Accrue to your name,which already each person prizes.19
There was one problem. Champlain was not a nobleman, and great enterprises in France were rarely led by commoners. But the more de Mons thought about it, the more he believed that Champlain would be the best choice. In the fall of 1607 he asked his younger friend to take command in New France. Here was an important opening for Champlain and his grand design. It was a major opportunity, but full of risk. Every French colony without exception had failed in North America. Even so, Champlain believed that he could succeed. He accepted the offer of de Mons, but on one condition. The two of them had to win back the king’s support for New France. In truth it could work in no other way.20
* * *
With Champlain’s encouragement, the sieur de Mons returned to court in the winter of 1607–08, and launched a campaign for the king’s ear. He made a strong appeal for a permanent colony and for the return of a trading monopoly to support it. He and Champlain added a new argument, and recent events supported them. While the French were failing to make good their claim in North America, the English were moving rapidly. In 1607, investors in London had founded colonies at Jamestown in Virginia, and Sagadahoc in Maine, which was within the territory claimed as New France. If these initiatives succeeded, France would be in danger of forfeiting its claims in North America. Were that to happen, merchants in Rouen and Paris would have no share of the fur trade whatever. Demands of French investors for free trade, low taxes, and no spending for colonies could only end in new monopolies for England and the Netherlands, from which the French would be excluded. Champlain felt deep contempt for these shortsighted businessmen. He declared, “These envious folk were clamoring not for their own advantage, but their own ruin.”21
The king was persuaded. He was also moved by reports from Poutrincourt about the success of agriculture at Port-Royal and the progress of Christianity in New France. On January 7, 1608, Henri IV issued a new decree. On the basis of “information that has been given to us by those who have come from New France, regarding the good quality and fertility of lands in that country, and that the inhabitants thereof are disposed to receive the knowledge of God, we have resolved to continue the settlement which has already begun there.”
The king overruled Sully and the council. He supported “the offer made to us by the sieur de Mons, Gentleman-in-Ordinary of our chamber, and our Lieutenant-General in that Country, to undertake the said settlement if we grant him the means and possibility of bearing the expense.” To that end, Henri IV further decreed that “none of our subjects but [de Mons] himself shall be permitted to barter in furs and other merchandise for the period of one year only.”22 It was one of the king’s typical compromises. The sieur de Mons would receive his new monopoly but only for twelve months to help him start again. Thereafter the king favored open trade. It was a slender reed for so large a mission, but de Mons and Champlain were ready to act.
The next step was to raise the money—no small task. De Mons used a combination of coercion and persuasion. In Rouen he employed a respected merchant named Lucas Le Gendre to be his “procureur général,” with full power to prosecute French traders without a license. De Mons brought suit against some of them and won enough judgments to prove that he could enforce his powers. During the next year, any Frenchman in the fur trade would have to do business with de Mons.23
Then de Mons went to the Atlantic seaports and made agreements with individual merchants who were his friends. In the Basque country, a small group agreed to send a large ship from Saint-Jean-de-Luz with a license from de Mons. He visited Saint-Malo and signed similar agreements with five merchants. Other arrangements were made in Dieppe, Le Havre, Honfleur, Rouen, La Rochelle, and Paris. A common provision was that a quarter of the profit should go to the De Mons Company.24
Altogether more than twenty-one vessels are known to have cleared from French ports for “Canada” in the spring of 1608, not counting many others that were bound for the fisheries of “Terre Neuve.” Many of the trading voyages appear to have been under some sort of agreement with the sieur de Mons. This method of mobilizing capital was different from what had been done for the Acadian voyages in 1603–05. In place of a corporate system with three major centers, this new initiative was an improvised web of agreements with individual merchants. More than forty have been identified by name. All these arrangements required major effort on the part of the sieur de Mons.25 Unlike the Acadian venture, this new mission was built on promissory notes, and colonizing expenses were met with borrowed money. The credit of the company was not strong. Much of the borrowing was done by individuals on their own credit, with interest charges in the range of 25 to 50 percent.26
