1535.]

SECOND VOYAGE OF CARTIER.

9

weighed anchor for Europe, and, in less than thirty days, entered the harbor of St. Malo in security.

The court listened to the urgency of the friends of Cartier; and a second squadron, provided by the king, and attended by some of the young nobility of France as volunteers, sailed, in May, 1535, for the New World, full of hopes of discoveries and plans of colonization in the territory which now began to be known as New France.

After a stormy voyage, the adventurers arrived within sight of Newfoundland. Passing to the west of that island on the day of St. Lawrence, they gave the name of that martyr to a portion of the noble gulf which opened before them— a name which has gradually extended to the whole gulf, and to the river. Sailing to the north of Anticosti, they ascended the stream in September, as far as a pleasant harbor in the isle since called Orleans. The natives, Indians of Algonquin descent, received them with unsuspecting hospitality. Leaving his ships safely moored, Cartier, in a boat, sailed up the majestic stream to the chief Indian settlement on the island of Hochelaga. The language of its inhabitants proves them to have been of the Huron family of tribes. The town lay at the foot of a hill, which he climbed. As he reached the summit, he was moved to admiration by the prospect before him of woods, and waters, and mountains. Filled with bright anticipations, he called the hill Mont-Real; and time, that has transferred the name to the island, is realizing his visions of its prosperity. Cartier also gathered of the Indians some indistinct account of the countries now contained in the north of Vermont and New York. Rejoining his ships, the winter, rendered frightful by the ravages of the scurvy, was passed where they were anchored. At the approach of spring, a cross was erected, bearing the arms of France, and an inscription, that Francis was king of these new-found regions. Having thus claimed the territory, the Breton mariner once more sailed for St. Malo.

10

VOYAGE OF CARTIER AND ROBERVAL. [1540-1541. The description which Cartier gave of the country bordering on the St. Lawrence, furnished arguments against attempting a colony. The intense severity of the climate terrified even the inhabitants of the north of France; and no mines of silver and gold, no veins abounding in diamonds and precious stones, had been promised by the faithful narrative of the voyage. Three or four years, therefore, elapsed before plans of colonization were renewed; when, in January, 1540, a nobleman of Picardy, Francis de la Roque, lord of Roberval, sought and obtained a grant of regal authority over the territories and islands which lie near the Gulf or along the River St. Lawrence. Cartier also, as captain-general and chief pilot of the expedition, was directed to take with him persons of every trade and art; to ransack the prisons, to rescue the unfortunate and the criminal, and to make up the complement of his men from their number. With these he was to repair to the newly-discovered country, and dwell there with the natives.

The division of authority between Cartier and Roberval of itself defeated the enterprise. Roberval was ambitious of power; and Cartier desired the exclusive honor of discovery. They neither embarked in company, nor acted in concert. Cartier sailed from St.

Malo in May, 1541, the next spring after the date of his commission; he arrived at the scene of his former adventures, ascended the St. Lawrence, and, near the site of Quebec, built a fort for the security of his party; but no considerable advances in geographical knowledge appear to have been made. The winter passed in sullenness and gloom. In June of the following year, he and his ships stole away and returned to France, just as Roberval arrived with a considerable reënforcement. Unsustained by Cartier, Roberval accomplished no more than a verification of previous discoveries. Remaining about a year in America, he abandoned his immense viceroyalty. Perhaps the expedition, on its return, entered the Bay of Massachusetts; the

1550-1600.] MERCHANTS OF ST. MALO AND ROUEN. 11.

French diplomatists always remembered that Boston was built within the original limits of New France.

The commission of Roberval was followed by no permanent results. It is confidently said, that, in 1549, 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 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 power of the monarch, of Calvinism against the ancient religion of France?

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 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 in America was renewed; and, in 1598, an ample commission was issued to the marquis de la Roche, a nobleman of 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.

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

A firmer hope of success was entertained, when a 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,

12

SAMUEL CHAMPLAIN. DE MONTS. [1600-1605.

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, in 1603, selected as the appropriate site for a fort.

Champlain returned to France just before an exclusive patent had been issued to a Calvinist - the able, patriotic, and honest De Monts. The sovereignty of Acadia and its confines, from the fortieth to the fortysixth degree of latitude, that is, from Philadelphia to beyond Montreal; a still wider monopoly of the fur trade; the exclusive control of the soil, government, and trade; freedom of religion for Huguenot emigrants; these were the privileges which the charter conceded. All New France was now contained in two ships, which, in March, 1604, followed the well-known path to Nova Scotia. The summer glided away, while the emigrants trafficked with the natives, and explored the coasts. The excellent harbor now called Annapolis 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 their first attempt at a settlement on the island of St. Croix, at the mouth of the river of the same name. In the following spring, they removed to Port Royal.

:

For an agricultural colony, a milder climate was more desirable in view of a settlement at the south, De Monts, in 1605, 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 savages led him to delay a removal, since his colonists

1606-1613.]

FRENCH IN ACADIA.

13

were so few. Yet the purpose remained. Thrice, in the spring of 1606, did Dupont, his lieutenant, attempt to complete the discovery. Twice he was driven back by adverse winds; and at the third attempt, his vessel was wrecked. Poutrincourt, who had visited France for supplies, himself renewed the design; but, meeting with disasters among the shoals of Cape Cod, he, too, returned to Port Royal. There the first French settlement on the American continent had been made; two years before James River was discovered, and three years before a cabin was raised in Canada.

The arrival of Jesuit priests, in June, 1611, was signalized by conversions among the natives. In the following year, De Biencourt and Father Biart explored the coast as far 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 English encroachments.

A French colony within the United States followed. In 1613, under the auspices of De Guercheville and Mary of Medici, the rude entrenchments of St. Sauveur were raised by De Saussaye on Mount Desert Isle, to guard the approach to the Penobscot. 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, in July, 1608, Champlain, acting for a company of merchants of Dieppe and St. Malo, had founded Quebec; that is to say, rude cottages were framed, a few fields were cleared, and one or two gardens planted. The next year, attended but by two Europeans,