Part 6

About an hour after the departure of the Greek, he suddenly returned accompanied by two canoes which were hastening to the settlement, in one of which was Foucher, the superintendent of the farm at Cape Tourmente, who told Champlain that he had just escaped from the English, who had taken him prisoner with three of his men, a woman, and a little girl, whom they had carried off to a barque which was at anchor off the Cape, having killed all the beasts they had need of, and burned the remainder in the stables; they had also set fire to two small houses, and ravaged and pillaged everything, even the head-gear of the little girl; they had then reembarked in haste, fearing to be pursued; "which," says Champlain, "assuredly they would have been, if the savages, who all knew of their arrival, had informed us of it; but, like perfidious traitors as they are, they not only concealed this unpleasant news, but spread the report that the strangers were our own people, and that we were not to be anxious about them." It appeared that the enemy had arrived at Cape Tourmente an hour or so before daylight, and sent about fifteen soldiers ashore, thinking to surprise Foucher and his people asleep; but on approaching the habitation, Foucher met them, asking, "who they were and what they wanted?" They replied in French that they were friends: "Do you not recollect us? We were here last year, and we are now sent by Monseigneur the Cardinal and Monseigneur de Roquemont with intelligence; in passing we wished to see you." With these civilities and gentle words they saluted, gradually surrounding Foucher and his men, who were presently astonished at being seized and made prisoners, as before related, "the treacherous savages having told them of the state in which we were." Champlain, at this confirmation of his fears, immediately set everybody to work at making intrenchments around the little town, and stockades on the ramparts of the fort (which was not finished for want of workmen), appointing every man his post, to which he was to hasten when required.

On the next day, the 10th of July, about three in the afternoon, a boat was seen approaching the settlement, which, from its manoeuvres, seemed to make for the St. Charles river, either to disembark men or to set fire to the house of the mission, which was there situated, or else, that the crew did not know the right channel to the town. Champlain sent some arquebusiers to reconnoitre, who found that the supposed enemies were the men with the woman and girl who had just been taken prisoners, with six Basques, who had also been captured by the English. One of the latter was bearer of a letter from the English "General" at Tadoussac, to this effect:--

"Messieurs,--I give you notice that I have received a commission from the king of Great Britain, my honoured lord and master, to take possession of the countries of Canada and Acadia, and for that purpose eighteen ships have been dispatched, each taking the route ordered by His Majesty. I have already seized the habitation at Miscare, and all boats and pinnaces on that coast, as well as those of Tadoussac, where I am presently at anchor. You are also informed that, among the vessels that I have seized, there is one belonging to the new company, commanded by a certain Norot, which was coming to you with provisions and goods for the trade. The Sieur De la Tour was also on board, whom I have taken into my ship. I was preparing to seek you, but thought it better to send boats to destroy and seize your cattle at Cape Tourmente; for I know that, when you are straitened for supplies, I shall the more easily obtain my desire, which is, to have your settlement; and in order that no vessels shall reach you, I have resolved to remain here till the end of the season, in order that you may not be re-victualled. Therefore see what you wish to do,--if you intend to deliver up the settlement or not, for, God aiding, sooner or later I must have it. I would desire, for your sake, that it should be by courtesy rather than by force, to avoid the blood which might be spilt on both sides. By surrendering courteously, you may be assured of all kind of contentment, both for your persons and for your property, which, on the faith that I have in Paradise, I will preserve as I would my own, without the least portion in the world being diminished. The Basques, whom I send you, are men of the vessels that I have captured, and they can tell you the state of affairs between France and England, and even how matters are passing in France, touching the new company[24] of this country. Send me word what you desire to do; and if you wish to treat with me about this affair, send me a person to that effect, whom, I assure you, I will treat with all kind of attention, and I will grant all reasonable demands that you may desire in resolving to give up the settlement.

"Waiting your reply, I remain, Messieurs,

"Your affectionate servant,

"DAVID QUER.

"On board the 'Vicaille'(?) this 18th of July, 1628 (old style), and addressed to 'Monsieur Champlain, Commandant at Quebec.'"

[24] On the 29th April, 1627, another company for the trade with New France, to the exclusion of all previous associations, and styled the Company of the Hundred Associates, was organized, and the articles settled and signed, under the especial patronage and influence of the Cardinal de Richelieu; and on the 29th June the Duke de Ventadour resigned the post of viceroy of New France, in consideration of the sum of seventy thousand livres, which the President de Lauzun promised him on the part of the king. The "Great Cardinal" had been already invested in 1626 with the direction of all naval affairs, under the title of Grand Master and Superintendant of Navigation and Commerce, those of admiral and vice-admiral of France being suppressed. His first care was to put down the rival companies, and take the trade into his own hands; the next, to get rid of the Jesuits, and their tool the Duke de Ventadour.

