Champlain 400 – 13th Installment On July 20, 2013 we will celebrate the 400th anniversary of Samuel de Champlain’s “sleepover” at Olmstead Jeffrey Lake. This is the thirteenth and final installment in a series by which we will learn about this remarkable man who has been described as the founder of this country that we call “Canada.” Our story follows the writings of David Hackett Fischer in his book, “Champlain’s Dream.” In the autumn of 1635 the future of New France seemed as bright as the glorious colours of the countryside. The colony was supported by Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu in France. The Company of the Hundred Associates was flourishing, the fur trade was profitable and the French fisheries were larger than ever before. Agriculture was taking root in seigneuries, settlements were spreading on the fishing coasts and the French habitants were at peace with all Indian nations except the Iroquois. Up and down the St. Lawrence Valley, in the missions and fishing settlements, with the interpreters and traders, Champlain had ruled the colony wisely and well. But his physical strength began to ebb and in mid-October he suffered a severe stroke that affected the use of his arms and legs. His mind remained active and he tried to attend to his official business. He embarked on a final project to affirm his deep Christian faith and his support for French habitants and his Indian friends in New France. Throughout October Champlain’s condition did not improve, prompting him in mid-November to make his will. A cross-section of New France, eleven friends and associates, gathered around his bed to serve as witnesses. Among them were Olivier de Tardif, Guillaume Couillard and Bonaventure, a young, orphaned, Montagnais boy who lived with Champlain. Also at Champlain’s bedside was Jacques De Lavelle, Registrar of Quebec whose task it was to record and certify Champlain’s testament. His will began with an affirmation of his Christian faith and he made a bequest to the Church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Recouvrance. He disposed of his wordly goods by purposefully strengthening his great project for New France. He made bequests to promote the growth of the French population at Quebec by supporting individual French families. Among the leading beneficiaries was Champlain’s Scottish friend, Abraham Martin l”Ecossais for “clearing land in this country of New France.” He bequeathed his copper astrolabe, compass and navigational instruments to his confessor, Father Charles Lalement who was interested in exploration and science. His Indian godson, Bonaventure, received a “red suit of fine English cloth.” Some large sums were directed toward the poor in Paris. Champlain expressed his love for his wife, Hélène, and left to her his property in France, a wax medallion, a gold ring and a bundle of her favourite, fine, fox furs. He asked that his journals be delivered to his wife which suggests that he understood their importance. His journals however, have disappeared, making Champlain’s manuscripts very rare today. On December 2 he yielded some of the duties of his office to his upright friend, Francois Derré de Gand. Winter came to Quebec and the first snow fell on the settlement. The fire burned in the hearth of Champlain’s chamber but Champlain’s spirit was slipping away as Jesuits in black robes kept a vigil beside him. On Christmas Eve, the people of Quebec held a joyous celebration of their Saviour’s birth. The crash of cannon that marked the birth was one of the last earthly sounds that Champlain heard. On Christmas Day Champlain died peacefully in his bed. A procession in his honour was comprised of the entire population of Quebec. There were Jesuits, soldiers, seamen, officers and feudal seigneurs. The Indians, marking his passing in genuine grief, were there wrapped in lustrous furs. Champlain was buried in a small, private grave while a chapel was constructed next to the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Recouvrance. Five years later the buildings were burned, and then rebuilt. The resting place of Champlain’s body remains in doubt. One fact is clear, however. Champlain’s remains, wherever they may be, have become part of the soil of New France. Champlain’s wife accepted his will, became an Ursuline nun, Hélène de Saint-Augustin and lived in an Ursuline convent until her death in 1654. Champlain’s replacement in New France was Charles Hualt de Montmagny, a nobleman in Cardinal Richelieu’s circle. For many years all superior authority was in the hands of elite Catholic noblemen. They combined rigid authority and strict discipline with devotion to an absolute monarch, obedience to the prince of the Church and loyalty to Cardinal Richelieu. The sieur de Montmagny governed New France for twelve years. He broke with Champlain’s Indian policy and involved the colony in bloody Indian wars. Historians have often remarked on the failure of Louis XIII and Cardinal Richelieu to bestow honour on Champlain after his death. No patent of nobility was given to him, for instance. Perhaps that may have been to Champlain’s liking, given his life of selfless pursuits. Through many years of striving, Champlain used his influence at court for the cause of New France, not for himself. He kept the focus on the work itself rather than on his personal reward. Furthermore, he was honoured at his funeral ceremonies in