The Founder of New France: A Chronicle of Champlain

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As a result of the war Canada and Acadia were both in
the possession of England. On the other hand, the dowry
of Henrietta Maria was still, for the most part, in the
treasury of France. When one remembers that 1628 saw
Charles I driven by his necessities to concede the Petition
of Right, it will be readily seen that he desired the
payment of his wife's dowry. Hence Richelieu, whose
talents in diplomacy were above praise, had substantial
reason to expect that Canada and Acadia would be restored.
The negotiations dragged on for more than two years, and
were complicated by disputes growing out of the captures
made under letter of marque. When all was settled by the
Treaty of St Germain-en-Laye (March 1632) Quebec and Port
Royal became once more French--to the profound discontent
of the Kirkes and Sir William Alexander, [Footnote:
Alexander had received grants from the British crown in
1621 and 1625 which covered the whole coast from St Croix
Island to the St Lawrence.] but with such joy on the part
of Champlain as only patriots can know who have given a
lifelong service to their country.

Having regained Canada, Richelieu was forced to decide
what he would do with it. In certain important respects
the situation had changed since 1627, when he founded
the Company of New France. Then Gustavus Adolphus and
the Swedes were not a factor in the dire strife which
was convulsing Europe. [Footnote: At this period the
largest interest in European politics was the rivalry
between France and the House of Hapsburg, which held the
thrones of Spain and Austria. This rivalry led France to
take an active part in the Thirty Years' War, even though
her allies in that struggle were Protestants. Between
1627, when the Company of New France was founded, and
1632, when Canada was restored to France, the Swedes
under Gustavus Adolphus had won a series of brilliant
victories over the Catholic and Hapsburg forces in Germany,
After the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632, Richelieu
attacked the Emperor Ferdinand II in great force, thereby
conquering Alsace.] In 1632 the political problems of
Western and Central Europe had assumed an aspect quite
different from that which they had worn five years earlier.
More and more France was drawn into the actual conflict
of the Thirty Years' War, impelled by a sense of new and
unparalleled opportunity to weaken the House of Hapsburg.
This, in turn, meant the preoccupation of Richelieu with
European affairs, and a heavy drain upon the resources
of France in order to meet the cost of her more ambitious
foreign policy. Thus the duel with Austria, as it progressed
during the last decade of the cardinal's life, meant a
fresh check to those colonial prospects which seemed so
bright in 1627.

Richelieu's first step in resuming possession of Canada
was to compose matters between the De Caens and the
Company of New France. Emery de Caen and his associates
were given the trading rights for 1632 and 79,000 livres
as compensation for their losses through the revocation
of the monopoly. Dating from the spring of 1633, the
Company of New France was to be placed in full possession
of Canada, subject to specific obligations regarding
missions and colonists. Conformably with this programme,
Emery de Caen appeared at Quebec on July 5, 1632, with
credentials empowering him to receive possession from
Lewis and Thomas Kirke, the representatives of England.
With De Caen came Paul Le Jeune and two other Jesuits,
a vanguard of the missionary band which was to convert
the savages. 'We cast anchor,' says Le Jeune, 'in front
of the fort which the English held; we saw at the foot
of this fort the poor settlement of Quebec all in ashes.
The English, who came to this country to plunder and not
to build up, not only burned a greater part of the detached
buildings which Father Charles Lalemant had erected, but
also all of that poor settlement of which nothing is now
to be seen but the ruins of its stone walls.'

The season of 1632 thus belonged to De Caen, whose function
was merely to tie up loose ends and prepare for the
establishment of the new regime. The central incident of
the recession was the return of Champlain himself--an
old man who had said a last farewell to France and now
came, as the king's lieutenant, to end his days in the
land of his labours and his hopes. If ever the oft-quoted
last lines of Tennyson's Ulysses could fitly be claimed
by a writer on behalf of his hero, they apply to Champlain
as he sailed from the harbour of Dieppe on March 23,
1633.

Come, my friends,

'Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Push off, and sitting well in order smite
The sounding furrows; for my purpose holds
To sail beyond the sunset, and the baths
Of all the western stars until I die.

Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.

