Tag Archives: Aubert de Gaspé

Reconciliation & the Shipwreck of the Auguste

27 Tuesday Jul 2021

Posted by in Aboriginals, Amerindians, Chants de France, Nouvelle-France

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Siège de Louisbourg en 1758. Guerre de Sept Ans. Vaisseau le Prudent en feu et vaisseau le Bienfaisant capturé. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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The Plains of Abraham

  • the defeated
  • Jules’s anger
  • Reconciliation

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) started with the assassination of Louis de Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville, on 28 May 1754. The incident grew into the Seven Years’ War and also sparked the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783). It has also been suggested that this event developped into the French Revolution. Aubert de Gaspé repeats that the defeated are forever defeated and situates the battles in the realm of the “relative.”

The juxtaposition of one murder and a world war makes one feel a little dizzy. The disproportion is enormous, but incidents have led to years, if not centuries, of conflicts.

Un grand capitaine qui a égalé de nos jours Alexandre et César, n’a-t-il pas dit : « Quel est celui qui n’a jamais commis de faute à la guerre? » Vae victis !
Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: p. 314)

[A great general, who has equaled in our own day the exploits of Alexander and of Cæsar, has said: “Who is he that has never made a mistake in battle?” Vae victis!]
Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 188-199)

Si le marquis de Montcalm eût remporté la victoire sur l’armée anglaise, on l’aurait élevé jusqu’aux nues, au lieu de lui reprocher de n’avoir pas attendu les renforts qu’il devait recevoir de monsieur de Vaudreuil et du colonel de Bougainville ; on aurait admiré sa tactique d’avoir attaqué brusquement l’ennemi avant qu’il eût le temps de se reconnaître, et d’avoir profité des accidents de terrains pour se retrancher dans des positions inexpugnables ; on aurait dit que cent hommes à l’abri de retranchements en valent mille à découvert ; on n’aurait point attribué au général Montcalm des motifs de basse jalousie, indignes d’une grande âme : les lauriers brillants qu’il avait tant de fois cueillis sur de glorieux champs de bataille, l’auraient mis à couvert de tels soupçons.
Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: p. 315)

[Had Montcalm been victorious he would have been lauded to the skies, instead of being heaped with reproaches for not awaiting the re-enforcements which would have come from De Vaudreuil and De Bougainville. We would have praised his tactics in hurling himself upon the enemy before the latter had had time to establish himself. We would have said that a hundred men behind cover were equal to a thousand in the open. We would never have imputed to General Montcalm any jealous and unworthy motives. His shining laurels, gained on so many glorious fields, would have shielded him from any such suspicions.]
Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 199-200)

Chapter XIV is a long chapter. Aubert de Gaspé repeats that the defeated are forever defeated and blames Louis XV, but discreetly.

However, in the same chapter, he brings Arché and Jules together. Jules is wounded and angry. Arché succeeds in finding him in an hospital. Jules and Arché fought under enemy flags, but both young men have did their duty as soldiers. Orders came from serious commanders. Arché is a precious Highlander, an élite regiment. When he realizes that the French are winning at the Battle of Sainte-Foy, fought on 28 April 1760, under the Chevalier de Lévis and James Murray, he takes his men to safety. He has lived in Quebec City and traveled to Jules’s father’s seigneurie. So he knows the terrain.

Jules’s first reaction echoes Marie’s, a “sorceress.” Jules refers to the future.

« Garde ta pitié pour toi-même : tu en auras besoin, lorsque tu porteras dans tes bras le corps sanglant de celui que tu appelles maintenant ton frère ! Je n’éprouve qu’une grande douleur, ô Archibald de Locheill ! c’est celle de ne pouvoir te maudire ! Malheur ! malheur ! malheur ! »
Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: p. 323)

[“Keep your pity for yourself, Archibald de Lochiel. You will have need of it all on that day204 when you shall carry in your arms the bleeding body of him you now call your brother!”]
Cameron of Locheil (XIII: 203-205)

And later:

– Défendez-vous, monsieur de Locheill, vous aimez les triomphes faciles. Défendez-vous ! Ah ! traître ! À cette nouvelle injure, Arché, se croisant les bras, se contenta de répondre de sa voix la plus affectueuse :
– Toi aussi, mon frère Jules, toi aussi tu m’as condamné sans m’entendre !
Les Anciens Canadiens (XIV: pp. 324)

[“Defend yourself, M. de Lochiel; you, who love easy triumphs, defend yourself, traitor!” At this new insult, Archie folded his arms and answered, in a tone of tender reproach: “Thou, too, my brother Jules, even thou, too, hast thou condemned me unheard?”]
Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 204-205)

However, as Arché leaves Jules, Jules presses his hand. Arché will then ask to speak to the superior of the hospital. She is Jules’s aunt. At first, she cannot find as suitable a composure as she wishes, but she listens to Arché carefully, weighing every word and will allow him to see Jules.

