The Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain

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Pontgrave sailed from Honfleur on April 5, 1608. Champlain
followed eight days later, reaching Tadoussac at the
beginning of June. Here trouble awaited him. The Basque
traders, who always defied the monopoly, had set upon
Pontgrave with cannon and muskets, killing one man and
severely wounding two others, besides himself. Going
ashore, Champlain found Pontgrave very ill and the Basques
in full possession. To fight was to run the risk of
ruining De Monts' whole enterprise, and as the Basques
were alarmed at what they had done, Darache, their captain,
signed an agreement that he would not molest Pontgrave
or do anything prejudicial to the rights of De Monts.
This basis of compromise makes it clear that Pontgrave
was in charge of the season's trade, while Champlain's
personal concern was to found the settlement.

An unpleasant dispute was thus adjusted, but the incident
had a still more unpleasant sequel. Leaving Tadoussac on
June 30, Champlain reached Quebec in four days, and at
once began to erect his storehouse. A few days later he
stood in grave peril of his life through conspiracy among
his own men.

The ringleader was a locksmith named Jean Duval, who had
been at Port Royal and narrowly escaped death from the
arrows of the Cape Cod Indians. Whether he framed his
plot in collusion with the Basques is not quite clear,
but it seems unlikely that he should have gone so far as
he did without some encouragement. His plan was simply
to kill Champlain and deliver Quebec to the Basques in
return for a rich reward, either promised or expected.
Some of the men he had no chance to corrupt, for they
were aboard the barques, guarding stores till a shelter
could be built. Working among the rest, Duval 'suborned
four of the worst characters, as he supposed, telling
them a thousand falsehoods and presenting to them prospects
of acquiring riches.' The evidence subsequently showed
that Champlain was either to be strangled when unarmed,
or shot at night as he answered to a false alarm. The
conspirators made a mutual promise not to betray each
other, on penalty that the first who opened his mouth
should be poniarded.

Out of this deadly danger Champlain escaped through the
confession of a vacillating spirit named Natel, who
regretted his share in the plot, but, once involved, had
fears of the poniard. Finally he confessed to Testu, the
pilot, who immediately informed Champlain. Questioned as
to the motive, Natel replied that 'nothing had impelled
them, except that they had imagined that by giving up
the place into the hands of the Basques or Spaniards they
might all become rich, and that they did not want to go
back to France.' Duval, with five others, was then seized
and taken to Tadoussac. Later in the summer Pontgrave
brought the prisoners back to Quebec, where evidence was
taken before a court-martial consisting of Champlain,
Pontgrave, a captain, a surgeon, a first mate, a second
mate, and some sailors. The sentence condemned four to
death, of whom three were afterwards sent to France and
put at the discretion of De Monts. Duval was 'strangled
and hung at Quebec, and his head was put on the end of
a pike, to be set in the most conspicuous place on our
fort, that he might serve as an example to those who
remained, leading them to deport themselves correctly in
future, in the discharge of their duty; and that the
Spaniards and Basques, of whom there were large numbers
in the country, might not glory in the event.'

It will be seen from the recital of Duval's conspiracy
that Champlain was fortunate to escape the fate of Hudson
and La Salle. While this cause celebre was running its
course to a tragic end, the still more famous habitation
grew day by day under the hands of busy workmen. As fruits
of a crowded and exciting summer Champlain could point
to a group of three two-storeyed buildings. 'Each one,'
he says, 'was three fathoms long and two and a half wide.
The storehouse was six fathoms long and three wide, with
a fine cellar six feet deep. I had a gallery made all
round our buildings, on the outside, at the second storey,
which proved very convenient. There were also ditches,
fifteen feet wide and six deep. On the outer side of the
ditches I constructed several spurs, which enclosed a
part of the dwelling, at the points where we placed our
cannon. Before the habitation there is a place four
fathoms wide and six or seven long, looking out upon the
river-bank. Surrounding the habitation are very good
gardens.'

Three dwellings of eighteen by fifteen feet each were a
sufficiently modest starting-point for continental
ambitions, even when supplemented by a storehouse of
thirty-six feet by eighteen. In calling the gardens very
good Champlain must have been speaking with relation to
the circumstances, or else they were very small, for
there is abundant witness to the sufferings which Quebec
in its first twenty years might have escaped with the
help of really abundant gardens. At St Croix and Port
Royal an attempt had been made to plant seeds, and at
Quebec Champlain doubtless renewed the effort, though
with small practical result. The point is important in
its bearing on the nature of the settlement. Quebec,
despite such gardens as surrounded the habitation, was
by origin an outpost of the fur trade, with a small,
floating, and precarious population. Louis Hebert, the
first real colonist, did not come till 1617.

