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Voyages of Samuel de Champlain, Vol. 1

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A solemn league was entered into by a large number of the ultra-Catholic
nobles to secure two avowed objects, the succession of a Catholic prince to
the throne, and the utter extermination of the Huguenots. Henry, King of
Navarre, afterwards Henry IV. of France, admitted to be the legal heir to
the throne, was a Protestant, and therefore by the decree of the League
disqualified to succeed. Around his standard, the Huguenots rallied in
great numbers. With him were associated the princes of Condé, of royal
blood, and many other distinguished nobles. They contended for the double
purpose of securing the throne to its rightful heir and of emancipating and
establishing the Protestant faith.

But there was another class, acting indeed with one or the other of these
two great parties, nevertheless influenced by very different motives. It
was composed of moderate Catholics, who cared little for the political
schemes and civil power of the Roman Pontiff, who dreaded the encroachments
of the King of Spain, who were firmly patriotic and desired the
aggrandizement and glory of France.

The ultra-Catholic party was, for a long period, by far the most numerous
and the more powerful; but the Huguenots were sufficiently strong to keep
up the struggle with varying success for nearly forty years.

After the alliance of Henry of Navarre with Henry III. against the League,
the moderate Catholics and the Huguenots were united and fought together
under the royal standard until the close of the war in 1598.

Champlain was personally engaged in the war in Brittany for several years.
This province on the western coast of France, constituting a tongue of land
jutting out as it were into the sea, isolated and remote from the great
centres of the war, was among the last to surrender to the arms of Henry
IV. The Huguenots had made but little progress within its borders. The Duke
de Mercoeur [13] had been its governor for sixteen years, and had bent all
his energies to separate it from France, organize it into a distinct
kingdom, and transmit its sceptre to his own family.

Champlain informs us that he was quarter-master in the army of the king
under Marshal d'Aumont, de Saint Luc, and Marshal de Brissac, distinguished
officers of the French army, who had been successively in command in that
province for the purpose of reducing it into obedience to Henry IV.

Marshal d'Aumont [14] took command of the army in Brittany in 1592. He was
then seventy years of age, an able and patriotic officer, a moderate
Catholic, and an uncompromising foe of the League. He had expressed his
sympathy for Henry IV. a long time before the death of Henry III., and when
that event occurred he immediately espoused the cause of the new monarch,
and was at once appointed to the command of one of the three great
divisions of the French army. He received a wound at the siege of the
Château de Camper, in Brittany, of which he died on the 19th of August,
1595.

De Saint Luc, already in the service in Brittany, as lieutenant-general
under D'Aumont, continued, after the death of that officer, in sole
command. [15] He raised the siege of the Château de Camper after the death
of his superior, and proceeded to capture several other posts, marching
through the lower part of the province, repressing the license of the
soldiery, and introducing order and discipline. On the 5th of September,
1596, he was appointed grand-master of the artillery of France, which
terminated his special service in Brittany.

The king immediately appointed in his place Marshal de Brissac, [16] an
officer of broad experience, who added other great qualities to those of an
able soldier. No distinguished battles signalized the remaining months of
the civil war in this province. The exhausted resources and faltering
courage of the people could no longer be sustained by the flatteries or
promises of the Duke de Mercoeur. Wherever the squadrons of the marshal
made their appearance the flag of truce was raised, and town, city, and
fortress vied with each other in their haste to bring their ensigns and lay
them at his feet.

On the seventh of June, 1598, the peace of Vervins was published in Paris,
and the kingdom of France was a unit, with the general satisfaction of all
parties, under the able, wise, and catholic sovereign, Henry the Fourth.
[17]

ENDNOTES:

1. The following from Marshal de Montluc refers to Brouage in 1568.
Speaking of the Huguenots he says:--"Or ils n'en pouvoient choisir un
plus à leur advantage, que celui de la Rochelle, duquel dépend celui de
Brouage, qui est le plus beau port de mer de la France." _Commentaires_,
Paris, 1760, Tom. III., p. 340.