We are in 1760, three years before the Treaty of Paris 1763. Everything depends on what Jules calls un coup de dé (p. 338), a throw of the dice. But Arché says that, whatever the outcome of the war, he plans to return to Canada and live near his friends.

– Dans l’un ou l’autre cas, dit de Locheill, je ne puis, avec honneur, me retirer de l’armée tant que la guerre durera ; mais advenant la paix, je me propose de vendre les débris de mon patrimoine d’Écosse, d’acheter des terres en Amérique et de m’y fixer. Mes plus chères affections sont ici ; j’aime le Canada, j’aime les mœurs douces et honnêtes de vos bons habitants ; et, après une vie paisible, mais laborieuse, je reposerai du moins ma tête sur le même sol que toi, mon frère Jules.
[“In either case,” said Lochiel, “as long as the war lasts I can not honorably resign my commission. But when peace comes, I propose to sell the poor remnant of my Highland estate and come and establish myself on this side of the water. My deepest affections are here. I love Canada, I love the simple and upright manners of your good habitants; and after a quiet but busy life, I would rest my head beneath the same sod with you, my brother.”]
Cameron of Lochiel (XIII: 212-213)

That is also Jules’s wish, but he has military obligations. Once he has fulfilled his obligations, he will return to Canada.

The Battle of Sainte-Foy by George B. Campion, watercolour. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Shipwreck of The Auguste

Many upper-class families traveling back to France abord the Auguste died at sea. Chapter XV/XIII is entitled: Le Naufrage de l’Auguste, The Shipwreck of the Auguste. Among victims were Charles-René Dejordy de Villebon, Louis-Joseph Gaultier de La Vérendrye, and Louis de la Corne, Chevalier de la Corne.

L’Auguste (1758 ship) was a full-rigged sailing ship that sank at Aspy Bay, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia in 1761 while carrying exiles from the fall of New France.

(See Auguste, Wikipedia)

In Aubert de Gaspé’s novel, Monsieur de Saint-Luc survives to tell about the unfortunate event. Those who escaped death were helped by Amerindians:

Nous nous traînâmes ainsi, ou plutôt je les traînai pour ainsi dire à la remorque (car le courage, ni même les forces ne me faillirent jamais), jusqu’au 4 de décembre, que nous rencontrâmes deux sauvages. Peindre la joie, l’extase de mes compagnons, qui attendaient à chaque instant la mort pour mettre fin à leurs souffrances atroces, serait au-dessus de toute description. Ces aborigènes ne me reconnurent pas d’abord en me voyant avec ma longue barbe, et changé comme j’étais après tant de souffrances. J’avais rendu précédemment de grands services à leur nation ; et vous savez que ces enfants de la nature ne manquent jamais à la reconnaissance. Ils m’accueillirent avec les démonstrations de la joie la plus vive : nous étions tous sauvés. J’appris alors que nous étions sur l’île du Cap Breton, a trente lieues de Louisbourg.
Les Anciens Canadiens (XV: p, 355)

[“Thus we dragged ourselves on, or rather I dragged them in tow, for neither courage nor strength once failed me till at length, on the 4th of December, we met two Indians. Imagine if you can the delirious joy of my companions, who for the last few days had been looking forward to death itself as a welcome release from their sufferings! These Indians did not recognize me at first, so much was I changed by what I had gone through, and by the long beard which had covered my face. Once I did their tribe a great service; and you know that these natives never forget a benefit. They welcomed me with delight. We were saved. Then I learned that we were on the island of Cape Breton, about thirty leagues from Louisbourg.”Thus we dragged ourselves on, or rather I dragged them in tow, for neither courage nor strength once failed me till at length, on the 4th of December, we met two Indians. Imagine if you can the delirious joy of my companions, who for the last few days had been looking forward to death itself as a welcome release from their sufferings! These Indians did not recognize me at first, so much was I changed by what I had gone through, and by the long beard which had covered my face. Once I did their tribe a great service; and you know that these natives never forget a benefit. They welcomed me with delight. We were saved. Then I learned that we were on the island of Cape Breton, about thirty leagues from Louisbourg.]
Cameron of Lochiel (XIV: 221-222)

A little later, Monsieur de Saint-Luc tells le capitaine d’Haberville, that his family owes a postponement in their returning to France to Cameron de Lochiel, which sounds fictional. James Murray, however, was very good to the people of a defeated New France to the point considering settling in Quebec. (See James Murray, The Dictionary of Canadian Biography). There are descendants of seigneurs in Quebec and Canada. Louis-Joseph Papineau was a seigneur.

