Out of French Control

When the British Landed

With the Kebec settlement near starvation and the report that De Caen's ship, with needed supplies, was siezed at Tadoussac;  Champlain had little choice but to surrender to the Kirke Brothers.  Many of his 'colonists'were convicts or indentured slaves, who had escaped into the woods, joining the bands of migrating hunters, and the few remaining settlers were mostly women and children unable to offer any kind of defense. Most were shipped back to France after a brief stop over in England, but a few chose to remain and take their chances with the British; including the Couillards, and Marie Rollet with her new husband.  When Champlain returned to France in December of 1630, he began his campaign to encourage France to intervene for the sake of the French colonies.

Meanwhile, the Great Puritan migration began in New England, while the French had only a handful of settlers, scattered throughout 'New France'.  The Puritan pioneers had rejected the Church of England because they felt that there were far too many trappings and rituals, preferring to worship as the early Christians had worshiped; without candles, the cross, kneeling or chanting.

When this was brought to the attention of the English Bishop William Laud, he went to King Charles I, accusing the Puritans of blasphemy.  Consequently, more than 10,000 would be driven from their homeland to begin a new life in 'New England', as guests, and under the protection of the Haudenosaunee.

Comprised of Scottish and English, the Puritans would eventually branch out into Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Unitarian and Quaker and essentially the French Huguenots and Scotch, German, Scandinavian and Netherlands Calvinists were Puritan in nature.  Their ideals would mark the way things would be run at the Quebec post, at the time, and there would be little love for any Roman Catholics.  Therefore, the few that remained  worshipped in private, if at all.  The Huron-Canadians had offered protection to both the Jesuits and Recollects, but only the Jesuits took them up on their offer.  The Recollects returned to France, which would turn out to be a bad career move.

All in all, little changed for the Canadian people during the English occupation.  Trading resumed as before; same product, new customer; and life returned to normal.  Some of the French who had stayed behind now lived as Coureur De Bois and were enjoying the financial freedom.  They married, they had children, they hunted and fished, played sports and were now living more like the Native people, having adopted their dress, language, customs and spiritual beliefs. Father Gabriel Sagard wrote:  "The French themselves, better educated and raised in the school of faith, are becoming Savages for no better reason than that they live with the Savages." Thomas Kirke was the Governor of the Kebec Habition, and most of the men he had with him were French Hugenots.  Etienne Brule went back to Huronia to resume his former life and as for the Hebert-Couillard family, they would be allowed to go about their business as before.  They may have actually been the first French-Canadian family to own a black slave, left behind when the British departed.

In March of 1632, the Treaty of St. German En Laye restored the Kebec and Acadia posts to France, but the actual transfer would be a gradual process.  The new inhabitants were not eager to give up the lucrative fur trade, and like those before them, did not  promote new settlement.  Their years spent at Kebec were free and easy, and though they didn't believe in marrying Canadian girls, they rather enjoyed their free lifestyle, and contributed somewhat to the population of the area. In July, a single French ship arrived at Fort Kebec with Captain Emery de Caen, his brother Guillaume and Sieur Duplessis Bouchard, a cousin of Cardinal Richelieu; along with 40 men, to reclaim the French possessions.  Also on board were  three Jesuit missionaries; Father Paul Le Jeune, Father Anne de Noue, and a lay brother; Gilbert Burel; but not a single Recollect. Though the English eventually turned Fort Kebec over to De Caen, they had stripped it clean, and torched the buildings.  All that was left were a few huts at Montreal and Trois Rivieres, and the odd fisherman's cabin along the St. Lawrence.  De Caen reported that their entire inventory of 9,000 beaver skins, valued at 40,000 livres, was missing and Marie Rollet and her family stated that they had killed her cows.

In March of the following year, Cardinal Richelieu, instructed Samuel Champlain to take control of Fort Kebec; with two hundred colonists and four Jesuits; Fathers Antoine Daniel, Ambroise Davost, Ememond Masse and Jean de Brebeuf.  Jean de Bourdon, an engineer and surveyor, came along to map out future land grants.  Champlain arrived on May 23, 1633, with three ships loaded with supplies, workmen, a few soldiers, and a handful of women and children. Soon after his arrival,  eighteen canoes filled with Canadians, came to trade; though he suspected that they were there to deal with the English, who had been providing them with guns. To win them over to his side, he told them of his plans to rebuild the fort, at which time the young Frenchmen would  marry their daughters and they would all become one people.  Some of the interpretors then went from house to house, to persuade them to break allegiance with the English, who would never offer them such kinship.  The expectation was that the French would convert to their culture, but in fact, they wanted the Natives to settle down in compounds near them, and convert to the French lifestyle. This would eventually create chaos, but for now, old friendships were rekindled and the fur trade picked up where it left off.

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