last solemn service of the church. Father Paul Le Jeune pronounced a funeral discourse, reciting his virtues, his fidelity to the king and the Company of New France, his extraordinary love and devotion to the families of the colony, and his last counsels for their continued happiness and welfare. [114]
When these ceremonies were over his body was piously and tenderly laid to rest, and soon after a tomb was constructed for its reception expressly in his honor as the benefactor of New France. [115] The place of his burial [116] was within the little chapel subsequently erected, and which was reverently called La Chapelle de M. de Champlain, in grateful memory of him whose body reposed beneath its sheltering walls.
ENDNOTES:
110. This catechism, bearing the following title, is contained on fifteen pages in the ed. of 1632: Doctrine Chrestienne, du R. P. Ledesme de la Compagnie de Jesus. Traduîte en Langage Canadois, autre que celuy des Montagnars, pour la Conversion des habitans dudit pays. Par le R. P. Breboeuf de la mesme Compagnie. It is in double columns, one side Indian and the other French.
111. The following extracts will show that the chapel was erected in 1633, that it was built by Champlain, and that it was called Notre Dame de Recouvrance.
Nous les menasmes en nostre petite chapelle, qui a commencé ceste année à l'embellir.—Vide Relations des Jésuites. Québec ed. 1633, p. 30.
La sage conduitte et la prudence de Monsieur de Champlain Gouuerneur de Kebec et du fleuve sainct Laurens, qui nous honore de sa bien- veillance, retenant vn chacun dans son devoir, a fait que nos paroles et nos prédications ayent esté bien receuens, et la Chapelle qu'il a fait dresser proche du fort a l'honneur de nostre Dame, &c.—Idem, 1634, p. 2.
La troisiéme, que nous allons habiter cette Autome, la Residence de
Nostre-dame de Recouvrance, à Kebec proche du Fort.—Idem, 1635, p.
3.
112. According to Père Le Jeune, from five to seven hundred Hurons had
assembled at Quebec in July, 1633, bringing their canoes loaded with
merchandise.—Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1633, p. 34.
113. This letter was printed in oeuvres de Champlain, Quebec ed. Vol. VI.
Pièces Justificatives, p 35. The original is at Paris, in the
Archives of Foreign Affairs.
114. Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1636, p. 56. Creuxius,
Historia Canadensis, pp. 183-4.
115. Monsieur le Gouverneur, qui estimoit sa vertu, desira qu'il fust enterré prés du corps de feu Monsieur de Champlain, qui est dans vn sepulchre particulier, erigé exprés pour honorer la memoire de ce signalé personnage qui a tant obligé la Nouuelle France.—Vide Relations des Jésuites, Quebec ed. 1643, p. 3.
116. The exact spot where Champlain was buried is at this time unknown. Historians and antiquaries have been much interested in its discovery. In 1866, the Abbés Laverdière and Casgrain were encouraged to believe that their searches had been crowned with success. They published a statement of their discovery. Their views were controverted in several critical pamphlets that followed. In the mean time, additional researches have been made. The theory then broached that his burial was in the Lower Town, and in the Recollect chapel built in 1615, has been abandoned. The Abbé Casgrain, in an able discussion of this subject, in which he cites documents hitherto unpublished, shows that Champlain was buried in a tomb within the walls of a chapel erected by his successor in the Upper Town, and that this chapel was situated somewhere within the court-yard of the present post-office. Père Le Jeune, who records the death of Champlain in his Relation of 1636, does not mention the place of his burial; but the Père Vimont, in his Relation of 1643, in speaking of the burial of Père Charles Raymbault, says, the "Governor desired that he should be buried near the body of the late Monsieur de Champlain, which is in a particular tomb erected expressly to honor the memory of that distinguished personage, who had placed New France under such great obligation." In the Parish Register of Notre Dame de Quebec, is the following entry: "The 22d of October (1642), was interred in the Chapel of M. De Champlain the Père Charles Rimbault." It is plain, therefore, that Champlain was buried in what was then commonly known as the Chapel of M. de Champlain. By reference to ancient documents or deeds (one bearing date Feb. 10, 1649, and another 22d April, 1652, and in one of which the Chapel of Champlain is mentioned as contiguous to a piece of land therein described), the Abbé Casgrain proves that the Chapel of M. de Champlain was within the square where is situated the present post-office at Quebec, and, as the tomb of Champlain was within the chapel, it follows that Champlain was buried somewhere within the post-office square above mentioned.
Excavations in this square have been made, but no traces of the walls or foundations of the chapel have been found. In the excavations for cellars of the houses constructed along the square, the foundations of the chapel may have been removed. It is possible that when the chapel was destroyed, which was at a very early period, as no reference to its existence is found subsequent to 1649, the body of Champlain and the others buried there may have been removed, and no record made of the removal. The Abbé Casgrain expresses the hope that other discoveries may hereafter be made that shall place this interesting question beyond all doubt.—Vide Documents Inédits Relatifs au Tombeau de Champlain, par l'Abbé H. R. Casgrain, L'Opinion Publique, Montreal, 4 Nov. 1875.
CHAPTER XII.
CHAMPLAIN'S RELIGION.—HIS WAR POLICY.—HIS DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL LIFE.— CHAMPLAIN AS AN EXPLORER.—HIS LITERARY LABORS.—THE RESULTS OF HIS CAREER.
As Champlain had lived, so he died, a firm and consistent member of the Roman church. In harmony with his general character, his religious views were always moderate, never betraying him into excesses, or into any merely partisan zeal. Born during the profligate, cruel, and perfidious reign of Charles IX., he was, perhaps, too young to be greatly affected by the evils characteristic of that period, the massacre of St. Bartholomew's and the numberless vices that swept along in its train. His youth and early manhood, covering the plastic and formative period, stretched through the reign of Henry III., in which the standards of virtue and religion were little if in any degree improved. Early in the reign of Henry IV., when he had fairly entered upon his manhood, we find him closely associated with the moderate party, which encouraged and sustained the broad, generous, and catholic principles of that distinguished sovereign.
When Champlain became lieutenant-governor of New France, his attention was naturally turned to the religious wants of his distant domain. Proceeding cautiously, after patient and prolonged inquiry, he selected missionaries who were earnest, zealous, and fully consecrated to their work. And all whom he subsequently invited into the field were men of character and learning, whose brave endurance of hardship, and manly courage amid numberless perils, shed glory and lustre upon their holy calling.
