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The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1. George Warburton
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Автор произведения George Warburton
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In July, 1629, Lewis and Thomas, brothers of Sir David Kertk, appeared with an armament before Quebec. As soon as the fleet had anchored, a white flag with a summons to capitulate was sent ashore. This time the assailants were well informed of the defenders' distress, but offered generous terms if Champlain would at once surrender the fort. He, having no means of resistance, was fain to submit. The English took possession the following day, and treated the inhabitants with such good faith and humanity, that none of them left the country. Lewis Kertk remained in command at Quebec; Champlain proceeded with Thomas to Tadoussac, where they met the admiral, Sir David, with the remainder of the fleet. In September they sailed for England, and Champlain was sent on to France, according to treaty.103
When the French received the news of the loss of Canada, opinion was much divided as to the wisdom of seeking to regain the captured settlement.104 Some thought its possession of little value in proportion to the expense it caused, while others deemed that the fur trade and fisheries were of great importance to the commerce of France, as well as a useful nursery for experienced seamen. Champlain strongly urged the government not to give up a country where they had already overcome the principal difficulties of settlement, and where, through their means, the light of religion was dawning upon the darkness of heathen ignorance. His solicitations were successful, and Canada was restored to France at the same time with Acadia and Cape Breton, by the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye105 [1632]. At this period the fort of Quebec, surrounded by a score of hastily-built dwellings and barracks, some poor huts on the island of Montreal, the like at Three Rivers and Tadoussac, and a few fishermen's log-houses elsewhere on the banks of the St. Lawrence, were the only fruits of the discoveries of Verazzano, Jacques Cartier, Roberval, and Champlain, the great outlay of La Roche and De Monts, and the toils and sufferings of their followers, for nearly a century.106
By the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye the company were restored to all their rights and privileges, and obtained compensation for the losses they had sustained, but it was some time before the English could be effectually excluded from the trade which they had established with the Indians during their brief possession of the country. In 1633 Champlain was reappointed governor of New France, and on his departure for the colony took with him many respectable settlers: several Protestants were anxious to join him; this, however, was not permitted. Two Jesuits, Fathers de Brebeuf and Enemond Masse, accompanied the governor: they purposed to devote themselves to the conversion of the Indians to Christianity, and to the education of the youth of the colony. The Recollets had made but little progress in proselytism; as yet, very few of the natives had been baptized, nor were the Jesuits at first107 much more successful: these persevering men were, however, not to be disheartened by difficulties, and they were supported by the hope that when they became better acquainted with the language and manners of their pupils, their instructions would yield a richer harvest.108
As New France advanced in population and prosperity, the sentiments of religion became strengthened among the settlers. On the first arrival of the Jesuits, Rénè Rohault, the eldest son of the Marquis de Gamache, and himself one of the order, adopted the idea of founding a college at Quebec for the education of youth and the conversion of the Indians, and offered 6000 crowns of gold as a donation to forward the object. The capture of the settlement by the English had, for a time, interrupted the execution of this plan; but Rohault at length succeeded in laying the foundation of the building in December, 1635, to the great joy of the French colonists.
In the same month, to the deep regret of all good men, death deprived his country of the brave, high-minded, and wise Champlain. He was buried in the city of which he was the founder, where, to this day, he is fondly and gratefully remembered among the just and good. Gifted with high ability, upright, active, and chivalrous, he was, at the same time, eminent for his Christian zeal and humble piety. "The salvation of one soul," he often said, "is of more value than the conquest of an empire." To him belongs the glory of planting Christianity and civilization among the snows of those northern forests; during his life, indeed, a feeble germ, but, sheltered by his vigorous arm—nursed by his tender care—the root struck deep. Little more than two centuries have passed since the faithful servant went to rest upon the field of his noble toils. And now a million and a half of Christian people dwell in peace and plenty upon that magnificent territory, which his zeal and wisdom first redeemed from the desolation of the wilderness.
CHAPTER IV
Having followed the course of discovery and settlement in New France up to the death of the man who stamped the first permanent impression upon that country, it is now time to review its character and condition at the period when it became the abode of a civilized people. Champlain's deputed commission of governor gave him authority over all that France possessed or claimed on the continent and islands of North America; Newfoundland, Isle Royale, and Acadia, were each portions of this vast but vague territory; and those unknown, boundless solitudes of ice and snow, lying toward the frozen north, whose very existence was a speculation, were also, by the shadowy right of a European king, added to his wide dominion. Of that portion, however, called Canada, it is more especially the present subject to treat.
Canada is a vast plain, irregular in elevation and feature, forming a valley between two ranges of high land; one of these ranges divides it, to the north, from the dreary territories of Hudson's Bay; the other, to the south, from the republic of the United States and the British province of New Brunswick. None of the hills rise to any great height; with one exception, Man's Hill, in the State of Maine, 2000 feet is their greatest altitude above the sea. The elevated districts are, however, of very great extent, broken, rugged, and rocky, clothed with dense forests, intersected with rapid torrents, and varied with innumerable lakes. The great plain of Canada narrows to a mere strip of low land by the side of the St. Lawrence, as it approaches the eastern extremity. From Quebec to the gulf on the north side, and toward Gaspé on the south, the grim range of mountains reaches almost to the water's edge; westward of that city the plain expands, gradually widening into a district of great beauty and fertility; again, westward of Montreal, the level country becomes far wider and very rich, including the broad and valuable flats that lie along the lower waters of the Ottawa. The rocky, elevated shores of Lake Huron bound this vast valley to the west; the same mountain range extends along the northern shore of Lake Superior; beyond lie great tracts of fertile soil, where man's industrious hand has not yet been applied.
