The poor Marquis de la Roche, unfortunate in his expedition, was equally so at court in his endeavours to obtain the aid which the king had promised him. "It being denied him," says Champlain, "at the instigation of certain persons who had no wish that the true worship of God should increase, or to see the Catholic, Apostolic, and Roman religion flourish in those parts."
The Marquis took all this so much to heart that he fell sick and died, having consumed all his property, and wasted his time and labour, in vain.
In the year following (1599), the sieur Chauvin, de Ponthuiet, captain in the Royal Marine, at the persuasion of Captain du Pont Gravé of St. Malo, (both Protestants), obtained a privilege for ten years, at the charge of forming a company for the colonization of Canada. Having equipped his vessels, he gave the command of one of them to Du Pont Gravé, and proceeding to the river St. Lawrence, arrived in safety at Tadoussac, at the junction of the Saguenay with that river. One of the objects which they were bound mainly to follow was the propagation of the Roman Catholic religion among the savages. Chauvin's people were for the most part Catholics, but the chiefs were Calvinists, which was not precisely adapted for the fulfilment of the projected purpose, "but that," again says Champlain, "was what they thought of the least."
Chauvin resolved to remain at Tadoussac, in spite of the remonstrances of Du Pont Gravé, who wished him to proceed higher up the river, having already been to "Three Rivers" in a previous voyage, trading with the Indians. M. de Monts (of whom we shall hear more hereafter), who had made the voyage with them for his pleasure, agreed with Du Pont Gravé, but Chauvin was obstinate, and set about erecting a habitation in the most disagreeable and unproductive spot in the country,—full of rocks, fir and birch trees, the land unfit for cultivation, and the cold so excessive, that "if there be an ounce of cold forty leagues up the river, there is a pound at Tadoussac." [ [11] ]
Chauvin posted sixteen men at a little stream near the house, to which they might retire upon occasion. The stores (little enough) were at the mercy of all, and soon began to run short, whereupon Chauvin returned to France, taking Du Pont Gravé and De Monts with him.
The men remaining at the intended settlement, quickly consumed the little provision left, and "the winter coming on soon taught them the difference between France and Tadoussac,—it was the court of king Petault, where every man commanded." [ [12] ] Indolence and carelessness, with sickness, soon did their work, and they were reduced to the necessity of giving themselves up to the Indian tribes around, who received them kindly. Many died, and all suffered extremely.
Chauvin, in 1600, prepared another expedition, which from the same causes was as fruitless as the first. He fitted out a third on a larger scale, but was not able to carry out his new plans, being attacked by a malady "which sent him to the other world." [ [13] ]
We have now arrived at the period of Champlain's first connection with Canadian discovery and colonization. The difficulties, dangers—not to say horrors—of the previous expeditions were enough to deter any but the most confident and resolute from attempting such an apparently hopeless task; but the hour and the man were come, and from the date of Chauvin's death a new era was to arise for Canada, and French colonization in North America was at last—to be.
Samuel Champlain, descended from a noble family of Saintonge, was born at Brouage, [ [14] ] a place formerly of some importance in that province, now an obscure town of the department of the Charente Inférieure. Of the date of his birth and of his earlier career there is no account extant; from the events of the last thirty-five or thirty-six years of his life we may, however, form a correct judgment of his attainments, which, in navigation, in military matters, and in general knowledge, were evidently of no common order. That he had early distinguished himself is also clear, and that his services were appreciated we may gather from the high favour with which he was regarded by the king, and from the friendship and constant protection with which he was honoured by one of the best and bravest, as well as most intelligent and devoted followers of Henry IV,—the Sieur Aymar de Chastes, governor of the town and château of Dieppe, who commanded the fleet appointed to cruize on the coast of Brittany during the latter years of the war with the League and the Spaniards, [ [15] ] and under whose orders Champlain had served. On Champlain's return from the voyage to the West Indies, of which the narrative is now for the first time published, he learned that Chauvin was dead, and that his friend, Mons. de Chastes, undeterred by the previous failures and disasters, had resolved to undertake the establishment of a colony in Canada, and even to proceed thither and devote the remainder of his well-spent life to the prosecution of the enterprise. The cause and manner of Champlain's embarking in the undertaking cannot be better narrated than in his own words.
"The fourth enterprise was that of the Sieur Commander de Chastes, a very honourable man, a good catholic, and worthy servant of the king, whom he had faithfully served on many signal occasions, and although his head was charged with grey hairs as with years, he resolved to proceed thither in person, and dedicate the remainder of his life to the service of his God and of his king, by fixing his residence and living and dying there gloriously: so he hoped, if God had not withdrawn him from this world sooner than he thought. He had very Christian designs, to which I can bear good witness, he having done me the honour of communicating somewhat of them. Soon after the death of Chauvin he obtained a new commission from the king, and as the expenses were very great, he formed a company with several gentlemen and with the principal merchants of Rouen and other places, on certain conditions: this being done, vessels were prepared, as well for the execution of the main design, as for discovery and peopling the country. Du Pont Gravé, as one who had already made the voyage and noticed the faults of the past, was (with commission from his majesty) chosen to proceed to Tadaussac, thence to go and examine the Sault St. Louis and the country beyond, in order to make a report on his return for the better preparation of a second voyage, when the said commander, De Chastes, would quit his government (of Dieppe), and, with the permission of his majesty, who truly loved him, proceed to the country of New France.