Champoeg

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ So far as I know, I am the only man in New York, if not in the United States, who has ever made a pilgrimage to Champlain’s birthplace. And no man in America is more grateful to France for his own birthplace. It is not permitted me to speak my devotion to Champlain and my gratitude to France. I will let this silent stone speak for me—this fragment of rock from the coast of France, which was once a keystone in the arch over the doorway of the home in Brouage in which, by tradition, Champlain was born. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Early in October, when the harvest of the year had ripened and been gathered in, and the leaves had faded and fallen, and the earth was mantled in the symbols of general decay, in sympathy with all that surrounded him, in his chamber in the little fort on the crest of the rocky promontory at Quebec, lay the manly form of Champlain, smitten with disease, which was daily breaking down the vigor and strength of his iron constitution. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the mighty structure of American civilization there is something of France—allow us to believe gentlemen that you will not forget it—and on the monument you are erecting this image will remain forever sealed to recall and symbolize that fact. This image we give to you as Champlain, our fellow-countryman, gave the best of his life to this land of yours. We give it to the United States, we give it to the States of New York and Vermont, the builders of the lighthouse rising upon the shores of the lake which bears Champlain’s name ”

“ There are old graveyards, where rest the pioneers who prayed, and hoped, and starved with Champlain. All the stories can never be written, all the monuments that speak of glory do not tell of the sufferings. Yet there were happy lives, and happy loves, as well. The storms die out, the light and sunshine dry up the tears, and courage is given to go on.
The old French days have left their impress. Champlain will always be a living memory, as the founder of one of the marvellous cities of the world. ”

“ From pre-historic times the Champlain valley has been one of the thoroughfares of successive nations occupying the region, inviting alike to discoverer, trader, pioneer, warrior and traveler. It was but natural that its circumjacent shores and beautiful islands should become the homes of sturdy men, breathing the ozone of the mountain air wafted down into the valley, and possessing an independence and resolution found in such men as the Allens, the Warrens, the Bakers, and the Chittendens. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Why, good heavens, man! what has the poor devil done that we should treat him as if we were red Indians? He may be one of our friends, for aught we know!”
“He’s a Dutchman, and he builds small-boats for the king’s ships,” growled Champe stubbornly; but he took up the candle and piloted the way to a room in the rear, a bare shed of a place, with fire-wood stacked along two sides of it, a dismantled baking oven buttressing the chimney of the fore-room, and a great pile of the bricks heaped upon a huge square trap-door leading to the cellar. ”

“ We had crawled safely through the archway, and into a roomy underground passage beyond it, before we heard a squeaking of pulleys betokening a lifting of the kitchen trap-door by means of a block and tackle. Champe was for hurrying, having an outdoor man’s horror of being forced to fight in an underground burrow, but while I shared this reluctance with him to the full, I delayed long enough to close the weighted door for the halt it might impose upon our pursuers. When he saw what I was about, Champe quickly lent a hand, and what was still more to the purpose, his mechanical head. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I said, I have known Champé from his youth. He will not shrink from danger. It seems I was mistaken. Since you are more moved by the semblance of present evil, than the prospect of immense good, you are released from all obligation, save that of secrecy. Leave my tent. I will seek for another, who shall clear innocence from suspicion, bring treason to punishment, fulfil the wishes of Washington, and merit the thanks of his country. ”

“ The Tercentenary tributes to the God-fearing Champlain, whose noble qualities of mind and heart and whose unrequited services to mankind afford the occasion for the intermingling of the two races and the interchange of expressions of good will and cordial greetings, touched the hearts of the French people as nothing else had done, since the time when the people of this country bestowed their tributes on that other distinguished Frenchman and patriot, Marquis de Lafayette, whose services to this nation have ever since provoked the praises of our countrymen. ”

“ And you have raised up to Champlain this monument, which does honor both to the initiative of your Commissions and to the talents of your architects. You found that there was in the life of Champlain, as in those of the other French pioneers, of whom your historian, Parkman, so well wrote the lives, lessons which should not be lost. The example of their ingenuity, which nothing could rebut, of their energy, which nothing could daunt, of their faith, which never was discouraged, is still a lesson of confidence and optimism. ”

