wilds of Hudson’s Bay—in the Editor’s
sanctum—in the groves of " Academe"—in the forum—in the Senate more than
once "the observed of all observers"—at the top of the social ladder—his
sovereign’s trusted representative.
For all that, we dare not promise
you, for the frugal, self-reliant Scot transplanted to the green banks of
the St. Lawrence, such a seductive portraiture—such a glamour of
romance—as surrounds the persevering and oft’ adversity-taught
soldier—successful diplomat—scholar—artist, &c., to whom Monsieur Michel
introduces his readers on the vine-clad hills and sun-lit valleys of the
Loire, the Garonne, and the Seine.
The arena of the Scot in Canada is
more limited; less attractive, the prizes rewarding success; less
far-resounding, the clarion of his fame on Canadian soil.
With every desire to enlarge our
canvass to its utmost, we must be content to rest our enquiry, at the
arrival on our shores of the first Europeans, in 1535,—that hardy band of
explorers sent out by Francis I, and who claimed the soil by right of
conquest, from the véritabies
enfants du sol,—the Hurons,. Iroquois or
Algonquins, of Stadaconé.
A crew of one hundred and ten,
manned Jacques Cartier’s three vessels: the Grande Hermine, the
Petite Hermine, and the Emerillon; out of this number, history
has preserved the names of eighty-one persons. [The remainder having died,
chiefly from scurvy, during the winter of 1535-6, on the banks of the
River St. Charles. (See Appendix. Letter. A,)]
Were Cartier’s followers all French?
One can scarcely arrive at that conclusion, judging from the names and
surnames of several. You cannot mistake where William of Guernesey
"Guillaume de Guernese," hailed from. There is equally, an unfrench sound
about the name of Pierre Esmery dict Talbot. "Herué Henry," seems to us an
easy transmutation of Henry Herué or Hervey. We once knew at Cap Rouge,
near Quebec, a worthy Greenock