trading-post it had undoubtedly been successful. The average number of beaver skins annually purchased of the Indians and transported to France was probably not far from fifteen or twenty thousand, and it sometimes reached twenty-two thousand. The annual dividend of forty per cent on the investment, as intimated by Champlain, must have been highly satisfactory to the Company. The settlement maintained the character of a tradingpost, but hardly that of a colonial plantation. After the lapse of nearly twenty years, the average number of colonists did not exceed much more than fifty. This progress was not satisfactory to Champlain, to the Viceroy, or to the Council of State. In 1627 a change became inevitable. Cardinal de Richelieu had become grand master and chief of the navigation and commerce of France. He saw the importance of rendering this colony worthy of the fame and greatness of the nation under whose authority it had been planted. Acting with characteristic promptness and decision, he dissolved the old Company and instituted a new one, denominated La Compagnie de la Nouvelle France, consisting of a hundred or more members, and commonly known as the Company of the Hundred Associates. The constitution of this society possessed severaì important features, which seemed to assure the solid growth of the colony. Richelieu was its constituted head. Its authority was to extend over the whole territory of New France and Florida. Its capital was three hundred thousand livres. It proposed to send to Canada in 1628 from two hundred to three hundred artisans of all classes, and within the space of fifteen years to transport four thousand colonists to New France. These were to be wholly supported by the Company for three years, and after that they were to have assigned to them as much land as was needed for cultivation. The settlers were to be natives of France and exclusively of the Catholic faith, and no Huguenot was to be allowed to enter the country. The Company was to have exclusive control of trade, and all goods manufactured in New France were to be free of imposts on exportation. Such were the more general and prominent features of the association. In the spring of 1628 the Company, thus organized, despatched four armed vessels to convoy a fleet of eighteen transports, laden with emigrants and stores, together with one hundred and thirty-five pieces of ordnance to fortify the settlement at Quebec.

War existing at that time between England and France, an English fleet was already on its way to destroy the French colony at Quebec. The transports and convoy sent out by the Company of the Hundred Associates were intercepted on their way, carried into England, and confiscated. On the arrival of the English at Tadoussac, David Kirke, the commander, sent up a summons to Champlain at Quebec, demanding the surrender of the town; this Champlain declined to do with such an air of assurance that the English commander did not attempt to enforce his demand. The supplies for the settlement having thus been cut off by the English, before the next spring the colony was on the point of perishing by starvation. Half of them had been billeted on Indian tribes, to escape impending death. On the 19th

of July, 1629, three English vessels appeared before Quebec, and again demanded its surrender. Destitute of provisions and of all means of defence, with only a handful of famishing men, Champlain delivered up the post without hesitation. All the movable property belonging to the Company at Quebec was surrendered. The whole colony, with the exception of such as preferred to remain, were transported to France by way of England. On their arrival at Plymouth, it was ascertained that the war between the two countries had come to an end, and that the articles of peace provided that all conquests made subsequent to the 24th of April, 1629, were to be restored; and consequently Quebec, and the peltry and other property taken after that date, must be remanded to their former owners. Notwithstanding this, Champlain was taken to London and held as a prisoner of war for several weeks, during which time the base attempt was made to compel him to pay a ransom for his freedom. Such illegal and unjust artifices practised upon a man like Champlain of course came to nothing, except to place upon the pages of history a fresh example of what the avarice of men will lead them to do. After having been detained a month, Champlain was permitted to depart for France.

The breaking-up of the settlement at Quebec just on the eve of the new arrangement under the administration of the Hundred Associates, and with greater prospect of success than had existed at any former period, involved a loss which can hardly be estimated, and retarded for several years the progress of the colony. The return of the property which had been illegally seized and carried away gave infinite trouble and anxiety to Champlain; and it was not until 1633 that he left France again, with a large number of colonists, re-commissioned as governor, to join his little colony at Quebec.1 He was accompanied by the Jesuit Fathers Enemond Masse and Jean de Brebeuf. The Governor and his associates received at Quebec from the remnant of the colony a most hearty welcome. The memory of what good he had done in the past awakened in them fresh gratitude and a new zeal in his service. He addressed himself with his old energy, but nevertheless with declining strength, to the duties of the hour, to the renovation and improvement of the habitation and fort, to the holding of numerous councils with the Indians in the neighborhood, and to the execution of plans for winning back the traffic of allied tribes. The building of a chapel, named, in memory of the recovery of Quebec,