Champlain's sympathies were always with his missionaries in their pious labors. Whether the enterprise were the establishment of a mission among the distant Hurons, among the Algonquins on the upper St. Lawrence, or for the enlargement of their accommodations at Quebec, the printing of a catechism in the language of the aborigines, or if the foundations of a college were to be laid for the education of the savages, his heart and hand were ready for the work.
On the establishment of the Company of New France, or the Hundred Associates, Protestants were entirely excluded. By its constitution no Huguenots were allowed to settle within the domain of the company. If this rule was not suggested by Champlain, it undoubtedly existed by his decided and hearty concurrence. The mingling of Catholics and Huguenots in the early history of the colony had brought with it numberless annoyances. By sifting the wheat before it was sown, it was hoped to get rid of an otherwise inevitable cause of irritation and trouble. The correctness of the principle of Christian toleration was not admitted by the Roman church then any more than it is now. Nor did the Protestants of that period believe in it, or practise it, whenever they possessed the power to do otherwise. Even the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay held that their charter conferred upon them the right and power of exclusion. It was not easy, it is true, to carry out this view by square legal enactment without coming into conflict with the laws of England; but they were adroit and skilful, endowed with a marvellous talent for finding some indirect method of laying a heavy hand upon Friend or Churchman, or the more independent thinkers among their own numbers, who desired to make their abode within the precincts of the bay. In the earlier years of the colony at Quebec, when Protestant and Catholic were there on equal terms, Champlain's religious associations led him to swerve neither to the right hand nor to the left. His administration was characterized by justice, firmness, and gentleness, and was deservedly satisfactory to all parties.
In his later years, the little colony upon whose welfare and Christian culture he had bestowed so much cheerful labor and anxious thought, became every day more and more dear to his heart. Within the ample folds of his charity were likewise encircled the numerous tribes of savages, spread over the vast domains of New France. He earnestly desired that all of them, far and near, friend and foe, might be instructed in the doctrines of the Christian faith, and brought into willing and loving obedience to the cross.
In its personal application to his own heart, the religion of Champlain was distinguished by a natural and gradual progress. His warmth, tenderness, and zeal grew deeper and stronger with advancing years. In his religious life there was a clearly marked seed-time, growth, and ripening for the harvest. After his return to Quebec, during the last three years of his life, his time was especially systematized and appropriated for intellectual and spiritual improvement. Some portion was given every morning by himself and those who constituted his family to a course of historical reading, and in the evening to the memoirs of the saintly dead whose lives he regarded as suitable for the imitation of the living, and each night for himself he devoted more or less time to private meditation and prayer.
Such were the devout habits of Champlain's life in his later years. We are not, therefore, surprised that the historian of Canada, twenty-five years after his death, should place upon record the following concise but comprehensive eulogy:—
"His surpassing love of justice, piety, fidelity to God, his king, and the Society of New France, had always been conspicuous. But in his death he gave such illustrious proofs of his goodness as to fill every one with admiration." [117]
The reader of these memoirs has doubtless observed with surprise and perhaps with disappointment, the readiness with which Champlain took part in the wars of the savages. On his first visit to the valley of the St Lawrence, he found the Indians dwelling on the northern shores of the river and the lakes engaged in a deadly warfare with those on the southern, the Iroquois tribes occupying the northern limits of the present State of New York, generally known as the Five Nations. The hostile relations between these savages were not of recent date. They reached back to a very early but indefinite period. They may have existed for several centuries. When Champlain planted his colony at Quebec, in 1608, he at once entered into friendly relations with all the tribes which were his immediate neighbors. This was eminently a suitable thing to do, and was, moreover, necessary for his safety and protection.
But a permanent and effective alliance with these tribes carried with it of necessity a solemn assurance of aid against their enemies. This Champlain promptly promised without hesitation, and the next year he fulfilled his promise by leading them to battle on the shores of Lake Champlain. At all subsequent periods he regarded himself as committed to aid his allies in their hostile expeditions against the Iroquois. In his printed journal, he offers no apology for his conduct in this respect, nor does he intimate that his views could be questioned either in morals or sound policy. He rarely assigns any reason whatever for engaging in these wars. In one or two instances he states that it seemed to him necessary to do so in order to facilitate the discoveries which he wished to make, and that he hoped it might in the end be the means of leading the savages to embrace Christianity. But he nowhere enters upon a full discussion of this point. It is enough to say, in explanation of this silence, that a private journal like that published by Champlain, was not the place in which to foreshadow a policy, especially as it might in the future be subject to change, and its success might depend upon its being known only to those who had the power to shape and direct it. But nevertheless the silence of Champlain has doubtless led some historians to infer that he had no good reasons to give, and unfavorable criticisms have been bestowed upon his conduct by those, who did not understand the circumstances which influenced him, or the motives which controlled his action.
The war-policy of Champlain was undoubtedly very plainly set forth in his correspondence and interviews with the viceroys and several companies under whose authority he acted. But these discussions, whether oral or written, do not appear in general to have been preserved. Fortunately a single document of this character is still extant, in which his views are clearly unfolded. In Champlain's remarkable letter to Cardinal de Richelieu, which we have introduced a few pages back, his policy is fully stated. It is undoubtedly the same that he had acted upon from the beginning, and explains the frankness and readiness with which, first and last, as a faithful ally, he had professed himself willing to aid the friendly tribes in their wars against the Iroquois. The object which he wished to accomplish by this tribal war was, as fully stated in the letter to which we have referred, first, to conquer the Iroquois or Five Nations; to introduce peaceful relations between them and the other surrounding tribes; and, secondly, to establish a grand alliance of all the savage tribes, far and near, with the French. This could only be done in the order here stated. No peace could be secured from the Iroquois, except by their conquest, the utter breaking down of their power. They were not susceptible to the influence of reason. They were implacable, and had been brutalized by long-inherited habits of cruelty. In the total annihilation of their power was the only hope of peace. This being accomplished, the surviving remnant would, according to the usual custom among the Indians, readily amalgamate with the victorious tribes, and then a general alliance with the French could be easily secured. This was what Champlain wished to accomplish. The pacification of all the tribes occupying both sides of the St. Lawrence and the chain of northern lakes would place the whole domain of the American continent, or as much of it as it would be desirable to hold, under the easy and absolute control of the French nation.
