Missions and Civilization A. D. 1632-1634
Failure of Huguenot invasion of New France—Colonization in earnest—Its chief promoter, a Huguenot, become Jesuit— Le Jeune's trumpet call to France—Missions a national reawakening, not a conversion of heathen only—The form of his message, "The Jesuit Relations"—Value as documents of North American history—Incentive to missionaries—Factor in the missions of New France, in the foundation of Canada and of a new people.
England's first possession of Canada was not of long duration. There was genuine regard for treaties among nations in those days, and it was not difficult to prove that England's tenure of the colony was unjust. The Kerkt brothers had seized it by an act of war committed while England and France were at peace. Three months before, these two nations had concluded the Treaty of Susa, agreeing not to intermeddle in one another's affairs, particularly when religion was concerned.
England had intermeddled to assist the Huguenots, sending ninety vessels with 10,000 troops to La Rochelle to strengthen the uprising of 1627 in the south of France. Richelieu prevented the approach of this fleet, forced the Huguenot stronghold to surrender, and by 1629 had put an end to the political power of the Huguenots and to all strife on the score of religion in France.
The Kerkt seizure of Canada had been prompted by a desire to wrest the colony from its Catholic owners. The Kerkts were of French birth, from Dieppe. To their vice-admiral, Jacques Michel Jesuits were "dogs from St. Malo". They had acted for England, as England had attempted aid their fellow-revolutionists in France. The attempt a failure, and the revolution at an end, the question arose, would France reclaim Canada? The Court was not keen on the subject. The people knew too little about it to be interested. Champlain was determined that the colony must come back to its rightful owner. Single-handed at London he pleaded his cause and won. In 1632 England yielded, and he then pleaded with Louis XIII and Richelieu to give once more to the restored territory the light of faith and to confirm their possession of it by an effective colonization.
The way was now clear. No longer would trade or differences over religion be an obstacle. The exploiting company of the de Caens was no more; the Huguenots could no longer impede the work of the missions. The traders had discouraged immigration; the sectarians had fostered dissension on grounds of religion.
Henceforth the colony was to be populated by those who would Christianize the Indians, and so far only the Catholics had earnestly attempted this. The Franciscans were invited to return, but they had not men enough for this purpose and very many were needed. Accordingly the Jesuits resumed labors there.
By a strange irony the one who was to do most to re-establish the missions, and even to develop the colony, had himself been a Huguenot until on attaining his majority he became a Catholic and soon after a Jesuit. He was a man of extraordinary ability, and it was not confined to purely ecclesiastical activity. As superior of the mission he, as a rule, did first what he was afterwards to require from others. The difficulty of learning the Indian tongues was the chief obstacle in the way of the missionaries, particularly for Le Jeune. To master it, as described in the preceding chapter, he spent his first winter among them on their hunt, braving cold and every possible hardship, even famine, in order to overcome this obstacle to his work. He was a man of great spirit. Not only did he appreciate the need of colonization in New France on a large scale, as others — Cartier, Champlain and the Franciscans — had urged it before him; he was able so to impress it on all France as to arouse the interest of the entire French people. Reading his views on Canada, one realizes that he had already conceived the Canada of the present day. He was a political economist, a wise counsellor, and an efficient executive not only in the affairs of his own religious society, but in State affairs as well. according to Kingsford,(27) as Champlain neared his end, Le Jeune was appointed to act as governor in case of emergency. He was also authorized to deliver to Champlain's temporary successor Brasdefer, Sieur de Chasteaufort, his commission as Governor.
The Queen Mother, Anne of Austria, expressed the wish seventeen years later that Le Jeune might be named the first bishop in the new country. In his broad view, the Mission was not merely a task for a body of priests and of their immediate assistants and patrons or supporters. It was an enterprise in which the whole French nation should be concerned. It was not merely for the spiritual benefit of the Indians, but for the spiritual benefit of every man, woman and child in France.
It was a means destined by God to create a new spirit of faith and of fervor; to inspire a whole people with new ideals; to arouse them to contribute, not their money only, but their very souls.
