All for the glory of God, whom I pray with my whole heart to grant you ever-increasing prosperity, and to make me, all my life, Monseigneur,
Your most humble,
Most faithful,
and Most obedient servant,
CHAMPLAIN.
AT QUEBEC, IN NEW FRANCE, the 15th of August, 1635.
In this letter will be found the key to Champlain's war-policy with the Iroquois, no where else so fully unfolded. We shall refer to this subject in the sequel.
Early in October, when the harvest of the year had ripened and been gathered in, and the leaves had faded and fallen, and the earth was mantled in the symbols of general decay, in sympathy with all that surrounded him, in his chamber in the little fort on the crest of the rocky promontory at Quebec, lay the manly form of Champlain, smitten with disease, which was daily breaking down the vigor and strength of his iron constitution. From loving friends he received the ministrations of tender and assiduous care. But his earthly career was near its end. The bowl had been broken at the fountain. Life went on ebbing away from week to week. At the end of two months and a half, on Christmas day, the 25th of December, 1635, his spirit passed to its final rest.
This otherwise joyous festival was thus clouded with a deep sorrow. No heart in the little colony was untouched by this event. All had been drawn to Champlain, so many years their chief magistrate and wise counsellor, by a spontaneous and irresistible respect, veneration, and love. It was meet, as it was the universal desire, to crown him, in his burial, with every honor which, in their circumstances, they could bestow. The whole population joined in a mournful procession. His spiritual adviser and friend, Father Charles Lalemant, performed in his behalf the last solemn service of the church. Father Paul Le Jeune pronounced a funeral discourse, reciting his virtues, his fidelity to the king and the Company of New France, his extraordinary love and devotion to the families of the colony, and his last counsels for their continued happiness and welfare. [114]
When these ceremonies were over his body was piously and tenderly laid to rest, and soon after a tomb was constructed for its reception expressly in his honor as the benefactor of New France. [115] The place of his burial [116] was within the little chapel subsequently erected, and which was reverently called La Chapelle de M. de Champlain, in grateful memory of him whose body reposed beneath its sheltering walls.
ENDNOTES:
110. This catechism, bearing the following title, is contained on fifteen pages in the ed. of 1632: Doctrine Chrestienne, du R. P. Ledesme de la Compagnie de Jesus. Traduîte en Langage Canadois, autre que celuy des Montagnars, pour la Conversion des habitans dudit pays. Par le R. P. Breboeuf de la mesme Compagnie. It is in double columns, one side Indian and the other French.
111. The following extracts will show that the chapel was erected in 1633, that it was built by Champlain, and that it was called Notre Dame de Recouvrance.