Conclusion

If one juxtaposes the Battle of Jumonville Glen and the fall of the New France, the gap is dizzying. But “brothers” who fought on opposite sides, are brought together. All bodes well for the future. Aubert de Gaspé has brought to his a redeeming symmetry. Nouvelle-France falls but it consigned to memory of its people, and it is reborn.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Wikipedia, The Canadian Encyclopedia, & Britannica
Les Anciens Canadiens (ebooksgratuits.com). FR
Cameron of Lochiel (Archive.org ), Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Cameron of Lochiel is Gutenberg [EBook#53154], Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN

The video I am using is about the Battle of Quebec, but this battle is not the Battle fought at the end of December 1755, at an early battle during the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)

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Love to everyone 💕

Danaé (Danaë) et la pluie d’or, par Orazio Gentileschi (1563–1639) Cleveland Museum of Art (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

© Micheline Walker
27 July 2021
WordPress

Last Words on the Battle of Jumonville

25 Sunday Jul 2021

Posted by in Britain, France, Nouvelle-France, The French and Indian War, The United States

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Jumonville Glen (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Writing the Battle of Jumonville Glen was very difficult. I had conflicting sources. For instance, I could not determine whether Coulon de Jumonville was killed as the skirmish ended or later. He was killed at Jumonville Glen. It was a skirmish, and he was alone.

Moreover, my text kept being revised. So, I nearly destroyed the post. It seems that Coulon de Jumonville was killed by Tanacharison. But, the Jumonville affair cast suspicion on George Washington and no one witnessed the event. Our only certainties are that Jumonville was killed.

I should have mentioned that George Washington (February 1723-December 1799) was only 22 at the Battle of Jumonville Glen. Tanacharison, who was 54, died soon after Jumonville Glen, an ambush and skirmish. It is now called a skirmish.

My conclusion is that wars are absurd. The people of New France are still fighting to retain their identity. As well, France lost the Seven Years’ War. Yet, the starting point was an ambush. That an ambush should lead to wars, including a world war, is disorienting. So is an entry stating that Washington started the wars. As noted above, Washington was 22 or 23 years old, probably 22, in 1754.

WHEN YOUNG GEORGE WASHINGTON STARTED A WAR.

I inserted a source, but I could not separate the source and the videos it shows. It is a learned source and the gentleman we hear does not throw stones. The link is the Jumonville Skirmish, but I am now shown Error 404 and the information given to readers is in French. If one speaks French, the site is available. I’ll search again. The following link may take a reader to information. One must pay.

George Washington in the French & Indian War on Vimeo

Washington was ordered to remove the French from the Ohio Country, which may have given him latitude.

Aubert de Gaspé is pointing out the absurdity of war. France lost New France and New France lost its motherland. These consequences are not glitches. The Battle of Quebec) 1775) was an early battle during the American Revolutionary War.

Many seigneurs were sent back to France, but Aubert de Gaspé was not. He had descendants.

Through his novel, Aubert de Gaspé suggests that one can adjust to changes. Jules did. Aubert de Gaspé also suggests that the enemy may be an adopted brother. Jules and Arché are reunited. It is as though, the seigneurs of New France had been in the military. Jules’s father looked old because he had fought battles.

The George Washington in the French & Indian War on Vimeo is a fine link. So is Tanacharison. No one looks very good, except Aubert de Gaspé. I have ordered two books so I can learn more.

Sources and Resources

Bluhm, Raymond K. “Battle of Jumonville Glen”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 May. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-Jumonville-Glen. Accessed 25 July 2021.
Jumonville Glen Skirmish · George Washington’s Mount Vernon

Love to everyone 💕

The French and Indian War (1754)

© Micheline Walker
25 July 2021
WordPress

Les Anciens Canadiens & the Noble Savage

15 Thursday Jul 2021

Posted by in Aboriginals, Canada, Colonialism, Enlightenment, Justice, Quebec history

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Aubert de Gaspé’s old manoir at Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, where he wrote Les Anciens Canadiens at the age of 76.