Such a pacification as this would secure two objects; objects eminently important, appealing strongly to all who desired the aggrandizement of France and the progress and supremacy of the Catholic faith. It would secure for ever to the French the fur-trade of the Indians, a commerce then important and capable of vast expansion. The chief strength and resources of the savages allied with the French, the Montagnais, Algonquins, and Hurons, were at that period expended in their wars. On the cessation of hostilities, their whole force would naturally and inevitably be given to the chase. A grand field lay open to them for this exciting occupation. The fur-bearing country embraced not only the region of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, but the vast and unlimited expanse of territory stretching out indefinitely in every direction. The whole northern half of the continent of North America, filled with the most valuable fur-producing mammalia, would be open to the enterprise of the French, and could not fail to pour into their treasury an incredible amount of wealth. This Champlain was far-sighted enough to see, and his patriotic zeal lead him to desire that France should avail herself of this opportunity. [118]
But the conquest of the Iroquois would not only open to France the prospect of exhaustless wealth, but it would render accessible a broad, extensive, and inviting field of missionary labor. It would remove all external and physical obstacles to the speedy transmission and offer of the Christian faith to the numberless tribes that would thus be brought within their reach.
The desire to bring about these two great ulterior purposes, the augmentation of the commerce of France in the full development of the fur-trade, and the gathering into the Catholic church the savage tribes of the wilderness, explains the readiness with which, from the beginning, Champlain encouraged his Indian allies and took part with them in their wars against the Five Nations. In the very last year of his life, he demanded of Richelieu the requisite military force to carry on this war, reminding him that the cost would be trifling to his Majesty, while the enterprise would be the most noble that could be imagined.
In regard to the domestic and social life of Champlain, scarcely any documents remain that can throw light upon the subject. Of his parents we have little information beyond that of their respectable calling and standing. He was probably an only child, as no others are on any occasion mentioned or referred to. He married, as we have seen, the daughter of the Secretary of the King's Chamber, and his wife, Hélène Boullé, accompanied him to Canada in 1620, where she remained four years. They do not appear to have had children, as the names of none are found in the records at Quebec, and, at his death, the only claimant as an heir, was a cousin, Marie Cameret, who, in 1639, resided at Rochelle, and whose husband was Jacques Hersant, controller of duties and imposts. After Champlain's decease, his wife, Hélène Boullé, became a novice in an Ursuline convent in the faubourg of St. Jacques in Paris. Subsequently, in 1648, she founded a religious house of the same order in the city of Meaux, contributing for the purpose the sum of twenty thousand livres and some part of the furnishing. She entered the house that she had founded, as a nun, under the name of Sister Hélène de St. Augustin, where, as the foundress, certain privileges were granted to her, such as a superior quality of food for herself, exemption from attendance upon some of the longer services, the reception into the convent, on her recommendation, of a young maiden to be a nun of the choir, with such pecuniary assistance as she might need, and the letters of her brother, the Father Eustache Boullé, were to be exempted from the usual inspection. She died at Meaux, on the 20th day of December, 1654, in the convent which she had founded. [119]
As an explorer, Champlain was unsurpassed by any who visited the northern coasts of America anterior to its permanent settlement. He was by nature endowed with a love of useful adventure, and for the discovery of new countries he had an insatiable thirst. It began with him as a child, and was fresh and irrepressible in his latest years. Among the arts, he assigned to navigation the highest importance. His broad appreciation of it and his strong attachment to it, are finely stated in his own compact and comprehensive description.
"Of all the most useful and excellent arts, that of navigation has always seemed to me to occupy the first place. For the more hazardous it is, and the more numerous the perils and losses by which it is attended, so much the more is it esteemed and exalted above all others, being wholly unsuited to the timid and irresolute. By this art we obtain a knowledge of different countries, regions, and realms. By it we attract and bring to our own land all kinds of riches; by it the idolatry of paganism is overthrown and Christianity proclaimed throughout all the regions of the earth. This is the art which won my love in my early years, and induced me to expose myself almost all my life to the impetuous waves of the ocean, and led me to explore the coasts of a part of America, especially those of New France, where I have always desired to see the Lily flourish, together with the only religion, catholic, apostolic, and Roman."
In addition to his natural love for discovery, Champlain had a combination of other qualities which rendered his explorations pre-eminently valuable. His interest did not vanish with seeing what was new. It was by no means a mere fancy for simple sight-seeing. Restlessness and volatility did not belong to his temperament. His investigations were never made as an end, but always as a means. His undertakings in this direction were for the most part shaped and colored by his Christian principle and his patriotic love of France. Sometimes one and sometimes the other was more prominent.
His voyage to the West Indies was undertaken under a twofold impulse. It gratified his love of exploration and brought back rare and valuable information to France. Spain at that time did not open her island-ports to the commerce of the world. She was drawing from them vast revenues in pearls and the precious metals. It was her policy to keep this whole domain, this rich archipelago, hermetically sealed, and any foreign vessel approached at the risk of capture and confiscation. Champlain could not, therefore, explore this region under a commission from France. He accordingly sought and obtained permission to visit these Spanish possessions under the authority of Spain herself. He entered and personally examined all the important ports that surround and encircle the Caribbean Sea, from the pearl-bearing Margarita on the south, Deseada on the east, to Cuba on the west, together with the city of Mexico, and the Isthmus of Panama on the mainland. As the fruit of these journeyings, he brought back a report minute in description, rich in details, and luminous with illustrations. This little brochure, from the circumstances attendant upon its origin, is unsurpassed in historical importance by any similar or competing document of that period. It must always remain of the highest value as a trustworthy, original authority, without which it is probable that the history of those islands, for that period, could not be accurately and truthfully written.
Champlain was a pioneer in the exploration of the Atlantic coast of New England and the eastern provinces of Canada, From the Strait of Canseau, at the northeastern extremity of Nova Scotia, to the Vineyard Sound, on the southern limits of Massachusetts, he made a thorough survey of the coast in 1605 and 1606, personally examining its most important harbors, bays, and rivers, mounting its headlands, penetrating its forests, carefully observing and elaborately describing its soil, its products, and its native inhabitants. Besides lucid and definite descriptions of the coast, he executed topographical drawings of numerous points of interest along our shores, as Plymouth harbor, Nauset Bay, Stage Harbor at Chatham, Gloucester Bay, the Bay of Baco, with the long stretch of Old Orchard Beach and its interspersed islands, the mouth of the Kennebec, and as many more on the coast of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. To these he added descriptions, more or less definite, of the harbors of Barnstable, Wellfleet, Boston, of the headland of Cape Anne, Merrimac Bay, the Isles of Shoals, Cape Porpoise, Richmond's Island, Mount Desert, Isle Haute, Seguin, and the numberless other islands that adorn the exquisite sea-coast of Maine, as jewels that add a new lustre to the beauty of a peerless goddess.