As these precarious financial agreements began to fall into place, Champlain and the sieur de Mons had a hard choice to make. Where should they plant the next settlement? After the brutal winter on Sainte-Croix Island in 1604, the sieur de Mons still “hoped to go farther south to found a healthier and more temperate colony.” Champlain wanted to go north and settle on the St. Lawrence River.27 The two friends agreed to “meet in council,” and Champlain organized his thoughts carefully, as was his habit. He gathered evidence about the St. Lawrence Valley and framed an argument on “why it was more convenient and useful to establish a settlement there.” First on his list was the problem of security from attack by European powers, in light of recent English and Dutch activity. He predicted that Acadia would be “difficult to hold because of the infinite number of its harbors which could only be guarded by large forces.” The St. Lawrence Valley, on the other hand, could be controlled at a few choke points along the river.28
Champlain also favored the St. Lawrence for another reason. It was closer to the heart of the fur trade and “commerce could be carried on by means of the great river.” He was thinking of its many Indian nations with trading networks of their own. By contrast, he wrote, Acadia “was sparsely populated by sauvages, who on account of their small numbers cannot penetrate from these regions into the interior where sedentary people live, as one could by the river St. Lawrence.” He was planning a large trade over long distances between small numbers of Frenchmen and many Indian nations, all working together without coercion in an open relationship for mutual gain. This vision of New France was very different from that of New Spain or New England.29
To all this reasoning Champlain added the argument that more souls were to be saved in the St. Lawrence Valley. He argued that the Indian nations of that region were receptive to French colonists and the land was suitable to settlement. And especially important in Champlain’s thinking was the promise of a passage to Asia, through the St. Lawrence Valley and the great lakes to the west.30
The sieur de Mons perceived the strength of Champlain’s reasoning but persisted in his own purposes. The result was another compromise. The company would send three ships in the spring of 1608: two to found a permanent settlement in the St. Lawrence Valley and a third to revive the settlement in Acadia. Champlain wrote that de Mons “resolved to do that, and to this end he spoke about it to His Majesty, who agreed.”31
As mission commander, Champlain received the title of “lieutenant for the country of New France.” His orders were to negotiate a “treaty of amity” with the Indian nations, to plant a permanent settlement, and “to lay the foundation of a permanent edifice for the glory of God and the renown of the French people.” After many failures, permanence became an important purpose.32
For the first time in his colonizing career, Champlain was in command. His mentor, Pont-Gravé, would go in a secondary role, with instructions to trade in Tadoussac harbor and return in the fall with furs and fish that might pay the costs of colonization. In 1603, Pont-Gravé had been commander and Champlain was his subordinate. Now, five years later, their roles were reversed. It is a tribute to both men that they made it work. A division of labor was agreed between them. Pont-Gravé would look after the fur trade; Champlain would plant a permanent settlement.33
/> In the early weeks of 1608, Champlain and the sieur de Mons recruited their colonists. The Acadian expeditions of 1604 and 1606 had drawn from the top and bottom of French society. Champlain’s colonists in 1608 came more from the middle. There were few noblemen and gentlemen-adventurers. The leaders of this expedition were experienced seamen with long service as ships’ officers: Champlain, Pont-Gravé, and Captain Guillaume Le Testu. Historian John Dickinson observes that their colony was run on the model of a ship, following the customs of the sea—a pattern different from Port-Royal.34
Most of the settlers were skilled artisans and laborers in the building trades. Contracts survive for woodcutters, sawyers, carpenters, masons, smiths, laborers, and a surgeon. Champlain also hired a gardener named Martin Béguin. These men agreed to stay two years for annual salaries that ranged from 150 livres for skilled artisans to 65 livres for laborers. About half these men were able to sign their contracts—a larger proportion of literacy than in the population of France in 1608.35
Several youngsters came along, and two of them would loom large in the history of New France: Étienne Brülé and Nicolas Marsolet. No contracts survive for them. They may have come as engagés, or indentured servants. Champlain also had personal servants on most of his voyages from 1599 to 1635. He rarely referred to them by name, merely as anonymous lackeys (laquais). Once again this French expedition had no women, a surprising omission for a settlement that was to be permanent. Also, there were no Swiss soldiers, perhaps for reasons of economy.36
And no clergy came, which was a surprise. Everyone agreed that a major purpose of the colony was to aid in the conversion of American Indians to Christianity. That idea appeared in Champlain’s arguments, in the representations of the sieur de Mons, and in the king’s commission. But how could the work of conversion be done? Which religious order would be invited to participate? Who would pay? On these issues, there was no agreement.