In Chapter X/IX of Les Anciens Canadiens, monsieur d’Egmont speaks about an Iroquois who does not like a building located in New York. In the large building an Iroquois examines, “sauvages” who have not paid the white man are incarcerated and cannot therefore catch beaver pelts to repay their debt. Their hands are tied. However, I have not quoted the Good Gentleman’ full statement. The bon gentilhomme believes that civilization thwarts the human mind, in which the novel uses the myth of the Noble Savage :[1]

Une chose m’a toujours frappé : c’est que la civilisation fausse le jugement des hommes, et qu’en fait de sens commun, de gros bon sens, que l’on doit s’attendre à rencontrer dans la cervelle de tout être civilisé (j’en excepte pourtant les animaux domestiques qui reçoivent leur éducation dans nos familles), le sauvage lui est bien supérieur. En voici un exemple assez amusant. Un Iroquois contemplait, il y a quelques années, à New-York, un vaste édifice d’assez sinistre apparence ; ses hauts murs, ses fenêtres grillées l’intriguaient beaucoup : c’était une prison. Arrive un magistrat.
– Le visage pâle veut-il dire à son frère, fit l’Indien, à quoi sert ce grand wigwam?
– C’est là qu’on renferme les peaux-rouges qui refusent de livrer les peaux de castor qu’ils doivent aux marchands.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 232)

[“It has always struck me that civilization warps men’s judgment, and makes them inferior to primitive races in mere common sense and simple equity. Let me give you an amusing instance. Some years ago, in New York, an Iroquois was gazing intently at a great, forbidding structure. Its lofty walls and iron-bound windows interested him profoundly. It was a prison. A magistrate came up.
“‘Will the pale face tell his brother what this great wigwam is for?’ asked the Indian. The citizen swelled out his chest and answered with an air of importance: “
“‘It is there we shut up the red-skins who refuse to pay the furs which they owe our merchants.'”]

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 147-149)

One can understand that Aubert de Gaspé (1786-1871) would look upon Amerindians with kindness. Le bon gentilhomme is a fictionalized Aubert de Gaspé. Aubert de Gaspé was too generous and did not realize at which point he started loaning money he did not have. Had monsieur d’Egmont not given his entire property, within ten years, one of the houses he owned would have repaid his debt in full. Authorities waited before incarcerating Aubert de Gaspé, but he was imprisoned and unable to help his two sick children. He was careless and wanted to repay authorities. However, in 1841, after nearly four years of detention, he was heard by authorities and released.

Aubert de Gaspé was not a seigneur during the years he spent in a prison. His mother was the seigneuresse de Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. Quebec had its nobility and many feared being sent back to France. Several died when l’Auguste, a ship, sank as a storm raged. However, Aubert de Gaspé would be a seigneur after his mother’s death. He would be the last seigneur of Saint-Jean-Port-Joli. The Seigneurial System was abolished in 1854, before Aubert de Gaspé published his book (1863).

Interestingly, Aubert de Gaspé fictionalized himself as le bon gentilhomme, the Good Gentleman, the man who was too severely punished, and, as Jules, an image of innocence. It is as though le bon gentilhomme, monsieur d’Egmont, had seen Jules loan money he did not have to a person who had kicked him. To help Dubuc, Jules borrows money from Madeleine who has a debt of gratitude, but gratitude is rare.

The novel is historical and autobiographical. But it is also a cautionary tale. Le bon gentilhomme wants to tell his story to Jules, so Jules’s generosity does not lead him astray (II: pp.22… ) (I: 22-26). (Aubert de Gaspé experienced rulings that did not take into account his good character and extenuating circumstances. In 1841, Aubert de Gaspé was freed after nearly four years of detention. His conviction was not legally unjust, but it was “unfair” and disloyal. Therefore, Aubert de Gaspé uses the myth of the Noble Savage, a soul untainted by civilization. Moreover, the bon sauvage is at hand. Nouvelle-France was home to Amerindians.

Incarcerating a good man, monsieur d’Egmont, le bon gentilhomme, is discordant. Discordant is a term I have borrowed from Maurice Lemire, the editor of my copy of Les Anciens Canadiens. In Les Anciens Canadiens, the uncivilized are Europeans, not the natives of New France. One remembers the Jesuit Relations and Lahontan‘s Noble savage. Les Anciens Canadiens attacks civilized men. Montgomery who orders Arché to burn his friends’ manoir is inferior to the “Noble Savage.” Aubert de Gaspé’s fate, imprisonment, may be legal, but it is disloyal, and given his fault, detention is discordant. We can therefore situate Aubert de Gaspé’s novel among literary works pertaining to the myth of the Noble Savage. It is close to the Enlightenment, Jean-Jacques Rousseau viewed man in the state of nature as good, at times because of a Social Contract, but Thomas Hobbes’s Leviathan pictured man in the state of nature as a horrible zoomorphic serpent.