It was Champlain's reward that he saw Quebec once more
under the fleur-de-lis, and was welcomed by the Indians
with genuine emotion. The rhetorical gifts of the red
man were among his chief endowments, and all that eloquence
could lavish was poured forth in honour of Champlain at
the council of the Hurons, who had come to Quebec for
barter at the moment of his return. The description of
this council is one of the most graphic passages in Le
Jeune's Relations. A captain of the Hurons first arose
and explained the purpose of the gathering. 'When this
speech was finished all the Savages, as a sign of their
approval, drew from the depths of their stomachs this
aspiration, HO, HO, HO, raising the last syllable very
high.' Thereupon the captain began another speech of
friendship, alliance, and welcome to Champlain, followed
by gifts. Then the same captain made a third speech,
which was followed by Champlain's reply--a harangue well
adapted to the occasion. But the climax was reached in
the concluding orations of two more Huron chiefs. 'They
vied with each other in trying to honour Sieur de Champlain
and the French, and in testifying their affection for
us. One of them said that when the French were absent
the earth was no longer the earth, the river was no longer
the river, the sky was no longer the sky; but upon the
return of Sieur de Champlain everything was as before:
the earth was again the earth, the river was again the
river, and the sky was again the sky.'

Thus welcomed by the savages, Champlain resumed his
arduous task. He was establishing Quebec anew and under
conditions quite unlike those which had existed in 1608.
The most notable difference was that the Jesuits were
now at hand to aid in the upbuilding of Canada. The Quebec
of De Monts and De Caen had been a trading-post, despite
the efforts of the Recollets and Jesuits to render it
the headquarters of a mission. Undoubtedly there existed
from the outset a desire to convert the Indians, but as
a source of strength to the colony this disposition
effected little until the return of the Jesuits in 1632.

With the re-establishment of the Jesuit mission the last
days of Champlain are inseparably allied. A severe
experience had proved that the colonizing zeal of the
crown was fitful and uncertain. Private initiative was
needed to supplement the official programme, and of such
initiative the supply seemed scanty. The fur traders
notoriously shirked their obligations to enlarge the
colony, and after 1632 the Huguenots, who had a distinct
motive for emigrating, were forbidden by Richelieu to
settle in Canada. There remained the enthusiasm of the
Jesuits and the piety of those in France who supplied
the funds for their work among the Montagnais, the Hurons,
and the Iroquois. As the strongest order in the Roman
Catholic Church, the Jesuits possessed resources which
enabled them to maintain an active establishment in
Canada. Through them Quebec became religious, and their
influence permeated the whole colony as its population
increased and the zone of occupation grew wider. Le Jeune,
Lalemant, Brebeuf, and Jogues are among the outstanding
names of the restored New France.

During the last two years of his life Champlain lived
patriarchally at Quebec, administering the public affairs
of the colony and lending its religious impulses the
strength of his support and example. Always a man of
serious mind, his piety was confirmed by the reflections
of advancing age and his daily contact with the
missionaries. In his household there was a service of
prayer three times daily, together with reading at supper
from the lives of the saints. In pursuance of a vow, he
built a chapel named Notre Dame de la Recouvrance, which
records the gratitude he felt for the restoration of
Quebec to France. He was, in short, the ideal layman--
serving his king loyally in all business of state, and
demeaning himself as a pilgrim who is about to set forth
for the City of God.

It is not to be inferred from the prominence of Champlain's
religious interests that he neglected his public duties,
which continued to be many and exacting. One of his
problems was to prevent the English from trading in the
St Lawrence contrary to treaty; another was to discourage
the Hurons from selling their furs to the Dutch on the
Hudson. The success of the mission, which he had deeply
at heart, implied the maintenance of peace among the
Indians who were friendly to the French. He sought also
to police the region of the Great Lakes by a band of
French soldiers, and his last letter to Richelieu (dated
August 15, 1635) contains an earnest appeal for a hundred
and twenty men, to whom should be assigned the duty of
marshalling the Indian allies against the English and
Dutch, as well as of preserving order throughout the
forest. The erection of a fort at Three Rivers in 1634
was due to his desire that the annual barter should take
place at a point above Quebec. A commission which he
issued in the same year to Jean Nicolet to explore the
country of the Wisconsins, shows that his consuming zeal
for exploration remained with him to the end.