1 [The Treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, March 29, 1632, by which restorations were made to the French, will be found in Recueil de Traités de Paix, Leonard, Paris, 1692, vol. v. The contemporary quarto print of the treaty, printed at St. Germain, is of such rarity that Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana, no. 794, prices a copy at five hundred francs. See Harrisse, no. 47, who refers for the causes of the long delay in making this restitution, to Le Clercq, Établissement de la Foy, i. 419; Faillon, Hist. de la Col. Française, VOL. IV. - - 17.

i. 256. Compare also the notes in Shea's Charlevoix, vol. ii. For the occupancy, see Harrisse, no. 48; also Mr. Slafter's memoir in Champlain's Voyages, i. 176, 177; and Sir William Alexander and American Colonization, Prince Society edition, pp. 66-72.

There are papers relating to the English claim to Canada urged at this time (1630-1632) among the Egerton manuscripts, see British Museum Catalogue, no. 2,395, folios 20–26. ED.l

Notre Dame de Recouvrance, and such other kindred duties as sprang out of the responsibilities of his charge, engaged his attention. In these occupations two years soon passed.

During the summer of 1635 Champlain addressed a letter to Cardinal de Richelieu, soliciting the means, and setting forth the importance of subduing the hostile tribes known as the Five Nations, and bringing them into sympathy and friendship with the French.1 This in his opinion was necessary for the proper enlargement of the French domain and for the opening of the whole continent to the influence of the Christian faith,—two objects which seemed to him of paramount importance. This was probably the last letter written by Champlain, and contains the key to the motives which had influenced him from the beginning in joining the northern tribes in their wars with the Iroquois.2 On Christmas Day, the 25th of December, 1635, Champlain died in the little fort which he had erected on the rocky promontory at Quebec, amid the tears and sorrows of the colony to which

CGreanet do mont may nig

for twenty-seven years he had devoted his strength and thought with rare generosity and devotion.3 In the following June, Montmagny, a Knight of Malta, arrived as the successor of Champlain.

THE

CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.

HE richest source of information relating to Champlain's achievements as a navigator, explorer, and the founder of the French settlement in Canada is found in his own writings. It was his habit to keep a journal of his observations, which he began even on his voyage to the West Indies in 1599. Of his first voyage to Canada, in 1603, his Journal appears to have been put to press in the last part of the same year. This little book of eighty pages is entitled : Des Savvages; ov, Voyage de Samvel Champlain, de Brovage, faict en la France Nouuelle, l'an mil six cens trois. A Paris, chez Clavde de Monstr'oeil, tenant sa boutique en la Cour du Palais, au nom de Jesus, 1604. Auec priuilege du Roy. This Journal contains a valuable narrative of the incidents of the voyage across the Atlantic, and likewise a description of the Gulf and River St. Law

1 Cf. Mass. Archives; Doc. Coll. in France, beau de Champlain, par Stanilas Drapeau, Que i. 591. bec, 1867; Delayant, Notice sur Champlain,

2 Vide Champlain's Voyages, Prince Society's Niort, 1867; John Gilmary Shea, in Historical edition, i. 189–193.

8 [There has been some controversy of late years over the site of the "sépulcre particulier in which Champlain was buried. Cf. Le Moine, Quebec Past and Present, 1876, p. 41, and references; Découverte du Tombeau de Champlain, par MM. les Abbés Laverdière et Casgrain, Quebec, 1866; Le Journal de Québec et le Tom

Magazine, xi. 64, 100, and in his Charlevoix, ii. 283.- ED.] For the latest view of the subject, see Documents Inédits Relatifs au Tombeau de Champlain, par l'Abbé H. R. Casgrain, L'Opinion Publique, Montreal, 4 Nov., 1875; also, note 116 in Mr. Slafter's Memoir of Champlain, in vol. i. of the Prince Society edition of Cham plain's Voyages, pp. 185, 186.

rence, and enters fully into details touching the tributaries of the great river, the bays, harbors, forests, and scenery along the shore, as well as the animals and birds with which the islands and borders of the river were swarming at that period. It contains a discriminating account of the character and habits of the savages as he saw them.1