This logical, precise, and "affectionate" letter being read, "We concluded," says Champlain, "that if he wished to see us he had better come, and not threaten from such a distance;" so replied in equally polite terms to the purport, "That he did not in the least doubt the fact of Quer (or Keith) having the commission of his king, as great princes always select men of brave and generous courage," acknowledging the intelligence of the capture of Norot and De la Tour, and also the truth of the observation that, "the more provisions there were in a fortress the better it could hold out, still it could be maintained with but little, provided good order were kept; therefore, being still provided with grain, maize, beans, and peas, (besides what the country could furnish,) which his soldiers loved as well as the finest corn in the world, by surrendering the fort in so good a condition, he should be unworthy to appear before his sovereign, and should deserve chastisement before God and men. He was sure that Quer would respect him much more for defending himself, than for abandoning his charge, without first making trial of the English guns and batteries;" concluding, that he should expect his attack, and oppose, as well as he could, all attempts that might be made against the place; and signing, "Your affectionate servant, Champlain."

This courteous, but decided, and, under the circumstances, chivalrous answer, was given to the Basques to deliver to the English commander, who, finding that Champlain was determined to hold out, and thinking that the settlement was better provided with provisions and stores than it really was, contented himself with burning all the boats and vessels at Tadoussac, and set sail again to look for ships along the coast; and well it was for Champlain that he did so, as he writes, "Every man being reduced to seven ounces of peas a day, and only having about fifty pounds of gunpowder, hardly any matches or other commodities, if they had made their point, we could hardly have resisted them."

The English admiral or chief, David Quer, or Keith (most likely Kerr), was, it is said, a Calvinist of Dieppe, the son of a Scotchman, who had married there, and who had quitted France on account of the persecutions against the Protestants. It appears that De Caen, enraged at the privileges of the company of which he was the head being annulled, and himself excluded from the new company formed under the auspices of Cardinal Richelieu, betrayed the settlement, giving the English a full and complete account of the vessels employed, the number of men in the colony, its weak points, etc. Kerr had with him also a certain Jacques Michel, a Frenchman, from Dieppe, and a former associate of De Caen.[25]

[25] "Fauces illas, aditusque fluminis obsidebat jam aliquandiu David Kersius, Anglus, ab navibus, militibusque Rupemontio instructor ... praemonitus pridem ab exulceratis Cadomianis (De Caen), qui exclusos sese ab Nova Francia, tanta vel ignominia, vel rei familiaris jactura impotentissime ferebant, de navium transmissarum numero, de Noyrotis actuario nominatim, de militum robore, de commeatu, de omnibus denique, quae hostis incendere cupiditatem, vel stimulare diligentiam, vel cautionem munire posse videbantur."--De Creux, lib. i.

Some days afterwards a young man, of the name of Desdames, came to Quebec with ten men, bringing news of the arrival at Gaspey of the Sieur de Roquement, commanding the new company's ships, which were bringing stores, provisions, and workmen and their families for the colony. Champlain, whom the late surprise had rendered doubly cautious, asked for letters from De Roquement, before giving credence to this intelligence; surprised, moreover, that in such suspicious times, he had not written by his messenger, to say how affairs were going on in France, and tell him about this new company that had ousted De Caen and his partners, and of which Champlain knew nothing.[26] Desdames told him that he had left in such haste that De Roquement had not time to write, but in proof of the truth of his intelligence, produced a few lines from Father Lallemand, a Jesuit, who was on board De Roquement's vessel, saying that, in a short time, Champlain would see them, if not prevented by the English, who were stronger than they were. Desdames also informed him that De Roquement intended to attack the English squadron at Tadoussac, and that on his route he had heard cannon, which made him think that the battle had commenced.

[26] Champlain, however, shortly after received a commission from the king, Louis XIII, appointing him commandant in New France under Cardinal Richelieu, ordering him also to take an inventory of all goods and property of every kind belonging to De Caen, and to have them valued; and also, to send without delay an account of the state of the settlement, the number of acres of cleared land, and plans of the fort and buildings, etc., for the deliberation of the royal council.

Champlain severely blamed the conduct of De Roquement in attacking the English, as, being sent for the sole purpose of succouring and revictualling the fort and settlement which were in want of almost every necessary, if he were beaten, he not only ruined himself but the country, leaving nearly a hundred men, women, and children to die of hunger, or abandon the fort and settlement to the first enemy that should present himself. On the contrary, the English being stronger in ships and men, he ought to have avoided them as much as possible. "The merit of a good captain," he exclaims, "is not in his courage alone; it ought to be accompanied by prudence, which causes him to be respected, being accompanied by many cunning stratagems and inventions; many have thus done much with little, and have rendered themselves glorious and redoubtable."

