Table Of Content3
CHRONICLES OF CANADA
Edited by George M. Wrong and H. H. Langton
In thirty-two volumes
3
THE FOUNDER OF
NEW FRANCE
BY
CHARLES W. COLBY
Part II
The Rise of New France.
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THE ORDER OF GOOD CHEER--PORT ROYAL, 1606-07
From a colour drawing by C. W. Jefferys.
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THE FOUNDER OF
NEW FRANCE
A Chronicle of Champlain
BY
CHARLES W. COLBY
TORONTO
GLASGOW, BROOK & COMPANY
1920
Copyright in all Countries subscribing to the Berne Convention
Press of The Hunter-Rose Co., Limited, Toronto
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Table of Contents
I. CHAMPLAIN'S EARLY YEARS
II. CHAMPLAIN IN ACADIA
III. CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC
IV. CHAMPLAIN IN THE WILDERNESS
V. CHAMPLAIN'S LAST YEARS
VI. CHAMPLAIN'S WRITINGS AND CHARACTER
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ILLUSTRATIONS
THE ORDER OF GOOD CHEER--PORT ROYAL, 1606-7
PORTRAIT OF CHAMPLAIN ASCRIBED TO MONCORNET.
(See Bibliographical Note, p. 154)
c
From Laverdière's 'Champlain' in M Gill University Library.
COASTS EXPLORED BY CHAMPLAIN, 1604-7
Map by Bartholomew.
CHAMPLAIN'S DRAWING OF THE HABITATION AT QUEBEC
c
From Laverdière's 'Champlain' in M Gill University Library.
HENRI DE BOURBON, PRINCE DE CONDÉ, VICEROY OF NEW
FRANCE
c
From Laverdière's 'Champlain' in M Gill University Library.
THE DISCOVERY OF LAKE CHAMPLAIN, 1609
From a drawing by J. D. Kelly in the Château de Ramezay, Montreal.
CHAMPLAIN'S ROUTE, 1615-16
Map by Bartholomew.
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CHAPTER I.
CHAMPLAIN'S EARLY YEARS
Were there a Who's Who in History its chronicle of Champlain's life and
deeds would run as follows:
Champlain, Samuel de. Explorer, geographer, and colonizer.
Born in 1567 at Brouage, a village on the Bay of Biscay.
Belonged by parentage to the lesser gentry of Saintonge. In
boyhood became imbued with a love of the sea, but also served
as a soldier in the Wars of the League. Though an enthusiastic
Catholic,wasloyaltoHenryofNavarre.OnthePeaceofVervins
(1598) returned to the sea, visiting the Spanish West Indies and
Mexico. Between 1601 and 1603 wrote his first book--the Bref
Discours. In 1603 made his first voyage to the St Lawrence,
which he ascended as far as the Lachine Rapids. From 1604
to 1607 was actively engaged in the attempt of De Monts to
establish a French colony in Acadia, at the same time exploring
the seaboard from Cape Breton to Martha's Vineyard. Returned
to the St Lawrence in 1608 and founded Quebec. In 1609
discovered Lake Champlain, and fought his first battle with the
Iroquois. In 1613 ascended the Ottawa to a point above Lac
Coulange. In 1615 reached Georgian Bay and was induced to
accompany the Hurons, with their allies, on an unsuccessful
expedition into the country of the Iroquois. From 1617 to 1629
occupied chiefly in efforts to strengthen the colony at Quebec
and promote trade on the lower St Lawrence. Taken a captive
to London by Kirke in 1629 upon the surrender of Quebec,
but after its recession to France returned (1633) and remained
in Canada until his death, on Christmas Day 1635. Published
several important narratives describing his explorations and
adventures. An intrepid pioneer and the revered founder of New
France.
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Intosomesuchtermsasthesewouldthewriterofabiographicaldictionary
crowd his notice of Champlain's career, so replete with danger and daring,
with the excitement of sailing among the uncharted islands of Penobscot
Bay, of watching the sun descend below the waves of Lake Huron, of
attacking the Iroquois in their palisaded stronghold, of seeing English
cannon levelled upon the houses of Quebec. It is not from a biographical
dictionary that one can gain true knowledge of Champlain, into whose
experience were crowded so many novel sights and whose soul was tested,
year after year, by the ever-varying perils of the wilderness. No life, it
is true, can be fitly sketched in a chronological abridgment, but history
abounds with lives which, while important, do not exact from a biographer
thekindofdetailthatfortheactionsofChamplainbecomespriceless.Kant
and Hegel were both great forces in human thought, yet throughout eighty
years Kant was tethered to the little town of Königsberg, and Hegel did
not know what the French were doing in Jena the day after there had been
fought just outside a battle which smote Prussia to her knees. The deeds of
suchmenaretheirthoughts,theirbooks,andthesedonotmakeastory.The
life of Champlain is all story. The part of it which belongs to the Wars of
theLeagueislosttousfromwantofrecords.Butfortunatelywepossessin
his Voyages the plain, direct narrative of his exploits in America--a source
from which all must draw who would know him well.
The method to be pursued in this book is not that of the critical essay.
Nor will these pages give an account of Champlain's times with reference
to ordinances regulating the fur trade, or to the policy of French kings
and their ministers towards emigration. Such subjects must be touched
on, but here it will be only incidentally. What may be taken to concern
us is the spirited action of Champlain's middle life--the period which lies
between his first voyage to the St Lawrence and his return from the land
ofthe Onondagas. Not that he had ended his workin 1616.The unflagging
efforts which he continued to put forth on behalf of the starving colony at
Quebec demand all praise. But the years during which he was incessantly
engaged in exploration show him at the height of his powers, with health
still unimpaired by exposure and with a soul that courted the unknown.
Moreover, this is the period for which we have his own narrative in fullest
detail.
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"PORTRAIT OF CHAMPLAIN ASCRIBED TO MONCORNET" (See
c
Bibliographical Note, p.154 From Laverdière's Champlain in M Gill
University Library
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