2. "La Riviere Puitaillé qui en étoit Gouverneur, fut chargé de faire
travailler aux fortifications. Belarmat, Bephano, Castritio d'Urbin, &
le Cavalier Orlogio, tous Ingénieurs Italiens, présiderent aux
travaux."--_Histoire La Rochelle_, par Arcere, à la Rochelle, 1756, Tom.
I., p. 121.

3. _Histioire de la Saintonge et de l'Aunis_, 1152-1548, par M. D. Massion,
Paris. 1838, Vol. II., p. 406.

4. The King of Navarre "sent for Monsieur _de Mirabeau_ under colour of
treating with him concerning other businesses, and forced him to deliver
up Brouage into his hands, a Fort of great importance, as well for that
it lies upon the Coast of the Ocean-sea, as because it abounds with such
store of salt-pits, which yeeld a great and constant revenue; he made
the Sieur de Montaut Governour, and put into it a strong Garrison of his
dependents, furnishing it with ammunition, and fortifying it with
exceeding diligence."--_His. Civ. Warres of France_, by Henrico Caterino
Davila, London, 1647, p. 455.

5. "The Duke of Mayenne, having without difficulty taken Thone-Charente,
and Marans, had laid siege to Brouage, a place, for situation, strength,
and the profit of the salt-pits, of very great importance; when the
Prince of Condé, having tryed all possible means to relieve the
besieged, the Hugonots after some difficulty were brought into such a
condition, that about the end of August they delivered it up, saving
only the lives of the Souldiers and inhabitants, which agreement the
Duke punctually observed."--_His. Civ. Warres_, by Davila, London, 1647,
p. 472. See also _Memoirs of Sully_, Phila., 1817, Vol. I., p. 69.

"_Le Jeudi_ XXVIII _Mars_. Fut tenu Conseil au Cabinet de la Royne mère
du Roy [pour] aviser ce que M. du _Maine_ avoit à faire, & j'ai mis en
avant l'enterprise de _Brouage_."--_Journal de Henri III_., Paris, 1744,
Tom. III., p. 220.

6. "The Prince of Condé resolved to besiege Brouage, wherein was the Sieur
_de St. Luc_, one of the League, with no contemptible number of infantry
and some other gentlemen of the Country. The Rochellers consented to
this Enterprise, both for their profit, and reputation which redounded
by it; and having sent a great many Ships thither, besieged the Fortress
by Sea, whilst the Prince having possessed that passage which is the
only way to Brouage by land, and having shut up the Defendants within
the circuit of their walls, straightned the Siege very closely on that
side."--_Davila_, p. 582. See also, _Histoire de Thou_, à Londres, 1734,
Tom. IX., p. 383.

The blocking up the harbor at this time appears to have been more
effective than convenient. Twenty boats or rafts filled with earth and
stone were sunk with a purpose of destroying the harbor. De Saint Luc,
the governor, succeeded in removing only four or five. The entrance for
vessels afterward remained difficult except at high tide. Subsequently
Cardinal de Richelieu expended a hundred thousand francs to remove the
rest, but did not succeed in removing one of them.--_Vide Histoire de La
Rochelle_, par Arcere, Tom I. p. 121.

7. The Prince of Condé. "Leaving Monsieur de St. Mesmes with the Infantry
and Artillery at the Siege of Brouage, and giving order that the Fleet
should continue to block it up by sea, he departed upon the eight of
October to relieve the Castle of Angiers with 800 Gentlemen and 1400
Harquebuziers on horseback."--_Davila_, p. 583. See also _Memoirs of
Sully_, Phila., 1817, Vol. I., p 123; _Histoire de Thou_, à Londres,
1734, Tom. IX, p. 385.