2

In 1613 Champlain published a second volume, embracing the events which had occurred from 1603 to that date. The following is its title: Les Voyages dv Sievr de Champlain Xaintongeois, Capitaine ordinaire pour le Roy, en la marine, divisez en deux livres; ou, journal tres-fidele des observations faites és descouuertures de la Nouuelle France: tant en la descriptiô des terres, costes, riuieres, ports, haures, leurs hauteurs, et plusieurs delinaisons de la guide-aymant; qu'en la creâce des peuples, leur superstition, façon de viure et de guerroyer: enrichi de quantité de figures. A Paris, chez Jean Berjon, rue S. Jean de Beauuais, au Cheual volant, et en sa boutique au Palais, à la gallerie des prisonniers, M.DC.XIII. Avec privilege dv Roy. 4to. It contains a full description of the coast-line westerly from Canseau, including Nova Scotia, the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick, and New England as far as the Vineyard Sound. It deals not only with the natural history, the fauna and flora, but with the character of the soil, its numerous products, as well as the sinuosities and conformation of the shore, and is unusually minute in details touching the natives. In this last respect it is especially valuable, as at that period neither their manners, customs, nor mode of life had been modified by intercourse with Europeans. The volume is illustrated by twenty-two local maps and drawings, and a large map representing the territory which he had personally surveyed, and concerning which he had obtained information from the natives and from other sources. This is the first map to delineate the coast-line of New England with approximate correctness. The volume contains likewise what he calls a "geographical map," constructed with the degrees of latitude and longitude numerically indicated. In this respect it is, of course, inexact, as the instruments then in use were very imperfect, and it is doubtful whether his surveys had been sufficiently extensive to furnish the proper and adequate data for these complicated calculations. It was the first attempt to lay down the latitude and longitude on any map of the coast.3

1 [The book is extremely rare. Field says a collector may pass a lifetime without seeing it. In 1870, when the Quebec edition of Champlain was issued, the editors got their text from a copy in the Bibliothèque Impériale at Paris, which they believed to be unique. There are, however, copies in Harvard College Library (lacking signature G) and in the Carter-Brown Library (Cataloguť, vol. ii. no. 25). The Lenox Library has a copy without date, which seems to be from different type, and shows some typographical changes. Cf. Harrisse, nos. 10 and 11; Brunet, Supplément, p. 241; Sabin, vol. iii. no. 11,834 Leclerc, Bibliotheca Americana (1878, no. 694) showed a copy priced at 1,500 francs.

There is a translation of this 1604 book in Purchas's Pilgrimes, part iv. A synopsis, "Navigation des François en la Nouvelle France dite Canada," is given in the preface of the Mercure François, 1609, by Victor Palma Cayet (Harrisse, no. 395), which is found separately, with the title Chronologie septenaire de l'Histoire de la Paix entre les Rois de France et d'Espagne, 1598–1604, and of various dates, - 1605, 1607, 1609, 1612 (Carter-Brown Catalogue, vol. ii. no. 32; Stevens, Bibliotheca Historica, 1870, no. 2,456).

discovery of New France, and other documents, are included in L. Andiat's Brouage et Champlain (1578-1667), Documents inédits, Paris, 1879. It is an "Extrait des Archives historiques de la Saintonge et de l'Aunis, t. vi. (1879); " seventyfive copies were printed. ED.]

2 [The text is more ample than was subsequently retained in the 1632 edition, while what appears in that edition after page 211 is not found in this 1613 edition. Some leaves, separately paged, contain Quatriesme Voyage du Sr. de Champlain, fait en l'année 1613. There are copies in the Harvard College, Carter-Brown (vol. ii. no. 147), Lenox, Cornell University (Sparks Catalogue, no. 498), New York State, New York Historical Society, and Massachusetts Historical Society libraries. Rich, in 1832, priced a copy at £1 125.; Dufossé of late years has held a copy, with the map in fac-simile, at 400 francs; cf. Harrisse, no. 27; Sabin, vol. iii. no. 11,835. Neither Brunet nor Harrisse recognize the edition of 1615 mentioned by Faribault. - ED.]

8 [This map is further considered in its relation to the cartography of the period in the Editorial Note on the "Maps of the XVIIth A letter of Champlain to the King on the Century," which follows chapter vii. — ED.]

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