The picturesque StLawrence . Quebec; but about the same time anEnglish fleet was dispatched for the St. Lawrenceon a voyage of conquest. Quebec was incapableof defence. Only fifty pounds of gunpowderwere left, and a fort that had been erected a fewyears before on the cliff, where now is theDufferin Terrace, was tumbling to ruin. TheEnglish arrived in the St. Lawrence ahead of theFrench fleet and anchored at Tadousac. Somecaptured Basque fishermen were sent up theriver with a message demanding that Champlainshould surrender. His response was that hewould hold his position to the last. The Engli
The picturesque StLawrence . Quebec; but about the same time anEnglish fleet was dispatched for the St. Lawrenceon a voyage of conquest. Quebec was incapableof defence. Only fifty pounds of gunpowderwere left, and a fort that had been erected a fewyears before on the cliff, where now is theDufferin Terrace, was tumbling to ruin. TheEnglish arrived in the St. Lawrence ahead of theFrench fleet and anchored at Tadousac. Somecaptured Basque fishermen were sent up theriver with a message demanding that Champlainshould surrender. His response was that hewould hold his position to the last. The Englishcommander, deceived by the bold attitude ofChamplain, thought it would not be wise to riskattacking the stronghold. He, however, en-countered the fleet from France, overpowered it,and all the supplies destined to relieve the hun-gry tenants of Quebec were either seized or sunkin the river. The miseries of Quebec increased daily, andthe four or five score of men, women and childrencooped up in the fort subsisted on a scanty. s^/ t. Quebecs Eventful History 165 pittance of peas and maize. By the time anotherwinter and spring had passed the food storeswere wholly exhausted, and the members of thecolony betook themselves to the woods to gatheracorns and grub up roots. In midsummer threeEnglish ships arrived before the town, and therewas nothing for the starved and ragged band ofFrench to do but to surrender. When France and England made peace it wasagreed that Canada should be restored to theformer power, and Champlain crossed the oceanonce more to the New World and took up hisharassing round of cares at the dilapidatedhamlet of Quebec. Ten years later he died onChristmas Day, after having worked nearly threedecades with unceasing ardor for the welfare ofthe colony, sacrificing fortune, repose anddomestic peace. Shortly after his death firedestroyed the church near which he was buriedand the place of his interment was in 1856 some men who were laying water-pipes at
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjohnsonc, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookyear1910
