Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume IV.djvu/259

 CHAMPLAIN 251 named Lake Champlain. Meeting a large Iro- quois force on the lake, both parties landed and threw up bulwarks of trees. They engaged next day, and Champlain, killing two Iroquois chiefs and mortally wounding another with his arquebuse, decided the day. The Iroquois fled, and were pursued by the allies, who killed and took many. By this step Canada became a party to the Iroquois war, which lasted with occasional intermissions till the end of the French rule. In September Champlain re- turned to France, leaving Pierre Chavin of Dieppe in command at Quebec. De Monts had lost some of his privileges, but not his zeal for exploring America. Champlain sailed back in March, 1610, with a number of mechanics. The Montagnais again called for his aid, which he gave, to obtain their cooperation in his ex- plorations. An Iroquois force on the Sorel was attacked and their fort stormed, Cham- plain receiving a severe wound in the action. Hastening back to France again in 1611, he left Du Pare in his place, and married Helen Boulle", a girl of 12, who was then a Prot- estant, but who outlived him to die as an Ursu- line nun. He made a short visit to Canada, but returned to France to labor for it there. De Monts had lost his influence, the merchants interested had grown tired of the expense, and the whole scheme of colonization was about to be abandoned. Champlain induced the count -de Soissons to take the matter in hand, and that nobleman obtained a commission appoint- ing him governor and lieutenant general of New France, Oct. 8, 1612. Champlain was appointed his lieutenant a week later, and received the same position under the prince de Conde, who shortly after succeeded to the rights of De Soissons. He sent over some ves- sels, but in 1613 sailed himself to explore the Ottawa, which one Vignau pretended to have ascended to a lake, and thence to the North sea, where he had seen the wreck of an Eng- lish ship. He left St. Helen's island, near Montreal, so called in honor of his child wife, May 2Y, 1613 ; but on entering the Ottawa he soon discovered Vignau's fraud. Cham- plain however arranged better terms for the fur trade, and returning to France formed a trading company, and in 1615 brought over Pere Denis Jamay and two other Recollect priests, with a lay brother, to attend to the spiritual concerns of the new colony. One of these, Pere Caron, immediately set out for the country of the Hurons on Georgian bay. Cham- plain followed by the tedious Ottawa route, and taking command of a force entered the present New York territory to attack the palisaded town of the Entouohonoron, mem- bers or allies of the Iroquois league. Owing to the insubordination of his Hurons he was repulsed in his assault, and received two wounds in the knee and leg. He was carried back to their town, and on his recovery visit- ed the Tionontates and Ottawas, and in the spring returned to Quebec and France. For some years Canada languished, and Champlain was actively engaged on both sides of the At- lantic to save it from utter extinction. When the duke de Montmorency succeeded Conde in 1620, Champlain grew more sanguine, and brought over his young wife, who remained till 1624, often experiencing great hardship. The De Caens, merchants, had now acquired the trade ; Quebec was fortified and began ac- tually to increase, when the duke de Ventadour in 1625 acquired the viceroyalty, and went energetically to work to build up Canada, and sent over the first Jesuit missionaries to aid the Recollects in winning the natives to Chris- tianity. A new danger menaced the struggling colony. In July, 1628, an English fleet under David Kirke and his two brothers, born in France though of English origin, summoned Champlain to surrender Quebec. His answer was so bold that Kirke retired after commit- ting some depredations. The Canada company, formed by Cardinal Richelieu, had just sent out settlers and provisions. On these Cham- plain depended, but Kirke intercepted and cap- tured the fleet ; and Champlain, after wintering at Quebec in great distress, surrendered to Louis and Thomas Kirke July 19, 1629. He was nearly recaptured on his way down the St. Lawrence by Emery de Caen, but was carried to England, and subjected to some harsh treatment. By the treaty of St. Ger- main-en-Laye, concluded in 1632, Canada was restored ; and Champlain, reinstated as govern- or, sailed from Dieppe in 1633, with three vessels, well equipped. He was welcomed by the settlers and the Indians. The Jesuit mis- sionaries resumed their labors among the In- dians, while he did all in his power to develop the colony and strengthen it against future attack, establishing a post on Richelieu island, and founding Three Rivers. He did not long survive, dying two years after his arrival, and leaving Bras de Fer de Chateaufort to direct the colony till the arrival of a new governor. Champlain, apart from his merits as a dis- coverer, was a noteworthy man. His zeal for the propagation of Christianity was great. A saying of his is preserved, that the salvation of one soul is of more importance than the founding of a new empire. While in Canada he devoted himself wholly to the duties of his position, and apparently with a single eye to benefit his patrons. Although traffic with the Indians was very lucrative, he never engaged in it. His views of justice were stern and up- right, yet tempered with mercy. He has been accused of credulity in repeating the stories told him by the Indians, but he does not ex- press his own belief in them. Besides the volume Des sauvages, in 1603, he published Voyages in 1613, with very valuable charts of the New England coast ; Voyages, 1619 (re- printed 1627) ; and in 1632 a volume containing a very badly executed abridgment of the previ- ous voyages, without their valuable maps, and a continuation from 1619. The volume contains