Court and cloister and countryside were called on to look beyond geographical horizons, to rise above a false patriotism which kept the nation from expanding and diffusing the gifts, spiritual and material, which it possessed in plenty.(28)
Le Jeune arrived in New France in 1632. Soon after came Anthony Daniel in the ship of which his brother Charles was captain. They remained for a while at the new fort near Cape Breton. By the time the governor, Champlain, arrived with Brebeuf and Masse, in 1633, Le Jeune was ready not only with his programme but with his plan of campaign. It was very simple. As Goyau remarks, he was not one to leave to God what he could do himself.(29) He was a man of ways and means as well as of large views. Others had seen as clearly as he what was needed, like Biard and Sagard. They had even exposed these needs in book and pamphlet, as did the Franciscan Le Bailiff and the Jesuit Noyrot, in conferences with king and minister. Their writings reached only a few, and long after the happenings they narrated. Some of them, Lescarbot for instance, appealed to a partisan element, and could not therefore evoke a general sentiment. Le Jeune conceived the plan for keeping the entire nation informed of actual conditions and affairs in New France precisely as they were, without delay and always so vividly as to capture the imagination of his readers, hold their interest, and convince them that they were profoundly concerned in all he said. His first story of his experiences, of his voyage to the new country, of the storms he encountered, of a great catch of codfish over the deck on Pentecost, of his meeting the Indians with painted faces at Tadoussac, of his attempt to rescue Indian prisoners, of their torture, of his own rescue from drowning in the St. Lawrence, all written and despatched to France within two months, and published before the end of the year, was in that day what a radio message from the earth's end is in our own. The effect was electric. His words were not merely a news report; they were a summons to action. The response was immediate and, characteristic of Frenchmen, it was also generous and enthusiastic.
"Shall the French alone of all the nations of the earth, be deprived of the honor of expanding and spreading over this New World? Shall France, much more populous than all the other kingdoms, have inhabitants only for herself? When her children leave her shall they go here and there and lose the name of Frenchmen among foreigners?"(30)
Year after year these reports and appeals were to go from Canada to France. The first nine years Le Jeune was to write them, often embodying with his own the writings of various Jesuits, Brebeuf, Perrault and others. They are known as the "Jesuit Relations".(31) Their influence then and their importance still as documentary sources for all who write about North America, its missions and its martyrs, are a subject of never-ceasing interest. Jesuit missionaries had always made it a point to write from their distant stations accounts of their labors in strange fields and of the character and habits of the peoples they sought to enlighten. Saint Francis Xavier was the first to recommend to his associate, Joam Beira, to send to Ignatius in Rome, and to Rodriguez in Lisbon, "such news as when known in Europe would make everyone that heard it give glory to God".(32) His own letters did arouse all Europe, and they still inspire the missionary, Protestant as well as Catholic, to perseverance and self-sacrifice.
The letters of the missionaries of New France were of three kinds. Some were very familiar and personal, addressed to a relative, a friend, a superior, or to the Rev. Father General, and were not to be given publicity at that time, if indeed it could properly be done at any other time; at most, it was permissible to the person to whom they were written to communicate them to a circle of discreet friends, or to make public some inoffensive extracts. Others, destined only for the members of the Society of Jesus, were, in the beginning, sent in manuscript to the different houses of the Order. They served as a bond between the religious of the Society, and kept them in touch with the works of the apostolate, wherever it was carried on. Later on, the letters of the missionaries were printed, but after revision and correction, and even translation into Latin, extracts and analyses were also made, which were put in a volume, entitled: "Annual Letters of the Society of Jesus to the Fathers and Brothers of the Same Society". When the publication of the annual letters ceased in 1654, the provinces and missions of the Society continued to write and address them to the Father General. Many are still being brought to light, especially relating to New France.
There was a third sort of letters, those which the missionaries wrote for the public and were intended for publication; these were generally called "Relations". Such are the "Relations of New France", whose long series open with that of Biard, in 1616, followed by the "Relations" of Charles Lalemant, in 1626. The series from 1632 to 1672 consists of forty-one volumes, of which thirty-nine bear the title of "Relations", and two (1654-55 and 1658-59) that of "Letters". Other "Relations" exist, likewise written for the public, but never printed.
It is evident that the contents of these various classes of letters must differ according to the purpose of the writer and the character of the receiver. Prudence, discretion and charity would naturally forbid the putting down in black and white for general reading what might, however, with perfect propriety be laid before a superior or a friend. It was not the part of the missionary to publish his views on political matters concerning the government of the colonies, though it would be his duty to warn his superior of past or future complications which concerned the temporal as well as the spiritual welfare of his mission. Hence Le Jeune well remarks: "I do not undertake to record all that takes place in this country; but only what concerns the Faith and religion." From this very fact some critics have arraigned the writers of the "Relations" for the incompleteness of their writings, without taking into account the scope which the Fathers had laid down for their guide. This characterizes the "Relations" not only of Canada, but those of China and Japan as well. The missionaries had in view the edification of their readers; they, therefore, recorded the progress of Christianity, the heroic labors and combats of those engaged in these vast mission fields. They kept silence about many things that would not have served for edification, yet without ever departing from the strict truth. Incomplete, then, as the "Relations" intentionally are, the best judges, Protestant as well as Catholic, pronounce them to be of inestimable value for the history of our country, of certain periods of which they are the sole records.
