ONE OF THE MEMBERS OF THE SOCIETY IS KILLED; THE OTHERS ARE EXPELLED FROM CANADA.
IN THE FIRST onset, Gilbert du Thet, a household assistant of the Society, was stricken with a mortal wound, and on the following day piously departed this life. The rest of the Fathers, who were standing on the shore, were captured by Argall, the English commander.[63] This man, while he was taking an inventory of the plunder and equipment of the French ship, surreptitiously removed from the trunk of Saussaye, the captain of the French vessel, and commander of the expedition, the royal commission upon whose authority all the proceedings of the new colony were based. Soon meeting Saussaye himself, returning from the shore, Argall asked him by what right, by whose authority, he was founding a new colony so near Virginia. Saussaye cited the royal commission, which he asserted that he had, duly drawn up, in one of his trunks. When they came to these, he saw them untouched and locked, and all things disposed in their proper places; but no commission appeared. Thereupon Argall, changing his countenance and voice to severity, pronounced them runaways and pirates, and declared that they deserved death; while at the same time he delivered over the ship to his men to be plundered. Meanwhile the Fathers besought him to adopt mild measures toward the vanquished, against whom no other fault could be charged than that, in a peaceful situation, they had been too careless; they testified that the authority and favor of the King of France had certainly been given to the colony. The captain, who was thoroughly conscious of the truth of their statements, listened to them kindly, and gave to all the opportunity of returning to France. The unhappy crowd was placed upon two small ships, one of which directed its course straight towards France; the other, with some of the English, sailed for Virginia, thence to depart for France. Fathers Biard and Quentin embarked upon the latter; Father Massé and Saussaye upon the former. The fortunes of these ships were widely diverse. While that which carried Saussaye and Father Massé was coasting along the shore, destitute of provisions, of seamen, and of equipment, she fell upon two ships preparing to return to France. She gladly joined herself to these, and, with her passengers, arrived in a few days at St. Malo, a town of Brittany.
Meanwhile Argall, the commander of the English fleet, in order that he might conduct Fathers Biard and Quentin to Virginia, as had been resolved upon, preceded them a little with his flag-ship. Virginia was then ruled by a ferocious Englishman,[64] who was extremely hostile to the French name and to our Society. [325] When he heard that Jesuits had arrived, he exclaimed that such extremely wicked men, the sepulchers of piety and religion, ought to be destroyed. Argall strove against him, and declared that, while he lived, no annoyance or injury should be offered to the Fathers, for he had given them this assurance; and he produced the royal commission, by authority of which the French colony was brought to New France. Incensed by this commission, the man declared in a rage that the French must be driven from New France. In this decision the English councilors agreed. Argall was ordered to retrace his path; to expel those of the French who remained; to destroy their buildings, and level them with the ground. He returned, burned the forts built upon the Canadian coast, destroyed everything, and seized two ships which he found at Port Royal.[65]
While these things were taking place in Canada, of the English ships which were following the lead of Argall some were driven far from Virginia by the violence of the wind; others were swamped by the waves. One, which the Englishman Turnell[66] commanded, and in which Fathers Quentin and Biard were being conveyed, after being driven continuously for sixteen days by tempests, was quickly borne to the Azores, islands on the coast of Africa belonging to the Portuguese. But here a new danger arose. Turnell, fearing punishment because he was carrying with him and was holding under unjust conditions priests of the Society, who had been torn from their homes and robbed with the greatest brutality, began to consider plans for making way with them. Finally it seemed better to him to take refuge in their clemency and mildness, which he had observed amid the most grievous injuries. Nevertheless, he took measures that they should not enter the port, thinking that while the ship stood at anchor he might procure the necessary provisions by sending in a small boat. The contrary to what he had expected happened. For, impelled by an inshore breeze, he entered the harbor, although unwillingly and reluctantly. Our friends, contrary to his deserts, interposed not even a word by which he might be accused, rejoicing because they had, in this manner, saved an enemy. The English captain recognized their kindness, and afterwards often spoke with great praise of the Fathers. But this he did much more unreservedly when, borne by a storm to Pembroke, a city of England, he was suspected by the officials of that town of piracy on the high seas, because he was sailing in a French ship and produced no written authority by which he might justify his voyage. When he asserted that he had been separated by a storm from his commander, Argall, no credence was given to him. In this crisis he mentioned as witnesses the two priests of the Society whom he had in the ship, and whose uncorrupted integrity could be doubted by no one. When the Fathers, on being questioned, had given assurance that the affair was thus, he was released from danger. He made the requital which was due to their kindness, and took care that they should not only suffer no harm, but even that they should be shown honor by the officials. Meantime the ambassador of the Most Christian King, upon being informed of the toilsome voyage of the Fathers, carried on negotiations with the King of England concerning their restoration to France. With his consent, they arrived, in the tenth month after their capture, joyfully and safely among their Brethren at Amiens.