While waiting with impatience for news of the combat, "Nous mangions nos pois par compte," which short allowance greatly reduced the strength of the people, most of the men becoming feeble, and hardly able to work. "We were deprived of all," says Champlain; "even salt was wanting." His ingenuity, however, provided a partial remedy for the evil of eating the peas whole; he first had mortars made wherein the peas might be pounded to a coarse flour; but the labour required being considerable, he imagined that a hand-mill would be better, but there were no mill-stones; however, as by dint of seeking most things are to be found, his locksmith discovered stone fit for the purpose. "So that," Champlain writes, "this necessity made us find that which for twenty years had been deemed impossible." When the hand-mill was finished, every one brought his little supply of peas, which they received back in flour, and which, made into a kind of soup, "did us a great deal of good, and set us up better than we had been for some time." So with the addition of a small supply of eels, from time to time, from the Indians, who, by the bye, sold them very dear, he continued to rub on as best he might. The success of his hand-mill encouraged him to have water-mills erected during the winter, which would better relieve the people, and spare labour. He also sent out men to hunt in the winter, "as the savages did, but," he adds, indignantly, "they were not so honest as those people, as having taken a very large elk, they amused themselves with devouring it like ravenous wolves, without giving us any, save about twenty pounds; which made me reproach them for their gluttony, as I never had any provisions without sharing with them; but as they were men without honour or civility, so had they acted, and I sent them no more, occupying them with other things."

Champlain's difficulties and anxieties became daily greater, as, with the utmost possible economy, the few remaining provisions would hardly last longer than the end of May, and if the annual ships with supplies were lost or taken by the English, they must all perish with hunger; so he resolved that, if the vessels did not arrive by the end of June, and the English should return as they had promised, to make the best terms he could and give up the fort, as the people could not otherwise subsist; and if neither the English nor the ships should arrive, to patch up, as well as he could, a little vessel of seven or eight tons, which had been left at Quebec as being good for nothing, and go to Gaspey, Miscou, and other places to the north, to try and get a passage for the greater part of the settlers, in the vessels which went there for the fishery, retaining in the settlement only such a number as might subsist on the grain which would be gathered in the following August from the lands of "Hebert" before mentioned, and of the "Fathers," who seemed to have taken care of themselves in all this necessity. "To exist till August," says he, "our resource would be to seek for herbs and roots, and try and catch fish." If he found that the little vessel could not be repaired, he determined to take with him as many men as possible and make war on some of the savage tribes who had aided the Iroquois; to force one of their villages and fortify it, so as to pass the rest of the summer, the autumn, and winter, rather than all die of hunger at the settlement, "hoping for better things in the spring."

While in this extreme tribulation, an Indian chief, of a tribe some eight days journey from Quebec, paid Champlain a visit for the purpose of soliciting his aid against the old foe, the Iroquois. Considering it an excellent opportunity for relieving the settlement of many surplus mouths, he agreed to help them as well as he could in that year if the vessels should not arrive, and, at any rate, in the next year he would join them with as many men as possible; at least he and his people would be fed, and if the English took possession of the settlement, his alliance with the Indians would enable him in due time to drive them out. With this promise the Indian chief departed highly pleased, and Champlain sent a confidential man to reconnoitre the enemy's country, giving his Indian friends instructions how to attack the Iroquois villages or forts till he could join them. He then sent a small boat to Gaspey to try and get some grain, and applied to "Father Joseph De la Roche," (he does not say of which mission, Jesuit or Recollet,) to know if he might hope for some supplies from their stock if the ships should not arrive; the worthy Father Joseph replied that, if it depended upon him, he would gladly consent, but that "Father Joseph Caron, the guardian, must be first applied to." Whether the said supplies were forthcoming does not appear; from the continuance, and even increase of suffering, it should seem not.

On the 20th of May, twenty Indian warriors, coming from Tadoussac, on their way to make war on the Iroquois, brought some account of the battle which had been fought between the English and French ships. Some men had been killed; the Sieur De Roquement wounded in the foot, and the French vessels taken and carried into Gaspey; the crews had been all put on board one of the ships to be sent to France, the officers kept as prisoners of war, and the English, after burning a "cache" of corn belonging to the Jesuits at Gaspey, had set sail for England.

About this time Champlain formed an alliance with an Indian chief named "Chomina," who greatly relieved his anxieties about future subsistence by promising to assist him, as much as possible, with provisions, and in case of need, against the English. Desdames also arrived from Gaspey, confirming the intelligence brought by the Indians of the total defeat and capture of the French ships, and that eight English vessels were cruising on the coast of Acadia.