The leaders of the last venture remembered the unhappy experiment with religious toleration in Acadia, which had led to constant strife between a Catholic priest and the Protestant pastor. Champlain wrote sadly, “Two contrary religions are never very fruitful to God’s glory among the infidels.” Something similar had happened when toleration was tried in Maryland, Rhode Island, and Eleutheria Island during the early seventeenth century.37
Champlain and the sieur de Mons agreed that something else should be done. At the urging of Henri IV they decided to approach the Jesuits. De Mons went to see the king’s Jesuit confessor, Father Pierre Coton. Henri wanted the Jesuits to work in New France and promised 2,000 livres to support them. A devout Catholic woman of great wealth, Madame de Guercheville, also gave the Jesuits a larger sum of 3,600 livres for missions in America. The sieur de Mons tried to persuade Coton to commit that money to missions in the St. Lawrence Valley, but they could not agree on terms. Champlain was asked to join the discussion, with no better success. He and de Mons decided to go without priests or chaplains. It was an ominous start for any venture in an age of faith.38
Early in the spring of 1608, the sieur de Mons and Champlain moved to the port of Honfleur on the river Seine. They chartered at least three ships.39 Champlain’s flagship was a large vessel, probably of 150 or 200 tons to judge by her cargo. Her captain was Guillaume Le Testu of Le Havre. The name of the vessel has not been found. A few seasons earlier Le Testu had been master of the ship Fleur-de-Lys; perhaps she was Champlain’s ship. The vessel was heavily laden with settlers, materials, supplies, and all “things necessary and proper for a settlement,” in Champlain’s phrase.40
The other vessels were very small. One was the Lévrier41 of only 80 tons, with Nicolas Marion (or Marien) as master and Pont-Gravé as commander. She carried some supplies for the settlement but was meant mainly to serve as a trading vessel in Tadoussac.42 A third vessel was chartered for a different mission. Her captain was Champlain’s friend the shipwright Champdoré. His orders were to sail to Port-Royal, resettle Acadia, explore the coast, and renew alliances with Indian nations.43
The small size of these vessels and the heavy borrowing at high interest were evidence of financial weakness in the De Mons Company. This mission was hanging by a thread. Money problems may also have been responsible for a late start. Champlain preferred to sail in March, but he appears to have met many delays in gathering men and material.44 Pont-Gravé sailed first on April 5, 1608. Champlain followed on April 13, very late in the season. He had lost a month of good weather, but the Atlantic passage was quick and uneventful. Champlain crossed the Grand Bank on May 15. Two weeks later he reached Isle Percée, a huge red sandstone rock 290 feet high and 1,500 feet long, with two natural stone arches. Even the aids to navigation were gigantic in this vast new world.45
Champlain continued up the St. Lawrence River and arrived at Tadoussac on June 3, 1608. There he found several ships, and they posed a major challenge to his leadership. Pont-Gravé had arrived earlier and found a Basque whaler anchored in the harbor. Her captain was buying furs from the Indians without a license. He was probably Martin Darretche, from a prominent French Basque family who worked out of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.46
Pont-Gravé told the Basques that they were in violation of a royal command. Darretche may have tangled with him before, as Basques and Malouins had long been rivals on the North American coast. Both were apt to fight first and ask questions later.47 The Basques were armed to the teeth and were determined to defend themselves, especially when challenged by a man of Saint-Malo. Pont-Gravé brought out the king’s commission, and the Basques ran out their guns. According to Champlain, Pont-Gravé attacked first and the Basques “defended themselves very well.” They brought “all of their cannon to bear” and in the first exchange of fire, Pont-Gravé fell severely wounded. Tree of his men were also hit, and one of them died. The Basque traders boarded the French ship, made Pont-Gravé their prisoner, seized “all his cannon and arms,” and promised to return them when they were ready to go home.48
