of France, at Paris; Continued:
They are saying these and like things continually, seeing the above-mentioned imperfections in some of us, and flattering themselves that some of their own people do not have them so conspicuously, not realizing that they all have much greater vices, and that the better part of our people do not have even these defects, they conclude generally that they are superior to all Christians. It is self-love that blinds them, and the evil one who leads them on, no more nor less than in our France, we see those who have deviated from the faith holding themselves higher and boasting of being better than the Catholics, because in some of them they see many faults; considering neither the virtues of the other Catholics, nor their own still greater imperfections; wishing to have, like Cyclops, only a single eye, and to fix that one upon the vices of a few Catholics, never upon the virtues of the others, nor upon themselves, unless it be for the purpose of self-deception.
Also they [the savages] consider themselves more ingenious, inasmuch as they see us admire some of their productions as the work of people ,so rude and ignorant; lacking intelligence, they bestow very little admiration upon what we show them, although much more worthy of being. admired. Hence they regard themselves as much richer than we are, although they are poor and wretched in the extreme.
Cacagous, of whom I have already spoken, is quite gracious when he is a little elated about something; to show his kindly feelings toward the French he boasts: of his willingness to go and see the King, and to take him a present of a hundred beaver skins, proudly suggesting that in so doing he will make him richer than all his predecessors. They get this idea from the extreme covetousness and eagerness which our people display to obtain their beaver skins.
Not less amusing is the remark of a certain Sagamore, who, having heard M. de Potrincourt say that the King was young and unmarried: "Perhaps", said he, "1 may let him marry my daughter; but according to the usages and customs of the country, the King must make me some handsome presents ; namely, four or five barrels of bread, three of peas or beans, one of tobacco, four or five cloaks worth one hundred sous apiece, bows, arrows, harpoons, and other similar articles".
Such are the marks of intelligence in the people of these countries, which are very sparsely populated, especially those of the Soriquois and Etechemins, which are near the sea; although Membertou assures us that in his youth he has seen chimonutz, that is to say, Savages, as thickly planted there as the hairs upon his head. It is maintained that they have thus diminished since the French have begun to frequent their country; for, since then they do nothing all summer but eat; and the result is that, adopting an entirely different custom and thus breeding new diseases, they pay for their indulgence during the autumn and winter by pleurisy, quinsy and dysentery, which kill them off. During this year alone sixty have died at Cape de la Hève, which is the greater part of those who lived there; yet not one of all M. de Potrincourt's little colony has even been sick, notwithstanding all the privations they have suffered; which has caused the Savages to apprehend that God protects and defends us as his favorite and well-beloved people.
What I say about the sparseness of the population of these countries must be understood as referring to the people who live upon the coast; for farther inland, principally among the Etechemins, there are, it is said, a great many people. All these things, added to the difficulty of acquiring the language, the time that must be consumed, the expenses that must be incurred, the great distress, toil and poverty that must be endured, fully proclaim the greatness of this enterprise and the difficulties which beset it. Yet many things encourage me to continue in it.
First:, my trust in the goodness and providence of God. Isaiah assures us that the kingdom of our Redeemer shall be recognized throughout the earth; and that there shall be neither caves of dragons nor dens of cockatrices, nor inaccessible rocks, nor abysses so deep, that his grace will not soften and his salvation cure ire, his abundance fertilize, his humility raise up, and over which his cross will not at last victoriously triumph. And why shall not hope that the time has come when this prophecy is to be fulfilled in these lands? If that be so, what can there be so Difficult that our Lord cannot mate it easy?
In the second place, rely upon the King, our Sire. He is a Sovereign who promises us nothing less than the late King, his father, the incomparable Henry the Great. This work began in the latter's reign, and it may be said that in the century since France has appropriated this country, or has so completely taken possession of it, there has not been so much accomplished at any time as since our present king became sovereign; may God fill his reign with all blessings. He will not permit his name and arms to stand in these regions side by side with paganism, his authority with barbarism, his renown with savagery, his power with poverty, his faith with lack of works, nor leave his subjects without aid or succor. His mother also, another Queen Blanche, looking to the glory of God, will contemplate these lately-acquired wildernesses, where in the beginning of her Regency the Gospel plough has, through her instrumentality, created some hope of a harvest; and will recall what the late King, great in wisdom as well as in courage, said to Sieur de Potrincourt when he came to this country: "Go", said he. "I plan the edifice; my son will build it". We beg your Reverence to lay this matter before him, together with the work which might be done by their Majesties in these lands, if it were their good pleasure to endow and to give a fair revenue to this mission, from which all those who would be educated and maintained here might go forth through the whole country.
Finally, we are encouraged by the situation and condition of this place, which, if it is cultivated, promises to furnish a great deal for the needs of human life; and its beauty causes me to wonder that it has been so little sought up to the present time. From this port where we now are, it is very convenient for us to spread out to the Armouchiquois, Iroquois, and Montagnais, our neighbors, which are populous nations and till the soil as we do; this situation, I say, makes us hope something for the future. For, if our Souriquois are few, they may become numerous; if they are savages, it is to domesticate and civilize them that we have come here; if they are rude, that is no reason that we should be idle; if they have until now profited little, it is no wonder, for it would be too much to expect fruit from this grafting, and to demand reason and maturity from a child.