Canada may be described as lying between the meridians of 57° 50' and 90° west; from the mouth of the Esquimaux River on the confines of Labrador, to the entrance of the stream connecting the waters of Lake Superior and the Rainy Lake, bordering on Prince Rupert's Land. The parallels of 42° and 52° inclose this country to the south and north. The greatest length is about 1300 miles, the breadth 700. A space of 348,000 square miles is inclosed within these limits.
The great lakes in Canada give a character to that country distinct from any other in the Old World or the New. They are very numerous; some far exceed all inland waters elsewhere in depth and extent; they feed, without apparent diminution, the great river St. Lawrence; the tempest plows their surface into billows that rival those of the Atlantic,109 and they contain more than half of all the fresh water upon the surface of the globe.110
Superior111 is the largest and most elevated of these lakes: it is crescent-shaped, convex to the north; to the southeast and southwest its extremities are narrow points: the length through the curve is 360 geographical miles, the breadth in the widest part 140, the circumference
Champlain's proposals of capitulation (Smith's Canada, vol. i., p. 22) sufficiently prove that, down to 1629, France had scarcely any permanent footing in the country. By stipulating for the removal of "all the French" in Quebec, Champlain seems to consider that the whole province was virtually lost to France, and "the single vessel," which was to furnish the means of removal, reduces "all the French" in Quebec to a very small number.
Charlevoix.
Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 273.
"L'île au Cap Bréton (c'étoit bien peu de choses que l'établissement que nous avions alors dans cette île) le fort de Quebec environné de quelques méchantes maisons et de quelques baraques, deux ou trois cabanes dans l'Île de Montreal, autant peut-être à Tadoussac, et en quelques autres endroits sur le fleuve St. Laurent, pour la commodité de la pêché et de la Traité, un commencement d'habitation aux Trois Rivières et les rivières de Port Royal, voilà en quoi consistoit la Nouvelle France et tout le fruit des découvertes de Verazzani, de Jaques Cartier, de M. de Roberval, de Champlain, des grandes dépenses de Marquis de la Roche, et de M. de Monts et de l'industrie d'un grand nombre de Français qui auroient pu y faire un grand établissement, s'ils eussent été bien conduits."—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 274.
See Appendix, No. XVI. (vol. II.)
The Jesuits always retained the superior position they held from the first among the Roman Catholic missionaries of Canada. There is a well-known Canadian proverb, "Pour faire un Recollet il faut une hachette, pour un Prêtre un ciseau, mais pour un Jésuite il faut un pinceau." See Appendix, No. XVII., (vol. II.) for Professor Kalm's account of these three classes.
"The sea (if it may be so termed) on Lake Ontario is so high during a sharp gale, that it was at first thought the smaller class steamboats could not live on it; and on Lake Superior, the waves almost rival those of the far-famed Cape of Storms, while the ground-swell, owing to the comparative shallowness, or little specific gravity of the fresh water, is such as to make the oldest sailor sick. Whether the water in the lowest depths of Lakes Superior and Ontario be salt or fresh, we can not ascertain; for the greater density of the former may keep it always below, or there may be a communication with the fathomless abysses of the ocean."—Montgomery Martin, p. 181.
"Beyond Lake Superior, stretching into the vast interior of North America, we find first a long chain of little lakes connected by narrow channels, and which, combined, form what in the early narratives and even treaties is called Long Lake. Next occur, still connected by the same channel, the larger expanses of Lake La Pluie and Lake of the Woods. Another channel of about 100 miles connects this last with the Winnipeg Lake, whose length from north to south is almost equal to the Superior; but in a few parts only it attains the breadth of 50 miles. The whole of this wonderful series of lakes, separated by such small intervals, may almost be considered as forming one inland sea. There is nothing parallel to this in the rest of the globe. The Tzad, the great interior sea of Africa, does not equal the Ontario. The Caspian, indeed, is considerably greater than any of these lakes, almost equal to the whole united; but the Caspian forms the final receptacle of many great rivers, among which the Volga is of the first magnitude. But the northern waters, after forming this magnificent chain of lakes, are not yet exhausted, but issue forth from the last of them, to form one of the noblest river channels either in the old or new continent."—
"Lake Superior is called, also, Keetcheegahmi and Missisawgaiegon. It is remarkable, that while every other large lake is fed by rivers of the first order, this, the most capacious on the surface of the globe, does not receive a third or even fourth rate stream; the St. Louis, the most considerable, not having a course of more than 150 miles. But, whatever deficiency there may be in point of magnitude, it is compensated by the vast number which pour in their copious floods from the surrounding heights. The dense covering of wood and the long continuance of frost must also, in this region, greatly diminish the quantity drawn off by evaporation."—Bouchette, vol. i., p. 127, 128. Darby's