Parkman writes: "The 'Relations' of the Jesuits appeal equally to the spirit of religion and the spirit of romantic adventure. . . . They hold a high place as authentic and trustworthy documents".(32) No doubt Parkman himself was inspired and encouraged by the heroic lives of the missionaries to labor as he did, in spite of his grievous infirmity. Bancroft, whose own work shows an intimate knowledge of the history contained in the "Relations", says that "the history of the Jesuit Mission is connected with the origin of every celebrated town in the annals of French America. Not a cape was turned, not a river entered, but a Jesuit led the way".(34)
Kip remarks that: "There is no page in our country's history more touching and romantic than that which records the labors and sufferings of the Jesuit missionaries." Field writes that: "these 'Relations', for many years looked upon through the haze of sectarian distrust, were lightly esteemed by the students of American history, but the more their character and statements were investigated, the more important and valuable they appeared. They have become the sources from which we must draw almost all the historic material of New York and Canada during the first century and a half of their exploration by Europeans".(36)
Reuben Gold Thwaites, in his estimable collection "The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents," bears the following testimony: "The authors of the journals which formed the basis of the 'Relations' were, for the most part, men of trained intellect, acute observers, and practised in the art of keeping records of their experiences. They had left the most highly civilized country of their times, to plunge at once into the heart of the American wilderness, and attempt to win to the Christian faith the fiercest savages known to history. To gain these savages, it was first necessary to know them intimately — their speech, their habits, their manner of thought, their strong points and their weak. These first students of the North American Indian were not only amply fitted for their undertaking, but none have since had better opportunity for its prosecution. They were explorers, as well as priests. . . .
"Many of the 'Relations' were written in Indian camps, amid a chaos of distractions. Insects innumerable tormented the journalists, they were immersed in scenes of squalor and degradation, overcome by fatigue and lack of proper sustenance, often suffering from wounds and disease, maltreated in a hundred ways by hosts who, at times, might more properly be called jailers; and not seldom had savage superstition risen to such a height, that to be seen making a memorandum was certain to arouse the ferocious enmity of the band. It is not surprising that the composition of these journals of the Jesuits is sometimes crude; the wonder is, that they could be written at all. Nearly always the style is simple and direct. Never does the narrator descend to self-glorification, or dwell unnecessarily upon the details of his continual martyrdom; he never complains of his lot; but sets forth his experiences in phrases the most matter-of-fact. His meaning is seldom obscure. We gain from his pages a vivid picture of life in the primeval forest, as he lived it; we seem to see him upon his long canoe journeys, squatted amidst his dusky fellows, working his passage at the paddles, and carrying cargoes upon the portage trail; we see him the butt and scorn of the savage camp, sometimes deserted in the heart of the wilderness, and obliged to wait for another flotilla, or to make his way alone as best he can. Arrived at last, at his journey's end, we often find him vainly seeking for shelter in the squalid huts of the natives, with every man's hand against him, but his own heart open to them all. We find him, even when at last domiciled in some far-away village, working against hope to save the unbaptized from eternal damnation; we seem to see the rising storm of opposition, invoked by native medicine men — who to his seventeenth-century imagination seem devils indeed — and at last the bursting climax of superstitious frenzy which sweeps him and his before it. Not only do these devoted missionaries — never, in any field, has been witnessed greater personal heroism than theirs — live and breathe before us in the 'Relations'; but we have in them our first competent account of the Red Indian at a time when relatively uncontaminated by contact with Europeans."(36)
Dr. Finley in his charming compilation, "The French in the Heart of America", tells us:
"The 'Relations' of the Jesuits are among our most precious chronicles in America. With these the history of the north — the valleys of the St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes, and the Mississippi — begins. The coureurs de bois may have anticipated the priests in some solitary places, but they seldom made records. Doubtless, like Nicolet, they told their stories to the priests when they went back to the altars for sacrament, so that even their experiences have been for the most part preserved. But when we know under what distracting and discouraging conditions even the priest wrote, we wonder, as Thwaites says, that anything whatever has been preserved in writing. ... 'I know not', says one of these apostles in an epistle to the Romans (for this particular letter went to Rome), 'I know not whether your Paternity will recognize the letter of a poor cripple, who formerly, when in perfect health was well known to you. The letter is badly written, and quite soiled, because, in addition to other inconveniences, he who writes it has only one whole finger on his right hand; and it is difficult to avoid staining the paper with the blood which flows from his wounds, not yet healed; he uses arquebus powder for ink, and the earth for a table.' "(37)
The "Relations" are not merely annual reports, or dry records, but intimate revelations of life, the story of civilized men lodging, eating and consorting with peoples who were as savage as have ever been known. As one of their writers, Chaumonot, remarks, they had to be written clandestinely, and carried secretly also to their destination as the Indians given to sorcery looked upon writing as magic and feared it meant harm for them. They are a contribution not only to history but a most important source of ethnography. In fact, as the missionaries of the Society of the Divine Word are proving in our own day, for real knowledge in this science the missionary has the best opportunity, since he knows the language and gradually gets the confidence of the natives. The Jesuits in New France made the most of this opportunity. Their observations are completely and systematically set forth in "Les Curs DBS Sauvages", by Lafitau, whose own personal observations in this field were guided by Charles Garnier.(38)
Could the laudatory extracts already given leave any room for doubt as to the merit of the "Relations," the zeal which book-collectors and historians have shown, during the last half-century, in hunting after original copies, and the expense to which they have gone in purchasing these, or even for publishing reprints of them, are proofs of sincere esteem of them, which the most sceptical cannot question. Thwaites gives a most careful account of the various series of these publications by Dr. R. B. O'Callaghan, Gilmary Shea, and Rev. Felix Martin; also of the reprint of the Cramoisy series in three stout volumes by the Canadian Government in 1858.(39) Throughout his own seventy-three volumes are found valuable information about libraries and collectors who are in possession of the complete edition or of one or more copies of the originals, and also about the prices paid for them.