In conclusion, we hope in time to make them susceptible of receiving the doctrines of the faith and of the Christian and catholic religion, and later, to penetrate farther into the regions beyond, which they say are more populous and better cultivated. We base this hope upon Divine goodness and mercy, upon the zeal and fervent charity of all good people who earnestly desire the kingdom of God, particularly upon the holy prayers of Your Reverence and of our Reverend Fathers and very dear Brothers, to whom we most affectionately commend ourselves.
From Port Royal, New France, this tenth day of June, one thousand six hundred and eleven.
PIERRE BIARD.
The peace of Christ be with you.
If Your Reverence read with pleasure my letter of October 13th, I felt a great deal more in receiving yours of December 7th, especially as I am the first of the Society to receive from Your Reverence the first letter which you have ever sent to Canada. I take this event as a happy omen, and accept it as coming From heaven, to incite me to run with ardor in the race, in order to merit and receive the reward of this heavenly vocation, and to sacrifice myself more promptly and more completely for the salvation of these people.
I admit to you that I said then freely to God: Here I am; if you choose what is weak and despicable in this world to overthrow and destroy that which is strong, you will find all this in Ennemond. Here I am; send me, and make my tongue and my words intelligible, so that I may not be a barbarian to those who will hear me.
Your prayers, I am sure, will not be in vain, as our arrival here upon the most holy day of Pentecost seems to presage. We are weak in Jesus Christ, but, I hope, we shall live with him by the power of God. It is my earnest entreaty that Your Reverence, by your prayers and holy sacrifices, may prevail upon the Lord to accomplish all these things in us.
The unworthy son in Jesus Christ, of the Society of Jesus,
ENNEMOND MASSE. Port Royal, New France, June 10, 1611.
The peace of Christ be with you.
After four months of very painful and perilous navigation, we have at last arrived, thanks to the protection of God and to the prayers of Your Reverence, at Port Royal, in New France, the end of our journey.
In truth we left Dieppe the 26th of January this year, 1611, and arrived May 22nd of this same year. I am giving to the Reverend Father Provincial the narrative in French of our whole undertaking, and of the condition in which we found things here. This seemed to me the more necessary and useful, as it was impossible for me to write it at the same time in Latin. I have not yet been settled a week in Port Royal, and all the time has been taken up by continual interruptions and in providing the necessities of life. As to ourselves, Father Masse and 1, we are feeling very well, thank God; but we have been obliged to take a servant to do the drudgery. We could not dispense with one without a great deal of anxiety and trouble.
M. de Potrincourt, who commands here in the name of the King, loves and esteems us in proportion to his piety. We shall take the first opportunity to impart to you what may be, by the grace of God, our prospects of success in this country. The ship has already gone. I shall be obliged to overtake it in a canoe, that it may not leave without my letters.
I conjure Your Reverence, through the merits of Jesus Christ, to remember us and these solitary lands, and to come to our aid in so far as you are able, not only by the fervent prayers of our Society, but also by the blessing and favor of our Holy Father the Pope (which I have already invoked). Surely we sow in great poverty and in tears; may the Lord grant that we some day reap in joy. Which will come to pass, as I hope and have said, through the prayers and blessings of Your Reverence, which are humbly solicited by your
Unworthy son and servant,
PIERRE BIARD, S. J. Port Royal, New France, or Canada, June 11, 1611.
"Of all who during the present year have departed this life in the province of Lyons, the most regretted was Father PETER BIARD, of Grenoble, who was taken away at Avignon. With the desire of propagating religion, he had journeyed to the barbarous Canadians, and had been among the first settlers of that country, as has been narrated in the fifth part (of this volume). Upon being driven thence by the heretical English, and compelled to return to France, he entirely devoted himself to the service of his countrymen; and, that he might provide for their salvation, in no respect showed himself deficient either in labor or diligence. His industry, however, was especially enjoyed by the Paray le Monial, in the prefecture of Charolles, which community he long served with the customary ministrations of the order. Finally, the prefect of the district, Marchio Ragne, upon being ordered by the king to lead troops into Campania against Ernest von Mansfeld, who was threatening the frontiers of France, had selected Biard as his companion during the expedition, and as a minister of sacred rites. Upon that occasion one would doubt whether the charity of the apostolic man, or his patience, were the more remarkable.
There was in the camp a great scarcity of provisions. Rations were so poorly furnished to the soldiers that some perished with hunger. Biard divided among the most needy of them, both his own allowance and whatever small sums of money he had collected by begging from the more wealthy, depriving himself of daily sustenance, that he might do a kindness to others. He had retired to Avignon, at last, that he might with a few days leisure refresh his energies, which had been worn out by so many toils. But divining, as it were, that the end of all labors and of life was at hand, he spent all that period in disciplining his spirit by pious meditations among the novices; and, although an aged man who had served his time, so adapted himself to the earliest form of the novitiate, that he omitted none of those exercises by which beginners are educated to a contempt of themselves and of the world. While intent upon these, and already thinking of nothing but heavenly things, death seized him on the 17th day of November".