Then Champlain arrived. He was very angry, both with the Basques and with Pont-Gravé. Later he wrote, “I was much annoyed at the brewing of a quarrel we could well have done without.” The Basques warned him that he could enter the harbor “only by force.” Champlain lacked the strength to impose his will by force of arms. He proposed a parley, and the Basque leaders agreed to talk.49
As they spoke, Captain Darretche began to have second thoughts about the use of force against men who carried the king’s commission. The Basques knew well that Henri IV moved swiftly to punish armed resistance against his authority, even as he offered generous rewards for loyalty. The Basques had been able to defeat the first French ship, but here was a second, and a third was close behind. Champlain continued his negotiations with patience and forbearance. “After a good deal of discussion,” he wrote, “I made peace between Pont-Gravé and [Darretche].” The Basques confessed to “a conviction of having done wrong.” They appear to have been worried mainly that “they should not be allowed to fish for whale,” which was not forbidden by de Mons’ commission. Champlain proposed a compromise. They were allowed to continue whaling, and perhaps to barter with the Indians under something like a license. Champlain also promised that he and Pont-Gravé would “undertake nothing against them while they were in New France.” In turn the Basques swore that they would “undertake nothing against Pont-Gravé nor against the king’s interest, nor that of the sieur de Mons.” All parties agreed that outstanding issues should go to courts in France, where “justice should be done.”50 The warring parties laid down their arms, signed a written agreement, and began to live together in peace. Champlain was good at this work of reconciliation. He had a genuine gift for peacemaking through a combination of firmness and restraint, and he used it many times in his career.
After peace was made with the Basques, Champlain anchored his ship beside them in the small circle of Tadoussac harbor. He tells us that he “set the carpenters to work,” fitting out a petit barque of 12 or 14 tons that had been
carried out from France for the purpose of exploring the St. Lawrence River. While he waited, Champlain met with the Montagnais Indians, who remembered him from his last visit in 1603. They traded American furs for French manufactures, and Champlain asked about the country north of Tadoussac. Once again, the Montagnais did not want him to go there, but allowed him to explore the lower reaches of the Saguenay River. He may have gone as far as Chicoutimi Falls, about a hundred miles upstream, and confirmed his earlier judgment that the valley was not a site for settlement. “All the land I saw there,” he wrote, “was nothing but mountains and rocky promontories, for the most part covered with spruce and birch.”51
While Champlain was searching the Saguenay to the north and Pont-Gravé was recovering from his wounds, their friend Champdoré led the third vessel on a southern voyage to the coast of Acadia. He visited Port-Royal, received a warm welcome from Membertou, chief of the Mi’kmaq, and found the settlement still intact. The Indians had guarded the buildings and tended the gardens and fields, which were flourishing. Membertou had harvested six or seven barrels of grain, and gave some of them to the French.52
The French leaders encouraged individual colonists to settle in Acadia with small proprietary grants, in an attempt to maintain their claims and keep the English at bay. Some of these settlements failed, but even the failures left behind a few Frenchmen who occupied the buildings, intermarried with Indians, and remained on the coast. In 1610, a French ship visited Sainte-Croix Island and found “a certain Frenchman … living with an Indian girl.”53
Champdoré sailed across the Bay of Fundy and cruised the coast as far south as the “land of the Almouchiquois.” There he worked to reconcile the Almouchiquois, Etchemin, and Souriquois with one another. The idea that the French sought to rule by pitting one group of Indians against another is not correct for the early seventeenth century. De Mons, Champlain, and Champdoré all believed that peace among the Indians was fundamental to their purposes.
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