It was permitted Champlain to die in harness. He remained
to the last lieutenant of the king in Canada. At the
beginning of October 1635 he was stricken with paralysis,
and passed away on Christmas Day of the same year. We do
not possess the oration which Father Paul Le Jeune
delivered at his funeral, but there remains from Le
Jeune's pen an appreciation of his character in terms
which to Champlain himself would have seemed the highest
praise.

On the twenty-fifth of December, the day of the birth
of our Saviour upon earth, Monsieur de Champlain, our
Governor, was reborn in Heaven; at least we can say
that his death was full of blessings. I am sure that
God has shown him this favour in consideration of the
benefits he has procured for New France, where we hope
some day God will be loved and served by our French,
and known and adored by our Savages. Truly he had led
a life of great justice, equity, and perfect loyalty
to his King and towards the Gentlemen of the Company.
But at his death he crowned his virtues with sentiments
of piety so lofty that he astonished us all. What
tears he shed! how ardent became his zeal for the
service of God! how great was his love for the families
here!--saying that they must be vigorously assisted
for the good of the Country, and made comfortable in
every possible way in these early stages, and that he
would do it if God gave him health. He was not taken
unawares in the account which he had to render unto
God, for he had long ago prepared a general Confession
of his whole life, which he made with great contrition
to Father Lalemant, whom he honoured with his friendship.
The Father comforted him throughout his sickness,
which lasted two months and a half, and did not leave
him until his death. He had a very honourable burial,
the funeral procession being farmed of the people,
the soldiers, the captains, and the churchmen. Father
Lalemant officiated at this burial, and I was charged
with the funeral oration, for which I did not lack
material. Those whom he left behind have reason to be
well satisfied with him; for, though he died out of
France, his name will not therefor be any less glorious
to posterity.

CHAPTER VI

CHAMPLAIN'S WRITINGS AND CHARACTER

There are some things that speak for themselves. In
attempting to understand Champlain's character, we are
first met by the fact that he pursued unflinchingly his
appointed task. For thirty-two years he persevered, amid
every kind of hardship, danger, and discouragement, in
the effort to build up New France. He had personal
ambitions as an explorer, which were kept in strict
subordination to his duty to the king. He possessed
concentration of aim without fanaticism. His signal
unselfishness was adorned by a patience which equalled
that of Marlborough. Inspired by large ideals, he did
not scorn imperfect means.

Thus there are certain large aspects of Champlain's
character that stand forth in the high light of deed,
and do not depend for their effect either upon his own
words or those of others. But when once we have paid
tribute to the fine, positive qualities which are implied
by his accomplishment, we must hasten to recognize the
extraordinary value of his writings as an index to his
mind and soul. His narrative is not an epic of disaster.
It is a plain and even statement of great dangers calmly
met and treated as a matter of course. Largely it is a
record of achievement. At points where it is a record of
failure Champlain accepts the inevitable gracefully and
conforms his emotions to the will of God. The Voyages
reveal a strong man 'well four-squared to the blows of
fortune.' They also illustrate the virtue of muscular
Christianity.

At a time which, like ours, is becoming sated with
cleverness, it is a delight to read the unvarnished story
of Champlain. In saying that the adjective is ever the
enemy of the noun, Voltaire could not have levelled the
shaft at him, for few writers have been more sparing in
their use of adjectives or other glowing words. His love
of the sea and of the forest was profound, but he is
never emotional in his expressions. Yet with all his
soberness and steadiness he possessed imagination. In
its strength and depth his enthusiasm for colonization
proves this, even if we omit his picture of the fancied
Ludovica. But as a man of action rather than of letters
he instinctively omits verbiage. In some respects we
suffer from Champlain's directness of mind for on much
that he saw he could have lingered with profit. But very
special inducements are needed to draw him from his plain
tale into a digression. Such inducements occur at times
when he is writing of the Indians, for he recognized that
Europe was eager to hear in full detail of their traits
and customs. Thus set passages of description, inserted
with a sparing hand, seemed to him a proper element of
the text, but anything like conscious embellishment of
the narrative he avoids--probably more through mere
naturalness than conscious self-repression.