8. "_St. Luc_ sallying out of Brouage, and following those that were
scattered severall wayes, made a great slaughter of them in many places;
whereupon the Commander, despairing to rally the Army any more, got away
as well as they could possibly, to secure their own strong holds."--
_His. Civ. Warres of France_, by Henrico Caterino Davila, London, 1647,
p 588.

9. An old writer gives us some idea of the vast quantities of salt exported
from France by the amount sent to a single country.

"Important denique sexies mille vel circiter centenarios salis, quorum
singuli constant centenis modiis, ducentenas ut minimum & vicenas
quinas, vel & tricenas, pro salis ipsius candore puritateque, libras
pondo pendentibus, sena igitur libras centenariorum millia, computatis
in singulos aureis nummis tricenis, centum & octoginta reserunt aureorum
millia."--_Belguae Descrtptio_, a Lud. Gvicciardino, Amstelodami, 1652,
p. 244.

TRANSLATION.--They import in fine 6000 centenarii of salt, each one of
which contains 100 bushels, weighing at least 225 or 230 pounds,
according to the purity and whiteness of the salt; therefore six
thousand centenarii, computing each at thirty golden nummi, amount to
180,000 aurei.

It may not be easy to determine the value of this importation in money,
since the value of gold is constantly changing, but the quantity
imported may be readily determined, which was according to the above
statement, 67,500 tons.

A treaty of April 30, 1527, between Francis I. of France and Henry VIII.
of England, provided as follows:--"And, besides, should furnish unto the
said _Henry_, as long as hee lived, yearly, of the Salt of _Brouage_,
the value of fifteene thousand Crownes."--_Life and Raigne of Henry
VIII._, by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, London, 1649, p. 206.

Saintonge continued for a long time to be the source of large exports of
salt. De Witt, writing about the year 1658, says they received in
Holland of "salt, yearly, the lading of 500 or 600 ships, exported from
Rochel, Maran, Brouage, the Island of Oleron, and Ree."--_Republick of
Holland_, by John De Witt, London, 1702, p. 271. But it no longer holds
the pre-eminence which it did three centuries ago. Saintonge long since
yielded the palm to Brittany.

10. Vide _Oeuvres de Champlain_, Quebec ed, Tom. III. p. v.

11. In 1558, it was estimated that there were already 400,000 persons in
France who were declared adherents of the Reformation.--_Ranke's Civil
Wars in France_, Vol. I., p. 234.

"Although our assemblies were most frequently held in the depth of
midnight, and our enemies very often heard us passing through the
street, yet so it was, that God bridled them in such manner that we
were preserved under His protection."--_Bernard Palissy_, 1580. Vide
_Morlay's Life of Palissy_, Vol. II., p. 274.

When Henry IV. besieged Paris, its population was more than 200,000.--
_Malte-Brun_.

12. "Catherine de Médicis was of a large and, at the same time, firm and
powerful figure, her countenance had an olive tint, and her prominent
eyes and curled lip reminded the spectator of her great uncle, Leo X"
--_Civil Wars in France_, by Leopold Ranke, London, 1852, p 28.

13. Philippe Emanuel de Lorraine, Duc de Mercoeur, born at Nomény,
September 9, 1558, was the son of Nicolas, Count de Vaudemont, by his
second wife, Jeanne de Savoy, and was half-brother of Queen Louise, the
wife of Henry III. He was made governor of Brittany in 1582. He
embraced the party of the League before the death of Henry III.,
entered into an alliance with Philip II., and gave the Spaniards
possession of the port of Blavet in 1591. He made his submission to
Henry IV. in 1598, on which occasion his only daughter Françoise,
probably the richest heiress in the kingdom, was contracted in marriage
to César, Duc de Vendôme, the illegitimate son of Henry IV. by
Gabrielle d'Estrées, the Duchess de Beaufort. The Duc de Mercoeur died
at Nuremburg, February 19, 1602.--_Vide Birch's Memoirs of Queen
Elizabeth_, Vol. I., p. 82; _Davila's His. Civil Warres of France_, p.
1476.