On the 26th of June Champlain dispatched his brother-in-law, Boulle, with all who wished to leave the settlement, to Gaspey, with orders to seek a passage to France, by every possible means, charging him with letters for the king, the cardinal, the council of state, and the company, giving details of all that had passed, and of the strait to which he was reduced. Du Pont Grave, who had remained at Quebec, was also desirous of returning, but on Champlain's representations of the difficulties and danger of life he would incur from his infirm state, in so hazardous a journey, he remained at the settlement, so tormented with the gout that he was almost constantly laid up.

When Boulle and his people had departed, Champlain employed those who remained in preparing the ground and sowing turnips against the winter, and, while awaiting the harvest, parties were sent every day to seek for roots, which occasioned great fatigue, having to go seven or eight leagues to find any, and even then hardly getting enough for bare subsistence. Some tried fishing, but with little success, "nets, lines, and hooks being wanting," and gunpowder so scarce, that he preferred suffering rather than use for hunting the little he had left, which was not more than thirty or forty pounds, and that very bad.

Every day also he was in expectation of the arrival of some Hurons with twenty Frenchmen, who had gone with them some time before to relieve the settlement a little--"pour nous soulager de nos pois"--as Champlain expresses it; and these expected additions to the claims on the said "pois" gave him no small anxiety, "as we had nothing whatever to give them, unless they brought flour with them." He hoped that the Hurons would take them with them again, or that he could distribute them among other tribes near him; but that was very uncertain. His troubles were, however, considerably relieved by his friend "Chomina offering to go to the Huron country to seek for flour," and, still more, by the arrival of one of his men whom he had sent to examine the country of the "Abenaquoit"(?) Indians, who gave him a full report of the rapids and other difficulties of the route thither, and, what was then better and more to the purpose, that the said "Abenaquoits" were very friendly, and had offered to take some of his people and keep them during the winter, or till he should receive supplies by the arrival of the ships or otherwise.

On the 17th of July, the Hurons and their French guests arrived, but bringing hardly any provisions, so that they were obliged to do as Champlain and his people did, "seek for roots that they might live." He deliberated about sending them to the friendly "Abenaquoits" to reside with them till the spring, "having no longer any hope," he touchingly adds, "of seeing either friends or enemies, the season being, to all appearance, past." The Hurons could only offer for sale two sacks of flour, one of which was bought by the Recollet fathers, the other by Du Pont Grave. "As for me," says Champlain, "it was quite out of my power to have any, much or little, and they did not offer me even a plateful, either our own people or others: however, I took patience, having always good courage, waiting for the pea harvest, and some grain from the clearing of the widow Herbert and her son-in-law, who had sown some six or seven acres, not being able to apply elsewhere; and I can say with truth, that I have assisted every one as much as is possible, but they were little grateful." The Jesuits and Recollets had tolerable supplies on hand, and ground cleared and sown besides; and they _promised_ to assist him with any supplies they might have, "but there were but few liberalities 'made.'"

At this critical time an Indian brought intelligence of the return of the English squadron. "When this news arrived," writes Champlain, "I was alone in the fort, part of my companions having gone fishing, others to seek for roots, and my servant and the two little 'sauvagesses' (the Indian girls before mentioned) had gone also. About ten o'clock some returned to the settlement, my servant bringing four little bags of roots: he told me that he had seen the English ships about a league from Quebec, behind Cape Levy." Champlain thereupon called a council, and, considering that they were without provisions, powder, match, or prospect of succour, and thus quite unable to hold out, it was resolved that they would endeavour to make the best terms they could, and see what the English would say; but determined, if they would not grant good conditions, to make them feel on landing "what it was to take away all hope."

Shortly after, the English sent a boat with a flag of truce, and a gentleman bearing a letter from the two brothers of the "General Quer" or Guer (sometimes the name is also spelt "Kertk"), who remained at Tadoussac with his ships,--one, named Louis, was to command the fort; the other, Thomas, was "vice-admiral" to his brother. The missive was as follows:

"Monsieur,--In consequence of what our brother told you last year, that sooner or later he would have Quebec, if not succoured, he has charged us to assure you of his friendship as we do of ours; and knowing very well the extreme need of every thing in which you are, desires that you should surrender the fort and settlement to us; assuring you of every kind of courtesy for you and yours, and also of honourable and reasonable terms, such as you may wish. Waiting your reply, we remain, Monsieur, your very affectionate servants,

"LOUIS AND THOMAS GUER.

"On board the Filbot, this 19th July, 1629."