Lacking vegetables, Quebec fed itself in part from the
river and the forest. But almost all the food was brought
from France. At times there was game, though less than
at Port Royal. The river supplied eels in abundance, but
when badly cooked they caused a fatal dysentery. The
first winter was a repetition of the horrors experienced
at St Croix, with even a higher death-rate. Scurvy began
in February and lasted till the end of April. Of the
eighteen whom it attacked, ten died. Dysentery claimed
others. On June 5, 1609, word came that Pontgrave had
arrived at Tadoussac. Champlain's comment is eloquent in
its brevity. 'This intelligence gave me much satisfaction,
as we entertained hopes of assistance from him. Out of
the twenty-eight at first forming our company only eight
remained, and half of these were ailing.'

The monopoly granted to De Monts had now reached its
close, and trade was open to all comers. From 1609 until
1613 this unrestricted competition ran its course, with
the result that a larger market was created for beaver
skins, while nothing was done to build up New France as
a colony. On the whole, the most notable feature of the
period is the establishment of close personal relations
between Champlain and the Indians. It was then that he
became the champion of the Algonquins and Hurons against
the Iroquois League or Five Nations, inaugurating a policy
which was destined to have profound consequences.

The considerations which governed Champlain in his dealings
with the Indians lay quite outside the rights and wrongs
of their tribal wars. His business was to explore the
continent on behalf of France, and accordingly he took
conditions as he found them. The Indians had souls to be
saved, but that was the business of the missionaries. In
the state of nature all savages were much like wild
animals, and alliance with one nation or another was a
question which naturally settled itself upon the basis
of drainage basins. Lands within the Laurentian watershed
were inhabited mainly by Algonquins and Hurons, whose
chief desire in life was to protect themselves from the
Iroquois and avenge past injuries. The Five Nations dwelt
far south from the Sault St Louis and did not send their
furs there for the annual barter. Champlain, ever in
quest of a route to the East, needed friends along the
great rivers of the wilderness. The way to secure them,
and at the same time to widen the trading area, was to
fight for the savages of the St Lawrence and the Ottawa
against those of the Mohawk.

And Champlain was a good ally, as he proved in the forest
wars of 1609 and 1615. With all their shortcomings, the
Indians knew how to take the measure of a man. The
difference between a warrior and a trader was especially
clear to their untutored minds, they themselves being
much better fighters than men of commerce. Champlain,
like others, suffered from their caprice, but they
respected his bravery and trusted his word.

In the next chapter we shall attempt to follow Champlain
through the wilderness, accompanied by its inhabitants,
who were his guides and friends. For the present we must
pursue the fortunes of Quebec, whose existence year by
year hung upon the risk that court intrigue would prevail
against the determination of two brave men.

From 1608 till 1611 De Monts had two partners, named
Collier and Legendre, both citizens of Rouen. It was with
the money of these three that the post at Quebec had been
built and equipped. Champlain was their lieutenant and
Pontgrave the commander of their trading ships. After
four years of experience Collier and Legendre found the
results unsatisfactory. 'They were unwilling,' says
Champlain, 'to continue in the association, as there was
no commission forbidding others from going to the new
discoveries and trading with the inhabitants of the
country. Sieur de Monts, seeing this, bargained with them
for what remained at the settlement at Quebec, in
consideration of a sum of money which he gave them for
their share.'

Thus the intrepid De Monts became sole proprietor of the
habitation, and whatever clustered round it, at the foot
of Cape Diamond. But the property was worthless if the
fur trade could not be put on a stable basis. Quebec
during its first three years had been a disappointment
because, contrary to expectation, it gave its founders
no advantage over their competitors which equalled the
cost of maintenance. De Monts was still ready to assist
Champlain in his explorations, but his resources, never
great, were steadily diminishing, and while trade continued
unprofitable there were no funds for exploration. Moreover,
the assassination of Henry IV in 1610 weakened De Monts
at court. Whatever Henry's shortcomings as a friend of
Huguenots and colonial pioneers, their chances had been
better with him than they now were with Marie de Medicis
[Footnote: The second and surviving wife of Henry IV--an
Italian by birth and in close sympathy with Spain. As
regent for her son, Louis XIII, she did much to reverse
the policy of Henry IV, both foreign and domestic.]
Champlain states that De Monts' engagements did not permit
him to prosecute his interests at court. Probably his
engagements would have been less pressing had he felt
more sure of favour. In any event, he made over to
Champlain the whole conduct of such negotiations as were
called for by the unsatisfactory state of affairs on the
St Lawrence.