14. Jean d'Aumont, born in 1522, a Marshal of France who served under
six kings, Francis I., Henry II., Francis II., Charles IX., Henry
III., and Henry IV. He distinguished himself at the battles of
Dreux, Saint-Denis, Montcontour, and in the famous siege of
Rochelle in 1573. After the death of Henry III., he was the first
to recognize Henry IV., whom he served with the same zeal as he
had his five predecessors He took part in the brilliant battle of
Arques in 1589. In the following year, he so distinguished himself
at Ivry that Henry IV., inviting him to sup with him after this
memorable battle, addressed to him these flattering words, "Il est
juste que vous soyez du festin, après m'avoir si bien servi à mes
noces." At the siege of the Château de Camper, in Upper Brittany,
he received a musket shot which fractured his arm, and died of the
wound on the 19th of August, 1595, at the age of seventy-three
years. "Ce grand capitaine qui avoit si bien mérité du Roi et de
la nation, emporta dans le tombeau les regrets des Officiers & des
soldats, qui pleurerent amérement la perte de leur Général. La
Bretagne qui le regardoit comme son père, le Roi, tout le Royaume
enfin, furent extrêmement touchez de sa mort. Malgré la haine
mutuelle des factions qui divisoient la France, il étoit si estimé
dans les deux partis, que s'il se fût agi de trouver un chevalier
François sans reproche, tel que nos peres en ont autrefois eu,
tout le monde auroit jette les yeux sur d'Aumont."--_Histoire
Universelle de Jacque-Auguste de Thou_, à Londres, 1734,
Tom. XII., p. 446--_Vide_ also, _Larousse; Camden's His. Queen
Elizabeth_, London, 1675 pp 486,487, _Memoirs of Sully_,
Philadelphia, 1817, pp. 122, 210; _Oeuvres de Brantôme_, Tom. IV.,
pp. 46-49; _Histoire de Bretagne_, par M. Daru, Paris, 1826,
Vol. III. p. 319; _Freer's His. Henry IV._, Vol. II, p. 70.

15. François d'Espinay de Saint-Luc, sometimes called _Le Brave Saint
Luc_, was born in 1554, and was killed at the battle of Amiens on
the 8th of September, 1597. He was early appointed governor of
Saintonge, and of the Fortress of Brouage, which he successfully
defended in 1585 against the attack of the King of Navarre and the
Prince de Condé. He assisted at the battle of Coutras in 1587. He
served as a lieutenant-general in Brittany from 1592 to 1596. In
1594, he planned with Brissac, his brother-in-law, then governor
of Paris for the League, for the surrender of Paris to Henry
IV. For this he was offered the baton of a Marshal of France by
the king, which he modestly declined, and begged that it might be
given to Brissac. In 1578, through the influence or authority of
Henry III., he married the heiress, Jeanne de Cosse-Brissac,
sister of Charles de Cosse-Brissac, _postea_, a lady of no
personal attractions, but of excellent understanding and
character. --_Vide Courcelle's Histoire Généalogique des Pairs de
France_, Vol. II.; _Birch's Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth_, Vol. I.,
pp. 163, 191; _Freer's Henry III._, p. 162; _De Mezeray's
His. France_, 1683, p. 861.

16. Charles de Cosse-Brissac, a Marshal of France and governor of Angiers.
He was a member of the League as early as 1585. He conceived the idea
of making France a republic after the model of ancient Rome. He laid
his views before the chief Leaguers but none of them approved his plan.
He delivered up Paris, of which he was governor, to Henry IV. in 1594,
for which he received the Marshal's baton. He died in 1621, at the
siege of Saint Jean d'Angely.--_Vide Davila_, pp. 538, 584, 585;
_Sully_, Philadelphia, 1817, V. 61. Vol. I., p. 420; _Brantôme_, Vol.
III., p. 84; _His. Collections_, London, 1598, p. 35; _De Thou_, à
Londres, 1724, Tome XII., p. 449.