It should be noted, moreover that the wars Nouvelle France fought with or on behalf of Amerindians were exhausting. Our visitor to New York is an Iroquois, an Amerindian confederacy allied to the British. The French were allied mostly to the Hurons-Wendats. In chapter VII/VI, le capitaine d’Haberville is described as battled wearied:

Le seigneur d’Haberville avait à peine quarante-cinq ans, mais il accusait dix bonnes années de plus, tant les fatigues de la guerre avaient usé sa constitution d’ailleurs si forte et si robuste : ses devoirs de capitaine d’un détachement de la marine l’appelaient presque constamment sous les armes. Ces guerres continuelles dans les forêts, sans autre abri, suivant l’expression énergique des anciens Canadiens, que la rondeur du ciel, ou la calotte des cieux ; ces expéditions de découvertes, de surprises, contre les Anglais et les sauvages, pendant les saisons les plus rigoureuses, altéraient bien vite les plus forts tempéraments.

Les Anciens Canadiens (VII: pp. 155-156)

[The Seigneur D’Haberville was scarcely forty-five years old, but the toils of war had so told on his constitution that he looked a good ten years older. His duties as captain in the Colonial Marine kept him constantly under arms. The ceaseless forest warfare, with no shelter,104 according to the stern Canadian custom, except the vault of heaven, the expeditions of reconnoissance or surprise against the Iroquois or against the English settlements, carried on during the severest weather, produced their speedy effect on the strongest frames.]

Cameron of Lochiel (VI: 103-105)

We meet our first Amerindian, a Huron, at Trois-Saumons River. When he arrives at monsieur d’Egmont’s cottage, he is ill. Monsieur d’Egmont and André Francœur look after him for several weeks. Four years later, when he has nearly been forgotten, he visits Monsieur d’Egmont carrying a fortune in pelts, moccassins, and other valuable products the French cherished.

Ce n’était pas le même homme que j’avais vu dans un si piteux état : il était vêtu splendidement, et tout annonçait chez lui le grand guerrier et le grand chasseur, qualités inséparables chez les naturels de l’Amérique du Nord. Lui et son compagnon déposèrent, dans un coin de ma chambre, deux paquets de marchandises de grande valeur : car ils contenaient les pelleteries les plus riches, les plus brillants mocassins brodés en porc-épic, les ouvrages les plus précieux en écorce, et d’autres objets dont les sauvages font commerce avec nous. Je le félicitai alors sur la tournure heureuse qu’avaient prise ses affaires.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: pp. 224-225)

[“I had entirely forgotten my Indian, when about four years later he arrived at my door, accompanied by another savage. I could scarcely recognize him. He was spendidly clad, and everything about him bespoke the great hunter and the mighty warrior. In one corner of my room he and his companion laid down two bundles of merchandise of great value—the richest furs, moccasins splendidly embroidered with porcupine quills, and exquisite pieces of work in birch bark, such as the Indians alone know how to make. I congratulated him upon the happy turn his affairs had taken.]

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 143-145)

– Écoute, mon frère, me dit-il, et fais attention à mes paroles. Je te dois beaucoup, et je suis venu payer mes dettes. Tu m’as sauvé la vie, car tu connais bonne médecine. Tu as fait plus, car tu connais aussi les paroles qui entrent dans le cœur: d’un chien d’ivrogne que j’étais, je suis redevenu l’homme que le Grand Esprit a créé. Tu étais riche, quand tu vivais de l’autre côté du grand lac. Ce wigwam est trop étroit pour toi : construis-en un qui puisse contenir ton grand cœur. Toutes ces marchandises t’appartiennent.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 225)

[“‘Listen to me, my brother,’ said he. ‘I owe you much, and I am come to pay my debt. You saved my life, for you know good medicine. You have done more, for you know the words which reach the heart; dog of a drunkard as I was, I am become once more a man as I was created by the Great Spirit. You were rich when you lived beyond the great water. This wigwam is too small for you; build one large enough to hold your great heart. All these goods belong to you,’] 

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 144-145)

Cameron of Lochiel (Gutenberg)

Le bon gentilhomme is moved to tears. Gratitude is a quality lacking in the individuals to whom he loaned money. Our Noble Savage, returns to the Trois-Saumons River carrying precious gifts: pelts, moccasins, and other goods. Monsieur d’Egmont could build a much better wigwam by selling the pelts and other riches the Noble Savage has brought. But he chooses otherwise. A priest will distribute among the needy the riches the grateful Amerindian has brought to thank the God Gentleman.

