The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of Acadia is in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment is the one thing to be shunned in these days.Yet I cannot but stay, though the train should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one of the most heroic of women, whose name recalls the most romantic incident in the history of this region.Out of this past there rises no figure so captivating to the imagination as that of Madame de la Tour.And it is noticeable that woman has a curious habit of coming to the front in critical moments of history, and performing some exploit that eclipses in brilliancy all the deeds of contemporary men; and the exploit usually ends in a pathetic tragedy, that fixes it forever in the sympathy of the world.I need not copy out of the pages of De Charlevoix the well-known story of Madame de la Tour; Ionly wish he had told us more about her.It is here at Port Royal that we first see her with her husband.Charles de St.Etienne, the Chevalier de la Tour,--there is a world of romance in these mere names,--was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port Royal and of La Hive, from Louis XIII.He ceded La Hive to Razilli, the governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for a residence.He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at La Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal.De Charnise was a Catholic; the difference in religion might not have produced any unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in dividing the profits of the peltry trade,--each being covetous, if we may so express it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to take it off for himself.At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la Tour moved over to the St.John, of which region his father had enjoyed a grant from Charles I.of England,--whose sad fate it is not necessary now to recall to the reader's mind,--and built a fort at the mouth of the river.But the differences of the two ambitious Frenchmen could not be composed.De la Tour obtained aid from Governor Winthrop at Boston, thus verifying the Catholic prediction that the Huguenots would side with the enemies of France on occasion.
De Charnise received orders from Louis to arrest De la Tour; but a little preliminary to the arrest was the possession of the fort of St.John, and this he could not obtain, although be sent all his force against it.Taking advantage, however, of the absence of De la Tour, who had a habit of roving about, he one day besieged St.John.
Madame de la Tour headed the little handful of men in the fort, and made such a gallant resistance that De Charnise was obliged to draw off his fleet with the loss of thirty-three men,--a very serious loss, when the supply of men was as distant as France.But De Charnise would not be balked by a woman; he attacked again; and this time, one of the garrison, a Swiss, betrayed the fort, and let the invaders into the walls by an unguarded entrance.It was Easter morning when this misfortune occurred, but the peaceful influence of the day did not avail.When Madame saw that she was betrayed, her spirits did not quail; she took refuge with her little band in a detached part of the fort, and there made such a bold show of defense, that De Charnise was obliged to agree to the terms of her surrender, which she dictated.No sooner had this unchivalrous fellow obtained possession of the fort and of this Historic Woman, than, overcome with a false shame that he had made terms with a woman, he violated his noble word, and condemned to death all the men, except one, who was spared on condition that he should be the executioner of the others.And the poltroon compelled the brave woman to witness the execution, with the added indignity of a rope round her neck,--or as De Charlevoix much more neatly expresses it, "obligea sa prisonniere d'assister a l'execution, la corde au cou."To the shock of this horror the womanly spirit of Madame de la Tour succumbed; she fell into a decline and died soon after.De la Tour, himself an exile from his province, wandered about the New World in his customary pursuit of peltry.He was seen at Quebec for two years.While there, he heard of the death of De Charnise, and straightway repaired to St.John.The widow of his late enemy received him graciously, and he entered into possession of the estate of the late occupant with the consent of all the heirs.To remove all roots of bitterness, De la Tour married Madame de Charnise, and history does not record any ill of either of them.I trust they had the grace to plant a sweetbrier on the grave of the noble woman to whose faithfulness and courage they owe their rescue from obscurity.
At least the parties to this singular union must have agreed to ignore the lamented existence of the Chevalier d'Aunay.
With the Chevalier de la Tour, at any rate, it all went well thereafter.When Cromwell drove the French from Acadia, he granted great territorial rights to De la Tour, which that thrifty adventurer sold out to one of his co-grantees for L16,000; and he no doubt invested the money in peltry for the London market.
