Part 2

Laudonniere with a few men escaped into the woods, and returned after some time to France. The son of Ribaut also, escaping both the storm and the Spanish squadron, arrived there in safety. The king of France made some remonstrances about this horrible affair to his brother sovereign, the king of Spain, who disavowed the deed, but gave no redress.

Ribaut was, however, well avenged by one of his own creed. In 1567, Dominique de Gourgues, a Calvinist gentleman of Gascony, fitted out two (some say three) ships, at his own cost, and proceeded to Florida. Assisted by the natives, with whom he formed an alliance, he attacked and took by assault the Spanish forts, treating the Spaniards as they had treated the French, by hanging them all on the same trees, altering the inscription to the purport that "these men are not hung as Spaniards, but as traitors, robbers, and murderers." He then demolished the forts, and returned to France in 1568, performing the voyage, it is said, in seventeen days.

The king of Spain in his turn complained, and De Gourgues, disavowed and threatened with condign punishment by his sovereign, was obliged to absent himself. He seems, however, to have kept his ire warm against the Spaniards, as in 1582 we find him in the service of Don Antonio, of Portugal, who named him admiral of the fleet which he was equipping against Spain; but, on the point of sailing, De Gourgues was seized with a mortal malady, and died,--thus disappointing the hopes of his old enemy the king of Spain, who had offered a large sum for his head.

In the year 1591, a voyage to Canada was undertaken by the sieur du Court Pre Ravillon, in a vessel called the Bonaventure, to endeavour to establish a trade in moose-skins and teeth. Whether he succeeded in his adventure or not, history is silent.

The Marquis de la Roche fitted out some vessels in 1591, embarking a number of men and a large quantity of stores of all kinds requisite for forming a colony in Canada. Not having, it appears, any personal knowledge of the country or of navigation, he engaged a Norman pilot, of the name of Chedotel, for the voyage. The details of this enterprise are not very clear, but it is certain that the expedition reached the Isle des Sables, and, for some reason or other, seventeen of the people were sent on shore and abandoned. The poor fellows remained there for seven years, living in holes in the ground, and subsisting on fish and the cattle which they found wild in considerable numbers--the descendants of those left there in 1518 by the Baron de Lery.[10]

[10] Champlain says, that the cattle had been saved from the wreck of a Spanish ship.

At the expiration of seven years, the pilot Chedotel was _condemned_ by the Parliament of Rouen to go and fetch away the unfortunate men,--with the condition, however, that he was to have half of all the property, hides, oil, seal and black fox skins, etc., which the wretched creatures might have collected during their banishment.

On their arrival in France, the poor men were presented to the king, Henry IV, who ordered the Duke de Sully to give them some relief,--which the worthy Duke did, to the amount of fifty crowns each, "to encourage them to return there!"

The poor Marquis de la Roche, unfortunate in his expedition, was equally so at court in his endeavours to obtain the aid which the king had promised him. "It being denied him," says Champlain, "at the instigation of certain persons who had no wish that the true worship of God should increase, or to see the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion flourish in those parts."

The Marquis took all this so much to heart that he fell sick and died, having consumed all his property, and wasted his time and labour, in vain.

In the year following (1599), the sieur Chauvin, de Ponthuiet, captain in the Royal Marine, at the persuasion of Captain du Pont Grave of St. Malo, (both Protestants), obtained a privilege for ten years, at the charge of forming a company for the colonization of Canada. Having equipped his vessels, he gave the command of one of them to Du Pont Grave, and proceeding to the river St. Lawrence, arrived in safety at Tadoussac, at the junction of the Saguenay with that river. One of the objects which they were bound mainly to follow was the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion among the savages. Chauvin's people were for the most part Catholics, but the chiefs were Calvinists, which was not precisely adapted for the fulfilment of the projected purpose, "but that," again says Champlain, "was what they thought of the least."

Chauvin resolved to remain at Tadoussac, in spite of the remonstrances of Du Pont Grave, who wished him to proceed higher up the river, having already been to "Three Rivers" in a previous voyage, trading with the Indians. M. de Monts (of whom we shall hear more hereafter), who had made the voyage with them for his pleasure, agreed with Du Pont Grave, but Chauvin was obstinate, and set about erecting a habitation in the most disagreeable and unproductive spot in the country,--full of rocks, fir and birch trees, the land unfit for cultivation, and the cold so excessive, that "if there be an ounce of cold forty leagues up the river, there is a pound at Tadoussac."[11]

[11] Champlain.

Chauvin posted sixteen men at a little stream near the house, to which they might retire upon occasion. The stores (little enough) were at the mercy of all, and soon began to run short, whereupon Chauvin returned to France, taking Du Pont Grave and De Monts with him.

