24

. I.

CARTIER AND ROBERVAL IN CANADA.

CHAP. a year in America, he abandoned his immense viceroyalty. Estates in Picardy were better than titles in 1542. Norimbega. His subjects must have been a sad company; during the winter, one, was hanged for theft; several were put in irons; and "divers persons, as well women as men," were whipped. By these means quiet was preserved. Perhaps the expedition on its return entered the Bay of Massachusetts; the French diplomatists always remembered, that Boston was built within the original limits of New France.

1449.

The commission of Roberval was followed by no permanent results. It is confidently said, that, at a later date, he again embarked for his viceroyalty, accompanied by a numerous train of adventurers; and, as he was never more heard of, he may have perished at sea. Can it be a matter of surprise, that, for the next fifty 1600. years, no further discoveries were attempted by the government of a nation, which had become involved in the final struggle of feudalism against the central

1550

to

to

power of the monarch, of Calvinism against the ancient 1562 religion of France? The colony of Huguenots at the 1567. South sprung from private enterprise; a government 1572. which could devise the massacre of St. Bartholomew, Aug. was neither worthy nor able to found new states.

24.

At length, under the mild and tolerant reign of Henry IV., the star of France emerged from the clouds of blood, treachery, and civil war, which had so long eclipsed her glory. The number and importance of the 1578. fishing stages had increased; in 1578 there were one

hundred and fifty French vessels at Newfoundland, and regular voyages, for traffic with the natives, began to be successfully made. One French mariner, before 1609, had made more than forty voyages to the American coast. The purpose of founding a French empire 1598. in America was renewed, and an ample commission

VOYAGE OF DE LA ROCHE. TRADING VOYAGES.

I.

25

was issued to the Marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of CHAP. Brittany. Yet his enterprise entirely failed. Sweeping the prisons of France, he established their tenants on the desolate Isle of Sable; and the wretched exiles sighed for their dungeons. After some years, the few survivers received a pardon. The temporary residence in America was deemed a sufficient commutation for a long imprisonment.

The prospect of gain prompted the next enterprise. A monopoly of the fur-trade, with an ample patent, was obtained by Chauvin; and Pontgravé, a merchant of 1600. St. Malo, shared the traffic. The voyage was repeated, 1601-2 for it was lucrative. The death of Chauvin prevented his settling a colony.

A firmer hope of success was entertained, when a 1603. company of merchants of Rouen was formed by the governor of Dieppe; and Samuel Champlain, of Brouage, an able marine officer and a man of science, was appointed to direct the expedition. By his natural disposition, "delighting marvellously in these enterprises," Champlain became the father of the French settlements in Canada. He possessed a clear and penetrating understanding, with a spirit of cautious inquiry; untiring perseverance, with great mobility; indefatigable activity, with fearless courage. The account of his first expedition gives proof of sound judgment, accurate observation, and historical fidelity. It is full of exact details on the manners of the savage tribes, not less than the geography of the country; and Quebec was already selected as the appropriate site for a fort.

Nov.

Champlain returned to France just before an exclusive 1603. patent had been issued to a Calvinist, the able, patriotic, 8. and honest De Monts. The sovereignty of Acadia and its confines, from the fortieth to the forty-sixth

26

DE MONTS AND POUTRINCOURT IN ACADIA.

CHAP. degree of latitude, that is, from Philadelphia to beyond I. Montreal; a still wider monopoly of the fur-trade; the 1603. exclusive control of the soil, government, and trade;

1604.

Mar.

7.

freedom of religion for Huguenot emigrants, these were the privileges which the charter conceded. Idlers, and men without a profession, and all banished men, were doomed to lend him aid. A lucrative monopoly was added to the honors of territorial jurisdiction. Wealth and glory were alike expected.