Champlain went to France. What follows is an illuminating
comment upon the conditions that prevailed under the
Bourbon monarchy. As Champlain saw things, the merchants
who clamoured for freedom of trade were greedy pot-hunters.
'All they want,' he says, 'is that men should expose
themselves to a thousand dangers to discover peoples and
territories, that they themselves may have the profit
and others the hardship. It is not reasonable that one
should capture the lamb and another go off with the
fleece. If they had been willing to participate in our
discoveries, use their means and risk their persons, they
would have given evidence of their honour and nobleness,
but, on the contrary, they show clearly that they are
impelled by pure malice that they may enjoy the fruit of
our labours equally with ourselves.' Against folk of this
sort Champlain felt he had to protect the national
interests which were so dear to him and De Monts. As
things then went, there was only one way to secure
protection. At Fontainebleau a great noble was not
habituated to render help without receiving a consideration.
But protection could be bought by those who were able to
pay for it.

The patron selected by Champlain was the Comte de Soissons,
a Bourbon by lineage and first cousin of Henry IV. His
kinship to the boy-king gave him, among other privileges,
the power to exact from the regent gifts and offices as
the price of his support. Possessing this leverage,
Soissons caused himself to be appointed viceroy of Canada,
with a twelve-year monopoly of the fur trade above Quebec.
The monopoly thus re-established, its privileges could
be sublet, Soissons receiving cash for the rights he
conceded to the merchants, and they taking their chance
to turn a profit out of the transaction.

Such at least was the theory; but before Soissons could
turn his post into a source of revenue he died. Casting
about for a suitable successor, Champlain selected another
prince of the blood--Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Conde,
who duly became viceroy of Canada and holder of the
monopoly in succession to his uncle, the Comte de Soissons.

The part of Champlain in these transactions is very
conspicuous, and justly so. There was no advantage in
being viceroy of Canada unless the post produced a revenue,
and before the viceroy could receive a revenue some one
was needed to organize the chief Laurentian traders into
a company strong enough to pay Soissons or Conde a
substantial sum. Champlain was convinced that the stability
of trade (upon which, in turn, exploration depended)
could be secured only in this way. It was he who
memorialized President Jeannin; [Footnote: One of the
chief advisers of Marie de Medicis. In the early part of
his career he was President of the Parlement of Dijon
and an important member of the extreme Catholic party.
After the retirement of the Duc de Sully (1611) he was
placed in charge of the finances of France.] enlisted
the sympathy of the king's almoner, Beaulieu; appealed
to the royal council; proposed the office of viceroy to
Soissons; and began the endeavour to organize a new
trading company. Considering that early in 1612 he suffered
a serious fall from his horse, this record of activity
is sufficiently creditable for one twelve-month. Meanwhile
the Indians at Sault St Louis grieved at his absence,
and his enemies told them he was dead.

It was not until 1614 that the new programme in its
entirety could be carried out. This time the delay came,
not from the court, but from the merchants. Negotiations
were in progress when the ships sailed for the voyage of
1613, but Champlain could not remain to conclude them,
as he felt that he must keep faith with the Indians.
However, on his return to France that autumn, he resumed
the effort, and by the spring of 1614. the merchants of
Rouen, St Malo, and La Rochelle had been brought to terms
among themselves as participants in a monopoly which was
leased from the viceroy. Conde received a thousand crowns
a year, and the new company also agreed to take out six
families of colonists each season. In return it was
granted the monopoly for eleven years. De Monts was a
member of the company and Quebec became its headquarters
in Canada. But the moving spirit was Champlain, who was
appointed lieutenant to the viceroy with a salary and
the right to levy for his own purposes four men from each
ship trading in the river.