The men remaining at the intended settlement, quickly consumed the little provision left, and "the winter coming on soon taught them the difference between France and Tadoussac,--it was the court of king Petault, where every man commanded."[12] Indolence and carelessness, with sickness, soon did their work, and they were reduced to the necessity of giving themselves up to the Indian tribes around, who received them kindly. Many died, and all suffered extremely.

[12] _Ibid._, _Voyages en Nouvelle France_, etc.

Chauvin, in 1600, prepared another expedition, which from the same causes was as fruitless as the first. He fitted out a third on a larger scale, but was not able to carry out his new plans, being attacked by a malady "which sent him to the other world."[13]

[13] Desmarquets, in his _Memoires Chronologiques pour servir a l'Histoire de la Ville de Dieppe_, says that Chauvin, on arriving at Tadoussac the second time, found only the corpses of the sixteen men whom he had left there. When he again returned to France he left twenty more men, but death preventing his intended third voyage, those twenty died of hunger, like the sixteen first.

We have now arrived at the period of Champlain's first connection with Canadian discovery and colonization. The difficulties, dangers--not to say horrors--of the previous expeditions were enough to deter any but the most confident and resolute from attempting such an apparently hopeless task; but the hour and the man were come, and from the date of Chauvin's death a new era was to arise for Canada, and French colonization in North America was at last--to be.

Samuel Champlain, descended from a noble family of Saintonge, was born at Brouage,[14] a place formerly of some importance in that province, now an obscure town of the department of the Charente Inferieure. Of the date of his birth and of his earlier career there is no account extant; from the events of the last thirty-five or thirty-six years of his life we may, however, form a correct judgment of his attainments, which, in navigation, in military matters, and in general knowledge, were evidently of no common order. That he had early distinguished himself is also clear, and that his services were appreciated we may gather from the high favour with which he was regarded by the king, and from the friendship and constant protection with which he was honoured by one of the best and bravest, as well as most intelligent and devoted followers of Henry IV,--the Sieur Aymar de Chastes, governor of the town and chateau of Dieppe, who commanded the fleet appointed to cruize on the coast of Brittany during the latter years of the war with the League and the Spaniards,[15] and under whose orders Champlain had served. On Champlain's return from the voyage to the West Indies, of which the narrative is now for the first time published, he learned that Chauvin was dead, and that his friend, Mons. de Chastes, undeterred by the previous failures and disasters, had resolved to undertake the establishment of a colony in Canada, and even to proceed thither and devote the remainder of his well-spent life to the prosecution of the enterprise. The cause and manner of Champlain's embarking in the undertaking cannot be better narrated than in his own words.

[14] The salt works at Brouage were considered the finest in the kingdom. Cardinal Richelieu also established a large cannon foundry there in 1627.

[15] The Commander Aymar de Chastes, also styled Frere Aymar de Clermont, was knight and mareschal of the order of St. John of Jerusalem, of the language of Auvergne, commander of the Armeteau and of St. Paul, lieutenant-general for the king in the Pays de Coer, and governor of the town and castle of Dieppe. He was employed by Henry III to reinstate Don Antonio of Portugal in his kingdom, and by Henry IV to command the fleet on the coast of Brittany; it was almost entirely owing to Mons. de Chastes that Dieppe declared for the king against the League, which enabled him to fight and win the battle of Arques. He died at Dieppe, on the 13th of May, 1603, and was buried in the church of the Minimes there, followed to the grave by all the inhabitants, "who looked on him as their father and protector," says Asselini, MS. Chron.

"The fourth enterprise was that of the Sieur Commander de Chastes, a very honourable man, a good catholic, and worthy servant of the king, whom he had faithfully served on many signal occasions, and although his head was charged with grey hairs as with years, he resolved to proceed thither in person, and dedicate the remainder of his life to the service of his God and of his king, by fixing his residence and living and dying there gloriously: so he hoped, if God had not withdrawn him from this world sooner than he thought. He had very Christian designs, to which I can bear good witness, he having done me the honour of communicating somewhat of them. Soon after the death of Chauvin he obtained a new commission from the king, and as the expenses were very great, he formed a company with several gentlemen and with the principal merchants of Rouen and other places, on certain conditions: this being done, vessels were prepared, as well for the execution of the main design, as for discovery and peopling the country. Du Pont Grave, as one who had already made the voyage and noticed the faults of the past, was (with commission from his majesty) chosen to proceed to Tadaussac, thence to go and examine the Sault St. Louis and the country beyond, in order to make a report on his return for the better preparation of a second voyage, when the said commander, De Chastes, would quit his government (of Dieppe), and, with the permission of his majesty, who truly loved him, proceed to the country of New France.

