The Makers of Canada: Champlain

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The Makers of Canada:
Champlain

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Title: The Makers of Canada: Champlain
Author: N. E. Dionne
Release Date: November 22, 2005 [EBook #17132]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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MAKERS OF CANADA: CHAMPLAIN ***

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[Illustration]

THE MAKERS OF CANADA CHAMPLAIN
BY
N.E. DIONNE
TORONTO MORANG & CO., LIMITED 1912
_Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada in the year 1905,
by Morang & Co., Limited, in the Department of Agriculture._

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I Page CHAMPLAIN'S FIRST VOYAGE TO AMERICA 1
CHAPTER II ACADIA--STE. CROIX ISLAND--PORT ROYAL 17
CHAPTER III THE FOUNDING OF QUEBEC 39
CHAPTER IV CHAMPLAIN'S VOYAGES OF 1610, 1611, 1613 59
CHAPTER V THE RÉCOLLETS AND THEIR MISSIONS 81
CHAPTER VI WAR AGAINST THE IROQUOIS, 1615 101
CHAPTER VII FUR TRADE 119
CHAPTER VIII CHAMPLAIN, THE JESUITS AND THE SAVAGES
143
CHAPTER IX THE COMPANY OF NEW FRANCE OR HUNDRED
ASSOCIATES 167
CHAPTER X THE CAPITULATION OF QUEBEC, 1629 187
CHAPTER XI THE LAST EVENTS OF 1629 199

CHAPTER XII QUEBEC RESTORED 211
CHAPTER XIII THE JESUIT MISSIONS IN NEW FRANCE 227
CHAPTER XIV THE GROWTH OF QUEBEC 243
CHAPTER XV CONCLUSION 261
CHRONOLOGICAL APPENDIX 283
INDEX 289

INTRODUCTION
In undertaking to write a biography of Samuel Champlain, the founder
of Quebec and the father of New France, our only design is to make
somewhat better known the dominant characteristics of the life and
achievements of a man whose memory is becoming more cherished as
the years roll on.
Every one will admire Champlain's disinterested actions, his courage,
his loyalty, his charity, and all those noble and magnificent qualities
which are rarely found united in one individual in so prominent a
degree. We cannot overpraise that self-abnegation which enabled him
to bear without complaint the ingratitude of many of his interpreters,
and the servants of the merchants; nor can we overlook, either, the
charity which he exercised towards the aborigines and new settlers; the
protection which he afforded them under trying circumstances, or his
zeal in promoting the honour and glory of God, and his respect for the
Récollet and Jesuit fathers who honoured him with their cordial
friendship. His wisdom is evidenced in such a practical fact as his
choice of Quebec as the capital of New France, despite the rival claims
of Montreal and Three Rivers, and his numerous writings reveal him to
us as a keen and sagacious observer, a man of science and a skilful and
intrepid mariner. As a cosmographer, Champlain added yet another
laurel to his crown, for he excelled all his predecessors, both by the
ample volume of his descriptions and by the logical arrangement of the

geographical data which he supplied. The impetus which he gave to
cartographical science can scarcely be overestimated.
Naturalist, mariner, geographer, such was Samuel Champlain, and to a
degree remarkable for the age in which he lived. It is, perhaps,
unnecessary to dwell upon the morality of the virtuous founder. The
testimony of the Hurons, who, twenty years after his death, still pointed
to the life of Champlain as a model of all Christian virtues, is sufficient,
and it is certain that no governor under the old régime presented a more
brilliant example of faith, piety, uprightness, or soundness of judgment.
A brief outline of the character of Champlain has been given in order
that the plan of this biography may be better understood. Let us now
glance at his career more in detail.
Before becoming the founder of colonies, Champlain entered the
French army, where he devoted himself to the religion of his ancestors.
This was the first important step in his long and eventful career. A
martial life, however, does not appear to have held out the same
inducements as that of a mariner. An opportunity was presented which
enabled him to gratify his tastes, when the Spanish government sent out
an armada to encounter the English in the Gulf of Mexico. Champlain
was given the command of a ship in this expedition, but his experience
during the war served rather as an occasion to develop his genius as a
mariner and cosmographer, than to add to his renown as a warrior.
God, who in His providence disposes of the lives of men according to
His divine wisdom, directed