17. "By the Articles of this Treaty the king was to restore the County of
_Charolois_ to the king of _Spain_, to be by him held of the Crown of
_France_; who in exchange restor'd the towns of _Calice, Ardres,
Montbulin, Dourlens, la Capelle_, and _le Catelet_ in _Picardy_, and
_Blavet_ in Britanny: which Articles were Ratifi'd and Sign'd by his
Majesty the eleventh of June [1598]; who in his gayety of humour, at so
happy a conclusion, told the Duke of _Espernon, That with one dash of
his Pen he had done greater things, than he could of a long time have
perform'd with the best Swords of his Kingdom."--Life of the Duke of
Espernon_, London, 1670, p. 203; _Histoire du Roy Henry le Grand_, par
Préfixe, Paris, 1681, p. 243.




CHAPTER II.

QUARTER-MASTER.--VISIT TO WEST INDIES, SOUTH AMERICA, MEXICO.--HIS
REPORT.--SUGGESTS A SHIP CANAL.--VOYAGE OF 1603.--EARLIER VOYAGES.--
CARTIER, DE LA ROQUE, MARQUIS DE LA ROCHE, SIEUR DE CHAUVIN, DE CHASTES.
--PRELIMINARY VOYAGE.--RETURN TO FRANCE.--DEATH OF DE CHASTES.--SIEUR DE
MONTS OBTAINS A CHARTER, AND PREPARES FOR AN EXPEDITION TO CANADA.

The service of Champlain as quarter-master in the war in Brittany commenced
probably with the appointment of Marshal d'Aumont to the command of the
army in 1592, and, if we are right in this conjecture, it covered a period
of not far from six years. The activity of the army, and the difficulty of
obtaining supplies in the general destitution of the province, imposed upon
him constant and perplexing duty. But in the midst of his embarrassments he
was gathering up valuable experience, not only relating to the conduct of
war, but to the transactions of business under a great variety of forms. He
was brought into close and intimate relations with men of character,
standing, and influence. The knowledge, discipline, and self-control of
which he was daily becoming master were unconsciously fitting him for a
career, humble though it might seem in its several stages, but nevertheless
noble and potent in its relations to other generations.

At the close of the war, the army which it had called into existence
was disbanded, the soldiers departed to their homes, the office of
quarter-master was of necessity vacated, and Champlain was left
without employment.

Casting about for some new occupation, following his instinctive love of
travel and adventure, he conceived the idea of attempting an exploration of
the Spanish West Indies, with the purpose of bringing back a report that
should be useful to France. But this was an enterprise not easy either to
inaugurate or carry out. The colonial establishments of Spain were at that
time hermetically sealed against all intercourse with foreign nations.
Armed ships, like watch-dogs, were ever on the alert, and foreign
merchantmen entered their ports only at the peril of confiscation. It was
necessary for Spain to send out annually a fleet, under a convoy of ships
of war, for the transportation of merchandise and supplies for the
colonies, returning laden with cargoes of almost priceless value.
Champlain, fertile in expedient, proposed to himself to visit Spain, and
there form such acquaintances and obtain such influence as would secure to
him in some way a passage to the Indies in this annual expedition.

The Spanish forces, allies of the League in the late war, had not yet
departed from the coast of France. He hastened to the port of Blavet, [18]
where they were about to embark, and learned to his surprise and
gratification that several French ships had been chartered, and that his
uncle, a distinguished French mariner, commonly known as the _Provençal
Cappitaine_, had received orders from Marshal de Brissac to conduct the
fleet, on which the garrison of Blavet was embarked, to Cadiz in Spain.
Champlain easily arranged to accompany his uncle, who was in command of the
"St. Julian," a strong, well-built ship of five hundred tons.

