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1744 containing the same prohibition. Since the belief in the enriching power of a paper currency is a delusion deeply rooted in the human mind, we may be sure that the action of the Crown and of Parliament was looked upon as a real and serious grievance.

The ill-advised attempt of James II to consolidate the colonies north of the Hudson into a single province bore witness to the necessity of some form of administrative union. There is hardly a bundle of colonial papers from 1700 to 1750 which does not contain some document insisting on that necessity. The one redeeming feature of Leisler's career was that he convened a meeting of deputies from the northern colonies to make arrangements for an invasion of Canada. The convention met at New York in May, 1690. Unhappily Leisler's arrogant and tactless disposition prevented any practical result. In 1751 the governor of New York invited representatives of all the thirteen colonies to confer with the Iroquois confederacy about an alliance; but nothing was aimed at in the nature of permanent union. In 1754 William Shirley, one of the most vigorous of colonial governors, obtained the permission of the British government to summon a convention of colonial representatives at Albany. A scheme for a federal union was then laid before them, drawn up by perhaps the ablest and most statesmanlike man who had as yet borne any part in colonial affairs, Benjamin Franklin.

seven.

Franklin's scheme for colonial union was approved of by the Convention. He proposed a council elected by the colonies, with a president appointed by the Crown. The difficulty of proportioning representation to the population of the various colonies and yet preventing the smaller colonies from being virtually annihilated was surmounted, not, as in the later Federal Constitution, by establishing two chambers, but by varying the number of representatives assigned to the different colonies, and giving to none less than two or more than The president was to have a veto, the Crown a further veto. Military appointments were to be made by the President and approved by the Council, civil appointments vice versa. The administrative functions of the Council were virtually limited to three subjects defensive war, Indian trade, and the distribution of unoccupied lands. The weak point of the system was that it provided no machinery whereby the Council could exercise any authority over individual citizens, or could even enforce its decision on a refractory province. The scheme was disapproved by many of the colonists as giving too much power to the Crown. It was rejected by the home government as giving too much independence to the colonies. In this Franklin ingeniously found a proof that he had hit upon the happy mean.

CHAPTER III

THE FRENCH IN AMERICA

THE French empire in the New World has vanished, leaving behind it ineffaceable monuments of the grand political conception of which it formed part. Wherever that empire had an actual existence, the distinctively national French characteristics still appear, little if at all weakened by change of sovereignty and long lapse of time. Even if no vital forces had survived its decay, its historical literature alone would stand as a worthy monument of the great past. The story of that past is known in marvellous detail-in detail to which British colonial history can scarcely offer a parallel. All that can be attempted here is to mark the chief stages in the rise of the French power and to analyse the element of strength and weakness shown in the development of Canada, Acadia, Louisiana, the French Antilles, and French Guiana. The fact that the course of British colonisation runs closely parallel serves to point the meaning of the chronological sequence of events and to assist by contrast the analysis of the French colonial character.

Although the tropical and temperate colonies cannot for most purposes be treated as one, yet the changes in the system of government of each coincide so closely that the history of them all falls conveniently into well-defined periods. The first period, that of inchoation, ends with the creation of the two Companies, the Company of New France, and the Company of the Isles of America, in 1627. Their period of rule ends in 1664, when Colbert created his Company of the West. Colbert's period, 1664-83, may be treated as one; for, although it divides sharply in 1674, when the great Company of the West ceased to be, and when the colonies passed under the control of the Crown, Colbert's scheme possesses a unity which absorbs the subordinate question of trade monopoly. The fourth period, 1683-1713, covers the attempted foundation of Louisiana, shows Canada militant and West Indian trade nascent. In conclusion, the period from the Treaty of Utrecht to the Treaty of Paris, 1713 to 1763, covers the deathstruggle of New France and opens the golden age of the French sugar-islands.

The English priority in successful settlement was of about twelve

1608]

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months only. The last unsuccessful attempt at a French Canadian settlement happened to coincide with the first successful planting of a permanent English colony in Virginia. In 1608 the first permanent French colony was planted in Canada; and the New World rivalry began. But as in both France and England the memory of past discovery still lived, educated opinion dated the rivalry yet further back. The French looked back to Verrazzano as the English looked back to Cabot. The direction of French efforts was determined for all time by the discoveries of Cartier, 1534-41; by the raising of the royal arms in the mysterious Norumbega, Canada, and Hochelaga; by Roberval's attempted colony of "New France"; by the fort erected at Quebec. Powerful to influence the imaginations of English and French alike were the fate of Ribault and Laudonnière's Huguenot colony in "Carolina,” 1562–65, and the story of Hawkins' visit to it, of its fate at the hands of the Spaniards, and of the French vengeance. Nor had the fishermen of the two countries waited for politicians to direct them in search of a harvest in the New World.

Already a few French traders, undirected by authority, found profit in trading with the natives for their furs in the Tadoussac district on the northern shores of the mouth of the St Lawrence, when in 1598 the Marquis de la Roche, like another Gilbert, decided to renew the letters patent which he had received in 1578 and to settle a colony there, as lieutenant-general of the King in Canada, Hochelaga, the Newfoundlands, Labrador, the river of the Great Bay, Norumbega and the adjacent islands. Backed by a company possessed of the monopoly of trade in this unknown region of many names, a colony of forty men reached Sable Island, a barren sandbank off the coast of what is now Nova Scotia. The Marquis returned, and the colony was not revisited till 1603, when the miserable remnant of twelve came home. But the merchants of Dieppe, Rouen, St Malo and Rochelle, eager to seek a share in the monopoly of the nascent fur-trade, supported the next patentee, the Huguenot de Monts, who in 1603 was styled Lieutenant of the King in New France or La Cadie (said to be the Micmac Akăde), between the 40th and 46th degrees. A settlement was made in 1605 at Port Royal, now Annapolis in Nova Scotia, and de Poutrincourt received the first grant of land. In 1607 the colony was abandoned, and de Monts with difficulty got his charter renewed for one year. He then made good use of his time; Port Royal was re-established, and the explorer Champlain, who had already visited the coasts afterwards to be known as those of New England, extended the range of trade so far that a habitation was built at Quebec. A first winter was successfully passed, and there never again ceased to be French colonists on the St Lawrence. Champlain in the first instance seems to have desired settlement mainly as a means of supporting exploration and missionary work. For these purposes he chose the northern shores of the St Lawrence. The small settlement at Port