Other navigators had coasted along our shores. Some of them had touched at single points, of which they made meagre and unsatisfactory surveys. Gosnold had, in 1602, discovered Savage Rock, but it was so indefinitely located and described that it cannot even at this day be identified. Resolving to make a settlement on one of the barren islands forming the group named in honor of Queen Elizabeth and still bearing her name; after some weeks spent in erecting a storehouse, and in collecting a cargo of "furrs, skyns, saxafras, and other commodities," the project of a settlement was abandoned and he returned to England, leaving, however, two permanent memorials of his voyage, in the names which he gave respectively to Martha's Vineyard and to the headland of Cape Cod.
Captain Martin Pring came to our shores in 1603, in search of a cargo of sassafras. There are indications that he entered the Penobscot. He afterward paid his respects to Savage Rock, the undefined bonanza of his predecessor. He soon found his desired cargo on the Vineyard Islands, and hastily returned to England.
Captain George Weymouth, in 1605, was on the coast of Maine concurrently, or nearly so, with Champlain, where he passed a month, explored a river, set up a cross, and took possession of the country in the name of the king. But where these transactions took place is still in dispute, so indefinitely does his journalist describe them.
Captain John Smith, eight years later than Champlain, surveyed the coast of New England while his men were collecting a cargo of furs and fish. He wrote a description of it from memory, part or all of it while a prisoner on board a French ship of war off Fayall, and executed a map, both valuable, but nevertheless exceedingly indefinite and general in their character.
These flying visits to our shores were not unimportant, and must not be undervalued. They were necessary steps in the progress of the grand historical events that followed. But they were meagre and hasty and superficial, when compared to the careful, deliberate, extensive, and thorough, not to say exhaustive, explorations made by Champlain.
In the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Cartier had preceded Champlain by a period of more than sixty years. During this long, dreary half-century the stillness of the primeval forest had not been disturbed by the woodman's axe. When Champlain's eyes fell upon it, it was still the same wild, unfrequented, unredeemed region that it had been to its first discoverer. The rivers, bays, and islands described by Cartier were identified by Champlain, and the names they had already received were permanently fixed by his added authority. The whole gulf and river were re-examined and described anew in his journal. The exploration of the Richelieu and of Lake Champlain was pushed into the interior three hundred miles from his base at Quebec. It reached into a wilderness and along gentle waters never before seen by any civilized race. It was at once fascinating and hazardous, environed as it was by vigilant and ferocious savages, who guarded its gates with the sleepless watchfulness of the fabled Cerberus.
The courage, endurance, and heroism of Champlain were tested in the still greater-exploration of 1615. It extended from Montreal, the whole length of the Ottawa, to Lake Nipissing, the Georgian Bay, Simcoe, the system of small lakes on the south, across the Ontario, and finally ending in the interior of the State of New York, a journey through tangled forests and broken water-courses of more than a thousand miles, occupying nearly a year, executed in the face of physical suffering and hardship before which a nature less intrepid and determined, less loyal to his great purpose, less generous and unselfish, would have yielded at the outset. These journeys into the interior, along the courses of navigable rivers and lakes, and through the primitive forests, laid open to the knowledge of the French a domain vast and indefinite in extent, on which an empire broader and far richer in resources than the old Gallic France might have been successfully reared.
The personal explorations of Champlain in the West Indies, on the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the State of New York and of Vermont, and among the lakes in Canada and those that divide the Dominion from the United States, including the full, explicit, and detailed journals which he wrote concerning them, place Champlain undeniably not merely in the front rank, but at the head of the long list of explorers and navigators, who early visited this part of the continent of North America.
Champlain's literary labors are interesting and important. They were not professional, but incidental, and the natural outgrowth of the career to which he devoted his life. He had the sagacity to see that the fields which he entered as an explorer were new and important, that the aspect of every thing which he then saw would, under the influence and progress of civilization, soon be changed, and that it was historically important that a portrait Sketched by an eyewitness should be handed down to other generations. It was likewise necessary for the immediate and successful planting of colonies, that those who engaged in the undertaking should have before them full information of all the conditions on which they were to build their hopes of final success.
Inspired by such motives as these, Champlain wrote out an accurate journal of the events that transpired about him, of what he personally saw, and of the observations of others, authenticated by the best tests which, under the circumstances, he was able to apply. His natural endowments for this work were of the highest order. As an observer he was sagacious, discriminating, and careful. His judgment was cool, comprehensive, and judicious. His style is in general clear, logical, and compact. His acquired ability was not, however, extraordinary. He was a scholar neither by education nor by profession. His life was too full of active duties, or too remote from the centres of knowledge for acquisitions in the departments of elegant and refined learning. The period in which he lived was little distinguished for literary culture. A more brilliant day was approaching, but it had not yet appeared. The French language was still crude and unpolished. It had not been disciplined and moulded into the excellence to which it soon after arose in the reign of Louis XIV. We cannot in reason look for a grace, refinement, and flexibility which the French language had not at that time generally attained. But it is easy to see under the rude, antique, and now obsolete forms which characterize Champlain's narratives, the elements of a style which, under, early discipline, nicer culture, and a richer vocabulary, might have made it a model for all times. There are, here and there, some involved, unfinished, and obscure passages, which seem, indeed, to be the offspring of haste, or perhaps of careless and inadequate proof-reading. But in general his style is without ornament, simple, dignified, concise, and clear. While he was not a diffusive writer, his works are by no means limited in extent, as they occupy in the late erudite Laverdière's edition, six quarto volumes, containing fourteen hundred pages. In them are three large maps, delineating the whole northeastern part of the continent, executed with great care and labor by his own hand, together with numerous local drawings, picturing not only bays and harbors, Indian canoes, wigwams, and fortresses, but several battle scenes, conveying a clear idea, not possible by a mere verbal description, of the savage implements and mode of warfare. [120] His works include, likewise, a treatise on navigation, full of excellent suggestions to the practical seaman of that day, drawn from his own experience, stretching over a period of more than forty years.
The Voyages of Champlain, as an authority, must always stand in the front rank. In trustworthiness, in richness and fullness of detail, they have no competitor in the field of which they treat. His observations upon the character, manners, customs, habits, and utensils of the aborigines, were made before they were modified or influenced in their mode of life by European civilization. The intercourse of the strolling fur-trader and fishermen with them was so infrequent and brief at that early period, that it made upon them little or no impression. Champlain consequently pictures the Indian in his original, primeval simplicity. This will always give to his narratives, in the eye of the historian, the ethnologist, and the antiquary, a peculiar and pre-eminent importance. The result of personal observation, eminently truthful and accurate, their testimony must in all future time be incomparably the best that can be obtained relating to the aborigines on this part of the American continent.
