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The Scot in New France (1535-1880)


the Scot." Can there be any room for uncertainty about the nationality of this old salt [Louis Kirke, was a brother to Sir David Kirke, William and Thomas Kirke. Louis a former wine Merchant at Bordeaux, was, by his father’s side, of Scottish origin; his mother was a native of Dieppe.], styled in the Jesuits’ Journal, "Maître Abraham," Master Abraham, and who has bequeathed his name to our world-renowned battlefield— the Plains of Abraham? Mr. O’Farrell, however, patriotically claims Martin as a fellow-countryman. When Admiral Kirke’s squadron [The FIRST ENGLISH CONQUEST OF CANADA, by Henry Kirke, M. A., B. C. L. Oxon, London, 1871.] in the name of Charles I took possession of Quebec on the 9th August 1629, Abraham Martin did not desert the land of his adoption, to return to France. He manfully stuck to the old rock. With his wife, Marie Langlois, his children and a few others—twenty-two all told, he seems to have cheerfully accepted the new regime which lasted three years.

Master Abraham, the Scot, for ought we know to the contrary, may have experienced but mild regret at seeing a new Governor of Scotch descent, Louis Kirke, the Calvinist, hoist his standard on the bastions of Fort St. Louis, evacuated by Governor de Champlain, who, on the 24th July, 1629, had sailed for England; "more than one hundred of his French followers also sailed in a ship of 250 tons," provided by Capt. Louis Kirke, the new master of Quebec.

Whether he fraternised in any way with the new Governor or his protestant Chaplain, he fails to say: the "ancient Mariner" Abraham, a species of practical "Captain Cuttle," having like the rest of the French garrison, lived "on roots for months" previous to the capitulation, no doubt he took his fair share of the good things distributed—the food and raiment—liberally given out by Kirke, to that degree, adds Kirke’s biographer, "that many of the


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