From Marco Polo to Scott's Journal the literature of
geographical discovery abounds with classics, and standards
of comparison suggest themselves in abundance to the
critic of Champlain's Voyages. Most naturally, of course,
one turns to the records of American exploration in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries--to Ramusio, Oviedo,
Peter Martyr, Hakluyt, and Purchas. No age can show a
more wonderful galaxy of pioneers than that which extends
from Columbus to La Salle, and among the great explorers
of this era Champlain takes his place by virtue alike of
his deeds and writings. In fact, he belongs to the small
and distinguished class of those who have recorded their
own discoveries in a suitable and authentic narrative,
for in few cases have geographical results of equal moment
been described by the discoverer himself.

Among the many writings which are available for comparison
and contrast one turns, singularly yet inevitably, to
Lescarbot. The singularity of a comparison between
Champlain and Lescarbot is that Lescarbot was not a
geographer. At the same time, he is the only writer of
importance whose trail crosses that of Champlain, and
some light is thrown on Champlain's personality by a
juxtaposition of texts. That is to say, both were in
Acadia at the same time, sat together at Poutrincourt's
table, gazed on the same forests and clearings, met the
same Indians, and had a like opportunity of considering
the colonial problems which were thrust upon the French
in the reign of Henry IV.

It would be hard to find narratives more dissimilar,--and
the contrast is not wholly to the advantage of Champlain.
Or rather, there are times when his Doric simplicity of
style seems jejune beside the flowing periods and
picturesque details of Lescarbot. No better illustration
of this difference in style, arising from fundamental
difference in temperament, can be found than the description
which each gives of the Ordre de Bon Temps. To Champlain
belongs the credit of inventing this pleasant means of
promoting health and banishing ennui, but all he tells
of it is this: 'By the rules of the Order a chain was
put, with some little ceremony, on the neck of one of
our company, commissioning him for the day to go a-hunting.
The next day it was conferred upon another, and thus in
succession. All exerted themselves to the utmost to see
who would do the best and bring home the finest game. We
found this a very good arrangement, as did also the
savages who were with us.'

Such is the limit of the information which we receive
from Champlain regarding the Ordre de Bon Temps, his own
invention and the life of the company. It is reserved
for Lescarbot to give us the picture which no one can
forget--the Atoctegic, or ruler of the feast, leading
the procession to dinner 'napkin on shoulder, wand of
office in hand, and around his neck the collar of the
Order, which was worth more than four crowns; after him
all the members of the Order, carrying each a dish.'
Around stand the savages, twenty or thirty of them, 'men,
women, girls, and children,' all waiting for scraps of
food. At the table with the French themselves sits the
Sagamos Membertou and the other Indian chiefs, gladdening
the company by their presence. And the food!--'ducks,
bustards, grey and white geese, partridges, larks, and
other birds; moreover moose, caribou, beaver, otter,
bear, rabbits, wild-cats, racoons, and other animals,'
the whole culminating in the tenderness of moose meat
and the delicacy of beaver's tail. Such are the items
which Champlain omits and Lescarbot includes. So it is
throughout their respective narratives--Champlain ever
gaining force through compactness, and Lescarbot constantly
illuminating with his gaiety or shrewdness matters which
but for him would never have reached us.

This difference of temperament and outlook, which is so
plainly reflected on the printed page, also had its effect
upon the personal relations of the two men. It was not
that Lescarbot scandalized Champlain by his religious
views, for though liberal-minded, Lescarbot was not a
heretic, and Champlain knew how to live harmoniously even
with Huguenots. The cause of the coolness which came to
exist between them must be sought rather in fundamental
contrasts of character. To Champlain, Lescarbot doubtless
seemed a mere hanger-on or protege of Poutrincourt, with
undue levity of disposition and a needless flow of
conversation. To Lescarbot, Champlain may well have seemed
deficient in literary attainments, and so preoccupied
with the concerns of geography as to be an uncongenial
companion. To whatever cause conjecture may trace it,
they did not become friends, although such lack of sympathy
as existed shows itself only in an occasional pin-prick,
traceable particularly in the later editions of their
writings. For us it is the more needful to lay stress
upon the merits of Lescarbot, because he tends to be
eclipsed by the greater reputation of Champlain, and also
because his style is sometimes so diffuse as to create
prejudice. But at his best he is admirable, and without
him we should know much less than we do about that Acadian
experience which holds such a striking place in the career
of Champlain.