An expedition was prepared without delay, and left the shores of France, not to return till a permanent French settlement should be made in America. All New France was now contained in two ships, which followed the well-known path to Nova Scotia. The summer glided away, while the emigrants trafficked with the natives and explored the coasts. The harbor called Annapolis after the conquest of Acadia by Queen Anne, an excellent harbor, though difficult of access, possessing a small but navigable river, which abounded in fish, and is bordered by beautiful meadows, so pleased the imagination of Poutrincourt, a leader in the enterprise, that he sued for a grant of it from De Monts, and, naming it Port Royal, determined to reside there with his family. The company of De Monts made 1604. their first attempt at a settlement on the island of St. Croix, at the mouth of the river of the same name. The remains of their fortifications were still visible, when our eastern boundary was ascertained. Yet the island was so ill suited to their purposes, that, in the 1605. following spring, they removed to Port Royal.

1798.

For an agricultural colony, a milder climate was more desirable; in view of a settlement at the south, De 1605. Monts explored and claimed for France the rivers, the coasts and the bays of New England, as far, at least, as Cape Cod. The numbers and hostility of the sav

FRENCH SETTLEMENT AT PORT ROYAL.

1.

27

28.

ages led him to delay a removal, since his colonists CHAP. were so few. Yet the purpose remained. Thrice, in the spring of the following year, did Dupont, his lieu- 1606. tenant, attempt to complete the discovery. Twice he was driven back by adverse winds; and at the third Aug. attempt, his vessel was wrecked. Poutrincourt, who had visited France, and was now returned with supplies, himself renewed the design; but, meeting with Nov. disasters among the shoals of Cape Cod, he, too, returned to Port Royal. There the first French settle- 1605. ment on the American continent had been made; two years before James River was discovered, and three years before a cabin had been raised in Canada.

14.

The possessions of Poutrincourt were confirmed by 1607. Henry IV.; the apostolic benediction of the Roman pontiff was solicited on families which exiled them- 1608. selves to evangelize infidels; Mary of Medici herself contributed money to support the missions, which the Marchioness de Guercheville protected; and by a com- 1610. pact with De Biencourt, the proprietary's son, the order of the Jesuits was enriched by an imposition on the fisheries and fur-trade.

June

The arrival of Jesuit priests was signalized by con- 1611. versions among the natives. In the following year, De 12. Biencourt and Father Biart explored the coast as far 1612. as the Kennebec, and ascended that river. The Canibas, Algonquins of the Abenaki nations, touched by the confiding humanity of the French, listened reverently to the message of redemption; and, already hostile towards the English who had visited their coast, the tribes between the Penobscot and the Kennebec became the allies of France, and were cherished as a barrier against danger from English encroachments.

A French colony within the United States followed, under the auspices of De Guercheville and Mary of 1613.

28

QUEBEC FOUNDED BY CHAMPLAIN.

CHAP. Medici; the rude intrenchments of St. Sauveur were

1. raised by De Saussaye on the northern bank of the

1613. Penobscot. The conversion of the heathen was the

motive to the settlement; the natives venerated Biart as a messenger from heaven; and under the summer sky, round a cross in the centre of the hamlet, matins and vespers were regularly chanted. France and the Roman religion had appropriated the soil of Maine.

Meantime the remonstrances of French merchants had effected the revocation of the monopoly of De Monts, and a company of merchants of Dieppe and St. 1608. Malo had founded Quebec. The design was executed July 3 by Champlain, who aimed not at the profits of trade,

but at the glory of founding a state. The city of Quebec was begun; that is to say, rude cottages were framed, a few fields were cleared, and one or two gar1609. dens planted. The next year, that singularly bold adventurer, attended but by two Europeans, joined a mixed party of Hurons from Montreal, and Algonquins from Quebec, in an expedition against the Iroquois, or Five Nations, in the north of New York. He ascended the Sorel, and explored the lake which bears his name, and perpetuates his memory.

1611, 1612.

short

The Huguenots had been active in plans of coloniza1610. tion. The death of Henry IV. deprived them of their powerful protector. Yet the zeal of De Monts survived, and he quickened the courage of Champlain. After the supremacy of Charles de Bourbon, the Prince of Condé, an avowed protector of the Calvinists, became 1615. viceroy of New France; through his intercession, merchants of St. Malo, Rouen, and La Rochelle, obtained a colonial patent from the king; and Champlain, now sure of success, embarked once more for the New World, accompanied by monks of the order of St. Francis. Again he invades the territory of the Iroquois in New York.