In completing this memoir, the reader can hardly fail to be impressed, not to say disappointed, by the fact that results apparently insignificant should thus far have followed a life of able, honest, unselfish, heroic labor. The colony was still small in numbers, the acres subdued and brought into cultivation were few, and the aggregate yearly products were meagre. But it is to be observed that the productiveness of capital and labor and talent, two hundred and seventy years ago, cannot well be compared with the standards of to-day. Moreover, the results of Champlain's career are insignificant rather in appearance than in reality. The work which he did was in laying foundations, while the superstructure was to be reared in other years and by other hands. The palace or temple, by its lofty and majestic proportions, attracts the eye and gratifies the taste; but its unseen foundations, with their nicely adjusted arches, without which the superstructure would crumble to atoms, are not less the result of the profound knowledge and practical wisdom of the architect. The explorations made by Champlain early and late, the organization and planting of his colonies, the resistance of avaricious corporations, the holding of numerous savage tribes in friendly alliance, the daily administration of the affairs of the colony, of the savages, and of the corporation in France, to the eminent satisfaction of all generous and noble-minded patrons, and this for a period of more than thirty years, are proofs of an extraordinary combination of mental and moral qualities. Without impulsiveness, his warm and tender sympathies imparted to him an unusual power and influence over other men. He was wise, modest, and judicious in council, prompt, vigorous, and practical in administration, simple and frugal in his mode of life, persistent and unyielding in the execution of his plans, brave and valiant in danger, unselfish, honest, and conscientious in the discharge of duty. These qualities, rare in combination, were always conspicuous in Champlain, and justly entitle him to the respect and admiration of mankind.
ENDNOTES:
117. Vide Creuxius, Historia Canadensis, pp 183, 184.
118. The justness of Champlain's conception of the value of the fur-trade has been verified by its subsequent history. The Hudson's Bay Company was organized for the purpose of carrying on this trade, under a charter granted by Charles II., in 1670. A part of the trade has at times been conducted by other associations. But this company is still in active and rigorous operation. Its capital is $10,000,000. At its reorganization in 1863, it was estimated that it would yield a net annual income, to be divided among the corporators, of $400,000. It employs twelve hundred servants beside its chief factors. It is easy to see what a vast amount of wealth in the shape of furs and peltry has been pouring into the European markets, for more than two hundred years, from this fur bearing region, and the sources of this wealth are probably little, if in any degree, diminished.
119. Vide Documents inédits sur Samuel de Champlain, par Étienne Charavay, archiviste-paléographe, Paris, 1875.
120. The later sketches made by Champlain are greatly superior to those which he executed to illustrate his voyage in the West Indies. They are not only accurate, but some of them are skilfully done, and not only do no discredit to an amateur, but discover marks of artistic taste and skill.
ANNOTATIONES POSTSCRIPTAE
EUSTACHE BOULLÉ. A brother-in-law of Champlain, who made his first visit to
Canada in 1618. He was an active assistant of Champlain, and in 1625 was
named his lieutenant. He continued there until the taking of Quebec by the
English in 1629. He subsequently took holy orders.—Vide Doc. inédits sur
Samuel de Champlain, par Étienne Charavay. Paris, 1875, p. 8.
PONT GRAVÉ. The whole career of this distinguished merchant was closely associated with Canadian trade. He was in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, in the interest of Chauvin, in 1599. He commanded the expedition sent out by De Chaste in 1603, when Champlain made his first exploration of the River St. Lawrence. He was intrusted with the chief management of the trade carried on with the Indians by the various companies and viceroys under Champlain's lieutenancy until the removal of the colony by the English, when his active life was closed by the infirmities of age. He was always a warm and trusted friend of Champlain, who sought his counsel on all occasions of importance.
THE BIRTH OF CHAMPLAIN. All efforts to fix the exact date of his birth have been unsuccessful. M. De Richemond, author of a Biographie de la Charente Inférieure, instituted most careful searches, particularly with the hope of finding a record of his baptism. The records of the parish of Brouage extend back only to August 11, 1615. The duplicates, deposited at the office of the civil tribunal of Marennes anterior to this date, were destroyed by fire.—MS. letter of M. De Richemond, Archivist of the Dep. of Charente Inférieure, La Rochelle, July 17, 1875.
MARC LESCARBOT. We have cited the authority of this writer in this work on many occasions. He was born at Vervins, perhaps about 1585. He became an advocate, and a resident of Paris, and, according to Larousse, died in 1630. He came to America in 1606, and passed the winter of that year at the French settlement near the present site of Lower Granville, on the western bank of Annapolis Basin in Nova Scotia. In the spring of 1607 he crossed the Bay of Fundy, entered the harbor of St. John, N. B., and extended his voyage as far as De Monts's Island in the River St. Croix. He returned to France that same year, on the breaking up of De Monts's colony. He was the author of the following works: Histoire de la Nouvelle France, 1609; Les Muses de la Nouvelle France; Tableau de la Suisse, auquel sont décrites les Singularites des Alpes, Paris, 1618; La Chasse aux Anglais dans l'isle de Rhé et au Siége de la Rochelle, et la Réduction de cette Ville en 1628, Paris, 1629.
PLYMOUTH HARBOR. This note will modify our remarks on p. 78, Vol. II. Champlain entered this harbor on the 18th of July, 1605, and, lingering but a single day, sailed out of it on the 19th. He named it Port St. Louis, or Port du Cap St. Louis.—Vide antea, pp. 53, 54; Vol. II., pp. 76-78. As the fruit of his brief stay in the harbor of Plymouth, he made an outline sketch of the bay which preserves most of its important features. He delineates what is now called on our Coast Survey maps Long Beach and Duxbury Beach. At the southern extremity of the latter is the headland known as the Gurnet. Within the bay he figures two islands, of which he speaks also in the text. These two islands are mentioned in Mourt's Relation, printed in 1622.—Vide Dexter's ed. p. 60. They are also figured on an old map of the date of 1616, found by J. R. Brodhead in the Royal Archives at the Hague; likewise on a map by Lucini, without date, but, as it has Boston on it, it must have been executed after 1630. These maps may be found in Doc. His. of the State of New York, Vol. I.; Documents relating to the Colonial His. of the State of New York, Vol. I., p. 13. The reader will find these islands likewise indicated on the map of William Wood, entitled The South part of New-England, as it is Planted this yeare, 1634.—Vide New England Prospect, Prince Society ed. They appear also on Blaskowitz's "Plan of Plimouth," 1774.—Vide Changes in the Harbor of Plymouth, by Prof. Henry Mitchell, Chief of Physical Hydrography, U. S. Coast Survey, Report of 1876, Appendix No. 9. In the collections of the Mass. Historical Society for 1793, Vol. II., in an article entitled A Topographical Description of Duxborough, but without the author's name, the writer speaks of two pleasant islands within the harbor, and adds that Saquish was joined to the Gurnet by a narrow piece of land, but for several years the water had made its way across and insulated it.
