Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the Years 1599-1602Champlain, Samuel de
History
Narrative of a Voyage to the West Indies and Mexico in the Years 1599-1602
Champlain, Samuel de
Mexico -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800; West Indies -- Description and travel -- Early works to 1800
Champlain has not left any relation of his subsequent proceedings. The
account of his Voyages in New France, which in fact is his
autobiography for twenty-seven eventful years of the most interesting
period of his life, terminates in 1629-30. He subsequently added a
short notice of the events which occurred in the colony, of which he
was justly styled the father, during the year 1631; and in 1632, he
published the whole narrative, with the addition of a "Treatise on
Navigation and of the Duties of a good Mariner,"[28] and an abridgement
of the Christian doctrine in the French and Huron languages. He appears
to have been fully occupied during his stay in France, from the end of
1629 to 1632, with the preparation and publication of his voyages and
discoveries, and with pleading the cause of his favourite colony, his
own creation, which was in danger of being abandoned, some considering
it as not worth preserving, having cost large sums, without having
returned any adequate profit. However, he gained his point, and Canada
was restored to France by the treaty of St. Germain in 1632.
[28] "Traîté de la Marine et du Devoir d'un bon Marinier."
In 1633 the "Company of New France" resumed all its rights; and
Champlain was again named Governor of the Colony of Quebec and all its
dependencies, where affairs had gone on but badly during the English
occupation, and his absence. The worthy Father François Du Creux, or
"Creuxius," of the Society of Jesus, thus notices Champlain's arrival
at Quebec: "To the incredible delight both of the French and natives,
Champlain returned. On the 11th of June, at sunrise, a great explosion
of bombards was heard, which threw the settlement into great agitation,
lest an English ship, whose arrival at Tadoussac had been announced
three days before, should have turned out to be an enemy or a pirate;
and what if the peace between England and France should be at an end?
But persons sent to explore, brought back the news of Champlain's
coming; then fear was changed to gratulation: all would now be well,
and the proper administration of Canadian affairs would be restored to
full activity by Champlain." The "father of the colony" brought with
him ample supplies in men, arms, and munitions of all kinds, for the
defence and support of the settlement; and, for its spiritual comfort,
a reinforcement of Jesuits. He continued to govern the colony with his
usual wisdom and goodness, endeavouring by all means in his power to
promote Christianity among the Indians, and he succeeded in
establishing a mission with the Hurons. Under his firm and equitable
rule, the colony rapidly increased in numbers, wealth, and consequent
importance; and at the time of his death some progress was made in the
foundation of a college at Quebec.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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