The War

Ironically, le bon gentilhomme’s cottage will be home to the d’Habervilles after their manoir is destroyed by fire and Quebec City house, destroyed. Arché’s superior, Montgomery, orders Arché to set fire to every house.

– Mais, dit le jeune officier, qui était Écossais, faut-il incendier aussi les demeures de ceux qui n’opposent aucune résistance ? On dit qu’il ne reste que des femmes, des vieillards et des enfants dans ces habitations.

[“But,” said the young officer, who was a Scotchman, “must I burn the dwellings of those who offer no resistance? They say there is no one left in these houses except old men, women, and children.”]

– Il me semble, monsieur, reprit le major 265 Montgomery, que mes ordres sont bien clairs et précis ; vous mettrez le feu à toutes les habitations de ces chiens de Français que vous rencontrerez sur votre passage. Mais j’oubliais votre prédilection pour nos ennemis !

Les Anciens Canadiens (XII: pp. 265-266)

[“I think, sir,” replied Major Montgomery, “that my orders are quite clear. You will set fire to every house belonging to these dogs of Frenchmen. I had forgotten your weakness for our enemies.”
“Every house you come across belonging to these dogs of Frenchmen, set fire to it. I will follow you a little later.”]

Cameron of Lochiel (XI: 169-170)

The Noble Savage has returned:

– Voilà donc, s’écria-t-il [Arché] avec amertume, les fruits de ce que nous appelons code d’honneur chez les nations civilisées ! Sont-ce là aussi les fruits des préceptes qu’enseigne l’Évangile à tous ceux qui professent la religion chrétienne, cette religion toute d’amour et de pitié, même pour des ennemis. Si j’eusse fait partie d’une expédition commandée par un chef de ces aborigènes que nous traitons de barbares sur cet hémisphère, et que je lui eusse dit : « Épargne cette maison, car elle appartient à mes amis ; j’étais errant et fugitif, et ils m’ont accueilli dans leur famille, où j’ai trouvé un père et des frères », le chef indien m’aurait répondu : « C’est bien, épargne tes amis ; il n’y a que le serpent qui mord ceux qui l’ont réchauffé près de leur feu. »

Les Anciens Canadiens (XII: pp. 276-277)

[“Behold,” said he, “the fruits of what we call the code of honor of civilized nations! Are these the fruits of Christianity, that religion of compassion which teaches us to love even our enemies? If my commander were one of these savage chiefs, whom we treat as barbarians, and I had said to him: ‘Spare this house, for it belongs to my friends. I was a wanderer and a fugitive, and they took me in and gave me a father and a brother,’ the Indian chief would have answered: ‘It is well; spare your friends; it is only the viper that stings the bosom that has warmed it.’]

Cameron of Lochiel (XI: 176-177)

CONclusion

Jules and Arché (Cameron of Lochiel)’s friendship will survive the War. However, Aubert de Gaspé needed the bon sauvage. New France’s Amerindians were friends of the French, but there is no entity called the Noble Savage. It is an image and a wish. However, Amerindians have a great deal of common sense. I quite agree with the Jesuits who saw Amerindians as good persons who did not need to be converted. Yet, they continued their work as missionary and a few fell victims to the Iroquois who, as noted above, were friends of the British. La Grande-Loutre is an Iroquois. The Iroquois confederacy were allies of the British and protected by the British. The French were allies of the Hurons-Wendats and protected the Hurons-Wendats.

Aubert de Gaspé went further in the rehabilitation of the defeated French. Not only did he feature the Noble Savage, but he created Cameron of Lochiel, a Scot, whose father fought at Culloden. Arché will move to Canada and have a house built, half of wish will be Dumais’s home. He saved Dumais ‘s life who saved Archie from torture and death when the Iroquois captured him. The Royal Proclamation of 1763 will be the Amerindians’s “precedent,” and is included in the 1982 Constitution Act, Canada.

As for the Quebec Act of 1774,[2] it constitutes a “precedent” to a bilingual Canada. The French in America did not attempt to assimilate Amerindians. Monsieur d’Egmont and André Francœur have in fact left France, Europe being too civilized, to live among natives. Jules and Cameron of Lochiel will remain friends. Some of Aubert de Gaspé’s children would marry the Scots, or the English. It is not treason, but a legitimate and realistic wish to take part in the political life of Canada. Finally, persons whose origins are not the same may fall in love. The French in Quebec were happy to have escaped the French Revolution. This reaction, however, was often dictated by the clergy and the seigneurs. At any rate, Canadians must clean up a mess: Residential Schools, the remnants of Imperialism.