From the early maps to which we have referred, and the foregoing citations, it appears that there were two islands in the harbor of Plymouth from the time of Champlain till about the beginning of the present century. A careful collation of Champlain's map of the harbor with the recent Coast Survey Charts will render it evident that one of these islands thus figured by Champlain, and by others later, is Saquish Head; that since his time a sand-bank has been thrown up and now become permanent, connecting it with the Gurnet by what is now called Saquish Neck. Prof. Mitchell, in the work already cited, reports that there are now four fathoms less of water in the deeper portion of the roadstead than when Champlain explored the harbor in 1605. There must, therefore, have been an enormous deposit of sand to produce this result, and this accounts for the neck of sand which has been thrown up and become fixed or permanent, now connecting Saquish Head with the Gurnet.
MOUNT DESERT. This island was discovered on the fifth day of September, 1604. Champlain having been comissioned by Sieur De Monts, the Patentee of La Cadie, to make discoveries on the coast southwest of the Saint Croix, left the mouth of that river in a small barque of seventeen or eighteen tons, with twelve sailors and two savages as guides, and anchored the same evening, apparently near Bar Harbor. While here, they explored Frenchman's Bay as far on the north as the Narrows, where Champlain says the distance across to the mainland is not more than a hundred paces. The next day, on the sixth of the month, they sailed two leagues, and came to Otter Creek Cove, which extends up into the island a mile or more, nestling between the spurs of Newport Mountain on the east and Green Mountain on the west. Champlain says this cove is "at the foot of the mountains," which clearly identifies it, as it is the only one in the neighborhood answering to this description. In this cove they discovered several savages, who had come there to hunt beavers and to fish. On a visit to Otter Cove Cliffs in June, 1880, we were told by an old fisherman ninety years of age, living on the borders of this cove, and the statement was confirmed by several others, that on the creek at the head of the cove, there was, within his memory, a well-known beaver dam.
The Indians whose acquaintance Champlain made at this place conducted him among the islands, to the mouth of the Penobscot, and finally up the river, to the site of the present city of Bangor. It was on this visit, on the fifth of September, 1604, that Champlain gave the island the name of Monts-déserts. The French generally gave to places names that were significant. In this instance they did not depart from their usual custom. The summits of most of the mountains on this island, then as now, were only rocks, being destitute of trees, and this led Champlain to give its significant name, which, in plain English, means the island of the desert, waste, or uncultivatable mountains. If we follow the analogy of the language, either French or English, it should be pronounced with the accent on the penult, Mount Désert, and not on the last syllable, as we sometimes hear it. This principle cannot be violated without giving to the word a meaning which, in this connection, would be obviously inappropriate and absurd.
CARTE DE LA NOUVELLE FRANCE, 1632. As the map of 1632 has often been referred to in this work, we have introduced into this volume a heliotype copy. The original was published in the year of its date, but it had been completed before Champlain left Quebec in 1629. The reader will bear in mind that it was made from Champlain's personal explorations, and from such other information as could be obtained from the meagre sources which existed at that early period, and not from any accurate or scientific surveys. The information which he obtained from others was derived from more or less doubtful sources, coming as it did from fishermen, fur-traders, and the native inhabitants. The two former undoubtedly constructed, from time to time, rude maps of the coast for their own use. From these Champlain probably obtained valuable hints, and he was thus able to supplement his own knowledge of the regions with which he was least familiar on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Beyond the limits of his personal explorations on the west, his information was wholly derived from the savages. No European had penetrated into those regions, if we except his servant, Étienne Brûlé, whose descriptions could have been of very little service. The deficiencies of Champlain's map are here accordingly most apparent. Rivers and lakes farther west than the Georgian Bay, and south of it, are sometimes laid down where none exist, and, again, where they do exist, none are portrayed. The outline of Lake Huron, for illustration, was entirely misconceived. A river-like line only of water represents Lake Erie, while Lake Michigan does not appear at all.
The delineation of Hudson's Bay was evidently taken from the TABULA NAUTICA of Henry Hudson, as we have shown in Note 297, Vol. II., to which the reader is referred.
It will be observed that there is no recognition on the map of any English settlement within the limits of New England. In 1629, when the Carte de la Nouvelle France was completed, an English colony had been planted at Plymouth, Mass., nine years, and another at Piscataqua, or Portsmouth, N. H., six years. The Rev. William Blaxton had been for several years in occupation of the peninsula of Shawmut, or Boston. Salem had also been settled one or two years. These last two may not, it is true, have come to Champlain's knowledge. But none of these settlements are laid down on the map. The reason of these omissions is obvious. The whole territory from at least the 40th degree of north latitude, stretching indefinitely to the north, was claimed by the French. As possession was, at that day, the most potent argument for the justice of a territorial claim, the recognition, on a French map, of these English settlements, would have been an indiscretion which the wise and prudent Champlain would not be likely to commit.
There is, however, a distinct recognition of an English settlement farther
south. Cape Charles and Cape Henry appear at the entrance of Chesapeake
Bay. Virginia is inscribed in its proper place, while Jamestown and Point
Comfort are referred to by numbers.
On the borders of the map numerous fish belonging to these waters are figured, together with several vessels of different sizes and in different attitudes, thus preserving their form and structure at that period. The degrees of latitude and longitude are numerically indicated, which are convenient for the references found in Champlain's journals, but are necessarily too inaccurate to be otherwise useful. But notwithstanding its defects, when we take into account the limited means at his command, the difficulties which he had to encounter, the vast region which it covers, this map must be regarded as an extraordinary achievement. It is by far the most accurate in outline, and the most finished in detail, of any that had been attempted of this region anterior to this date.
