George Warburton - The Conquest of Canada, Vol. 1

"Tadoussac, one hundred and forty miles below Quebec, is a post belonging to the Hudson Bay Company, and is the residence of one of its partners and an agent. They alone are allowed to trade with the Indians in the interior. At Tadoussac is a Roman Catholic chapel, a store and warehouse, and some eight or ten dwellings. Here is erected a flag-staff, surrounded by several pieces of cannon, on an eminence elevated about fifty feet, and overlooking the inner warehouse, where is a sufficient depth of water to float the largest vessels. This place was early settled by the French, who are said to have here erected the first dwelling built of stone and mortar in Canada, and the remains of it are still to be seen. The view is exceedingly picturesque from this point. The southern shore of the St. Lawrence may be traced, even with the naked eye, for many a league; the undulating line of snow-white cottages stretching far away to the east and west; while the scene is rendered gay and animated by the frequent passage of the merchant vessel plowing its way toward the port of Quebec, or hurrying upon the descending tide to the Gulf; while, from the summit of the hill upon which Tadoussac stands, the sublime and impressive scenery of the Saguenay rises to view."— Picturesque Tourist , p. 267 (New York, 1844).

"The colony that was sent to Canada this year was among the number of those things that had not my approbation; there was no kind of riches to be expected from all those countries of the New World which are beyond the fortieth degree of latitude. His majesty gave the conduct of this expedition to the Sieur de Monts."— Memoirs of Sully , b. xvi., p. 241, English translation.

The pious Romanist, Champlain, thus details the inconveniences caused by the different creeds of the Frenchmen composing the expedition of De Monts: "Il se trouva quelque chose à redire en cette entreprise, qui est en ce que deux religions contraires ne font jamais un grand fruit pour la gloire de Dieu parmi les infidèles que l'on veut convertir. J'ai vu le ministre et notre curé s'entre battre à coups de poing, sur le différend de la religion. Je ne sçais pas qui étoit le plus vaillant et qui donnoit le meilleur coup, mas je sçais très bien que le ministre se plaignoit quelquefois au Sieur de Monts d'avoir été battue, et vuidoit en cette façon les points de controversie. Je vous laisse à penser si cela étoit beau à voir; les sauvages étoient tantôt d'une partie, tantôt d'une autre, et les François mêlés selon leurs diverses croyances, disoit pis que pendre de l'une et de l'autre religion, quoique le Sieur de Monts y apportât la paix le plus qu'il pouvoit."— Voyages de la Nouvelle France Occidentale, dite Canada, faits par le Sieur de Champlain à Paris , 1632.

De Poutrincourt had been accompanied, in his last voyage from France, by Marc Lescarbot, well known as one of the best historians of the early French colonists. His memoirs and himself are thus described by Charlevoix: "Un avocat de Paris, nommé Marc L'Escarbot, homme d'esprit et fort attaché à M. de Poutrincourt, avoit eu la curiosité de voir le Nouveau Monde. Il animoit les uns, il piequoit les autres d'honneur, il se faisoit aimer de tous, et ne s'épargnoit lui-même en rien. Il inventoit tous les jours quelque chose de nouveau pour l'utilité publique, et jamais on ne comprit mieux de quelle ressource peut être dans un nouvel établissement, un esprit cultivé par l'étude.... C'est à cet avocat, que nous sommes redevable des meilleurs mémoires que nous ayons de ce qui s'est passé sous ses yeux. On y voit un auteur exact, judicieux, et un homme, qui eut été aussi capable d'établir une colonie que d'en écrire une histoire." (Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 185.) The title of L'Escarbot's work is "Histoire de la Nouvelle France, par Marc L'Escarbot, Avocat en Parlement, témoin oculaire d'une partie des choses y récitées: à Paris, 1609."

"Argall se fondait sur une concession de Jacques I., qui avait permis à ses sujets de s'etablir jusqu'au quarante cinq degrés, et il crut pouvoir profiter de la foiblesse des Français pour les traitre en usurpateurs.... Si Poutrincourt avoit été dans son fort avec trente hommes bien armés, Argall n'auroit pas même eu l'assurance de l'attaquer … en deux heures de tems le fen consuma tout ce que les Français possedoient dans une colonie où l'on avait déjà depensé plus de cent mille écus.... Celui qui y perdit davantage, fut M. de Poutrincourt qui, depuis ce tems là ne songea plus a l'Amérique. Il rentra dans le service, où il s'était déjà par plusieurs belles actions et mourut au lit d'honneur."—Jean de Laët.

In 1621, James I. conferred Acadia upon Sir William Alexander, who gave it the name of Nova Scotia. At the treaty of St. Germain-en-Laye, in 1632, it was restored to the French; again taken by the English, it was again restored to France by the treaty of Breda, in 1667. In 1710, when Acadia was taken by General Nicholson, the English perceived its importance for their commerce. They obtained its formal and final cession at the treaty of Utrecht, 1713.

"It was at this time that the name of New France was first given to Canada."—Charlevoix. tom. i., p. 232.

Champlain, part i., p. 231; Charlevoix, vol. i., p. 236.

Seven or eight years before the arrival of the PP. Recollets at Quebec, Roman Catholic missionaries had found their way to Nova Scotia. They were Jesuits. It was remarkable that Henry IV., whose life had been twice attempted by the Jesuits,[ By Barrière in 1593; by Jean Châtel in 1594. He finally perished by the hand of Ravaillac, in 1610. See Sully's Memoirs, b. vi., vii.; Cayet, Chron. Noven., b.v.; Père de Chalons, tom. iii., p. 245, quoted by Sully] should have earnestly urged their establishment in America. When Port Royal was ceded to Poutrincourt by De Monts, the king intimated to him that it was time to think of the conversion of the savages, and that it was his desire that the Jesuits should be employed in this work. Charlevoix acknowledges that De Poutrincourt was "un fort honnête homme, et sincèrement attaché à la religion Catholique"—nevertheless, his prejudices against Jesuits were so strong, that "il étoit bien résolu de ne les point mene au Port Royal." On various pretexts he evaded obeying the royal commands, and when, the year after, the Jesuits were sent out to him, at the expense of Madame de Gruercheville, and by the orders of the queen's mother, he rendered their stay at Port Royal as uncomfortable as was consistent with his noble and generous character, vigilantly guarding against their acquiring any dangerous influence. His former prejudices could not have been lessened by the assassination of Henry IV.[ Henri s' était montré bienveillant pour les Jésuites, encore que les parlemens et tous ceux qui tenoient, á la magistrature ressentoient plus de prévention contre ces religieux que les Hugonots eux-mêmes.... Henri IV. fit abattre la pyramide qui avait été élevée en mémoire de l' attentat de Jean Châtel contre lui, parce que l' inscription qu' elle portait inculpait les Jésuites d'avoir excité à cet assassinat.—Sismondi: Histoire des Français . See De Thou, tom. ix., p. 696, 704; tom. x., p. 26 à 30] The two Jesuits selected by P. Cotton, Henry IV.'s confessor, for missionary labors in Acadia, were P. Pierre Biast and P. Enemond Masse. They were taken prisoners at the time of Argall's descent on Acadia, 1614, and conveyed to England.—Charlevoix, tom. i., p. 189, 216.

When Champlain first laid the foundations of the fort in 1623, to which he gave the name of St. Louis, it is evident that he was actuated by views, not of a political, but a commercial character. When Montmagny rebuilt the fort in 1635, it covered about four acres of ground, and formed nearly a parallelogram. Of these works only a few vestiges remain, except the eastern wall, which is kept in solid repair.—Bonchette.