Until the year 1627, the prosperity of the settlement was greatly retarded by religious dissensions among the colonists themselves ; but, at this period, the French mi nister, Richelieu, who cordially hated the Protestants, put the province of Nev France under the management or a chartered company. He endowed than with groat privileges, upon condition, that they should exclude the Huguenots, and establish Catholic priests in every dis trict ; and gave them a constitution, which, with the ex ception of what regarded religion, has been reckoned as a model for colonial establishments. About this time Charles I. of England entered into a war with France ; and Sir David Kirk, or rather Kcrtk, a French Calvinist, having received the command of three English ships, sailed upon an expedition against Quebec ; defeated the squadron which was sent to its relief, and, after reducing the colonists to the greatest extremities, compelled them to capitulate in the year 1629. He fulfilled so faithfully the terms of surrender, and treated the vanquished with so much humanity, that the greater part of the settlers declined the privilege of being conveyed to old France, and remained under their conquerors in Canada. The colony was restored to France by the treaty of St Ger main, in 1632 ; but it was only by the most ex( 'lions of a succession of able and enterprising go vernors, that its existence was preserved amidst the Va rious difficulties under which it laboured, front the ne glect which it experienced on the part of the mother country, from its own intestine divisions, and from the desolating excursions of the hostile Indians.
About the year 1662, it was reduced to the eve of de struction by the rash and haughty temper of the governor general, D'Asaugour. Previous to that period, he bar' issued the strictest orders against selling spirituous li quors to the savages ; and a woman of Quebec, havin; been detected in that pernicious traffic, was insti.ntly committed to prises. By the intreaties of her relations, one of the fathers among the Jesuits was induced to in tercede with the governor for her release. D'Avaugont, enraged to find that his salutary regulations were thu thwarted by those, who ought to have most vigorously seconded his injunctions, replied, in a paroxysm of pas sion, that, since the crime was riot punishable in that woman, neither should it be so in any other person. If ( considered it as a point of honour not to retract Iris de claration ; and, in consequence of the licence thus per mitted in the disposal of ardent spirits, both the natives and the soldiery became so complete ly deba .ched, that all order and decency were disregarded, the cl rgy open ly insulted, and the bishop compelh d to embark for France, in order to lay his complaints before the king. Almost immediately after his departure, the whole sys tem of nature in Canada appeared to have undergone a fatal revolution. The most tremendous hurricanes, earthquakes, thunde•ings, and fiery meteors, pervaded almost every quarter of the province, to a degree altoge ther unprecedented in that country. The largest trees were torn up by the roots, and the rivers turned out of their courses ; mountains were overthrown from their foundations, and whole districts enveloped in flames, which issued from the bowels of tire earth ; the coasts were covered with sea monsters cast ashore, and every element, in short, seemed labouring to announce the dis solution of the world.' These awful calamities were so powerfully seconded by warnings and exhortations of the clergy, that a general reformation was effected, both among the French and Indian residents. The baneful corn melee in spirituous liquors was universally proscribed; nothing was to be seen but penances, processions, and pilgrimages ; and the affairs of New France began to assume an entirely new and highly promising appear ance. The company of Canada, however, either un
willing or unable to support, any longer, so unprofitable a settlement, made a voluntary surrender of their rights to the French king in 1664, who entirely new modelled the government of the colony ; but committed the trade of the country to the company des hides Occidentales. Considerable reinforcements, both of troops and settlers, were sent from France. Numerous forts were erected along the lakes, to check the encroaching commerce of New England, to protect the Canadian traders in their excursions, and to keep the hostile Indians in awe. The attention of the French court was strongly attracted to its American possessions, by the able. representation of M. Talon, intendant of Quebec ; and it is from the ac tive administration of this enlightened magistrate, that the province of New France dates its prosperity.
About the same time the Jesuit missionaries began to have at least more political success among many of the more distant savage tribes. Besides the Hurons, Algon quins, Outaouais, and particularly the Abenaquis, who had long been their allies, the Outagamis or Foxes, the Illinois, the Sioux, the Assiniboils, the Knistenaux or Creek Indians, the Nipissings, &c. were brought to a friendly intercourse with the colony. Many powerful chiefs, also, among the Onondagas or Onnontaguese, the Agnicrs, the Onneyouths, the T son n ont h o u an s, and other nearer branches of the hitherto hostile Iroquois, became converts to Christianity, and were of the greatest service in attaching their countrymen to the French in terest. But the colonists of New France, always intoxi cated with the idea of their national greatness, were con tinually exciting the jealousy and hostility of their Indian neighbours, by attempting to treat them as subjects rather than as allies, or by endeavouring to gain advantages over them, through manoeuvring and treachery ; while, by imitating the savage practices of the natives in the field of battle, and wasting their strength in ill-concerted ex peditions, they only exposed their own inferiority, and incurred the contempt of their enemies. Their trade with most of the Indian tribes was thus daily declining, while the influence of the English, on the contrary, was rapidly gaining ground; and hence it was resolved, in the year 1639, seriously to attempt the conquest of New York, as the only mean of securing the prosperity of Canada. The French court readily approved of the plan ; and though a negociation was actually pending at the time, for adjusting the claims of the two nations in Ame rica, the government of Canada was authorized to make a secret expedition against the English, without any for mal intimation of hostilities. The measure was as bloodi ly executed as it had been dishonourably devised ; and, in a cowardly assault upon some of the settlements in New York, even the defenceless women and children were cruelly put to the sword. The English being thus well advertised or the IIIVetCraCy of their enemy, soon discovered, on their part, that the reduction of New France was equally essential to the existence of their colonies ; and from this period to the final conquest of Canada, the history of that province exhibits a continued and systematic struggle between the French and English colonies in North America, to enlarge their Indian alli ances, to extend their share in the fur-trade, to encroach upon each other's boundaries, and to hasten the com plete subjugation of the rival settlement.