I will write briefly about the Battles, but I have already done so in Canadiana.1. I must include Les Anciens Canadiens‘s Plains of Abraham.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Resources

Les Anciens Canadiens (ebooksgratuits.com). FR
Cameron of Lochiel (Archive.org ), Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Cameron of Lochiel is Gutenberg [EBook#53154], Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Une Colonie féodale en Amérique: l’Acadie 1604 – 17 (Rameau, Google Books)

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[1]Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Noble savage”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 24 Apr. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/noble-savage. Accessed 14 July 2021.
[2]Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Quebec Act”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jul. 2016, https://www.britannica.com/event/Quebec-Act. Accessed 14 July 2021.

Love to everyone 💕

Céline Dion chante “S’il suffisait d’aimer” (If love were enough)
The Province of Quebec in 1774.

© Micheline Walker
15 June 2021
WordPress

The Good Gentleman

09 Friday Jul 2021

Posted by in Canadian History, Quebec history, Seigneurial System

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Job (David’s Common Place)

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INNER STORIES

Paul Lemire consider aspects of Les Anciens Canadiens as “discordant.” Aubert de Gaspé‘s Anciens Canadiens tells “stories,” the first of which is La Corriveau. La Corriveau is described as a legend, but a real Marie-Josephte Corriveau was hanged on 18 April 1763, shortly after the Treaty of Paris was signed (10 February 1763). Therefore, the Corriveau’s demise happened after Arché visited the d’Haberville. In his Notes et avertissements to Les Anciens Canadiens (p. 318).[1] Paul Lemire sees the Corriveau episode as an anachronism, but anachronisms are paradox literature. As the author of a historical novel, Aubert de Gaspé depicts New France, but Aubert de Gaspé also knew the aftermath. By virtue of George III’s Royal Proclamation of 1763, Amerindians were protected, but the Royal Proclamation

introduced policies meant to assimilate the French population to British rule. These policies ultimately failed and were replaced by the Quebec Act of 1774.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763, The Canadian Encyclopedia.

The Good Gentleman

Although Les Anciens Canadiens is a historical novel, it is also autobiographical. Le Bon Gentilhomme is monsieur d’Egmont, a Frenchman who carelessly loans money and endorses loans. In fact, he loaned money he did not have and found out was accused of défalcation, embezzlement and moved to Canada with his valet, André Francœur. The two live in a cottage on the Trois Saumons River. Jules visits with him before leaving for Europe to join the French military.

According to monsieur d’Egmont, Jules, a seigneur‘s son, resembles him. In Chapter Two, Jules d’Haberville gives money he does not have to a classmate named Dubuc who fears his father’s anger. Dubuc has kicked Jules, yet Jules does not want Dubuc to reimburse him. As for the money Jules gives Dubuc, it has been given to him by a woman who is grateful to the d’Haberville. It is this kind of behaviour that destroys monsieur d’Egmont’s life and he recognizes in Jules his blind generosity:

Je t’ai vu naître, d’Haberville ; j’ai suivi, d’un œil attentif, toutes les phases de ta jeune existence ; j’ai étudié avec soin ton caractère, et c’est ce qui me fait désirer l’entretien que nous avons aujourd’hui ; car jamais ressemblance n’a été plus parfaite qu’entre ton caractère et le mien.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 222)

I have watched you from child-hood up; I have studied your character minutely, and that is what has caused me to seek this conversation. Between your character and mine I have found the closest resemblance.

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 142-143)

Le bon gentilhomme was born to a well-to-do family and received a fine education. He then entered a promising career. However, his generosity destroyed his life. He loaned money to anyone who asked and also endorsed loans. He also loaned money that was not his. So, he was accused of défalcation (embezzlement) and he was jailed.

Mes affaires privées étaient tellement mêlées avec celles de mon bureau que je fus assez longtemps sans
m’apercevoir de leur état alarmant. Lorsque je découvris la vérité, après un examen de mes comptes, je fus frappé comme d’un coup de foudre. Non seulement j’étais ruiné, mais aussi sous le poids d’une défalcation considérable !

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 228 )

My private affairs were so mingled with those of my office that it was long before I discovered how deeply I was involved. The revelation came upon me like a thunderbolt. Not only was I ruined, but I was on the verge of a serious defalcation. 

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 145-146)

So, Les Anciens Canadiens is both a historical and biographical novel. Jules gives money he does not have by borrowing it from Madeleine who is grateful to the d’Haberville. However, the d’Haberville provided help or “money” they could provide.