One need read only a page of these "Relations" picked at random to come under their spell. To stop reading requires an effort. The fascination is lasting. They have been the delight and the incentive of missionaries ever since they were written. They inaugurated a new literature. "The Edifying Letters" of the Jesuits, the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" and the numerous missionary periodicals of our day are to a great extent patterned on them.
Immediately on their appearance began the immigration from France which was to be the origin of a new people. Le Jeune had been happy on his return to Quebec to find in the colony the family of Hebert, whose widow, now married to Guillaume Hubou, was already grandmother. They were practically the only Canadian family left, and they too had thought of leaving but remained in expectation that the missionaries would return. The priest celebrated Mass in their home and chanted a Te Deum.(40) One can imagine his happiness two years later on receiving forty new-comers from Le Perche and another group a year later. Le Perche alone was to send five hundred families to Canada in the next thirty years.
Normandy would vie with Le Perche. The tide once started would flow in that direction until the middle of the following century. The stock was of the best. The new arrivals were not political or religious malcontents seeking other shores to practise a greater intolerance than that to which they had been subject at home. Among them was Jean Bourdon, engineer, who was later to be attorney-general for New France and to accompany Jogues on his second journey to the Iroquois country as an ambassador of peace. Abbe Le Sueur was also one of them, the first secular priest in Canada. With Montmagny came the Norman families of Le Gardeur and Le Neuf, Catherine de Corde with two sons and daughter and Jeanne Le Marchant with two daughters and two sons.(41)
France was actively interested. Young Indians were sent over to its schools. Religious communities petitioned for some to instruct and baptize with marked ceremonies, members of the nobility gladly have shown, during the last half-century, in hunting after original copies, and the expense to which they have gone in purchasing these, or even for publishing reprints of them, are proofs of sincere esteem of them, which the most sceptical cannot question. Thwaites gives a most careful account of the various series of these publications by Dr. R. B. O'Callaghan, Gilmary Shea, and Rev. Felix Martin; also of the reprint of the Cramoisy series in three stout volumes by the Canadian Government in 1858.39 Throughout his own seventy-three volumes are found valuable information about libraries and collectors who are in possession of the complete edition or of one or more copies of the originals, and also about the prices paid for them.
One need read only a page of these "Relations" picked at random to come under their spell. To stop reading requires an effort. The fascination is lasting. They have been the delight and the incentive of missionaries ever since they were written. They inaugurated a new literature. "The Edifying Letters" of the Jesuits, the "Annals of the Propagation of the Faith" and the numerous missionary periodicals of our day are to a great extent patterned on them.
Immediately on their appearance began the immigration from France which was to be the origin of a new people. Le Jeune had been happy on his return to Quebec to find in the colony the family of Hebert, whose widow, now married to acting as godparents. The court itself received similar object lessons, and many a story has grown out of the experiences of the naive children of nature adopted for a time into the advanced civilization of France. The vision flashed on the eyes of France attracted spirits of the highest order. Madame Martin was among the first of these — Venerable Marie de l'Incarnation, as she has been styled. She will lead over the Ursulines who will become like guardian angels to the Indians and to the colonists at Quebec. Madame de La Peltrie will follow. From Dieppe will come three Daughters of Mercy to look after sick colonists. Le Jeune's appeal had been heard. New France through him had its mission for France, as the older country had for the new. Meantime, he and his fellow missionaries with Abbe Le Sueur had been working among Indians and immigrants; of the former he would report twenty-two baptized in 1635, one hundred and fifteen in 1636, and three hundred in 1637.42 The harvest was slender, but at least the soil had yielded to cultivation and was beginning to bear.