Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/104

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72 Conflict with English colonies. 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 un- fortunately 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 Conde, 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, Conde in 1615 allowed the Fran- ciscan Recollets 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 on Mount Desert 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 method- ically 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 Recollet 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