But a permanent and effective alliance with these tribes carried with it of necessity a solemn assurance of aid against their enemies. This Champlain promptly promised without hesitation, and the next year he fulfilled his promise by leading them to battle on the shores of Lake Champlain. At all subsequent periods he regarded himself as committed to aid his allies in their hostile expeditions against the Iroquois. In his printed journal, he offers no apology for his conduct in this respect, nor does he intimate that his views could be questioned either in morals or sound policy. He rarely assigns any reason whatever for engaging in these wars. In one or two instances he states that it seemed to him necessary to do so in order to facilitate the discoveries which he wished to make, and that he hoped it might in the end be the means of leading the savages to embrace Christianity. But he nowhere enters upon a full discussion of this point. It is enough to say, in explanation of this silence, that a private journal like that published by Champlain, was not the place in which to foreshadow a policy, especially as it might in the future be subject to change, and its success might depend upon its being known only to those who had the power to shape and direct it. But nevertheless the silence of Champlain has doubtless led some historians to infer that he had no good reasons to give, and unfavorable criticisms have been bestowed upon his conduct by those, who did not understand the circumstances which influenced him, or the motives which controlled his action.
The war-policy of Champlain was undoubtedly very plainly set forth in his correspondence and interviews with the viceroys and several companies under whose authority he acted. But these discussions, whether oral or written, do not appear in general to have been preserved. Fortunately a single document of this character is still extant, in which his views are clearly unfolded. In Champlain's remarkable letter to Cardinal de Richelieu, which we have introduced a few pages back, his policy is fully stated. It is undoubtedly the same that he had acted upon from the beginning, and explains the frankness and readiness with which, first and last, as a faithful ally, he had professed himself willing to aid the friendly tribes in their wars against the Iroquois. The object which he wished to accomplish by this tribal war was, as fully stated in the letter to which we have referred, first, to conquer the Iroquois or Five Nations; to introduce peaceful relations between them and the other surrounding tribes; and, secondly, to establish a grand alliance of all the savage tribes, far and near, with the French. This could only be done in the order here stated. No peace could be secured from the Iroquois, except by their conquest, the utter breaking down of their power. They were not susceptible to the influence of reason. They were implacable, and had been brutalized by long-inherited habits of cruelty. In the total annihilation of their power was the only hope of peace. This being accomplished, the surviving remnant would, according to the usual custom among the Indians, readily amalgamate with the victorious tribes, and then a general alliance with the French could be easily secured. This was what Champlain wished to accomplish. The pacification of all the tribes occupying both sides of the St. Lawrence and the chain of northern lakes would place the whole domain of the American continent, or as much of it as it would be desirable to hold, under the easy and absolute control of the French nation.
Such a pacification as this would secure two objects; objects eminently important, appealing strongly to all who desired the aggrandizement of France and the progress and supremacy of the Catholic faith. It would secure for ever to the French the fur-trade of the Indians, a commerce then important and capable of vast expansion. The chief strength and resources of the savages allied with the French, the Montagnais, Algonquins, and Hurons, were at that period expended in their wars. On the cessation of hostilities, their whole force would naturally and inevitably be given to the chase. A grand field lay open to them for this exciting occupation. The fur-bearing country embraced not only the region of the St. Lawrence and the lakes, but the vast and unlimited expanse of territory stretching out indefinitely in every direction. The whole northern half of the continent of North America, filled with the most valuable fur-producing mammalia, would be open to the enterprise of the French, and could not fail to pour into their treasury an incredible amount of wealth. This Champlain was far-sighted enough to see, and his patriotic zeal lead him to desire that France should avail herself of this opportunity. [118]
But the conquest of the Iroquois would not only open to France the prospect of exhaustless wealth, but it would render accessible a broad, extensive, and inviting field of missionary labor. It would remove all external and physical obstacles to the speedy transmission and offer of the Christian faith to the numberless tribes that would thus be brought within their reach.
The desire to bring about these two great ulterior purposes, the augmentation of the commerce of France in the full development of the fur-trade, and the gathering into the Catholic church the savage tribes of the wilderness, explains the readiness with which, from the beginning, Champlain encouraged his Indian allies and took part with them in their wars against the Five Nations. In the very last year of his life, he demanded of Richelieu the requisite military force to carry on this war, reminding him that the cost would be trifling to his Majesty, while the enterprise would be the most noble that could be imagined.
