Proprietary governor.
When
Acadia, or
Nova Scotia, was returned to the
French (1632), it was apportioned into provinces, under proprietary governors.
To Razille,
commander-in-chief, was granted the southern portion of the peninsula, and one of his lieutenants was Charles La Tour, to whom was assigned a large portion of the territory.
He and Seigneur D'Aulnay Charissy (another lieutenant), who controlled a section extending westward to the Kennebee River, were both engaged in trade, and bitter quarrels arose between them, on account of mutual (alleged) infringements of rights.
After the death of Razille, D'Aulnay, an unscrupulous man, attempted to assume control of the whole country.
He was a
Roman Catholic;
La Tour was a Protestant.
Through the powerful influence at Court of Cardinal Richelieu, the
King revoked the commission of
La Tour, and ordered his arrest.
The latter denied the
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allegations of D'Aulnay, and refused to submit to arrest.
With 500 men in vessels, D'Aulnay appeared off the mouth of the
St. John River, in the spring of 1643, and blockaded
La Tour in his fortified trading-house.
A ship was daily expected from
Rochelle, with a company of 140 emigrants, and might fall into the power of the blockading squadron.
La Tour managed to give the vessel intimations of danger, and under cover of night he and his wife were conveyed on board of her, and sailed for
Boston, to seek the aid of the colony of
Massachusetts in defence of their rights.
La Tour was permitted by
Governor Winthrop to fit out a small naval and military force at
Boston.
He chartered five vessels, mounting forty pieces of cannon, and procured eighty volunteers for the land service and fifty sailors.
When the armament appeared, D'Aulnay raised the blockade, and sought refuge under the guns of his own fort at
Port Royal, where two of his vessels were wrecked.
La Tour would have captured that stronghold, had not the New Englanders left him before their term of service had expired.
D'Aulnay sent a protest to
Winthrop against this violation of neutrality, and a copy of the order for
La Tour's arrest.
A treaty of peace was concluded in 1644.
Meanwhile the intrepid
Madame La Tour was in
England obtaining supplies for her husband's fort.
On her return, she was landed at
Boston instead of the
St. John, as agreed upon.
She brought action against the captain of the vessel, and recovered $10,000 damages, with which she purchased supplies and munitions of war for the fort.
It was put in a condition for a vigorous defence.
During the temporary absence of her husband, D'Aulnay laid siege to it.
Madame La Tour conducted an effective defence, attacking and disabling a frigate and killing or wounding thirty-three of the assailants.
The baffled D'Aulnay was compelled to retire, greatly mortified.
La Tour, meanwhile, continued to receive stores and munitions from
New England, notwithstanding the treaty of neutrality.
In reprisal, D'Aulnay seized and confiscated a Boston vessel, and this source of supply for
La Tour was cut off. In the spring of 1647D'Aulnay, hearing that
La Tour and most of his men were absent from his fort, again besieged it.
Madame La Tour determined to hold it to the last extremity.
For three days the assailants were kept at bay. On Easter Sunday a treacherous Swiss sentinel allowed the assailants to enter the outer works.
The brave woman rushed to the ramparts with her handful of soldiers, and would have repulsed the besiegers had not D'Aulnay, fearing the disgrace of another defeat at the hands of a woman, offered her honorable terms of capitulation.
Anxious to save the lives of her little garrison,
Madame La Tour yielded, when the perfidious D'Aulnay violated his solemn pledge.
He caused every man of the garrison to be hanged save one, whom he made the executioner of his comrades.
The ruffians compelled the twice-betrayed
Madame La Tour to witness these executions, with a rope around her own neck.
D'Aulnay pillaged the fort of all the property, amounting to $50,000, and retreated to
Port Royal.
La Tour was a ruined man, and wandered in exile on the shores of
Newfoundland and in the wilds around the southern shores of
Hudson Bay.
These disasters broke the heart of his brave wife, and she died.
Retributive justice brought about changes in favor of
La Tour.
Four years after his property was wasted, D'Aulnay died in debt and disgrace.
La Tour now came back from the wilderness, vindicated his character before his sovereign, was made lieutenantgovernor of
Acadia, and again recovered his fort at
St. John.
He married the widow of his rival, and inherited his shattered estate, and prosperity once more smiled upon the Huguenot; for his claim to extensive territorial rights in
Acadia, by virtue of
Sir William Alexander's grant to his father, was recognized in 1656.
He soon afterwards died.
Acadia had then passed once more into the hands of the
English.
