This courteous, but decided, and, under the circumstances, chivalrous answer, was given to the Basques to deliver to the English commander, who, finding that Champlain was determined to hold out, and thinking that the settlement was better provided with provisions and stores than it really was, contented himself with burning all the boats and vessels at Tadoussac, and set sail again to look for ships along the coast; and well it was for Champlain that he did so, as he writes, "Every man being reduced to seven ounces of peas a day, and only having about fifty pounds of gunpowder, hardly any matches or other commodities, if they had made their point, we could hardly have resisted them."
The English admiral or chief, David Quer, or Keith (most likely Kerr), was, it is said, a Calvinist of Dieppe, the son of a Scotchman, who had married there, and who had quitted France on account of the persecutions against the Protestants. It appears that De Caen, enraged at the privileges of the company of which he was the head being annulled, and himself excluded from the new company formed under the auspices of Cardinal Richelieu, betrayed the settlement, giving the English a full and complete account of the vessels employed, the number of men in the colony, its weak points, etc. Kerr had with him also a certain Jacques Michel, a Frenchman, from Dieppe, and a former associate of De Caen.[25]
[25] "Fauces illas, aditusque fluminis obsidebat jam aliquandiu David Kersius, Anglus, ab navibus, militibusque Rupemontio instructor ... præmonitus pridem ab exulceratis Cadomianis (De Caen), qui exclusos sese ab Novâ Franciâ, tantâ vel ignominiâ, vel rei familiaris jacturâ impotentissimé ferebant, de navium transmissarum numero, de Noyrotis actuario nominatim, de militum robore, de commeatu, de omnibus denique, quæ hostis incendere cupiditatem, vel stimulare diligentiam, vel cautionem munire posse videbantur."--De Creux, lib. i.
Some days afterwards a young man, of the name of Desdames, came to Quebec with ten men, bringing news of the arrival at Gaspey of the Sieur de Roquement, commanding the new company's ships, which were bringing stores, provisions, and workmen and their families for the colony. Champlain, whom the late surprise had rendered doubly cautious, asked for letters from De Roquement, before giving credence to this intelligence; surprised, moreover, that in such suspicious times, he had not written by his messenger, to say how affairs were going on in France, and tell him about this new company that had ousted De Caen and his partners, and of which Champlain knew nothing.[26] Desdames told him that he had left in such haste that De Roquement had not time to write, but in proof of the truth of his intelligence, produced a few lines from Father Lallemand, a Jesuit, who was on board De Roquement's vessel, saying that, in a short time, Champlain would see them, if not prevented by the English, who were stronger than they were. Desdames also informed him that De Roquement intended to attack the English squadron at Tadoussac, and that on his route he had heard cannon, which made him think that the battle had commenced.