It took years for authorities to determine whether or not Aubert de Gaspé should be jailed. Meanwhile, he had found a refuge at his mother’s seigneurie. At that time, he had nine children. During his imprisonment, the family resided near Aubert de Gaspé’s prison. He was jailed from 29 May 1838 until 18 September 1841. (See Aubert de Gaspé, Dictionary of Canadian Biography)

The Noble Savage

Monsieur d’Edmont would have liked to be able to earn the money he owed. This, in 19th-century France, was not possible. Nor was it possible in 19th-Lower Canada. Imprisonment tied his hands. Moreover, Aubert de Gaspé could see from his cell two of his children fall ill, and could not help.

To an Amerindian, earning money to pay one’s debts is acceptable. An Amerindian cannot hunt for beavers if he is incarcerated. He tells about an Amerindian who sees a large building in New York inside which Amerindians who have not paid a debt are confined.

Un Iroquois contemplait, il y a quelques années, à New-York, un vaste édifice d’assez sinistre apparence ; ses hauts murs, ses fenêtres grillées l’intriguaient beaucoup : c’était une prison. Arrive un magistrat.
(…)

– Mais sauvages pas capables de prendre castors ici !

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 232-233)

The Iroquois examined the structure with ever-increasing interest, walked around it, and asked to see the inside of this marvelous wigwam. The magistrate, who was himself a merchant, was glad to grant his request, in the hope of inspiring with wholesome dread the other savages, to whom this one would not fail to recount the effective and ingenious methods employed by the pale faces to make the red-skins pay their debts.

“The Iroquois went over the whole building with the minutest care, descended into the dungeons, tried the depth of the wells, listened attentively to the smallest sounds, and at last burst out laughing.

‘Why,’ exclaimed he, ‘no Indian could catch any beaver here.’

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 148-149)

We meet the Noble Savage again in Chapter IX/X

Only one of monsieur d’Egmont’s debtors repays him, for which he is immensely grateful. Aubert de Gaspé was compassionate and understanding, in which he stood above others, but not above the law.

Conclusion

Aubert de Gaspé fictionalizes himself as Jules, Chapter II, and as the Good Gentleman in Chapter IX/X. Aubert de Gaspé graces a fall that leads to imprisonment with the naïve but morally correct and natural justice of the Noble Savage. Yet, both the good gentleman and Aubert de Gaspé break the law.

Mon frère pas capable de prendre castors, si le visage pâle lui ôte l’esprit, et lui lie les mains.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X: p. 234)

‘My brother can take no beaver if the pale face ties his hands.’ Why,’ exclaimed he, ‘no Indian could catch any beaver here.’

Cameron of Lochiel (IX: 148-149)

Lève la tête bien haut dans ta superbe, ô maître de la création ! tu en as le droit. Lève la tête altière vers le ciel, ô homme ! dont le cœur est aussi froid que l’or que tu palpes jour et nuit. Jette la boue à pleines mains à l’homme au cœur chaud, aux passions ardentes, au sang brûlant comme le vitriol, qui a failli dans sa jeunesse.
Lève la tête bien haut, orgueilleux Pharisien, et dis : Moi, je n’ai jamais failli.

Les Anciens Canadiens (X, p. 237-238)

Lift up your head in your pride, lord of creation! You have the right to do so. Lift your haughty head to heaven, O man whose heart is as cold as the gold you grasp at day and night! Heap your slanders with both hands on the man of eager heart, of ardent passions, of blood burning like fire, who has fallen in his youth! Hold high your head, proud Pharisee, and say,151 ‘As for me, I have never fallen!’

Cameron of Lochiel (XI: 150-151)

The image at the top of this post features Job, but The Woman caught in adultery and The Prodigal Son demonstrate the same charity. Le bon gentilhomme/Aubert the Gaspé may have fallen unconsciously, but he/they broke the law, just or unjust.

RELATED ARTICLES

Sources and Ressources

Les Anciens Canadiens (ebooksgratuits.com). FR
Cameron of Lochiel (Archive.org ), Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Cameron of Lochiel is Gutenberg [EBook#53154], Sir Charles G. D. Roberts, translator. EN
Une Colonie féodale en Amérique: l’Acadie 1604 – 17 (Rameau, Google Books)
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[1] Paul Lemire is the editor of my copy of Les Anciens Canadiens ([Montréal: Bibliothèque Québécoise, 1988] p. 318)


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Love to everyone 💕

Battle of Quebec (Seven Years’ War)
Christ and the woman caught in adultery by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

© Micheline Walker
8 July 2021
WordPress