The two, as being persons whose reputation had
spread throughout Europe, were received with profound respect; and
after Champlain's request relative to the commission had been
complied with, it was stipulated that the inhabitants should leave
with their arms and baggage, and be supplied with provisions and
means of transport to France. About four days were needed to
procure the sanction of the admiral, David Kirke, at Tadoussac, and
then Champlain, with a heavy heart, attended by his followers,
embarked in the English ship. He says in his memoirs--"Since the
surrender every day seems to me a month." On the way down the St.
Lawrence, Emery de Caen was met, above Tadoussac, in a vessel with
supplies for Quebec. Kirke is said to have desired Champlain to use
his influence with De Caen to induce him to surrender without
resistance, which, however, the noble-minded man declined. Bazilli
was reported to be in the gulf with a French fleet, but
nevertheless De Caen felt obliged to surrender, as the Kirkes had
two ships to oppose his one. De Caen told Champlain that he
believed peace was already signed between the two crowns.
Thus ended, for the time, Champlain's effort to found and establish a
colony at Quebec--an attempt persevered in during twenty years, in spite
of discouragement and obstacles which would have conquered the zeal of
any man of that age excepting Champlain, who alone, even now, when taken
prisoner and carried out of the country, did not despair of ultimate
success.
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