Having arrived at Cadiz, and the object of the voyage having been
accomplished, the French ships were dismissed, with the exception of the
"St. Julian," which was retained, with the Provincial Captain, who had
accepted the office of pilot-general for that year, in the service of the
King of Spain.

After lingering a month at Cadiz, they proceeded to St. Lucar de Barameda,
where Champlain remained three months, agreeably occupied in making
observations and drawings of both city and country, including a visit to
Seville, some fifty miles in the interior.

In the mean time, the fleet for the annual visit to the West Indies, to
which we have already alluded, was fitting out at Saint Lucar, and about to
sail under the command of Don Francisco Colombo, who, attracted by the size
and good sailing qualities of the "Saint Julian," chartered her for the
voyage. The services of the pilot-general were required in another
direction, and, with the approbation of Colombo, he gave the command of the
"Saint Julian" to Champlain. Nothing could have been more gratifying than
this appointment, which assured to Champlain a visit to the more important
Spanish colonies under the most favorable circumstances.

He accordingly set sail with the fleet, which left Saint Lucar at the
beginning of January, 1599.

Passing the Canaries, in two months and six days they sighted the little
island of Deseada, [19] the _vestibule_ of the great Caribbean
archipelago, touched at Guadaloupe, wound their way among the group called
the Virgins, turning to the south made for Margarita, [20] then famous for
its pearl fisheries, and from thence sailed to St. Juan de Porto-rico. Here
the fleet was divided into three squadrons. One was to go to Porto-bello,
on the Isthmus of Panama, another to the coast of South America, then
called Terra Firma, and the third to Mexico, then known as New Spain. This
latter squadron, to which Champlain was attached, coasted along the
northern shore of the island of Saint Domingo, otherwise Hispaniola,
touching at Porto Platte, Mancenilla, Mosquitoes, Monte Christo, and Saint
Nicholas. Skirting the southern coast of Cuba, reconnoitring the Caymans,
[21] they at length cast anchor in the harbor of San Juan d'Ulloa, the
island fortress near Vera Cruz. While here, Champlain made an inland
journey to the City of Mexico, where he remained a month. He also sailed in
a _patache_, or advice-boat, to Porto-bello, when, after a month, he
returned again to San Juan d'Ulloa. The squadron then sailed for Havana,
from which place Champlain was commissioned to visit, on public business,
Cartagena, within the present limits of New Grenada, on the coast of South
America. The whole _armada_ was finally collected together at Havana,
and from thence took its departure for Spain, passing through the channel
of Bahama, or Gulf of Florida, sighting Bermuda and the Azores, reaching
Saint Lucar early in March, 1601, after an absence from that port of two
years and two months. [22]

On Champlain's return to France, he prepared an elaborate report of his
observations and discoveries, luminous with sixty-two illustrations
sketched by his own hand. As it was his avowed purpose in making the voyage
to procure information that should be valuable to his government, he
undoubtedly communicated it in some form to Henry IV. The document remained
in manuscript two hundred and fifty-seven years, when it was first printed
at London in an English translation by the Hakluyt Society, in 1859. It is
an exceedingly interesting and valuable tract, containing a lucid
description of the peculiarities, manners, and customs of the people, the
soil, mountains, and rivers, the trees, fruits, and plants, the animals,
birds, and fishes, the rich mines found at different points, with frequent
allusions to the system of colonial management, together with the character
and sources of the vast wealth which these settlements were annually
yielding to the Spanish crown.

The reader of this little treatise will not fail to see the drift and
tendency of Champlain's mind and character unfolded on nearly every page.
His indomitable perseverance, his careful observation, his honest purpose
and amiable spirit are at all times apparent. Although a Frenchman, a
foreigner, and an entire stranger in the Spanish fleet, he had won the
confidence of the commander so completely, that he was allowed by special
permission to visit the City of Mexico, the Isthmus of Panama, and the
coast of South America, all of which were prominent and important centres
of interest, but nevertheless lying beyond the circuit made by the squadron
to which he was attached.

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