[ ] [ [19] ] In the beginning of 1620, the Duke de Montmorency was created viceroy and lieutenant-general of New France and the neighbouring islands and coasts, from Florida along the sea coast to the Arctic circle; to the west, from Newfoundland to the Great Lake, called the Freshwater Sea (Lake Superior), with all the lands adjoining the rivers which flow into the St. Lawrence, or Great River of Canada; the ports of Tadoussac and of Quebec, etc., etc.
[ ] [ [20] ] It was not so much the worry of the Duke de Montmorency, as the intrigues of the Jesuits, which induced him to give up, or rather sell, the viceroyalty. The whole negotiation is explained in the Hist. Canadensis of the Jesuit Du Creux (or Creuxius, as he styles himself), Paris, 1664. The Duke de Ventadour was very devout, had even taken holy orders, and was quite in the Jesuits' hands: they wishing to get, or rather strengthen their footing in Canada, after many expedients, settled the matter as follows: "Viâ certa demum hæc judicata; Pro rege Novæ Franciæ dignitatem à Duce Montmorantio, coëmeret Ventadorius.... Nec mora, agit continuò cum Montmorantio Ventadorius; cum eoque brevi decidit in Librarum Turonensium (Livres Tournois) centum millia, et quod excurrit hæc tam grandi pecunia pene profundendiâ illustrissime testatus, quam sibi cordi, Canadensis res esset."—Lib. i, p. 4. One hardly knows which most to admire, the simplicity of the worthy "Creuxius" in thus letting out the secret, or the abominable Latin in which he narrates the whole affair.
[ ] [ [21] ] Scarcity of provisions. "Nec minus animo Camplenius angebatur, Galli remanebant quinque et quinquaginta, quibus in istis angustiis difficultatibusque, victum quotidianum tandiu præbere haud facillimum merito putabatur, etc,"—Du Creux, Hist. Canadensis, lib. i, p. 13.
[ ] [ [22] ] Three young girls. "Accessere sub extremum Januarium virgunculæ indigenæ tres, ultro præter morem, oblutæ à parentibus ... partem metu, ne Gallorum duorum cædem, quos Barbari aliquot dormientes, recens, per summam inhumanitatem oppresserant, Camplenius gravius ulcisceretur, etc."—Du Creux, Hist. Canadensis, lib. i, p. 13.
[ ] [ [23] ] "In summâ inopiâ, pernegante Pontio-Gravæo!"—Du Creux.
[ ] [ [24] ] On the 29th April, 1627, another company for the trade with New France, to the exclusion of all previous associations, and styled the Company of the Hundred Associates, was organized, and the articles settled and signed, under the especial patronage and influence of the Cardinal de Richelieu; and on the 29th June the Duke de Ventadour resigned the post of viceroy of New France, in consideration of the sum of seventy thousand livres, which the President de Lauzun promised him on the part of the king. The "Great Cardinal" had been already invested in 1626 with the direction of all naval affairs, under the title of Grand Master and Superintendant of Navigation and Commerce, those of admiral and vice-admiral of France being suppressed. His first care was to put down the rival companies, and take the trade into his own hands; the next, to get rid of the Jesuits, and their tool the Duke de Ventadour.
[ ] [ [25] ] "Fauces illas, aditusque fluminis obsidebat jam aliquandiu David Kersius, Anglus, ab navibus, militibusque Rupemontio instructor ... præmonitus pridem ab exulceratis Cadomianis (De Caen), qui exclusos sese ab Novâ Franciâ, tantâ vel ignominiâ, vel rei familiaris jacturâ impotentissimé ferebant, de navium transmissarum numero, de Noyrotis actuario nominatim, de militum robore, de commeatu, de omnibus denique, quæ hostis incendere cupiditatem, vel stimulare diligentiam, vel cautionem munire posse videbantur."—De Creux, lib. i.
[ ] [ [26] ] Champlain, however, shortly after received a commission from the king, Louis XIII, appointing him commandant in New France under Cardinal Richelieu, ordering him also to take an inventory of all goods and property of every kind belonging to De Caen, and to have them valued; and also, to send without delay an account of the state of the settlement, the number of acres of cleared land, and plans of the fort and buildings, etc., for the deliberation of the royal council.
[ ] [ [27] ] De Caen found means not only to disarm suspicion of his treachery and collusion with Michel, but contrived to obtain a sort of compensation for his exclusion from the company of the "Cent Associés." On the 1st January, 1633, Cardinal Richelieu gave permission to the Sieur Guillaume De Caen to establish colonies on certain islands in the West Indies, with exclusive privileges for a term of years, "provided the said islands were not already inhabited by Christians, and that none but Roman Catholics should be allowed to settle there." I cannot find any further mention of De Caen and his enterprises.
[ ] [ [28] ] "Traîté de la Marine et du Devoir d'un bon Marinier."