"While this was going on, I found myself at court, being freshly returned from the West Indies, where I had been nearly two years and a half, after the Spaniards had quitted Blavet, where, during the wars, I had served His Majesty under Messeigneurs the Marechal d'Aumont de St. Luc and the Marechal de Brissac."

"Going from time to time to see the said sieur de Chastes, judging that I might serve him in his design, he did me the honour, as I have said, to communicate something of it to me, and asked me if it would be agreeable to me to make the voyage to examine the country, and see what those engaged in the undertaking should do. I told him that I was very much his servant, but that I could not give myself license to undertake the voyage without the commands of the king, to whom I was bound, as well by birth as by the pension with which His Majesty honoured me to enable me to maintain myself near his person,[16] but that, if it should please him to speak to the king about it, and give me his commands, that it would be very agreeable to me, which he promised and did, and received the king's orders for me to make the voyage and make a faithful report thereof; and for that purpose M. de Gesvres, secretary of his Commandments, sent me with a letter to the said Du Pont Grave, desiring him to take me in his ship, and enable me to see and examine what could be done in the country, giving me every possible assistance."

[16] This fact at once shews that Champlain's fortune was but small and his merits great. Henry IV at that time had no funds to throw away, and a pension then given must have been well deserved. The attachment to his person also proves the feeling of the king.

"Me voila expedie," continues Champlain, who immediately left Paris, and embarking with Du Pont Grave, had a favourable voyage to Tadoussac, from whence they proceeded up the St. Lawrence in small vessels of twelve to fifteen tons burthen. At Sault St. Louis, Du Pont Grave and Champlain, with five men, continued with great difficulty about a league further, to the foot of the rapids; where, finding it impossible to proceed with their skiff, on account of the rocks and rushing waters, all they could do was to land and examine the course and difficulties of the rapids, explore the surrounding country, and obtain accounts from the Indians as to the inhabitants, the productions, and the sources of the principal rivers, particularly of the St. Lawrence.

Champlain prepared a _petit discours_, or report, with an exact chart of all that had been seen and explored, and they then returned to Tadoussac, having made but little progress; rejoining their people, who had been employed in the interim in trading with the natives, they set sail for France.

When Champlain arrived at Honfleur, he learned the death of his friend and patron, the commander De Chastes, "which greatly afflicted me, well knowing that it would be difficult for another to undertake the enterprise without being opposed, unless it should be some nobleman, whose authority was capable of overcoming envy."

From Honfleur he proceeded directly to Paris, to present his "_discours fort particulier_," and the Map which he had made, to the king, who was much gratified, and promised not to abandon the design, but rather to pursue and favour it.

After the death of Monsieur de Chastes, the Sieur de Monts,[17] who had already been to Canada with Chauvin, desirous of following the example of Monsieur de Chastes, completed the arrangements with the merchants of Rouen, Dieppe, La Rochelle, etc., which had been prepared by his predecessor, for the formation of a company for colonization in New France; but not on the St. Lawrence, the specimen he had seen of the country when with Chauvin having taken away all desire to return there, particularly as he wished to settle more to the southward, in a milder and more agreeable climate.

[17] Pierre du Gast, sieur de Monts, gentleman of the chamber to the king, was named in 1603 vice-admiral of the coasts of Acadia, from the fortieth to the forty-sixth degree of north latitude, and in the following year his majesty gave him the lieutenancy of the same country. By letters patent of 21st January, 1605, all subjects, save De Monts and his associates, were forbidden to trade in those parts. De Monts first named the sieur Du Pont Grave his lieutenant in September 1605, and in February 1606 replaced him by the sieur de Paitrincourt. The cession to De Monts was again ratified in 1608, but to little purpose.

De Monts, who was of the "pretended-reformed religion," undertook to establish the Roman Catholic and Apostolic religion in his colony, but every one was to be free to live according to his creed.

All preliminaries being settled, De Monts fitted out three ships, with all things necessary, not only for trading in peltries at Tadoussac, but for establishing a settlement elsewhere; taking out a number of gentlemen, and all kinds of artisans, with soldiers and others of both religions, not forgetting priests and ministers.

Being ready to depart, De Monts proposed to Champlain to accompany him, and the desire to revisit and see more of the country having grown stronger within him, he readily promised to go, always with the king's permission, which was willingly granted; being ordered, moreover, by his Majesty to make to him a faithful report of all that he should see and discover.

