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Show XXI. IIISTORICAL SUMMARY. TuE glowing accounts of the delights of the lrtoridian Eden which were brought by our returning voyagers, were not sufficient to persuade the garrison to forego their anxious desire to return to France. The honHHlickncss under which they labored had now reached such a height as to suffer no appeal or opposition. Nothing but tlw stern decree of authority could have silenced the discontents ; and the authority lay neither in the will nor in the numbers under the control of Laudonnicrc. 'l'o such a degree of impatience had this passion for their European homes arisen, that, when it was found tl1nt the building of the vessel for their deportation would be delayed beyond the designated period, in consequence of the death, in battle with the &wages, of two of the carpenters, the multitude rose in mutiny setting upon J can de Tiais, tho mastor-cnrpcntcr,-who had innocently declared the impossibility of doing tho work within the given timo,-with such ferocity, as to make it scarcely possible to save his life. With this spirit prevailing among his garrison, J~audonniere was compelled to abandon the idea, altogether, of building the ship; and to address all his energies to the repair, for the desired purpose, of the old brigantine, which had been brought back t<l La Caro- 311 line, by the returning pirates. To work, with this object, all pa1-tics were now set with the utmost expedition. The houses which had been built without the fort were tom down, in order that the timber should be eotwcrted into coal for the uses of tho forge; this being a labor much easier than that of using the axe upon the trees of the forest. 'J'hc p:disade which conducted from the fort to the river was torn down also by the soldiery, for tho same purpose, in spite of the objections of Laudounicrc. It was their policy to make their determination to depart inevitable, by rendering the place no longer habitable. The fort, itself, it was dctcrmitted to destroy, when they were ready to sail," lest some new-como guest should have enjoyed and possessed it." Our }~rcnehrncn were very jealous of tho designs of the ]~nglish queen. They well knew that the haughty and courageous :~!:Iizabeth was meditating a British settlement in the New World; and though, after their own voluntary abandonment of the country, they had no l"ight to complain that another should occupy the waste places, yet their jealousy was too greatly that of the dog in the manger, to behohl, with pleased eye, the possession by another of the things which they themselves had been unable to enjoy. "In tho moanwhile,, says Laudonnicro-seeking to excuse his own unwise management nnd feeble policy-" In the meanwhile, thoro was none of us to whome it was not an extreme griofc to leave a country wherein wee had endured so g1·cato tmvailcs and necessities, to discover that which wee must forsake through our owno countrymen's default. l!~or if wee had becne succourcd in tiwo and place, and according to tho promise that was made unto us, the war which was between us and Utinn. had not fu.llcn out, neither should wee have bad occasion to offend tho Indians, which, with all paines in the world, I entertained in good awitie, as well with |
