After a while, he caused his pennon and flag to be hoisted. The sailors manned the yard-arms, the drum was beaten, they fired the cannon, and all shouted, five times, “Long live the King!” This having been done, he called one of the sailors, who, to the great delight of those who understood his language, chanted a very long ballad, which I judged to be the recital of all this unworthy story. You see in this, my Reverend Father, an instance which fully confirms what all the world knew before, that heresy always pushes to an extreme its animosity against the visible Head of the Church.
During the night a large boat came to us, manned by rowers. The captain, who was always on his guard, and who was not able to lay aside the idea that our people were seeking to surprise him, caused them immediately to clear the decks. They at once fired their swivel-gun; but the boat, having made its signal, all was again quiet. It was the lieutenant, who had been to plunder the dwellings along the river. He reported that he had only visited two or three plantations, which he had found entirely deserted. He added that he was going to ascend the river again, to consign every thing to the flames. In fact, after having supped and had sufficient consultation with his principal, he departed again. I asked permission to go with him as far as the fort to look for my papers, but it was refused me. However, to soften a little the pain which this denial gave me, Captain Potter promised that he himself would go thither with me. I therefore summoned up my patience, and endeavored by a little sleep to repair the loss of the preceding night; but it was useless. The noise, the confusion, and the bad smells did not allow me to close my eyes.
On Sunday morning, I waited to see some religious service, for up to this time I had not recognized any mark of Christianity; but every thing went on as usual, so that I could not refrain from showing my surprise. The captain told me “that in their sect each one worshipped God in his own way; that they had among them, as elsewhere, the good and the bad; and that ‘he who acted right would be approved.’” At the same time he took out of his chest a book of devotion; and I noticed that, during this day and the following Sunday, he occasionally looked at it.[19] As he always seemed to me to be very reasonable, I took pains, from time to time, to introduce into my conversation some word of controversy or of morality, which he received very well, having explained to him by the interpreters what he did not himself understand. He even told me one day “that he did not wish longer to pursue the business of privateering; that God might to-day give him property, which, perhaps, might shortly be taken away from him by others; that he was well aware he should take nothing away with him in dying; but, nevertheless, I should not expect to find more piety in a French, or even in a Spanish, privateer than I saw in his ship; because these sorts of armaments were scarcely compatible with the exercises of devotion,” I confess to you, my Reverend Father, that I was astonished to hear such sentiments in the mouth of an American Huguenot[20]; for every one knows how entirely this part of the world is removed from the kingdom of God and every thing which can lead to it. I have often exhorted him to pray the Lord for light, and that He would not allow him to die in the darkness of heresy, in which he had the misfortune to be born and brought up.
As the boats were constantly going and coming, from the shore to the vessel and from the vessel to the shore, transporting the pillage, one came that very evening, bringing a French soldier and five Indians. He was one of our soldiers, who, fifteen days before, had been to seek the Indians to engage them to work, and, not knowing that the English were masters of the fort, had run into their hands. I represented to Captain Potter that, as the Indians were free among us, he neither ought to nor could take them prisoners, particularly as they had not been found with arms in their hands. But he answered me “that this kind of people were used for slaves in Rodelan, and that he should take them thither in spite of all that I could say.” He has, in fact, carried them away, with the Aroüas whom he had first captured in the Bay of Oyapoc. Perhaps he has a fancy to return to this country, and intends to use these miserable beings in making his descent on the coast, or perhaps he will release them at Surinam.
I had, nevertheless, on Monday morning, reminded him of the promise he had made me that he would take me on shore; but he was not then able to do any thing, and I was obliged to content myself with fair words, so that I despaired of ever again visiting my old home. On Tuesday, however, he came to me to say that, if I wished to go to the fort, he would take me. I most willingly accepted the offer; but, before I embarked, he strongly recommended to me not to attempt flight, because, he assured me, I would be stopped by the discharge of a gun. I reassured him on that point, and we set out.
The commander of the boat was the second lieutenant, the same who had threatened to cut my tongue; and, as I complained to the captain, who had, without doubt, spoken to him about it, he made the strongest apologies on that point to me while on the way, and showed me a thousand acts of politeness.
Before I was scarcely aware of it, we arrived at our destination; and immediately I saw all those who were guarding the fort come to the landing, some with guns and others with swords, to receive me. Little accustomed to good faith, perhaps, they were always afraid that I should escape from them, in spite of all that I was able to say to quiet them on my account.
After we had taken a little rest, I asked to go to my house, and they conducted me thither under a strong escort. I began by first visiting the church, to enable me to see for the last time what was its condition. As I was not able to restrain my tears and sighs on seeing the altars overturned, the pictures torn, the sacred stones broken in pieces and scattered on every side, the two principal members of the band said to me “that they were very sorry for all this disorder; that it was done contrary to their intentions by the sailors, the negroes, and the Indians, in the excitement of pillage and the heat of drunkenness, and that they made their apologies to me for it.” I assured them “that it was of God principally; and, first of all, they should ask pardon for such a desecration of His temple, and that they had great reason to fear lest He should avenge Himself, and punish them as they deserved.” I then threw myself on my knees, and made a special confession to God, to the Holy Virgin, and to Saint Joseph, in honor of whom I had set up these altars to excite the devotion of my parishioners; after which I arose, and we went on to my house.
I had five or six persons around me, who most strictly watched all my steps every moment, and, above all, the direction in which I looked. I did not then understand the occasion of all this attention on their part, but I have since learned it. These good people, avaricious to the last extreme, imagined that I had money concealed, and that, when I showed so much anxiety to return to shore, it was to see whether any one had discovered my treasure. We entered the house, then, together; and it was the occasion of sincere sorrow to me, I must confess, to see the frightful disorder in which it was.
It is now nearly seventeen years since I came for the first time to Oyapoc, and began to collect all that was necessary for the foundation of these Indian missions, foreseeing that this section of country, where the savages are so numerous, would furnish a great career for our zeal, and that the parish of Oyapoc would become, as it were, the storehouse of all the other establishments. I had not ceased ever after to be always making better provision, through the charitable cares of one of our Fathers, who wished to be my particular correspondent at Cayenne. God has permitted that one single day should destroy the fruit of so much labor and of so many years, that His holy name might be praised. What gave me most concern was, to know that the three missionaries who remained in that quarter were stripped of every thing, without my having it in my power for the present to procure even the merest necessaries, notwithstanding all the liberality and the good intentions of our Superiors.