Chamoureau

“ But I can't go without Freluchon, as my clothes are at his room. We are to meet here in the foyer, under the clock. It must be very late. I have had very little sport here, and I've lost my false nose."
And Chamoureau watched the promenaders with a woe-begone expression. He did not notice that a blue domino pointed him out to one of pearl-gray, whispering:
"That's the man; he came with them."
The pearl-gray domino, with whom we are well acquainted, but whom our widower did not know as yet, immediately seated herself beside him and motioned to the blue domino to go. ”

“ Thélénie had just noticed the tall Beauregard, who was gazing at her with an air of surprise, and with a mocking smile which seemed to say:
"What! you, elegance personified, on the arm of this Spaniard who looks like a genuine buffoon!"
Chamoureau, who had a most exalted opinion of his new acquaintance since she had told him that she never took anything at a ball, walked with her into the corridor, where the domino guided him toward the staircase, saying:
"Let us go up, there are too many people here." ”

“ At your age, and with a face like yours—to try to make a conquest! Go and hide yourself!"
"Let me tell you that you're an impudent wretch, monsieur, and that a man don't talk like that to a woman. When a man has such spindleshanks as yours, he shouldn't put on so many airs. Did anyone ever hear of such a thing! This blockhead flinging a miserable stick of candy in my face! You might stuff it into your nose, your sweetmeat; it would go in. I'll show you what I think of it!"
And the domino hurled her stick of candy at Chamoureau's legs and angrily turned her back on him. ”

“ God, who in His providence disposes of the lives of men according to His divine wisdom, directed the steps of Champlain towards the shores of the future New France. If the mother country had not completely forgotten this land of ours, discovered by one of her greatest captains, she had, at least, neglected it. The honour of bringing the king's attention to this vast country, which was French by the right of discovery, was reserved for the modest son of Brouage. ”

“ Charlevoix, a Jesuit, and the author of the first great history of Canada, written about one hundred years after the death of the founder of New France, thus writes:
"Champlain died at Quebec, generally and justly regretted. M. de Champlain was, beyond contradiction, a man of merit, and may be well called, The Father of New France. He had good sense, much penetration, very upright views, and no man was ever more skilled in adopting a course in the most complicated affairs. ”

“ Champé hastened to the camp, wrapt himself in his cloak, silently arrayed his horse, and began his adventurous journey. He knew that his first danger was from the pursuit of his own people; who, since the crime of Arnold, had been full of watchfulness, and suspicion.
"Lee sat in his tent, ruminating upon the danger, and magnanimity of Champé, and following in imagination the speed of his faithful war-horse. Half an hour since his departure had not elapsed, when suddenly the officer of the day stood before him. ”

“ But Cromwell did not see this. He exceeded his instructions, was voluble in his disparagement of the French in Chapuys’ presence, and finally brought matters to such a point that he went with Chapuys to the King to propose an Imperial alliance [588] . It was the most open avowal he had yet made of a leaning towards Spain, that he had doubtless cherished for a long time. Born among the common people, Cromwell’s early life had been spent in that atmosphere of bitter hatred of France, which for generations had been one of the most predominant characteristics of the lower classes in England. ”

“ Chapuys found Cromwell "a man of sense, well versed in affairs of State, and able to judge soundly," with not too good an opinion of the Lady Anne, who returned his dislike. Anne was French; Cromwell was Imperialist beyond all the rest of the Council.
"I told him," wrote the Ambassador to Charles, after one of these conversations, "I often regretted your Majesty had not known him in Wolsey's time. He would have been a greater man than the Cardinal, and the King's affairs would have gone much better. ”

“ This was a fiery ordeal to Champé. He had submitted to the exposure of his escape, and to the ignominy resulting from imputed treachery, without repining, considering them as the sacrifice necessary to be made for the attainment of that great good which Hope was offering. But to bear arms against that country, for which he had fought, spent watchful nights upon the cold ground, and sent his midnight prayer to heaven, was more than he could sustain. Scarcely could he withhold his hand from plunging a sword into the heart of the traitor. ”

“ Champlain's influence has expanded throughout the country wherever the French language is spoken, from the Huron peninsula, along the Algonquins' river, from Sault St. Louis, Tadousac and Quebec, and every one has recognized that Champlain alone, among the men of his day, had sufficient patriotism and confidence in the future of the colony to maintain and hold aloft under great difficulties, the lily banner of France on our Canadian shores. ”

“ This association was formed before the departure of Champlain for Quebec in 1633. Its agents were a merchant of Rouen named Rosée, and Cheffault, a lawyer of Paris, who had a representative at Quebec.
As it was necessary for the Hundred Associates to appoint a governor of New France, they offered the position to Champlain, as he was universally 245respected and known to be experienced and disinterested. Moreover he was well acquainted with the country, and on friendly terms with the savages. It is doubtful whether any one could have taken his place with better prospects of success. ”

“ Christmas day, 1635, was a dark day in the annals of New France. In a chamber of the fort, breathless and cold, lay the hardy frame which war, the wilderness, and the sea had buffeted so long in vain. After two months and a half of illness, Champlain, at the age of sixty-eight, was dead. His last cares were for his colony and the succor of its suffering families. Jesuits, officers, soldiers, traders, and the few settlers of Quebec followed his remains to the church; Le Jeune pronounced his eulogy, and the feeble community built a tomb to his honor. ”