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Conflict with English colonies

[1608-25 Royal offered no opening for the discovery of an inland waterway westward, none for a wide range of dealings with the Indians; from the first, then, the Acadian and the Canadian settlements were unfortunately separated. In its haphazard character, the choice of Acadia for settlement seems English rather than French, and remains a memorable exception to the French rule of attempting at least an apparent unity. The necessity for union between Canada and Acadia was ultimately perceived, notably by Talon; but the two colonies which formed. New France never succeeded in adding to each other's strength.

An indication of an early intention on the part of the Crown to treat the colonies on imperial principles appears in the title "Viceroy," long before given to Roberval and now again to Condé, as whose agent Champlain acted from 1612 with the title "Lieutenant-general." But a company of merchants continued as before to supply the funds.

The missionary purpose having been constantly advanced as a main portion of the intended colonial work, Condé in 1615 allowed the Franciscan Récollets to join the settlement. The Jesuit Fathers were also seeking to establish missions, on the model of those of Paraguay begun in 1609. Their opportunity came after the assassination of Henry IV, when, in 1611, the Marquise de Guercheville won the Queen-mother's support and obtained leave to plant all the land from Florida to Canada except the already granted Port Royal. The result was a third and short-lived settlement, in which the missionary object was for the first time the sole acknowledged aim, planted in Penobscot Bay and called St Sauveur.

In 1606 James I had chartered two companies to plant between the 34th and 45th degrees, granting them exclusive trade in return for homage and a fifth of treasure. The southern colony of the London Company alone flourished, but it grew rapidly and in 1611 numbered 700 souls. When the news of French settlements within the 45th degree was brought to Jamestown, the order for their destruction was issued. Port Royal and St Sauveur were wiped out in 1613, and the English thus first forcibly entered claims to a supremacy which they were unable to maintain. Some protest was made, but the justice of the claim was not then discussed between the two nations; Madame de Guercheville was able to secure compensation for her personal losses only.

Meanwhile under Champlain's leadership the waterways were methodically traced out from the St Lawrence to the southern end of Lake Champlain, and on the west to the head of Lake Ontario and along the Ottawa. It was Champlain's energy and the zeal of the Récollet missionaries which kept the little settlement from actual diminution. When in 1625 the Jesuits arrived in Canada, the population of the fort varied from 50 to 60; and only about twenty acres were under tillage. The trade monopolists had felt no interest in the creation of a self-supporting colony; trading-posts sufficed for their purposes, and Champlain was not able to promote a wider policy, until in 1627 he won the sympathy

1627]

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of Richelieu, whose desire to secure a great sea-power made him perceive the wisdom of enlarging the limits not only of French trade but also of French settlement.

The decay of the Spanish empire opened to the Dutch, the French, and the English the possibility of a colonial expansion which fitted in with, and was necessary to, the development of the political and commercial ideas of more far-sighted thinkers. Commercial and political principles combined to point the necessity for a navy strong enough to protect the colonial trade, and to prevent all other nations from sharing in its profits. Colonies produced salable commodities; and the carrying-trade developed a mercantile marine. A subsidiary consideration was the desire to secure strategic coigns of vantage and convenient stations for receiving a fleet in distress. The time had not yet come for the development of wider views. Indeed, the possibility of depopulating the mother-country was acknowledged to be a serious danger; nothing had occurred to suggest hopes of great racial expansion.

The risks involved in colonial speculation were still so considerable, and the amount of superfluous capital was still so small, that the Dutch, French, and English as yet saw no means to develop colonial trade other than the privileged company, forgetful of the many occasions on which the timely arrival of an unlicensed vessel had saved a dying colony. Richelieu's creation of the Company of New France, consisting of one hundred and twenty Associates, in 1627, marks an epoch in the development of French colonisation, inasmuch as now for the first time government support was offered to supply the want of adequate voluntary contributions. The Association was on a larger scale than the earlier companies; its acknowledged purpose was wider; and the subscribers (one of whom was Richelieu) were men of very different ranks. The twelve largest shareholders were to be ennobled, and many privileges were extended to those who took up the stock. The Company's merchandise was exempted from customs, and the King promised to provide two vessels of war for the Company's service. Entire possession of the soil was given to the Company, together with rights of justice and lordship, from Florida to the Arctic Circle, and the monopoly of all trade, except in the cod and whale fisheries, which were free to all French subjects. In return, the Company rendered homage and fealty, and submitted to certain conditions. Two or three hundred artificers were to go to Canada at once, and in the course of fifteen years at least 4000 men and women were to be sent, and maintained for three years. All emigrants were to be French and Catholic, and for each habitation three ecclesiastics were to be provided by the Company. The missionary purpose was put forward prominently. But the capital of the Company amounted only to 300,000 livres; and here was a principal source of weakness. The experiences of the Virginian Company, under more favourable conditions, proved that a far larger capital was necessary.