THE PORTRAITS OF CHAMPLAIN.—Three engraved portraits of Champlain have come to our knowledge. All of them appear to have been after an original engraved portrait by Balthazar Moncornet. This artist was born in Rouen about 1615, and died not earlier than 1670. He practised his art in Paris, where he kept a shop for the sale of prints. Though not eminently distinguished as a skilful artist, he nevertheless left many works, particularly a great number of portraits. As he had not arrived at the age of manhood when Champlain died, his engraving of him was probably executed about fifteen or twenty years after that event. At that time Madame Champlain, his widow, was still living, as likewise many of Champlaln's intimate friends. From some of them it is probable Moncornet obtained a sketch or portrait, from which his engraving was made.
Of the portraits of Champlain which we have seen, we may mention first that in Laverdière's edition of his works. This is a half-length, with long, curling hair, moustache and imperial. The sleeves of the close-fitting coat are slashed, and around the neck is the broad linen collar of the period, fastened in front with cord and tassels. On the left, in the background, is the promontory of Quebec, with the representation of several turreted buildings both in the upper and lower town. On the border of the oval, which incloses the subject, is the legend, Moncornet Ex c. p. The engraving is coarsely executed, apparently on copper. It is alleged to have been taken from an original Moncornet in France. Our inquiries as to where the original then was, or in whose possession it then was or is now, have been unsuccessful. No original, when inquiries were made by Dr. Otis, a short time since, was found to exist in the department of prints in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Another portrait of Champlain is found in Shea's translation of Charlevoix's History of New France. This was taken from the portrait of Champlain, which, with that of Cartier, Montcalm, Wolfe, and others, adorns the walls of the reception room of the Speaker of the House of Commons, in the Parliament House at Ottawa, in Canada, which was painted by Thomas Hamel, from a copy of Moncornet's engraving obtained in France by the late M. Faribault. From the costume and general features, it appears to be after the same as that contained in Laverdière's edition of Champlain's works, to which we have already referred. The artist has given it a youthful appearance, which suggests that the original sketch was made many years before Champlain's death. We are indebted to the politeness of Dr. Shea for the copies which accompany this work.
A third portrait of Champlain may be found in L'Histoire de France, par M. Guizot, Paris, 1876, Vol. v. p. 149. The inscription reads: "CHAMPLAIN [SAMUEL DE], d'après un portrait gravé par Moncornet." It is engraved on wood by E. Ronjat, and represents the subject in the advanced years of his life. In position, costume, and accessories it is widely different from the others, and Moncornet must have left more than one engraving of Champlain, or we must conclude that the modern artists have taken extraordinary liberties with their subject. The features are strong, spirited, and characteristic. A heliotype copy accompanies this volume.
PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION.
The journals of Champlain, commonly called his Voyages, were written and published by him at intervals from 1603 to 1632. The first volume was printed in 1603, and entitled,—
1. Des Sauuages, ou, Voyage de Samuel Champlain, de Brouage, faict en la France Nouuelle, l'an mil six cens trois. A Paris, chez Claude de Monstr'oeil, tenant sa boutique en la Cour du Palais, au nom de Jesus. 1604. Auec privilege du Roy. 12mo. 4 preliminary leaves. Text 36 leaves. The title-page contains also a sub-title, enumerating in detail the subjects treated of in the work. Another copy with slight verbal changes has no date on the title-page, but in both the "privilège" is dated November 15, 1603. The copies which we have used are in the Library of Harvard College, and in that of Mrs. John Carter Brown, of Providence, R. I.
An English translation of this issue is contained in Purchas his
Pilgrimes. London, 1625, vol. iv., pp. 1605-1619.
The next publication appeared in 1613, with the following title:—
2. Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain Xaintongeois, Capitaine ordinaire pour le Roy, en la marine. Divisez en deux livres. ou, journal tres-fidele des observations faites és descouuertures de la Nouuelle France: tant en la description des terres, costes, riuieres, ports, haures, leurs hauteurs, & plusieurs delinaisons de la guide-aymant; qu'en la creance des peuples, leur superslition, façon de viure & de guerroyer: enrichi de quantité de figures, A Paris, chez Jean Berjon, rue S. Jean de Beauuais, au Cheual volant, & en sa boutique au Palais, à la gallerie des prisonniers. M.DC.XIII. Avec privilege dv Roy. 4to. 10 preliminary leaves. Text, 325 pages; table 5 pp. One large folding map. One small map. 22 plates. The title-page contains, in addition, a sub-title in regard to the two maps.
The above-mentioned volume contains, also, the Fourth Voyage, bound in at the end, with the following title:—
Qvatriesme Voyage du Sr de Champlain Capitaine ordinaire povr le Roy en la marine, & Lieutenant de Monseigneur le Prince de Condé en la Nouuelle France, fait en l'année 1613. 52 pages. Whether this was also issued as a separate work, we are not informed.
The copy of this publication of 1613 which we have used is in the Library of Harvard College.
The next publication of Champlain was in 1619. There was a re-issue of the same in 1620 and likewise in 1627. The title of the last-mentioned issue is as follows:—
3. Voyages et Descovvertures faites en la Novvelle France, depuis l'année 1615. iusques à la fin de l'année 1618. Par le Sieur de Champlain, Cappitaine ordinaire pour le Roy en la Mer du Ponant. Seconde Edition. A Paris, chez Clavde Collet, au Palais, en la gallerie des Prisonniers. M.D.C.XXVII. Avec privilege dv Roy. 12mo. 8 preliminary leaves. Text 158 leaves, 6 plates. The title-page contains, in addition, a sub-title, giving an outline of the contents. The edition of 1627, belonging to the Library of Harvard College, contains likewise an illuminated title-page, which we here give in heliotype. As this illuminated title-page bears the date of 1619, it was probably that of the original edition of that date.
The next and last publication of Champlain was issued in 1632, with the following title:—
4. Les Voyages de la Novvelle France occidentale, dicte Canada, faits par le Sr de Champlain Xainctongeois, Capitaine pour le Roy en la Marine du Ponant, & toutes les Descouuertes qu'il a faites en ce païs depuis l'an 1603, iusques en l'an 1629. Où se voit comme ce pays a esté premierement descouuert par les François, sous l'authorité de nos Roys tres-Chrestiens, iusques au regne de sa Majesté à present regnante Louis XIII. Roy de France & de Navarre. A Paris. Chez Clavde Collet au Palais, en la Gallerie des Prisonniers, à l'Estoille d'Or. M.DC.XXXII. Avec Privilege du Roy.
