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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[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 R��COLLETS 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 R��collet 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 r��gime 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 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