The popular estimate of French character dwells overmuch
upon the levity or gaiety which undoubtedly marks the
Gallic race. France could not have accomplished her
great work for the world without stability of purpose
and seriousness of mood. Nowhere in French biography are
these qualities more plainly illustrated than by the acts
of Champlain. The doggedness with which he clung to his
patriotic and unselfish task is the most conspicuous fact
in his life. Coupled therewith is his fortitude, both
physical and moral. In times of crisis the conscript sets
his teeth and dies without a murmur. But Champlain enlisted
as a volunteer for a campaign which was to go on unceasingly
till his last day. How incessant were its dangers can be
made out in full detail from the text of the Voyages. We
may omit the perils of the North Atlantic, though what
they were can be seen from Champlain's description of
his outward voyage in the spring of 1611. The remaining
dangers will suffice. Scurvy, which often claimed a
death-roll of from forty to eighty per cent in a single
winter; famine such as that which followed the failure
of ships from home to arrive at the opening of navigation;
the storms which drove the frail shallop on the rocks
and shoals of Norumbega; the risk of mutiny; the chances
of war, whether against the Indians or the English; the
rapids of the wilderness as they threatened the overloaded
canoe on its swift descent; the possible treachery of
Indian guides--such is a partial catalogue of the
death-snares which surrounded the pathway of an explorer
like Champlain. Every one of these dangers is brought
before us by his own narrative in a manner which does
credit to his modesty no less than to his fortitude.
Without embellishment or self-glorification, he recites
in a few lines hairbreadth escapes which a writer of less
steadfast soul would have amplified into a thrilling tale
of heroism. None the less, to the discriminating reader
Champlain's Voyages are an Odyssey.

Bound up with habitual fortitude is the motive from which
it springs. In Champlain's case patriotism and piety were
the groundwork of a conspicuous and long-tested courage.
The patriotism which exacted such sacrifices was not one
which sought to define itself even in the form of a
justifiable digression from the recital of events. But
we may be sure that Champlain at the time he left Port
Royal had made up his mind that the Spaniards, the English,
and the Dutch were not to parcel out the seaboard of
North America to the exclusion of the French. As for the
religious basis of his fortitude, we do not need Le
Jeune's story of his death-bed or the record of his
friendship with men of religion. His narrative abounds
throughout with simple and natural expressions of piety,
not the less impressive because they are free from trace
of the theological intolerance which envenomed French
life in his age. And not only did Champlain's trust in
the Lord fortify his soul against fear, but religion
imposed upon him a degree of self-restraint which was
not common among explorers of the seventeenth century.
It is far from fanciful to see in this one of the chief
causes of his hold upon the Indians. To them he was more
than a useful ally in war time. They respected his sense
of honour, and long after his death remembered the
temperance which marked his conduct when he lived in
their villages.

As a writer, Champlain enjoyed the advantage of possessing
a fresh, unhackneyed subject. The only exception to this
statement is furnished by his early book on the West
Indies and Mexico, where he was going over ground already
trodden by the Spaniards. His other writings relate to
a sphere of exploration and settlement which he made his
own, and of which he well merited to be the chronicler.

Running through the Voyages is the double interest of
discovery and colonization, constantly blending and
reacting upon each other, but still remaining matters of
separate concern. It is obvious that in the mind of the
narrator discovery is always the more engaging theme.
Champlain is indeed the historian of St Croix, Port Royal,
and Quebec, but only incidentally or from chance. By
temper he was the explorer, that is, the man of action,
willing to record the broad results, but without the
instinct which led Lescarbot to set down the minutiae of
life in a small, rough settlement. There is one side of
Champlain's activity as a colonizer which we must lament
that he has not described--namely, his efforts to interest
the nobles and prelates of the French court in the
upbuilding of Canada. A diary of his life at Paris and
Fontainebleau would be among the choicest documents of
the early colonial era. But Champlain was too blunt and
loyal to set down the story of his relations with the
great, and for this portion of his life we must rely upon
letters, reports, and memoranda, which are so formal as
to lack the atmosphere of that painful but valiant
experience.

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