“ The election was held in Paris at the house of the intendant, Jean de Lauzon, king's councillor, master of requests and president of the Grand Council. Cardinal Richelieu and the Duke d'Effiat headed the list of the Hundred Associates. We find also the name of Samuel Champlain, captain of the king's marine, of Isaac de Razilly, chevalier de St. Jean de Jérusalem,171 Sébastien Cramoisy, the famous printer; François de Ré, Sieur Gand, and many important merchants of Paris, Rouen, Calais, Dieppe, Bordeaux, Lyons, Bayonne, and Havre de Grâce. ”

“ In order to avoid a quarrel, Champlain deemed it advisable to protect his men, and he therefore 134installed his brother-in-law, Eustache Boullé, and Captain Dumay with sixteen men, in the small fort which he had erected at Cape Diamond during the preceding year. Champlain defended himself within the habitation, where he quartered all the men he could dispose of. If the clerks were inclined to fight he would defend his position, but he hoped that these precautionary measures would prove the means of preventing bloodshed. ”

“ A single version of a secret conversation is an insufficient evidence of an intended monstrous crime. We do not know in what language it was carried on. Cromwell spoke no language but English with exactness, and Chapuys understood English imperfectly. The recent and alarming illness of the Princess, occasioned by restraint, fear, and irritation, had made her condition a constant subject of Chapuys's complaints, and Cromwell may have been thinking and speaking only of her dying under the natural consequences of prolonged confinement. ”

“ Perhaps in his later years the heretic might like him more had the Jesuit liked him less. The adventurous explorer of Lake Huron, the bold invader of the Iroquois, befits but indifferently the monastic sobrieties of the fort of Quebec and his sombre environment of priests. Yet Champlain was no formalist, nor was his an empty zeal. A soldier from his youth, in an age of unbridled license, his life had answered to his maxims; and when a generation had passed after his visit to the Hurons, their elders remembered with astonishment the continence of the great French war-chief. ”

“ Here was a vast country, capable of producing great wealth, and struggling for its possession was a body of avaricious men, while valiantly guarding its infancy, we find a single champion, the heroic Champlain. Champlain watched over the new settlement with the tender solicitude of a parent carefully protecting his offspring from danger, and ready to sacrifice his life to save it from disaster. In small vessels of sixty or eighty tons, Champlain had repeatedly exposed his life to danger in crossing the ocean. ”

“ In 1607, after a new voyage to France to recruit colonists, Champlain returned again to New France, and founded, in 1608, a town which was to become Quebec. The following year was devoted to again ascending the St. Lawrence, and ascertaining its course. On board of a pirogue, with two companions only, Champlain penetrated, with some Algonquins, to the Iroquois, and remained conqueror in a great battle fought on the borders of a lake which has received his name; he then descended the river Richelieu, as far as the St. Lawrence. ”

“ It is seldom that the deeds of the great men of past ages have been more fittingly remembered. Champlain, as we have previously remarked, possessed in an eminent degree all the qualities necessary for a founder, and his character is therefore exceptional, for over and above all the heroism he displayed, all his perseverance, his devotion to his country, we behold the working of a Christian mind, and the desire to propagate the faith of his fathers. ”

“ Champlain was as much at home in the brilliant court of France as in a wigwam on a Canadian lake, as patient and politic with a wild band of savages on Lake Huron as with a crowd of grasping traders in St. Malo or Dieppe. Always calm, always unselfish, always depending on God, in whom he believed and trusted, and thinking of France, which he loved, this single-hearted man resolutely followed the path of his duty under all circumstances ”

“ How could he rely upon these people, to whom a thousand men represented simply an amazing number? How could the Hurons make a census of an unsedentary people, wandering here and there according to circumstances of war or other reasons, and recruiting themselves with prisoners or with the remnants of conquered nations?
To give only one example of these strange recruitings, let us examine the composition of the great family of the Iroquois in Champlain's time. ”

“ Pont-Gravé sailed for France on September 18th, 1608, leaving Champlain with twenty-seven men, and provisions for the approaching winter at Quebec. The carpenters, sawyers, and other workmen were employed in clearing up the place and in preparing gardens.
Many Indians were encamped in the vicinity, 46who proved troublesome neighbours, as they were constantly visiting the habitation, either to beg food for their families or to express their fear of invisible enemies. Champlain readily understood the character of these people, but he was too charitable to refuse them assistance in their need ”

“ Champlain had observed the attitude of the Huguenots, their unwillingness to erect a fort at Quebec, their persecution of the Catholics, and their treatment of the Jesuits, and although he was not fanatical, he was pleased with this rule. The foundation of the new settlement was based upon religion, and religion was essential to its progress. Peace and harmony must be maintained, and everything that would promote trouble or quarrel must be excluded. ”

“ They knew the Kirke brothers had been guilty of burning the habitation at Cape Tourmente. Knowing that they were Protestants, they could not expect sympathy on the score of religion. A danger existed from every point of view. Nevertheless, Champlain advised many of them to remain at Quebec in order to save their property. The only objection was that they would be obliged to observe their religion for an indefinite time without the ministrations of their priests.
Three years were to elapse before a French vessel again appeared at Quebec, with authority to hoist the white flag of France. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The result of the voyage was not altogether satisfactory. Champlain had perhaps held a degree further south than on the former occasion, but he had not discovered anything of importance.
On their return to Port Royal, the voyagers were received with great ceremony. Lescarbot, a Parisian lawyer, who had arrived some time before, and some other Frenchmen, went to meet them and 36conducted them to the fort, which had been decorated with evergreens and inscriptions. On the principal door they had placed the arms of France, surrounded with laurel crowns, and the king's motto: Duo protegit unus. ”