In regard to the domestic and social life of Champlain, scarcely any documents remain that can throw light upon the subject. Of his parents we have little information beyond that of their respectable calling and standing. He was probably an only child, as no others are on any occasion mentioned or referred to. He married, as we have seen, the daughter of the Secretary of the King's Chamber, and his wife, Hélène Boullé, accompanied him to Canada in 1620, where she remained four years. They do not appear to have had children, as the names of none are found in the records at Quebec, and, at his death, the only claimant as an heir, was a cousin, Marie Cameret, who, in 1639, resided at Rochelle, and whose husband was Jacques Hersant, controller of duties and imposts. After Champlain's decease, his wife, Hélène Boullé, became a novice in an Ursuline convent in the faubourg of St. Jacques in Paris. Subsequently, in 1648, she founded a religious house of the same order in the city of Meaux, contributing for the purpose the sum of twenty thousand livres and some part of the furnishing. She entered the house that she had founded, as a nun, under the name of Sister Hélène de St. Augustin, where, as the foundress, certain privileges were granted to her, such as a superior quality of food for herself, exemption from attendance upon some of the longer services, the reception into the convent, on her recommendation, of a young maiden to be a nun of the choir, with such pecuniary assistance as she might need, and the letters of her brother, the Father Eustache Boullé, were to be exempted from the usual inspection. She died at Meaux, on the 20th day of December, 1654, in the convent which she had founded. [119]
As an explorer, Champlain was unsurpassed by any who visited the northern coasts of America anterior to its permanent settlement. He was by nature endowed with a love of useful adventure, and for the discovery of new countries he had an insatiable thirst. It began with him as a child, and was fresh and irrepressible in his latest years. Among the arts, he assigned to navigation the highest importance. His broad appreciation of it and his strong attachment to it, are finely stated in his own compact and comprehensive description.
"Of all the most useful and excellent arts, that of navigation has always seemed to me to occupy the first place. For the more hazardous it is, and the more numerous the perils and losses by which it is attended, so much the more is it esteemed and exalted above all others, being wholly unsuited to the timid and irresolute. By this art we obtain a knowledge of different countries, regions, and realms. By it we attract and bring to our own land all kinds of riches; by it the idolatry of paganism is overthrown and Christianity proclaimed throughout all the regions of the earth. This is the art which won my love in my early years, and induced me to expose myself almost all my life to the impetuous waves of the ocean, and led me to explore the coasts of a part of America, especially those of New France, where I have always desired to see the Lily flourish, together with the only religion, catholic, apostolic, and Roman."
In addition to his natural love for discovery, Champlain had a combination of other qualities which rendered his explorations pre-eminently valuable. His interest did not vanish with seeing what was new. It was by no means a mere fancy for simple sight-seeing. Restlessness and volatility did not belong to his temperament. His investigations were never made as an end, but always as a means. His undertakings in this direction were for the most part shaped and colored by his Christian principle and his patriotic love of France. Sometimes one and sometimes the other was more prominent.
His voyage to the West Indies was undertaken under a twofold impulse. It gratified his love of exploration and brought back rare and valuable information to France. Spain at that time did not open her island-ports to the commerce of the world. She was drawing from them vast revenues in pearls and the precious metals. It was her policy to keep this whole domain, this rich archipelago, hermetically sealed, and any foreign vessel approached at the risk of capture and confiscation. Champlain could not, therefore, explore this region under a commission from France. He accordingly sought and obtained permission to visit these Spanish possessions under the authority of Spain herself. He entered and personally examined all the important ports that surround and encircle the Caribbean Sea, from the pearl-bearing Margarita on the south, Deseada on the east, to Cuba on the west, together with the city of Mexico, and the Isthmus of Panama on the mainland. As the fruit of these journeyings, he brought back a report minute in description, rich in details, and luminous with illustrations. This little brochure, from the circumstances attendant upon its origin, is unsurpassed in historical importance by any similar or competing document of that period. It must always remain of the highest value as a trustworthy, original authority, without which it is probable that the history of those islands, for that period, could not be accurately and truthfully written.