There is also a long sub-title, with a statement that the volume contains what occurred in New France in 1631. The volume is dedicated to Cardinal Richelieu. 4to. 16 preliminary pages. Text 308 pages. 6 plates, which are the same as those in the edition of 1619. "Seconde Partie," 310 pages. One large general map; table explanatory of map, 8 pages. "Traitté de la Marine," 54 pages. 2 plates. "Doctrine Chrestienne" and "L'Oraison Dominicale," 20 pages. Another copy gives the name of Sevestre as publisher, and another that of Pierre Le Mvr.
The publication of 1632 is stated by Laverdière to have been reissued in 1640, with a new title and date, but without further changes. This, however, is not found in the National Library at Paris, which contains all the other editions and issues. The copies of the edition of 1632 which we have consulted are in the Harvard College Library and in the Boston Athenaeum.
It is of importance to refer, as we have done, to the particular copy used, for it appears to have been the custom in the case of books printed as early as the above, to keep the type standing, and print issues at intervals, sometimes without any change in the title-page or date, and yet with alterations to some extent in the text. For instance, the copy of the publication of 1613 in the Harvard College Library differs from that in Mrs. Brown's Library, at Providence, in minor points, and particularly in reference to some changes in the small map. The same is true of the publication of 1603. The variations are probably in part owing to the lack of uniformity in spelling at that period.
None of Champlain's works had been reprinted until 1830, when there appeared, in two volumes, a reprint of the publication of 1632, "at the expense of the government, in order to give work to printers." Since then there has been published the elaborate work, with extensive annotations, of the Abbé Laverdière, as follows:—
OEUVRES DE CHAMPLAIN, PUBLIÉES SOUS LE PATRONAGE DE L'UNIVERSITÉ LAVAL. PAR L'ABBÉ C. H. LAVERDIÈRE, M. A. SECONDE ÉDITION. 6 TOMES. 4TO. QUÉBEC: IMPRIMÉ AU SÉMINAIRE PAR GEO. E. DESBARATS. 1870.
This contains all the works of Champlain above mentioned, and the text is a faithful reprint from the early Paris editions. It includes, in addition to this, Champlain's narrative of his voyage to the West Indies, in 1598, of which the following is the title:—
Brief Discovrs des choses plvs remarqvables qve Sammvel Champlain de Brovage a reconneues aux Indes Occidentalles au voiage qu'il en a faict en icelles en l'année mil v[c] iiij.[xx].xix. & en l'année mil vj[c] i. comme ensuit.
This had never before been published in French, although a translation of it had been issued by the Hakluyt Society in 1859. The MS. is the only one of Champlain's known to exist, excepting a letter to Richelieu, published by Laverdière among the "Pièces Justificatives." When used by Laverdière it was in the possession of M. Féret, of Dieppe, but has since been advertised for sale by the Paris booksellers, Maisonneuve & Co., at the price of 15,000 francs, and is now in the possession of M. Pinart.
The volume printed in 1632 has been frequently compared with that of 1613, as if the former were merely a second edition of the latter. But this conveys an erroneous idea of the relation between the two. In the first place, the volume of 1632 contains what is not given in any of the previous publications of Champlain. That is, it extends his narrative over the period from 1620 to 1632. It likewise goes over the same ground that is covered not only by the volume of 1613, but also by the other still later publications of Champlain, up to 1620. It includes, moreover, a treatise on navigation. In the second place, it is an abridgment, and not a second edition in any proper sense. It omits for the most part personal details and descriptions of the manners and customs of the Indians, so that very much that is essential to the full comprehension of Champlain's work as an observer and explorer is gone. Moreover, there seems a to be some internal evidence indicating that this abridgment was not made by Champlain himself, and Laverdière suggests that the work has been tampered with by another hand. Thus, all favorable allusions to the Récollets, to whom Champlain was friendly, are modified or expunged, while the Jesuits are made to appear in a prominent and favorable light. This question has been specially considered by Laverdière in his introduction to the issue of 1632, to which the reader is referred.
The language used by Champlain is essentially the classic French of the time of Henry IV. The dialect or patois of Saintonge, his native province, was probably understood and spoken by him; but we have not discovered any influence of it in his writings, either in respect to idiom or vocabulary. An occasional appearance at court, and his constant official intercourse with public men of prominence at Paris and elsewhere, rendered necessary strict attention to the language he used.
But though using in general the language of court and literature, he offends not unfrequently against the rules of grammar and logical arrangement. Probably his busy career did not allow him to read, much less study, at least in reference to their style, such masterpieces of literature as the "Essais" of Montaigne, the translations of Amyot, or the "Histoire Universelle" of D'Aubigné. The voyages of Cartier he undoubtedly read; but, although superior in point of literary merit to Champlaih's writings, they were, by no-means without their blemishes, nor were they worthy of being compared with the classical authors to which we have alluded. But Champlain's discourse is so straightforward, and the thought so simple and clear, that the meaning is seldom obscure, and his occasional violations of grammar and looseness of style are quite pardonable in one whose occupations left him little time for correction and revision. Indeed, one rather wonders that the unpretending explorer writes so well. It is the thought, not the words, which occupies his attention. Sometimes, after beginning a period which runs on longer than usual, his interest in what he has to narrate seems so completely to occupy him that he forgets the way in which he commenced, and concludes in a manner not in logical accordance with the beginning. We subjoin a passage or two illustrative of his inadvertencies in respect to language. They are from his narrative of the voyage of 1603, and the text of the Paris edition is followed:
1. "Au dit bout du lac, il y a des peuples qui sont cabannez, puis on entre dans trois autres riuieres, quelques trois ou quatre iournees dans chacune, où au bout desdites riuieres, il y a deux ou trois manières de lacs, d'où prend la source du Saguenay." Chap. iv.
2. "Cedit iour rengeant tousiours ladite coste du Nort, iusques à vn lieu où nous relachasmes pour les vents qui nous estoient contraires, où il y auoit force rochers & lieux fort dangereux, nous feusmes trois iours en attendant le beau temps" Chap. v.
3. "Ce seroit vn grand bien qui pourrait trouuer à la coste de la Floride quelque passage qui allast donner proche du & susdit grand lac." Chap. x.
4. "lesquelles [riuieres] vont dans les terres, où le pays y est tres-bon & fertille, & de fort bons ports." Chap. x.
5. "Il y a aussi vne autre petite riuiere qui va tomber comme à moitié chemin de celle par où reuint ledict sieur Preuert, où sont comme deux manières de lacs en ceste-dicte riuiere." Chap. xii.