Yet I fear that in the end he may be forced to give it all up, to the great scandal and reproach of the French name, which by such conduct is made a laughing-stock and a byword among the nations.  For as though their wish was to oppose the conversion of these poor Western peoples, and the glory of God and of the King, we find a set of men full of avarice and envy, who would not draw a sword in the service of the King, nor suffer the slightest ill in the world for the honour of God, but who yet put obstacles in the way of our drawing any profit from the province, even in order to furnish what is indispensable to the foundation of such an enterprise; men who prefer to see the English and Dutch win possession of it rather than the French, and would fain have the name of God remain unknown in those quarters.  And it is such godless people who are listened to, who are believed, and who win their suits.  O tempora, O mores!

On August 11, 1607, Port Royal was abandoned for the second time, and its people, sailing by Cape Breton, reached Roscou in Brittany at the end of September.  The subsequent attempt of Poutrincourt and his family to re-establish the colony at Port Royal belongs to the history of Acadia rather than to the story of Champlain.  But remembering the spirit in which he and De Monts strove, one feels glad that Lescarbot spoke his mind regarding the opponents who baffled their sincere and persistent efforts.

CHAPTER III

CHAMPLAIN AT QUEBEC

From the Island of Orleans to Quebec the distance is a league.  I arrived there on the third of July, when I searched for a place suitable for our settlement, but I could find none more convenient or better than the point of Quebec, so called by the savages, which was covered with nut-trees.  I at once employed a portion of our workmen in cutting them down, that we might construct our habitation there:  one I set to sawing boards, another to making a cellar and digging ditches, another I sent to Tadoussac with the barque to get supplies.  The first thing we made was the storehouse for keeping under cover our supplies, which was promptly accomplished through the zeal of all, and my attention to the work.

Thus opens Champlain’s account of the place with which his name is linked imperishably.  He was the founder of Quebec and its preserver.  During his lifetime the results seemed pitifully small, but the task once undertaken was never abandoned.  By steadfastness he prevailed, and at his death had created a colony which became the New France of Talon and Frontenac, of La Salle and D’Iberville, of Brebeuf and Laval.  If Venice from amid her lagoons could exclaim, Esto perpetua, Quebec, firm based upon her cliff, can say to the rest of Canada, Attendite ad petram unde excisi estis—­’Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn.’