Once more disappointment followed. Save for De Monts,
Champlain's company was not inspired by Champlain's
patriotism. During the first three years of its existence
the obligation to colonize was wilfully disregarded,
while in the fourth year the treatment accorded Louis
Hebert shows that good faith counted for as little with
the fur traders when they acted in association as when
they were engaged in cut-throat competition.

Champlain excepted, Hebert was the most admirable of
those who risked death in the attempt to found a settlement
at Quebec. He was not a Norman peasant, but a Parisian
apothecary. We have already seen that he took part in
the Acadian venture of De Monts and Poutrincourt. After
the capture of Port Royal by the English he returned to
France (1613) and reopened his shop. Three years later
Champlain was authorized by the company to offer him and
his family favourable terms if they would emigrate to
Quebec, the consideration being two hundred crowns a year
for three years, besides maintenance. On this understanding
Hebert sold his house and shop, bought an equipment for
the new home, and set off with his family to embark at
Honfleur. Here he found that Champlain's shareholders
were not prepared to stand by their agreement. The company
first beat him down from two hundred to one hundred crowns
a year, and then stipulated that he, his wife, his
children, and his domestic should serve it for the three
years during which the grant was payable. Even at the
end of three years, when he found himself at liberty to
till the soil, he was bound to sell produce to the company
at the prices prevalent in France. The company was to
have his perpetual service as a chemist for nothing, and
he must promise in writing to take no part in the fur
trade. Hebert had cut off his retreat and was forced to
accept these hard terms, but it is not strange that under
such conditions colonists should have been few. Sagard,
the Recollet missionary, says the company treated Hebert
so badly because it wished to discourage colonization.
What it wanted was the benefit of the monopoly, without
the obligation of finding settlers who had to be brought
over for nothing.

A man of honour like Champlain could not have tricked
Hebert into the bad bargain he made, and their friendship
survived the incident. But a company which transacted
its business in this fashion was not likely to enjoy long
life. Its chief asset was Champlain's friendship with
the Indians, especially after his long sojourn with them
in 1615 and 1616. Some years, particularly 1617, showed
a large profit, but as time went on friction arose between
the Huguenots of La Rochelle and the Catholics of Rouen.
Then there were interlopers to be prosecuted, and the
quarrels of Conde with the government brought with them
trouble to the merchants whose monopoly depended on his
grant. For three years (1616-19) the viceroy of Canada
languished in the Bastille. Shortly after his release he
sold his viceregal rights to the Duke of Montmorency,
Admiral of France. The price was 11,000 crowns.

In 1619 Champlain's company ventured to disagree with
its founder, and, as a consequence, another crisis arose
in the affairs of New France. The cause of dispute was
the company's unwillingness to keep its promises regarding
colonization. Champlain protested. The company replied
that Pontgrave should be put in charge at Quebec. Champlain
then said that Pontgrave was his old friend, and he hoped
they would always be friends, but that he was at Quebec
as the viceroy's representative, charged with the duty
of defending his interests. The leader of Champlain's
opponents among the shareholders was Boyer, a trader who
had formerly given much trouble to De Monts, but was now
one of the associates. When in the spring of 1619 Champlain
attempted to sail for Quebec as usual, Boyer prevented
him from going aboard. There followed an appeal to the
crown, in which Champlain was fully sustained, and Boyer
did penance by offering a public apology before the
Exchange at Rouen.

It was shortly after this incident that Conde abdicated
in favour of Montmorency. The admiral, like his predecessor,
accepted a thousand crowns a year and named Champlain as
his lieutenant. He also instituted an inquiry regarding
the alleged neglect of the company to maintain the post
at Quebec. The investigation showed that abundant cause
existed for depriving the company of its monopoly, and
in consequence the grant was transferred, on similar
terms, to William and Emery de Caen. Here complications
at once ensued. The De Caens, who were natives of Rouen,
were also Huguenots, a fact that intensified the ill-feeling
which had already arisen on the St Lawrence between
Catholic and heretic. The dispute between the new
beneficiaries and the company founded by Champlain involved
no change in the policy of the crown towards trade and
colonization. It was a quarrel of persons, which eventually
reached a settlement in 1622. The De Caens then compromised
by reorganizing the company and giving their predecessors
five-twelfths of the shares.

The recital of these intricate events will at least
illustrate the difficulties which beset Champlain in his
endeavour to build up New France. There were problems
enough even had he received loyal support from the crown
and the company. With the English and Dutch in full
rivalry, he saw that an aggressive policy of expansion
and settlement became each year more imperative. Instead,
he was called on to withstand the cabals of self-seeking
traders who shirked their obligations, and to endure the
apathy of a government which was preoccupied with palace
intrigues.