“ The settlers lived happily in spite of the scurvy, from which some of them died. Hunting afforded them the means of providing a great variety of dishes, such as geese, ducks, bears, beavers, partridges, reindeer, bustards, etc. They also organized a society devoted to good cheer called, Ordre du Bon Temps, the by-laws of which were definite, and were fixed by Champlain himself. The Indians of the vicinity who were friendly towards the French colony were in need of food, so that each day loaves of bread were distributed amongst them. ”

“ The Vermont Commission in order to do honor to that distinguished son, Samuel Champlain, united with the New York Commission in erecting this stately joint memorial to commemorate his memory, which is revered by the people of both states. We count it the greatest privilege that can fall to the lot of any man to be born along the shores of this beautiful lake, which Champlain considered worthy to bear his name. ”

“ 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. ”

“ As the shore was reached the warriors flung down their paddles, snatched up their weapons, and darted into the woods with such speed that the Frenchmen found it impossible to keep them in sight. It was a hot and oppressive day; the air was filled with mosquitoes,—"so thick," says Champlain, "that we could hardly draw breath, and it was wonderful how cruelly they persecuted us,"—their route lay through swampy soil, where the water at places stood knee-deep; over fallen logs, wet and slimy, and under entangling vines; their heavy armor added to their discomfort ”

“ We are all more or less influenced by the achievements of the past, and through the energy and the daring of such men as Champlain, there probably does not now remain on the earth any such unexplored wildernesses as was this valley when Champlain first saw it; even the poles have been discovered and located. It remains for us of the present and the future to make the best possible use of the advantages which we have thus gained. ”

“ The monument under construction is admirably adapted to the place and to the claims of the man, which it is designed to celebrate. There is at the extremity of the lake discovered by Champlain, and which bears his name, a lighthouse, throwing its rays over the waters of which, he, first of Europeans, contemplated the immense extent, empty and wild, and which are now traversed by the fleet of great steamboats, the region peopled by a swarm of men. ”

“ Here the savages formed a permanent settlement and lived within a palisade. Still farther south, in the neighbourhood of Cape Cod, {39} Champlain found maize five and a half feet high, a considerable variety of squashes, tobacco, and edible roots which tasted like artichokes.
But whether the coast Indians were Micmacs or Armouchiquois, whether they were starving or well fed, Champlain tells us little in their praise. Of the Armouchiquois he says:
I cannot tell what government they have, but I think that in this respect they resemble their neighbours, who have none at all. ”

“ A fierce struggle ensued, in which Champlain was twice wounded, and the Iroquois warriors defended their town with such skill and bravery that the Canadian Indians were compelled to retreat. In this retreat Champlain suffered terribly, having been carried, as was each of the disabled warriors, in a small basket, his body being bound into a circular form with strong cords to make it fit into the cramped space. Released from this unusual position on arrival in the friendly Huron country, our hero and his men begged to be provided with guides and canoes for the return journey to Quebec ”

“ This impression is strengthened still more after we have embarked on the steamer which is to take us to the opposite shore of the lake, to the promontory where the monument to the heroes of this magnificent fête is erected. This monument is not yet finished. But the figure of the “Lord of Champlain, geographer to the King, and captain of the Navy of the West,” is present in all minds because on the pedestal of granite, under the gleam of the lighthouse, it is visible from top to toe in the eyes of all sailors in quest of a good route in these parts. ”

“ Champe nodded.
“He is with us, though he claims to be a neutral and is allowed to go and come as a trader, under some surveillance. His schooner lies in the East River, ready to put to sea, if it has not already sailed. Your task is to find the ship and the man, if they are within finding distance. Tell the captain what has befallen me, and you may add that I’m going to try to break jail. If I succeed, a few stout friends, to be waiting on the beach at the southeastern angle of the fort at half an hour before midnight, might turn the scale for me.” ”