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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 dis- tinctively 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 elements 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, 16645-83, 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 death- struggle of New France and opens the golden age of the French sugar-islands. The English priority in successful settlement was of about twelve