At Quebec itself the two bright spots were the convent
of the Recollets [Footnote: The Recollets were a branch
of the Franciscan order, noted for the austerity of their
rule.] and the little farm of Louis Hebert. The Recollets
first came to New France in 1615, and began at once by
language study to prepare for their work among the
Montagnais and Hurons. It was a stipulation of the viceroy
that six of them should be supported by the company, and
in the absence of parish priests they ministered to the
ungodly hangers-on of the fur trade as well as to the
Indians. Louis Hebert and his admirable family were very
dear to the Fathers. In 1617 all the buildings which had
been erected at Quebec lay by the water's edge. Hebert
was the first to make a clearing on the heights. His
first domain covered less than ten acres, but it was well
tilled. He built a stone house, which was thirty-eight
feet by nineteen. Besides making a garden, he planted
apple-trees and vines. He also managed to support some
cattle. When one considers what all this means in terms
of food and comfort, it may be guessed that the fur
traders, wintering down below on salt pork and smoked
eels, must have felt much respect for the farmer in his
stone mansion on the cliff.

We have from Champlain's own lips a valuable statement
as to the condition of things at Quebec in 1627, the year
when Louis Hebert died. 'We were in all,' he says,
'sixty-five souls, including men, women, and children.'
Of the sixty-five only eighteen were adult males fit for
hard work, and this small number must be reduced to two
or three if we include only the tillers of the soil.
Besides these, a few adventurous spirits were away in
the woods with the Indians, learning their language and
endeavouring to exploit the beaver trade; but twenty
years after the founding of Quebec the French in Canada,
all told, numbered less than one hundred.

Contrast with this the state of Virginia fifteen years
after the settlement of Jamestown. 'By 1622,' says John
Fiske, 'the population of Virginia was at least 4000,
the tobacco fields were flourishing and lucrative, durable
houses had been built and made comfortable with furniture
brought from England, and the old squalor was everywhere
giving way to thrift. The area of colonization was pushed
up the James River as far as Richmond.'

This contrast is not to be interpreted to the personal
disadvantage of Champlain. The slow growth and poverty
of Quebec were due to no fault of his. It is rather the
measure of his greatness that he was undaunted by
disappointment and unembittered by the pettiness of spirit
which met him at every turn. A memorial which he presented
in 1618 to the Chamber of Commerce at Paris discloses
his dream of what might be: a city at Quebec named
Ludovica, a city equal in size to St Denis and filled
with noble buildings grouped round the Church of the
Redeemer. Tributary to this capital was a vast region
watered by the St Lawrence and abounding 'in rolling
plains, beautiful forests, and rivers full of fish.' From
Ludovica the heathen were to be converted and a passage
discovered to the East. So important a trade route would
be developed, that from the tolls alone there would be
revenue to construct great public works. Rich mines and
fat cornfields fill the background.

Such was the Quebec of Champlain's vision--if only France
would see it so! But in the Quebec of reality a few
survivors saw the hunger of winter yield to the starvation
of spring. They lived on eels and roots till June should
bring the ships and food from home.

CHAPTER IV

CHAMPLAIN IN THE WILDERNESS

Champlain's journeyings with the Indians were the holiday
of his life, for at no other time was he so free to follow
the bent of his genius. First among the incentives which
drew him to the wilderness was his ambition to discover
the pathway to China. In 1608 the St Lawrence had not
been explored beyond the Lachine Rapids, nor the Richelieu
beyond Chambly--while the Ottawa was known only by report.
Beyond Lake St Louis stretched a mysterious world, through
the midst of which flowed the Great River. For an explorer
and a patriot the opportunity was priceless. The acquisition
of vast territory for the French crown, the enlargement
of the trade zone, the discovery of a route to Cathay,
the prospect of Arcadian joys and exciting
adventures--beside such promptings hardship and danger
became negligible. And when exploring the wilderness
Champlain was in full command. Off the coast of Norumbega
his wishes, as geographer, had been subject to the special
projects of De Monts and Poutrincourt. At Fontainebleau
he waited for weeks and months in the antechambers of
prelates or nobles. But when conducting an expedition
through the forest he was lord and master, a chieftain
from whose arquebus flew winged death.

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