They all embarked at Dieppe in 1603: one vessel proceeded to Tadoussac; another, commanded by Du Pont Grave, went to Campseau (Canso) and along the coast towards the island of Cape Breton, to look after certain adventurers trading there in contravention of the king's prohibition. De Monts, with Champlain, took his course to the coast of Acadia, and the weather being very favourable, in a month arrived off Cape la Heve. De Monts continued along the coast, seeking some convenient spot for his settlement, sending Champlain also with a pilot to examine the coast for the same purpose. They discovered a number of ports and rivers, and De Monts at last fixed on an island which he thought well adapted to his purpose; the situation strong, the land good, and the temperature mild. He therefore set about discharging his vessels and building shelter for his people, and when all that was done he sent back the ships with Mons. de Paitrincourt, who had replaced Du Pont Grave as his lieutenant, and who had gone out to see the country with the intention of settling there.

During this time (fully three years) Champlain occupied himself in exploring the whole coast of Acadia (Nova Scotia), from Cape la Heve, in latitude 45 deg. 5'; examining all the bays, creeks, mouths of rivers, and islands of the great Baye Francoise (so named by him), now the Bay of Fundy, coasting on to "Cape Fortune," in latitude 41 deg. 20' (now Cape Cod), and a few leagues farther, to a headland, which, with a great shoal near it, he called "Mallebarre", from the dangers he had there experienced. To the northward he examined the land from Cape la Heve to Cape Canso and Cape Breton, and, his arduous labours terminated, he returned with De Monts to France in 1607.

On their arrival, they found that great complaints had been made by certain Bretons, Basques, and others, of the excesses committed by the captains of De Monts' vessels while on their cruise, and of the ill-treatment they had sustained from them and their crews, who had seized their property, detained their persons, and deprived them of all traffic that had hitherto been free to them; so that, if the king did not interfere and take some order about it, all that navigation would be lost, the customs diminished, themselves ruined, and their wives and children, poor and miserable, obliged to beg their bread. It seems, though, that the poor Bretons and their companions were able to bribe pretty highly; as, in consequence of this outcry, and the intrigues of some influential persons at court, who promised to equip and keep three hundred men in the country, the commission or privilege of De Monts was revoked, "as the price of a certain sum, which a certain person received, without the king's knowing anything about it," says Champlain.

Thus was De Monts rewarded for having expended upwards of one hundred thousand livres, and passed more than three years of great suffering, from long duration of the snows and extreme cold, and having lost more than half his people by the dreaded "maladie de terre", or earth sickness.

As compensation, however, for his losses, the Royal Council generously granted him six thousand livres; not in ready money, but to be paid by such vessels as should traffic in peltry, etc., in the new country; but De Monts was obliged to abandon even this mockery of a grant, finding the expense of collecting greater than the receipts. Champlain at this exclaims indignantly: "Thus were affairs managed in the Council of his majesty; may God pardon those whom He has called to Himself, and amend the living! He! bon Dieu! who would ever undertake anything, if all can be revoked in such a fashion, without carefully examining affairs before deciding. Those also who know least cry out the loudest, and pretend to know more than men of tried experience." He adds that there was one great defect in De Monts' expedition--the mixture of creeds, "as two contrary religions never produce much fruit for the glory of God among the heathen they wish to convert." "I have seen," says he, "the minister and our cure fight with their fists about differences of religion, and," he continues slyly, "I do not know which was the bravest or hit the hardest blows, but I do very well know that the minister complained sometimes to Mons. de Monts of having been soundly beaten; and in this way they cleared up the points of controversy. I leave you to think if it was very pleasant to behold. The savages were sometimes on one side, sometimes on the other; and the French, divided according to their different belief, said everything that was bad, both of one and the other religion. These quarrels were really the means of rendering the infidel more hardened in his infidelity."

In the following year (1608) De Monts, desirous of making another attempt, consulted with Champlain, who advised him to proceed direct to the river St. Laurence, with which he was well acquainted from the experience of his previous voyage. De Monts, adopting his advice, applied again to the king, who granted him another commission authorising him to make the desired settlement; and to enable him the better to bear the expenses, interdicted the trade in peltry to all others for one year.

Upon this De Monts fitted out two vessels at Honfleur, and named Champlain his deputy or lieutenant in New France. One of the ships was commanded by Du Pont Grave, who sailed first for Tadoussac, and Champlain followed with all things necessary for the intended settlement, arriving happily at Tadoussac. He then landed his people and stores, and proceeded up the river to seek for a convenient spot for his purpose, and finding at the narrowest part of the stream a place called by the natives Quebec, which seemed suitable, he there resolved to establish his colony, and accordingly transported thither all his men and goods with as little delay as possible. He then immediately caused dwellings to be erected, gardens prepared and planted, and land cleared and sown.