Exhibit marks Champlain exploration

(Host) Vermont's neighbor to the north is celebrating a very big birthday this year. Quebec City is 400. From Washington, Elizabeth Wynne Johnson has this story about the 17th Century French explorer who founded the city, and his legacy on both sides of the US-Canada border.

(Johnson) There is no known portrait of Samuel de Champlain... At least, none that experts can agree is authentic or accurate to how he might have looked. But the prolific explorer recorded his encounters in vivid drawings. And equally vivid journal entries. Here, Carolyn Strauss, cultural counsellor at the Embassy of Canada, reads the passage that accompanies a lifelike color sketch of Indians being burned at the stake...

(Strauss) "At the commencement of his conquests the king of Spain had established the Inquisition among them ...

(Johnson) The image documents Champlain's observations in the Caribbean.

(Strauss) (Under) ... and had enslaved them or put them cruelly to death in such numbers ... that the mere account of it raises compassion for them (and of course the ‘them' is the native peoples). Such evil treatment was the reason that the poor Indians fled to the mountains in desperation. And as many Spaniards as they caught they ate."

(Johnson) We may not know what he looked like, but a picture of Champlain's character emerges from the artifacts, maps and manuscript drawings he left behind. Champlain made 14 round-trips to North America in the 1600s. His explorations ultimately led to the division of what we know today as Canada and the United States.

(Guide) "These are original drawings by Champlain..."

(Senator and Mrs. Leahy) "The colors... it's remarkable how they've been preserved...."

(Johnson) Recently, Senator Patrick Leahy and wife Marcelle came to the Canadian Embassy in Washington... for a personal tour of an exhibit devoted to the French explorer and founder of Quebec City.

(Leahy) ``In many ways Vermont's own history is tied to the explorations of Samuel de Champlain. He started of course in Canada but then he explored Lake Champlain.''

(Johnson) An engraving dated 1609 depicts a man at the center of an early battle at Lake Champlain. Historian David Hackett Fischer describes it in his book, Champlain's Dream. The engraving is not exactly a likeness, but it is a self-portrait of sorts.

(Fischer) ``And that little image - it's all of about an inch high in this small engraving - is the only image we have of this man.''

(Johnson) According to Fischer, the depiction says a lot about Champlain. He wears the armor and helmet of a high-ranking French soldier. He expertly wields a powerful weapon against the Iroquois Indians. It's a straightforward portrayal of European conquest and dominance. But therein lies the paradox, says Fischer. Champlain was an early Humanist.

(Fischer) ``He got on very well with the Indians in a way that was if not unique, very unusual amongst early European visitors.''

(Johnson) Senator Leahy has his own reason to be interested in the shared ancestor of the Northeast and Canada. Leahy's wife, Marcelle, is a Vermonter of French-Canadian extraction. During a recent visit to Quebec City, Leahy says Canadian officials researched his wife's ancestry and found a line going all the way back to Champlain. That led to interviews on Canadian television.

(Leahy) ``People came up to her on the street afterwards... "Pardonez-moi, madame... are you...?" They'd go on in French... so excited... I'd stand aside politely... She'd say, would you like to meet my husband, he's a US Senator.' And they'd say, ‘Non.' ... When I told our kids about it they said, "Dad -it's about time. Mom, you rock.'''

(Johnson) This year Vermont is commemorating the explorer for whom Lake Champlain is named. The renewed attention may lead to reexamination of a man who is both a founding influence and an historical enigma.

From Capitol News Connection, I'm Elizabeth Wynne Johnson for V-P-R News.