Quebec. People there remembered the respectful manner in which he treated others and how he served purposes that were larger than him. They praised Champlain as a principled leader and celebrated the principles themselves. The eulogy for Champlain was given by his good friend, Father Paul Le Jeune. He spoke of Champlain’s integrity and reputation, his sense of justice and equity. He celebrated his qualities of loyalty, his sense of duty and his concern for humanity. Upon reflection, Champlain’s thoughts were those of man of his own time. He lacked the sense of individualism that is prevalent in North American culture today. He believed that individuals were members of a larger entity. He did not share our passion for liberty and freedom, leaning instead to ideals of discipline, authority, order and devotion to others. Champlain was raised in a European world where everyone had a rank and station and where order was valued in an era of violence and deep disorder. Champlain’s ideals were different from ours in many ways but we cherish his values of principles action and his idea of responsibility and leadership in a larger cause. In the year 1832 an Indian warrior, known to English-speaking people as Black Hawk, asked a Métis interpreter to write a story of his life. He dedicated his book to the defeated general of the Black Hawk war where Abraham Lincoln had his first experience of leadership. The book was a warning to leaders of all nations against the folly of false pride and blind prejudice. Black Hawk wanted to share his memory of leaders who had avoided these errors. He began his book with a story about two of them. One was his ancestor, Na-Na-Ma-Kee, who lived “in the vicinity of Montreal” during the seventeenth century and who became a war chief of his people. The other was a French man who appeared in the St. Lawrence Valley at the same time. The story goes on to relate the fulfillment of Na-Na-Ma-Kee’s dream when he met, in peace, Samuel de Champlain on the St. Lawrence River. They spoke different languages but understood each other and formed a bond of friendship. They began a regular exchange of goods and became allies for many years. Black Hawk wanted his readers to remember Champlain, who was unlike so many others. The memory of the friendship had been preserved by the Sac and Fox nations and carried deep into the United States. Black Hawk hoped that we might remember the story of Indian and European leaders who met in peace, shared their dreams and lived together. Few stories of harmony and peace have been written about first encounters between American Indians and Europeans, but something extraordinary happened in New France during the early seventeenth century. Scholars of many nations agree that the founders of New France were able to maintain good relations with American Indians more effectively than any other colonizing power. These French men did not abuse Indians, did not try to conquer them or drive them away. Rather, they formed a mutual respect for each other’s vital interests and built relationships of trust that lasted many years. Champlain, at the centre of events in New France through the pivotal period from 1603 to 1635, worked with European and Indian nations alike to found permanent European colonies in the New World. By the end of his life the Quebecois, the Acadians and the Métis had taken root and were growing in a sustained way. Champlain’s own origin contributed to his genuine interest in the diversity of people. As a child in Brouage he had lived with diversity. As a youth in Saintonge he had grown up in a borderland between different cultures and religions. He came to maturity in a time of bitter conflict with forty years of religious strife. As a soldier Champlain had witnessed atrocities beyond description. Now he dreamed of a new world where people lived at peace with others unlike themselves. He believed deeply in an ideal of a universal church open to all humanity. He shared the spirit of French Canadian humanists who took the world for their province and regarded all God’s children as their kin. In France, from 1585 to 1610, these humanist circles formed around King Henry IV and were inspired by the King’s large idea of peace and tolerance. Champlain worked with three generations of French humanists, with Jesuit and Récollet humanists and with Indian leaders such as Membertou and Iroquet. Champlain added a further, critical element to the purposes that these humanists shared. He was able to convert a dream into reality based on his exceptional leadership. It was typical of Champlain that he studied the problem of leadership with the same care that he brought to other questions. He argued that a leader must have the ability to prepare for the unexpected in a world of danger and uncertainty. A leader must learn to make sound judgements on the basis of imperfect knowledge. He wrote that a leader needs to take a broad view in projects of large purpose and think for the long run. A leader needs to keep his work and must treat other people with humanity. And Champlain wrote that a leader should be courteous, even to his enemies, and he should not practice cruelty or vengeance. Beyond Champlain’s career as an explorer and founder of colonies, his largest contribution was the success of his principled leadership in the cause of humanity. Submitted by the Champlain 400 Committee
Posted on: Mon, 01 Jul 2013 15:27:09 +0000